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Tuesday 3rd July 2018

After waking up super early when I didn’t need to I checked my phone to see the time and saw that the burglar alarm at home was going off. I checked my phone and saw that it was probably because of the person coming to feed the cat. So I disarmed the house, cleared all the problems and set it back up again. Nothing looked out of place, the activity log matched what I would expect, so all was fine. The cat didn’t seem to care.

We both rested in bed and watched some TV before we got ourselves ready for the last big internal travel day of the trip. Today we would be heading back to Tokyo on the Shinkansen. We had decided to take it easy this morning so that we would not stress ourselves out worrying about time. We gave ourselves plenty of time goals to ensure we made it to Shin-Osaka on time. We used our last breakfast coupon to get some pastries to go from a place in the station and then we scoped out a way to get to the subway line without steps (which we found).

After going back to the hotel, grabbing our stuff and checking out we made our way through the rush hour crowds of people coming out of the station into the hellmouth. When we got down to the platform, then it became apparent things were not going to be easy. The trains were pulling in almost packed full of people and there was still plenty of people piling themselves onto the train. When we finally found a spot where we could get on, we missed the first train because we were not game to throw our bags into the scrum. Then on the second go (trains were running about one every minute) only Heidi was able to get on and she got rammed into the train with everyone else. So it looked like we were going to seperate.

It took me two more trains before I could get on and i barely made it on with my suitcase and i got crushed in the process. Then I found out the train I was on did not go to Shin-Osaka but stopped short. So I had to get off at another station and risk the whole train jam thing again…. Fun. I made it through though and caught up with Heidi at Shin-Osaka. Thankfully we had given ourselves plenty of time.

We made our way through Shin-Osaka Station up to the Shinkansen platforms and found where we were departing from. We camped out for about 40 minutes or so (after several contemplations of ditching our train and heading for an earlier train to Tokyo, but we didnt). Our train pulled in and we jumped onboard and stashed our bags in the usual spot. We swam upstream to our seats and got settled in for the long (well not really) ride up to Tokyo.

Today’s train was a Hikari and would stop at Kyoto, Nagoya, a couple of other stops before Yokohama, and then into Tokyo. We had the usual seats and just enjoyed the ride. We finally ate our pastry breakfast and I worked on the trip report while Heidi did some of her japanese lessons. The train cruised north as we watched people get on and off. We pulled through stations we had seen in the daylight and some we had only seen at night. Sadly though the clouds were out so there would be no sighting of Fujisan today 🙁

As we pulled in towards Tokyo Station it was sad to be getting off. Waiting there at the carriage though was a staff member from the Shangri-La Tokyo, they were waiting to assist us with our bags and take us to the hotel. It was crazy though that they would offer this. It was not a problem though and they took one of our suitcases for us and escorted us through the craziness towards the hotel. After checking in and getting stuff sorted in the room, Heidi wasn’t feeling to crash hot so she crashed out in the room. I grabbed my rail pass and my camera bag and I headed out towards the station again. I have been wanting to take photos at Haneda for a long time, so that was my goal tonight. It was pretty easy to get out there. Take the Yamanote line to Hamamatsucho and then take the Tokyo Monorail all the way out to Haneda. The best part is the whole thing was free with the rail pass.

I checked the spotting sights to see which terminal was going to be better in the afternoon and it said Terminal 2, so ANA it was going to be. The terminal was great, bright and clean. It felt more like a shopping mall and even had a Lawson in it. So i grabbed a drink and a sandwich (since I had not had lunch yet) and grabbed an elevator all the way to the top floor. The observation deck was on the very top of the terminal and the sun was shining. I spent several hours on the roof of the terminal getting plenty of photos (and sunburnt at the same time). I got some good special liveries and a few airlines I had not gotten before.

After finally watching the weather start to get iffy, I retraced my steps back towards Tokyo Station and met up with Heidi for some dinner. We wandered the surrounding streets as we were both pretty tired and didn’t wish to go far. We came out of the night finding a small, local possibly chain, restaurant and had a great dinner. We picked up some treats for dessert and headed back to the hotel to crash out for the evening.

Wednesday 4th July 2018

This morning I got up early and went to the gym (while Heidi groaned and rolled over). It was relatively easy morning in the hotel as we had a breakfast meeting with the hotel (work requirement). The breakfast at the hotel was great and the pastries were excellent! It was a good morning and by the time we were finished it was around 11am. So Heidi and I decided we would take the opportunity to go out to Omiya & Saitama so that I could go to the JR East Railway Museum.

We took the Shinkansen up to Omiya (since it was free) and then connected on to the local strange subway thingy over to the Museum. When we arrived though, unfortunately there was a big sign saying “Closed”. No reason given (at least in english). Nothing online stating they were closed on the english site. They close tuesdays, but not wednesdays. This was confusing. We tried walking around wondering if it was just that entrance, but nope closed. Turns out that it was closed due to the preparations for opening the new section the next day. So that plan was out because it would be extremely crowded for the next few weeks. Pass!

So we got back on the shuttle thingy back to Omiya and then got back on the train towards Tokyo. We managed to time it pretty well because a few minutes after we got there, one of the Double Decker Shinkansen (the Max) was scheduled. Score! So we got our tickets and headed off towards Tokyo. We jumped off at Ueno so that we could walk around through some of the market streets between Ueno and the next station.
We continued down to Akihabara for some lunch and a bit of an explore through the streets. But during the middle of a pretty tasty lunch, my nose started to spew blood and lots of it. This was not good when I was running short of tissues, japanese bathrooms don’t have paper towels and there was lines to get into the restrooms. Ugh!

I did what i could and it eventually stopped but that pretty much killed my mood for the rest of the afternoon. I just was not in a good frame of mind. So Heidi and I went back to the hotel and settled in to watch some netflix to keep us busy. We ventured out of the hotel for some dinner and walked around the station area to scope out the finally finished Marunouchi side of the station. We happened to find one of the sites of an assassination while we were walking around. Neither of us was all that hungry for a big dinner, so we grabbed some food from the Daimaru department store and headed back to the hotel to relax. Not the best day, but it was still a good day in Tokyo.

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Wednesday 27th June 2018

Waking up earlier than we really needed seem to be the way things were going to happen this morning. Sadly it looks like sleep patterns may be off because it just did not go to plan. Instead we bummed around in the room trying to keep ourselves on a relatively normal fashion. Today’s plan was to go for a walk this morning to get some breakfast, then head out to a museum out of town and then who knows what the rest of the day.

So we rolled out of the hotel (which we were really liking so far) and started to walk out of the neighbourhood. We followed the railway lines up towards Nagoya Station and our chosen spot for breakfast. Located in the depths of the surrounding areas of the station was a lot of different, i guess you could call them strip malls. They were rows of shops and restaurants for all differents kinds of things. In amongst this haven of deliciousness was our intended destination. We wandered streets till we found Chapeau Blanc.

This little cafe had a fantastic deal. For the cost of a beverage (490 Yen) you would also get all the pastries you can eat. So for $5 you can have pastries and the drink of your choice, that is a bargain. Don’t get me wrong the pastries may not have been the best you will ever eat, but the iced coffee was good, the pastries were decent enough (we went back a few times) and they throw in hard boiled eggs too. What more could you ask for?

All filled up we walked back through Nagoya Station to get our bearings, book some train tickets for the rest of our trip and head out to our destination for the day. We were to jump the same train we took to our hotel last night but this time go all the way to the end. Which we did, via getting stuck in some railway works. It was interesting to see how the city differed from the small amount that we had seen so far. You went from very commercial, to very industrial relatively quickly.

Our destination was the end of the line and the museum right next door, the SCMaglev Railway Park which is the JR Central museum. It mainly covers the Tokaido Shinkansen along with also the new Chuo Shinkansen being built (the Superconducting Maglev). It was an amazing museum with so many things to see and thankfully not crowded at all. We explored all kinds of trains and I had been wanting to come here for quite some time. Although I did not win the lottery draw to drive the Shinkansen simulator, I did get some time driving a normal train (I did good, or at least that is what the lady said).

We both enjoyed the museum a lot and we even managed to have an old train to ourself for lunch. That is right… for lunch. They sell Ekiben’s at the museum (because of course you would) and you can eat them outside, in an old train that is air conditioned. We had our lunch in there and at one point, we were the only ones inside! We both tried not to purchase everything in the store before leaving and we headed back to the hotel to rest a little bit as we were both feeling a little jetlag.

After a couple of hours of resting we walked back up to Nagoya station but this time in a different direction. We checked out some stores in the station area before jumping on a subway over to Sakae. From there we had dinner at a Japanese Curry house (CoCo for anyone who cares) and did some more wandering through shops. We cut things early because I wasn’t feeling good and hadn’t been for a good portion of the day. We got back to the hotel around 730ish and i was passed out in bed by 8pm.

Thursday 28th June 2018

This morning we were heading south to Kyoto. After another pastry breakfast (this time from the 7-11) we headed off to the station. I was definitely not feeling well at all so Heidi made the decision that when we made it to Kyoto I was to ask the hotel about seeing a doctor. We made it back to Nagoya Station with plenty of time and waited for our train. While waiting on the Platform almost six Nozomi trains came through in the small 20 minute or so window. Those trains are really constant! Our train rolled in and we scrambled on with our bags. Soon enough we were in our seats and cruising out of Nagoya towards our next stop of Kyoto. Since this was Shinkansen we didn’t have long to wait.

We pulled into the Kyoto Station and found the nearest taxi rank (on the opposite side to I remember using last time) and we headed on our way to our hotel, the Ritz Carlton Kyoto (thanks work!). Upon arrival we were met by almost 4 staff and quickly sent off to our room. One staff member got a quick hand off of documents from the front desk and we were whisked off to our room for check in. Almost 6 staff helped us from the moment we got out of the taxi, amazing!. We had a beautiful room and even though it was on the floor above the lobby, it didn’t matter. We had a view of the river and it was quiet and peaceful.

After a site inspection with the sales rep, we headed off to get information on someone to go see to get me fixed up. With an appointment made for 5pm, we found the local 7-11, grabbed some lunch and then headed off to Inari station (took 2 subways and a train). After exploring the Fushimi Inari area with the million other tourists who were there, I left Heidi to explore on her own around the mountain while I headed down towards the town to explore. I found a cat cafe, the prices were cheap and included a free ice cream, so I was sold.

I spent a little while there (around 30 minutes or so) before walking off to meet up with Heidi. After heading back to the hotel for a little bit, we jumped into a taxi to head to the doctors. Low and behold after what felt like the quickest doctors visit ever I was given a prescription and then spent more time waiting for drugs than I spent with the doctor! We start to wander the streets after this in search of some dinner and found an Ippudo, however the wait was long, so pass on that! Around the corner from Ippudo was a good looking ramen place, with no wait and plenty cheap too. So we went in there! They had an english menu but we didnt need it because pointy talky ordering worked well.

After a stumble back to the nearest subway station and two trains and a walk back to the hotel, we flopped into bed to rest up before a big day the next day.

Friday 29th June 2018

Today was our big tour day of Kyoto. We were planning on getting in as much stuff as we could. We had arranged a tour guide with the Good Samaritan Club and they would help us get around the city. Our guide was due to meet us at 9am in the lobby of the hotel and we would head out from there. When we got down to the lobby it was full of guides waiting for their groups, so I guess a lot of people do it! Once we met up with our guide Nao we headed off on the subway. Umbrellas in hand today because the rain looked pretty nasty.

This morning we visited the Nijo-ji castle and the Imperial Palaces. The first being the spot where the Emperor would meet his guests and the second being his places of residence. Both were outstanding to visit and not that crowded thankfully. The rain was on and off all morning though so that was annoying. After the morning of the old reign of Japan we headed down to Nishi market for a stroll through and a look at all the tasty morsels on offer. I snagged a croquette for 100 Yen and ate it as we walked (although my guide was shocked since we had lunch upcoming but it looked so good!). After that we bought him lunch around the corner from the market at a place that had Curry Udon. I had a cold ramen dish with plenty of vegies and sesame dressing. It was delicious!

After lunch we jumped on a bus and headed out to the Golden Pavillion. This is where there were tourists and lots of them!! It was beautiful and stunning but holy crap it was like shooting fish in a barrel. From there we headed over to another temple which had less people. By this time we still had some time left with the guide so we headed off to explore a very little known perk of Amex cards in Japan. Apparently there is a VIP lounge inside one of the temples. The guide knew of the temple, but had never seen the lounge before we we headed over. It wasn’t much but it gave free access to a temple and some privacy away from the rest of the city. It was a good way to wind down and finish our tour.

After finishing the tour we headed back towards the city and it started bucketing down. Thank god for hotel umbrellas because we needed them! The rain was coming down hard and fast so we took refuge in a store that had over 300 different ice cream parfaits on offer! Yes please! With that as our early dinner we stopped by a store on the way home for a sandwich and a drink and soon enough back at the hotel after being gone all day. Tomorrow we would be leaving Kyoto and moving on. No doubt we will return.

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Tuesday June 26th 2018

After clearing immigration faster than expected we headed down to the bowels of Narita Airport Terminal 1. The train station entrance was directly outside where we exited customs, which was fantastic and meant we saved some time stumbling around. Once we got downstairs we had to line up at the JR Service Center to get our Rail Passes Exchanged. Because we were ahead of schedule it meant we had more time to do what we needed to do.

Tonight’s plan was to take the Narita Express to Tokyo Station, then a Hikari on the Tokaido Shinkansen to Nagoya and then a ride on the Aonami line for one stop to Sasashima Raibu. Long travel time of 3 different trains to get us the 200-300 miles down to Nagoya. This would seem really complicated, but it really isn’t. Two of the trains would be covered by our rail pass and the other one would cost us 200 Yen (roughly $2). Pretty decent prices to be honest. To add onto that because we were ahead of schedule we could spend a little more time in Tokyo Station and be less rushed.

While booking our tickets they told us we should be changing in Shinagawa, but to be honest, we know Tokyo station better. Our plan was to stop by somewhere in the Station, pick up an Ekiben and eat it on the train as we cruised to Nagoya.

We were able to get on the 4:19pm NEX to Tokyo station and that put us a good hour ahead of schedule. This wasn’t the first time we had taken this train so we knew what to expect. We chilled out on the train as it cruised out of Narita and headed towards Tokyo. The free wifi onboard helped and I spent the time getting my phone up and running. It was nice to finally be out of the plane, but we were both in good moods and not feeling tired.

As we arrived into Tokyo station we knew what now had to happen. We were in the middle of the afternoon commute, in one of the busiest train stations in the world. This was not going to be fun dragging some suitcases through. But hey, might as well. It was fine, it was a bit overwhelming but we did it. We both made our way up to the Shinkansen gates and then I went back to the Ekiben place to get some food. This was probably the dumbest idea ever because it was stupidly crowded and a little bit oppressive. But I made it out and my first purchase in Japan was for ekibens!

We headed up onto our platform, found our car location (handily printed all over the platform at your feet) and lined up to await the train to come in. There was Shinkansens all over the place both Tokaido and also run by JR East. When our Shinkansen showed up they had to clean it, so that took a little while but soon enough we were onboard and had to stash our suitcases behind the last row of seats.

The train pulled out of Tokyo station on time (as you would expect) and we picked up speed as we headed for a few stops in the Tokyo area before heading out into the country proper. Once we left Yokohama that was when you could feel the speed really increase. Sadly though our train was going to make plenty of stops. Had we rushed through Tokyo station we could have made the earlier train that made less stops and saved us plenty more time, but it was fine.

This portion of the journey was when we both started to struggle. Lordy was it tough staying awake. We found it rough to try and keep our eyes open probably for a good hour or so as we both were lulling ourselves to sleep. It wasn’t even 7pm in Japan and we were ready to be in bed. The ekibens were consumed onboard (I have no idea what mine was, but it was alright) and we both just watched the scenery change outside as the train sped past the cities.

As we pulled into Nagoya we both got ourselves ready for another slog through the station to find the right spot to head to the Aonami line to our hotel. The signage was good but we had to go a roundabout way (at least it felt that way) to wind through the station to another part of the station. We dropped some cash for our IC cards and as we rolled to the platform the train started making noises that it was going to depart. We made it with seconds to spare.

One stop on the train line, dragging suitcases through a very deserted station and we were a minutes walk from our hotel for our stay in Nagoya.

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Monday 25th July 2018

It’s Monday morning, my alarm goes off and I have a needy cat annoying me. Must be the weekend, well not today. Today it is vacation. I get to spend some time taking a trip that my wife and I have been waiting to take for almost 4 years. The day was finally here, but yet I was excited but not overly so. Which is strange, but not really.

A lot to get accomplished around the house today before taking my first flight of the year and the first in at least 7 months. The morning went by quickly but not without its hiccups. I forgot to take a jacket to keep warm if needed (woops… hopefully won’t be a problem) and pretty sure i forgot to arm the house alarm. The ride to the airport was easy and the lyft took mere moments to arrive.

After making our way from our drop off point to check in, the wait took a few moments and we were checked in. It was super simple and our bags were right on the money in regards to weight. We took our boarding passes and headed off to security where we had no issue thanks to clear. Well that was meant to be the thing, however this is where I started to get hassled. Clear was stating that I did not have a Pre Check boarding pass. However I had one printed and a mobile boarding pass that both stated the same. After being verified by Clear they then dragged me in front of a TSA rep to get the same done (which is not meant to be the way) just to prove I am Pre Check (which I already knew).

So once into the line for the security I get stuck behind the family that doesn’t know what they are doing but I am stripped down ready to go in moments and then… wait. More waiting, lots of waiting. Finally get through and my Camera bag gets pulled to the side. No word all I hear is “Bag Check”. Just dandy! Doesn’t help that there was like no TSA agent listening to anyone so I had to wait over 10 minutes for someone to finally get to my bag. I waited more for TSA today for a bag check than I did at check in and clear. How is that even possible.

For my bag check they wanted to check my camera lenses apparently. Which I wasn’t aware was a thing for precheck. The guy working it was not that great either and I didn’t want him damaging anything. He asked me how to open the bag and I told him “I would prefer to do that” and he finally let me do that. He went for the lenses and I told him he better be careful with that or the TSA will be footing the bill for new equipment. Soon enough I was on my way and they still couldn’t find a complaint card to make a complaint about the poor service today. So that was convienient.

Next stop was the lounge, after a breif stop by work for a little bit. The Club at SEA was the required lounge to visit today and this was my first real visit. Holy Crap is this place small. Like REALLY small. This lounge is meant to have all the people who are flying international flights, which is crazy. It was like an endless stream of people coming into the lounge and it was rough to find a seat. The offerings were limited but I did not really want that much to be honest.

I made sure to relax a little, try to get into the holiday mood. I was dissapointed that onboard the flight today I wasn’t going to be able to sit with Heidi and to add insult to injury, an aisle seat because the true windows were taken. Not exactly my favorite way to start a vacation. Soon enough we escaped the lounge and headed off to the gate to get ready for boarding.

All Nippon Airways – NH177
Seattle Tacoma to Tokyo Narita
1320-1540+1
Boeing 787-8 (JA814A)
Business Class – Seat 7K

Boarding: 1250 (Gate S12)
Push Back: 1318
Take Off Roll: 1339 (Runway 16L)
Top of Descent: 1421
Touch Down: 1505 (Runway 16R)
Shut Down: 1511 (Gate: 208/29B)

Boarding came soon enough after what felt like a mountain of children boarded. I swear about ⅓ of the plane was preboarded. Thank god I was not down the back of the bus today because holy crap would that suck. Heidi and I were in the first half dozen or so Business Class passengers onboard and that was when we waved good bye to each other. When I got to my seat the person in 9A was settling in and he said hello, so I said Hi back. I let him know that if he didn’t want his seat to let me know, I would be happy to swap.

Then he said something I never thought I would be happier to hear. “My wife, she is in 7K, will you swap with her”. Win win on both sides!! They get to be together, and I get my window seat. Holy crap this would be the luckiest thing the whole day. I gladly swapped and also made sure to thank them several times over. Every staff member I spoke to after that started to thank me for swapping so the couple could be together. I was very happy to let them know it was not that big of a deal.

I got situated as the rest of the plane came walking past my seat and soon enough we were pulling off the gate. As we started to get ready to taxi all the staff lined up, bowed and waved to everyone. The traditional ANA departure… always a site to behold. The long taxi line out to the North end of the runway and as we went past I noticed two fire trucks having water cannon practice. Fun times!

We took off to the South and turned towards the west and back to the northwest as we started the long haul westward toward Asia. The service took a long time to get started and they handed out the wrong menu to begin with. Which must have been awkward… but still, I wouldn’t need to keep it because it would be the same on the way back. Since the service was so slow i started to watch the first of many movies for this trip to ensure that I kept myself entertained.

Lunch finally began with the canapes and drinks. Because we were leaving the USA it would have to be the western options. I would keep the Japanese options for the departure in two weeks time. So the western menu started with a Cajun prawn thing and some corn soup. The soup was delicious and Heidi agreed because I recieved a message through in seat messaging to confirm it. The main I chose was the beef and expecting it to come out tough when it was actually deliciously tender. The sauce was pretty spicy so that wasn’t what I expected. Finished off the meal with some cheese, the japanese dessert (because I didn’t feel like cheesecake) and some coffee.

After lunch I relaxed the seat back and kept watching my movies. After finishing up the 2nd movie it was time for some more coffee and some trip report writing. Trip report, coffee and a movie, felt like the good old days! I didn’t want to eat all of the food on this flight, it just isn’t that long and with the late start, well I wasn’t that hungry. So i decided to have some of the lighter dishes for the 2nd meal. Ramen, Ice cream and some fruit maybe? I dunno… too many choices.

It had been a pretty easy comfortable flight, getting away in Business class is always fun right? This could be the last long haul flight for a while in the front as well, So I would need to enjoy it.

The rest of the flight went relatively smoothly. As I watched the third movie around two and a half hours out they switched on all the lights (rather than using moodlighting) and got everyone up. It was a tad shocking but it was ok, since I had not slept anyway and kept a good amount of light trying to come through my windows anyway.

As the movie progressed and began to finish I started to choose something for the final service. I didn’t really feel like eating much as it was only a few hours since I had just eaten so I decided to eat the Ippudo ramen (which has always been a good choice on ANA). They did not dissapoint with a nice bowl (albeit not the special ippudo bowl) of noodles and broth for …. Dinner? Or was it lunch again? I dunno… so confused.

We started our descent relatively early but as with any approach into Tokyo they warned of turbulence. Thankfully it was not as bad as that night back in 2009 when it was the roughest approach I have ever had in my life. This time thankfully there was a few lumps and bumps but nothing out of control. As we approached Narita it was the usual routes past Narita township, the AEON mall and then over the hotels like the Hilton and touching down. We were a good 30+ minutes ahead of schedule.

What I didn’t expect on arrival into Narita was a bus gate. Usually the USA flights all get gates in the 50s, as they usually turn the plane right back around. Apparently not us today as we were headed to “Gate” 208. This would be only the second time I have had a bus gate in Narita and that was back in 2013 on the way back from Hong Kong. We pulled up, the crews took a while getting the steps up to the plane and then to hand over paperwork. But finally we were let off the plane and I was the second person off. You better believe I am going to step down and take some photos!

A quick bus tour around the ramp and we were let off at Gate 29B, the bus stop that would let us up into Immigration and Customs. This would be the real battle as you try to get a spot in what is usually the really long line. Today though both Heidi and I breezed through. There was no wait and all and in fact we were both helped in seconds. Last time we came to visit the process took almost 45 minutes for customs, today, no more than 3. We waited longer for our bags to come out than for immigration and customs combined! What I had scheduled to take at least an hour took around 20 minutes!

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Sunday 2nd July 2017

Waking up and heading out this morning was on the plans. It was the final day of our vacation and both of us did not really want it to end, but we did want to head home (at least Heidi wanted to just see Darcy again). After breakfast at the hotel (one final waffle for the road!) and checking out, we gassed the car and headed out for the airport. With the mess that is LAX we gave ourselves plenty of time. The roads were with us this morning as what is usually a 2 hour drive, turned into less than an hour. We made it to LAX with so much time to spare.

We stopped for some ice cream at Thrifty Ice Cream (found in a Rite Aid, drug store ice cream is awesome!) and then we headed over to Imperial Hill for some spotting for a while. I got to see a few new planes, get some decent photos and Heidi enjoyed some sunshine (as the marine layer slowly burned out). After a while it was time to get back on track to the airport. We topped off the car, and headed back over to the National lot to drop off Buzz.

Back to the terminal area to check in for my second flight of the trip. We were flying home Delta (due to time and price) but they had just moved in LAX. So our flight was going out of Terminal 2 so that is where we got dropped off. Once inside though they made it clear that only International check ins are at T2 and all domestic check ins are T3. Well that is just stupid! So we had to drag the bags over to T3 and drop them off. We decided to go through security at T3 rather than T2 as it was a little bit quieter. Through Pre Check (a bit of a line) and it was back to being in the airport. We took the bus over to T2 so got a free ramp tour on the way.

Over in T2 it was a mess (but then so was T3) there was no help desks anywhere, barely any signage and over all a shit show is the best description. But the terminal was pretty (thanks to Westfield forking out for the upgrades before Delta took over). We found a place to sit down and get some power, relax and wait out the bedlam. After an hour or so our plane showed up so we headed over towards our gate.

Delta Air Lines – DL2515
Los Angeles to Seattle Tacoma
1445-1715
Boeing 737-800 (N390DA)
Comfort+ – Seat 12F

Boarding: 1420 (Gate 21B)
Push Back: 1452
Take Off Roll: 1502 (Runway 24L)
Top of Descent: 1642
Touch Down: 1704 (Runway 34L)
Shut Down: 1730 (Gate A1)

Just before boarding was called I had a chat with the gate agent mentioning that it was a flight with a large stand by list and that all the upgrades to Comfort+ had been completed and if there was a chance of any further upgrades. Next thing I know two new boarding passes were being printed. A little bit later Boarding was called and it was a major shit show! People lining up everywhere, everyone thinking they can get onboard when they shouldn’t. Total bedlam. Thankfully we had the new boarding passes and were heading onboard soon.

We got settled onboard and the flow of people just kept coming. A lot of people mixed up with seats and a lot of back and forth about people apparently sitting in seats that weren’t. Eventually we were able to button up and get ourselves pushed back. It was a quick taxi out of the ramp area to the taxiway but we were in a constant line up. We were onboard a 2ku fitted aircraft so even though it said we could have wifi from gate to gate, I couldn’t get the hook up to settle down till we were almost on the runway. So I stayed offline till we were airborne.

While we were waiting to line up, I started to get a movie selected so that I could enjoy some entertainment on the flight. Movies were included but then I also had a Wifi promo code as well. We took off with plenty of power out over the ocean before turning back over the coast just north of LAX and headed North. I turned on the wifi and got connected and fired up a movie to watch.

About 20 minutes after take off they handed out a snack to everyone in Comfort+. We were happy to buy a snack box each as we had some credit from Amex to use. But they didn’t offer them out for sale at all. Hell we didn’t even get to have any biscoff, they offered one type of snack packet and that is it. Very disappointing.

The flight just kind of went on without a hassle, I watched my movie, hung out on the internet, all the usual things in this day and age. Pretty soon we were crossing into Washington and starting descent. It was pretty easy flight. It was great to be able to just relax all the way home. We had a straight descent into SeaTac and before we knew it we were coming in over Federal Way and Des Moines. We touched down on the far runway and had a long taxi to get over to the gate.

We pulled into one of the holding spots just off the B gates and here we waited. We were in the penalty box because we were early (or the other flight was running behind, not sure which). I had originally turned down an offer for a ride home thinking we would be at the gate quickly. Sadly because we waited so long, we probably could have been picked up. O well!

We were finally into the gate and off the plane. We didn’t have to wait long for our bags (well within the 20 minute time frame) and soon enough we were off to a ride share and home. Within 20 minutes of pulling into the gate, we were home and in our house. That is a good thing right?

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Friday 30th June 2017

After winding our way out of Downtown Las Vegas we hit the freeway out of town. We made a brief stop to pick up a house warming gift for Heidi’s best friend but after that it was all freeway, all the time! We made pretty good time, traffic was heavyish but not horrible. We took a brief stop in Baker at the Alien Fresh Jerky (made from the best abducted cows!) to check it out (since we had seen so many signs and heard about it on the radio). It was pretty interesting and very very crowded.

Back on the road through to Ontario and it was fairly non eventful. We didn’t even have to stop for the agricultural check point, although I thought they would. We hit some bad traffic just outside Ontario/San Bernadino thanks to a few accidents and we were almost in one ourselves due to the fact that a water tank was lying in the middle of the freeway. Ugh!

The rest of our day was not that exciting. We visited Heidi’s best friends new house and I was sent off to check in on my own. We were staying at the same hotel we had stopped at almost a week before. This time we were staying for 2 nights and we had upgraded to a suite, since it was only $10 a night extra.

Saturday 1st July 2017

Again another non eventful day, more time spent at the friends house, but with a few moments of fun. Heidi enjoyed the fact that we were going to the recycling center to return the plastic bottles we had accumulated. All for $1.72 in refund… o yay! We also took over some time babysitting one of the kids so that Heidi’s best friend could move in a bit easier and get stuff set up. We took little Kora to the Chick Fil A for lunch and some time in the playground, then some time spent by, and in, the pool.

We finished off the night by having dinner at a local Korean BBQ place. It was all you can eat which isn’t a bad thing. It means you can pick and choose the meats you want, rather than having set plates. So much easier and it doesn’t always require you to go overboard on the food, it just means you have what you want. We had some very, very tasty stuff. O they also had Macaroons with Ice Cream in the middle…. they were delicious.

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Tuesday 27th June 2017

We woke up and got ourselves sorted in Palm Springs at a fairly reasonable 7am. We didn’t need to rush but we wanted to get on the road before any traffic and also before the heat obviously. We had picked up some breakfast supplies for me the night before, Heidi on the other hand wanted to enjoy her Sausage Gravy MRE, it even came with “artificial whitener”. Looked gross to me, but she was happy with it.

The roads were pretty clear as we drove out of PSP. We had tossed up between going via the Freeway or via Arizona but the freeways won out due to ease. Heidi took the first stint at the wheel as we headed out into the California interstates. We made a number of stops (hello Bathroom breaks, i should stop drinking so much coffee in the morning on road trips). We were originally planning on stopping for lunch around Barstow but we ended up making really good time, so did a driver swap there only. We headed out towards Las Vegas across the Mojave Desert.

We made such good time that we ended up in Vegas a good hour ahead of our time so we stopped just outside town to hit In N Out for lunch and work out final plans about how to drop bags etc. Sadly our hotel was on the opposite side to the self park area, so we had to do some to do a lot of back and forth to get into our rooms. Because we didn’t want to pay for Valet, since we received complimentary self parking, we had to drop our bags up at the North Valet first, then drive around to the Self Park then cross back over the hotel to check in. Silly but it was what we had to do.

After dropping the bags and parking the car (it was sure an adventure) we made a brief stop at the MLife desk on the way over to the Sky Suites check in. While checking in they gave us a brief run down of the amenities and the benefits of our stay. They handed us our keys to a 1 Bedroom Sky Suite with City View. That kind of made me sad for a second figuring we were looking back away from the Strip, however I was wrong. Our room on the 55th floor was massive and panoramic views of the strip and best of all, the airport. I could watch a lot fo movement on the Eastern Side of the airport through all of the GA areas. The suite was massive as well, almost as big as our house so we had plenty of space to move about.

We made plans to relax for part of the afternoon (I ran an errand down to Fry’s) and then we would have our progressive dinner along the strip. This is something we have done just about every trip since we first visited together. We would walk up to Harrah’s for a salad, explore some of the hotels along the way and then hop onto the other side of the strip, explore some more and have some pizza at Cosmopolitan at Secret Pizza. From there we would find some dessert depending on what we feel like, although this year, that would mean not leaving the building as Milkbar is now open. Everything was great and the we walked for hours on end. Pizza was tasty and Heidi’s first taste of Crack Pie and Cereal Milk Ice Cream made her night. We returned to our hotel for a relaxing night where Heidi gambled and I passed out.

Wednesday 28th June 2017

After a nice late sleep in, a gym session in the massive Aria gym and then it was time for breakfast. We were heading to the Aria buffet (it was comped thankfully) and they had changed the way they do things. They now did not have a breakfast and lunch on weekdays. They had 3 sittings still but it was breakfast till 9am, Brunch till 3pm and then Dinner from 3pm onwards. We managed to get into the restaurant just before Brunch started so the crowds were not there. But shortly afterwards the restaurant filled up. They had all of our usual favorites, plus a whole heap more! We were very happy full people by the time we waddled out.

Today was our relaxing day and Heidi had a spa treatment booked for the afternoon. Before catching up with a friend for a little bit, we headed out to the Airplane Shop where Heidi let me finally buy a model! I ended up getting the Salmon 30 Salmon in honor of Heidi’s Grandad. After seeing our friend I dropped Heidi back at Aria for her treatment and I went off plane spotting. I hit up a few different spots including Sunset drive and also the MGM parking lot. I didn’t get as many photos as I wanted as it was stupidly hot, along with their being numerous runway changes. I just got tired of the back and forth so went back to the hotel to enjoy the view of the airport from on high.

We had tickets (or so we thought) for Blue Man Group that night and we had a couple of different options for dinner but went for something that not many people would expect. I had never been to a Taco Bell before and Las Vegas is the home of the first ever Taco Bell Cantina. Their flagship store, it has a wedding chapel, the usual taco bell food and alcoholic slushies! I had no idea what to order, so Heidi helped me through it. What we had was suuuuuuuper tasty. I was happy as larry. Heidi had a Margarita slushy, I ended up with the Mountain Dew Baja Blast, which was pretty good.

After dinner we made our way over to the Luxor for the show and just as we parked we got a message saying our tickets fell through. Ugh. We frantically looked at options and in the end, went with a walk up ticket, the prices were not that bad. Heidi Loved Blue Man Group and I enjoyed the new show (different since the last time I saw it in 2012). We managed to get a photo with one of the Blue Men as we left. Back to the hotel to pass out as it was a late night.

Thursday 29th March 2017

We woke up early to eat breakfast before leaving the hotel. This time having breakfast at the Aria Cafe rather than the buffet as we didn’t want that kind of full belly. We were heading out early to meet our friend at the Red Rock Casino. After that we were heading out to the Red Rock area to enjoy the outdoors and do a small bit of hiking before the sun became way too much.

We saw a few different spots and Heidi was specific she didn’t want any busy hikes so we did part of the Ice Box canyon hike. As we left the park we were all sweaty and tired! Well worth the hike too. The views were stunning and it was so different to Joshua Tree. We returned to the hotel (after putting some gas in the car) and after showing our friend around the suite for a bit, we got ready to check out. Neither of us was that hungry so ended up just putting together a few bits and pieces for lunch.

We checked out of our hotel (after several back and forth trips across the hotel to the self parking lot) and headed over towards Downtown Las Vegas. We made a brief stop to get some souvenirs at the World’s Largest Gift Shop (which is sketchy yet hilarious at the same time), before heading to the Golden Nugget Hotel. Thankfully I had managed to get us VIP check in as the place was an absolute Zoo at check in. No staff to help out, the valet was a mess with cars and people everywhere and not a Bellman in sight to help with bags. I had to ask several people to figure out where VIP Check In even was. But soon enough we had keys and vague directions to our room.

We went out to explore the Downtown area for a bit and tried to figure out dinner. We found one place to try but it was small and we probably would need a back up. After a while in the heat I went back to the room and Heidi came back for a bit too before she headed off to get set up for Slotzilla. I got my large camera and decided to try and see if I could get photos of her. It wasn’t easy but I managed to get something resembling a photo, though it wasn’t very good quality.

After trying out our dinner place and seeing the wait for a table was over 90 minutes we decided to try out Hash House a Go Go in the Plaza Hotel. It was good and we both enjoyed our dinner. We went back to the hotel and picked up the car from the Valet (we wanted to move it from the main valet to the one closest to our room) and headed out to pick up some Ice Cream from a place I had been to in the past. It was still as tasty and sketchy as I remember it. But who cares it was delicious! We came back to the hotel and passed out!

Friday 30th June 2017

We woke up early with all intents of hitting the gym but just couldn’t roll out of bed. So we instead made our way to the buffet earlier than usual so that Heidi could still make it to the pool before we checked out. The buffet at the Golden Nugget was cheap ($14++) and with a 2 for 1 voucher made the value all the more better. It was a very good selection on offer with the requisite ice cream by the scoop and the thing that made it all the more amazing, real Krispy Kreme donuts! We filled up for sure and enjoyed our time this morning.

Heidi wanted to hit the pool so that she could ride the waterslide. The slide opened at 9am and Heidi was the third person down it. She wanted to do it as the slide goes through “The Tank” which is a large Aquarium Tank filled with fish and sharks. The slide goes straight through the middle, although Heidi says she couldn’t really see anything. After packing up and checking out, we hit the road out of Las Vegas, leaving it behind for another year.

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Saturday 24th June 2017

After picking up our luggage (I managed to get Heidi’s bag before she did then spend several minutes waiting for her to realise this) we headed out to the shuttle bus pick up area. It was time to play Shuttle Roulette! Which bus will show up first or how many spins of the wheel till it finally hits your number! It was about 10 or 12 shuttles in before a National shuttle showed up. It looked like everyone from Terminal 1 was heading to either National or Alamo today. The Rental Shuttle filled at Terminal 1 and headed on back to base. So that was easy!

We got to the National lot and as usual it was like a kid in a Candy Store. I wanted a Hemi Challenger so badly and there was several there, but none of them had anything that would make our week or more of driving easier. So we scrapped that plan and tried to find something else. There was a 300C but it had a good dose of miles on it (over 10k), plenty of SUV options (although a lot of those were being picked by other renters at a fast pace) but there was an Infiniti lurking in the Premium Aisle. So I went up and asked what was the chance of getting an Infiniti with no upcharge. Apparently pretty good because a few minutes later we were driving away in a fairly new Q70. I originally thought it was a Q50 (which is the more luxury version of the Maxima) but it was a 70 which is the luxury version of the Altima. It was enjoyable.

We headed over to Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles for some Brunch with a friend. Even though there was lines when we got there, the wait was not long and we were soon enjoying some of the best fried Chicken I have ever had. I mean it… it was DELICIOUS!

Sadly the weather turned to crap after Brunch so I didn’t end up doing any plane spotting so we waved goodbye to my friend and we headed off to Ontario where the weather was hopefully going to be better. It was and without much traffic we were out there in good time. We settled into our hotel to fix up some errands for the afternoon (aka unpacking, laundry, re packing, sorting out messes etc).

We had dinner that night with Heidi’s best friend at Souplantation. I wish they would bring this chain up north, it would make my wife super happy! We wanted an early night as we would be up early the next morning to get moving before it got too hot.

Sunday 25th June 2017

We packed up all our stuff early and had breakfast right as it opened at 7pm. We wanted to be done early and then in the car for the 2 hour drive out to Joshua Tree National Park. Temperatures were set to reach 115F by around 3pm and that meant we wanted to get in and out before that time hit. No way would the park rangers let us go out on our own in that kind of temperatures, they would be stupid. One thing about Joshua Tree is that there is no water, food or anything in the park. Once you enter, you are on your own. Nothing is available apart from some basic drop toilets and trash bins. Everything needs to come in with you. Food, water, maps, Gas, everything.

To get around that food problem we packed a few MREs we had for just this purpose into a box and shipped them down to Heidi’s friend. That way when we met up for dinner we could pick up our box and we didn’t need to carry the food with us all over Chicago. So we had food covered and the water we picked up a full slab at target the day before. We had enough Gas in the car to get us through the day as well. So off we went!

We checked in at the Visitors Center in Joshua Tree township first. The rangers there gave us a good guide as to what to see and where to go. They pretty much planned our day for us. Two small hikes of around a mile round trip each. They should take about an hour each at a half decent pace in the heat of the day with plenty of stops for water. Add on a number of other visits and we were set. Joshua Tree was pretty in a desert landscape kind of way. Lots of rocks and ridges, plenty of trees around (the desert kind) and some random lizards and other animals.

The Keys view lookout was pretty awesome too and gave a great perspective of the whole Joshua Tree valley. We ended up finding some shade under split rock in what was almost a cave to enjoy our lunch. It made the heat a little bit more tolerable. After a final walk through what was meant to be an “Oasis” but was not, we headed back towards Palm Springs. We both enjoyed Joshua Tree!

Palm Springs was back to civilisation, if you can call a bunch of old people that. We wanted to rest and relax in the afternoon before heading to a happy hour for dinner. Sadly Heidi’s favorite place had changed menus, so we had to come up with another plan. We checked into our hotel, the L’Horizon Palm Springs. We almost didn’t check in as you couldn’t see it coming from the direction we did. We drove straight past it, even with the SatNav. The hotel was built way back in the 50s for the man who directed Lassie. He wanted a house for himself and a number of private bungalows for his friends. Now the hotel has been remodeled and still maintains plenty of that 50s style. It is adults only as well so that made the smallness feel so much better.

The hotel was stunning but boy was it hot! The rooms are mostly glass to the pool area so you can enjoy the pool view, but during summer, that isn’t realistic. Big heavy black out curtains try to keep the heat out but it doesn’t fully help at times. Sometimes on days like today the heat will bake up to the 120F mark and heat those windows. The heat emanating off those windows behind the curtains was killer! We still relaxed while we could and enjoyed the peace and quiet.

We headed to Tommy Bahama’s for dinner (and just made happy hour by a few minutes). Who would think that a store would have a restaurant? It was pretty cool and their Pimento Cheese dip stuff was like crack. No need for chips just give me some bread and slather it allllllll over it (I may or may not have done that). After Tommy Bahama’s we headed to downtown Palm Springs to enjoy some Ice Cream/Dole Whip before returning to the hotel. I was so dehydrated/out of it that I passed out on the bed early.

Monday 26th June 2017

We woke up pretty early today with the idea that if we wanted to go out and do any walks or hiking it needed to be early. At 6am when we got up the temperature was a mild 86F and we knew it was only gonna get hotter as the day went on. We headed out to the Coachella Nature Reserve which was just outside Palm Desert and was a true Palm Oasis with a rumoured 1000 untouched palm trees. We enjoyed a 2 mile morning hike through the reserve in amongst a lot of trees and shrubs. We saw some Jackrabbits, lizards and plenty of birds. It was a nice morning and way better than the oasis we saw the day before.

After the hike we were going to go to Costco but apparently Palm Springs doesn’t decide to do anything till after 10am so that plan was bust. We instead went to enjoy some breakfast and I had my first German Pancake. It looked huge but really wasn’t. It was so thin, almost crepe like, that it really wasn’t at all as filling as you would think. If you didn’t have it so spread out, it might equal maybe 2 pancakes. Still super tasty though! While at breakfast we made our plans for our one true day in Palm Springs. Morning by the pool, some resting time around the resort. Mid afternoon we would run a few errands (and bring it back to the hotel if need be). Then we would hit up Costco for some gas and supplies before grabbing a date shake at Shield’s Date Garden.

Rather than have dinner tonight we would take something to go and head out to the Salton Sea just out past the Coachella Valley in the hopes of seeing a decent sunset over a lake that actually sits below the water level. Part of the attraction of the area is that fact that it is meant to have plenty of abandoned areas. But when we were out there, it really wasn’t. That was a little bit disappointing. We tracked all the way down to Salvation Mountain though and it was pretty yet disturbing at the same time.

We backtracked back up towards the top end of the Sea to find a spot for sunset. Just off the side of the road we found a nice spot to watch the sun set behind the mountains and with all the dust it was pretty stunning. Once it was down it was back on the road, back to the hotel to a comfy bed. Tomorrow brings new adventures!

Current Location: L’Horizon Resort and Spa Palm Springs

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Saturday 24th June 2017

Why is it I seem to book flights that are first thing in the morning. Do I hate myself that much? Not a good start to my morning as not only did the shower have no water pressure, there was no hot water. Cold showers at 3am… Sounds great doesn’t it? Even checking out of the hotel was a hassle. They had told us when we checked in we would miss out on breakfast but that coffee was available 24 hours, that the yoghurt fridge should be open & possibly some fruit too. Nope! The shuttle should have gone 24 hours too on demand. We got to the desk around 345am & there was no one around. 5 minutes later the lady came up as though we were putting her out & when I said we needed the shuttle “4am only”. So much for on demand.

We finally made it to the airport & check in was a mess. People everywhere! This was my first experience with Midway & it wasn’t off to a good start. The thing that made this experience off was that it was not like my other Southwest experiences. No one was there to help, there was no typical southwest customer service, just a typical airport experience of people in bad moods.

After dropping our bags we made it to security where everyone was using the precheck lane up until we joined the line then they opened the main checkpoint & people got confused. Finally got through the crowds & security safely to the other side. Time to find our gate which was on the other side of the airport. One of the last gates. It was strange to me that our plane came into a gate late last night & wasn’t yet on the gate if it had been towed off for either maintenance or something else. This day was getting strange.

Nothing really open down our end of the airport so stuck to what I had on me, but just stumbled around like a brainless idiot. Around 20 minutes before boarding the crew shows up, still no plane. They start asking questions, the gate agent looks around aimlessly, pretty sure this is going to end in a gate change. Seconds later the crew start packing up & heading off, low & behold the plane wasn’t moved it stayed on its original gate. So 10 minutes before boarding was due, they changed our gate to the opposite end of the airport. Sigh. We were going to be delayed.

Off we trekked to the other side of the airport and were the first two people at the gate, even beating the gate agent (who stopped for coffee apparently). By the time we started boarding we were going to be at least 20 minutes late.

Southwest Airlines – WN4652
Chicago Midway to Los Angeles
0610-0830
Boeing 737-700 (N7731A)
Economy Class – Seat 16F

Boarding: 0550 (Gate A17)
Push Back: 0652
Take Off Roll: 0656 (Runway 31C)
Top of Descent: 0827
Touch Down: 0857 (Runway 24R)
Shut Down: 0910 (Gate 10)

Boarding was introduced in the usual Southwest fashion, an explanation of how to line up correctly. There was a lot of people who did not understand how this works & it was the usual shit show while people tried lining up where they shouldnt. It all worked out in the end & we soon got onboard.

Took a seat towards the back, although my favorite seat was open I was scared I wouldn’t be able go use underseat space so left it. Rookie move Mal. After we settled in it was then wait wait wait. We were all on by 6:15pm so around 10 minutes late, but sadly we now had maintenance problems. Yep, gonna be late.

We waited & waited, eventually getting the ok to close the door almost 35 minutes late & being off the gate 45 minutes late. We had the usual Southwest speed taxi to the runway and had barely stopped when we were told line up & wait. As we got clearance to take off the two up front were not messing around, they planted the throttles & when wheels went up they pulled back and climbed out steeply. I don’t think I’ve ever had such a steep climb out on a 737.

As we climbed out the child in the row behind me continued to kick & hit my seat and then the guy in front of me reclined into my face, this day couldn’t get any worse could it? I spoke to soon. Shortly after leveling off I pulled my earplanes case out so it would be easy to grab when it came time to take them out. Well I apparently must have knocked it off at some point & it disappeared. I lost my shit at this point as those earplanes are painful after a while. By this point I had them in almost 2 hours & the pain was kicking in. I needed to keep them in something clean so they wouldn’t put dust or anything in my ears. I lost it.

Heidi smartly got a clean cup & lid from the flight attendant for me to store them in. She’s always smarter than I am. I always tend to lose my shit when I lose something (news flash happened twice on the flight, kinda was like a tired 2 year old). After that since I was trapped in hell I tried to catch up on as much rest as I could, didn’t get much. I napped a little but it wasn’t worth while.

About an hour out I went through my usual rituals getting ready for descent & we started to pass over the grand canyon. It looked good but awfully hazy today. Right on 30 minutes out we started our initial descent towards LAX & about 10 minutes later the pilots gave their warning. Quickish descent over the city & started lining up for the north runways.

Came in right over In n Out as the child behind me started screaming nonsense, and I mean screaming, at the top of his lungs. Did I tell you he was 6? How do I know, well he repeatedly told his parents he was 6. Ugh. Anyway as we touched down we had a fairly prompt exit from the active onto the taxiway, but we were way down the west end of the field. Standing out down there was the new Qantas hangar and boy were they big!! Qantas has to move down there after they pulled down a lot of the older space that American used for the Mid Field Concourse. QF though got the better end of the deal as AA got shafted with old facilities.

We taxied back towards Terminal 1 and as we approached Terminals 2 & 3 it was strange to see them filled with Delta aircraft. Guess the new move is working away. However sadly we were coming into gate 10 at LAX. The Tow in gate! Fun! The pilots came on and gave us a brief to say that we would take a little bit to get into the gate as we had to be towed in and to not stand up until the seat belt sign is off. Thankfully everyone did as they were told.

Not too soon later we were off the plane, into the terminal and waiting for our bags. They took a while but they showed up!.

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Wednesday 21st June 2017

After collecting our luggage and making out way out of the station we headed to the street & the lick up points for ride share. We requested a ride and moments later we were being picked up. Off to the hotel we went.

Due to peak hour it took a while to get up to the hotel from Union Station but it was fine. We were dropped off in the driveway for our hotel, The Waldorf Astoria Chicago. The hotel was one of my work benefits so we had used it for 2 of our three nights. Check in was a breeze & within a few minutes we were on our way up to our suite. We had been upgraded to a Waldorf Suite on the top floor. The room was amazing, so much space. The view though was blocked by other buildings bit we could see glimpses of the lake.

After checking out the room and waiting a few minutes for our bags we got ourselves settled & then headed out to dinner. We decided to have some pizza the first night, so I let Heidi decide. She went with Giordanos which was only a short walk from the hotel. Sadly when we got there it was a 45 minute wait for tables & then it’s another 45-60 minutes for pizza. We waited it out and it was well worth the wait.

After waddling back to the hotel we crashed for the evening as it was getting late by that stage.

Thursday 22nd June 2017

After waking up & heading outside for a long morning walk along the lake, I had to meet a hotel rep in the morning so we took it easy to begin with. I headed down to Dunkin for some breakfast, Heidi had leftover pizza.

After getting to check out the hotel, including some amazing rooms like the Presidential Suite, we headed out for the day. We hopped the Red Line down to Millennium Park & checked out the sights. We took photos with The Bean & then worked our way down to the Buckingham Fountain. More walking as we made our way back through the city to Portillos for lunch.

Portillos is famous for its hot dogs & Italian beef. Since my allergy precludes me from eating Italian beef, I’ll stick to the hot dog. We got there & the waits were not to bad. We were smart & got a table first. I had forgotten how wierd the Chicago hot dog really is. It has so much stuff on it, you would think someone was drunk when they invented it. Still tastes good though. I surprised Heidi with a slice of their famous lemon cake which you can only get on rare occasions, luckily one of them was the day we visited. Heidi enjoyed her first try of a Chicago hot dog so that was good.

After lunch we went back out into the humidity & 90F weather. We walked back down to the river slowly before our 4pm cruise along the Chicago River. Time for the architecture cruise. I had done it when I first came & loved it. So much history & learning a lot about different styles of buildings. I thought Heidi might like it. Of course the minute we get on board the open top boat it begins to rain.

The cruise was great & I learned a few new things. Heidi did too after a while, to begin with it was a but too much information for her. But by the end of it we had both enjoyed it. After the cruise we walked along the riverfront for a bit, grabbed some dinner & hopped a train back to the hotel. We finished off a long day of walking by relaxing on the couch eating sandwiches from Hannah Bretzels, a flashy kind of subway that offered Pretzel Bread rolls. They were delicious!

Friday 23rd June 2017

Woke up at a normal time today & hit the hotels gym for a bit. After returning to the room & cleaning up it was time to pack up our stuff. We decided to leave our bags at the hotel & head out. We would come back later on & grab our stuff before heading to the other hotel.

We had breakfast at the Dunkin Donuts near us & then headed off to explore North of the river today. Started off with the water tower and then off along the waterfront to Lincoln Park. Heidi wanted to explore the park so off we went. She had earlier told me she didn’t want to see the zoo but the moment we got there she all of a sudden wanted to see the zoo. Sadly no time 😉

We took a long walk through the Lincoln Park neighborhood on our way to lunch. While not from Chicago, we wanted to give a sushi burrito a try. We found one at was once called Sumo Restaurant (since changed name) & it was delicious. I had the Angry Salmon & boy was it spicy,covered in cheeto dust too. After lunch Heidi & I walked back to the Red Line to jump a train over to the Magnificent Mile, for a donut, before returning to the hotel.

After collecting our bags & ordering a ride share, this is when things went awry. The driver that had been sent to us by the rideshare decided not to use the hotel driveway but instead park on the street out of view of us waiting on the driveway. The car looked run down & he had music blaring. Those two I can forgive, but the way he drove us to our other hotel was the killer. He ignored the directions on the app, he ran several red lights & stop signs too. A 35 minute rode took almost an hour. By the time I got to the hotel I was hot under the collar, literally too as it was stinking hot in that car.

We checked into our other hotel, the Sleep Inn Midway airport. A one night stay by the airport for our 6am flight the next day was all that needed. The room was booked as a name your own price on priceline & I got a relatively good deal. Although the hotel was basic it was pretty nice. We did get the typical priceline treatment of an accessible room. Not much in the way of options for food around the hotel but what they did have was a Lou Malnati’s close by. We choose to compare pizzas.

After an amazing dinner of deep dish we waddled back to the hotel to crash till the Weee hours of the morning.

Current Location: Country Inn & Suites Ontario Mills