by ·0 Comments

Well, my birthday is drawing to a close, but not after a stellar weekend. Now it could not top my 30th Birthday last year when I spent a lengthened celebrations in New York and Paris and with my first ever Transatlantic Flight, it was truly an epic celebration. But this year, well it was going to be my first as a Washington Resident, a far way from home, not many friends, what was I to do. Originally I was going to trip up to Vancouver and do some spotting. But then I was told about SeaFair and that the Blue Angels were coming to town. I was staying put!. Fast forward a few weeks and the plans for my birthday grew. I decided to fork out for a ticket, then I ended up just going to make sure that I had a full weekend of Aviation goodness as I was going to finally sign up to the Museum of Flight and get a membership there, which would give me access to the Blue Angels at Boeing Field. It was going to be good. Then the plans lengthened and now the celebration will continue next weekend when I head up to Vancouver on my first road trip in the truck and head to the Abbotsford Airshow and staying at one of my favourite hotels the Fairmont Vancouver Airport (it was a bargain, im a sucker). Either way this was a truly epic plan and now the first part is over.

I am totally and utterly beat after 2 days of record high temps here in Seattle of 93F on average (about 34c which really isnt much but Seattle is not built for this heat) but the sun was out, the sky was blue and i spent the weekend in the Sun turning into a bright red lobster and loving every minute. I am sure I could talk all day about the Air show and getting to watch the Blue Angels for the first time (thats a whole other post sometime this week) but to be honest, right now, I just wanna chill out, have some dinner and then relax.

But first I will give you a little tease of some images from the weekend. I took 3800 photos on the SLR over Saturday and Sunday and there is some truly epic photos, stuff that even blows my mind how beautiful they turned out. So keep an eye on my twitter feed during the week and on the picasa link at the bottom of the page. I put up a folder full of some of the not as good shots for those who don’t want to wait, but trust me… you will want to.

From Sea Fair 2012 Processed Photos
From Sea Fair 2012 Processed Photos
From Sea Fair 2012 Processed Photos
Sea Fair 2012 Processed Photos
SeaFair 2012

by ·0 Comments

Well I ended up scoring some tickets to the Seattle Mariners game on Tuesday night when they won their 6th game in a row (now 7 since they won again last night) and the seats were DAMN good.

From Expat Life

As you can see the view was great. But the thing that really makes this good is, I have now seen the Toronto Blue Jays lose 3 times in 3 different places and the Mariners win twice both Away and at home. The game was pretty good, got to see someone get a bat to the head in the crowd (not funny but kind of). The stadium i had a tour through last year on my big trip (funnier thing is that I was at the baseball the exact same day last year but in San Francisco… freaky.. new tradition?). There was the usual crap food options at the stadium, however there was some phenomenally good options as well.

There was sushi, thai stir frys (or at least what passes for it over here), Starbucks Espresso and my favourite from the night some fresh grilled Yukon Salmon from Ivars. It was $12 which felt like a gouge to start with, but it was a MASSIVE hunk of salmon served with a pretty good ceasar salad. I couldnt complain cause the amount of salmon I got would probably cost about that outside in some restaurants so I didn’t feel all that gouged. However $4.50 for a soda… yeah thats BS.

It was good to hit up my first Baseball game in Seattle, Football will be happening soon with the season starting this month for Pre Season (first game not scheduled till October). But I have had so much achieved in the first 3 months of my stay here! crazy++

by ·0 Comments

Last Tuesday was a nerve racking morning. I have not had nerves like that since I was 17 (and that was a long time ago). Tuesday morning I had to take a driving test…. something I had not done since that day way back in 1999.

Unfortunately living in Washington State there is no reciprocity to Australian Driver licenses so it means I needed to get mine to prove residency and so I can do things legally over here. It was the last of my legal paperwork that needed to be done. Thankfully they give you 12 months of arriving to do this.

Licenses are cheap in WA (that’s Washington not Western Australia) compared to QLD. $25 for 5 years, what is silly is that as no reciprocity means I have to qualify as though I was a first timer. That requires a written and a driving test. The written test was pretty easy and similar to back home (from what I remember anyway as hell that was even longer ago I got my learners). The worst part about my written test was that I had to wait almost 90 mins all up to take a test that took 5-6 mins. Wait times for licenses here are huge I’ve heard of 3+ hours :/ but that’s a whole other story.

Once you pass your written test only then can. You request a date for your driving test, at a time convenient to the testing agency (Yay for more time out of work). There are less complicated maneuvers than the test I remember but I had to take it in. my vehicle. Crap. A driving test in the truck, Damn. Situation worsens, you have to parallel park (reverse park) as part of the test. Crap+++

I can drive the truck, I love the thing. It cruises effortlessly, has good pick up but it’s hard to park. Plus it’s new so I do watch every little bit to make sure I don’t scratch it at all.

Reverse parking the truck is another matter. Half the time I did the even try as I prefer to find a spot that I can easily get in and out of and if that means walking a bit further so be it. But it was part of the test so I have no choice really. Can’t do much about that at all. I suck it up and spend most of my free time Sunday practice parking. I think to myself, yeah I can do this.

Nope! Test day comes & things start out bad when I lock the testing official out of the truck before we even start. #fail. Then I put the truck in reverse to pull out from the curb, not drive. Damn nerves. But then the dreaded park which I totally botched. Not even remotely close. I kick myself, I was pissed I would need to take more time off to do it again etc, just annoying. But he passed me! Yay!

Maybe he took pity on me, maybe he didn’t instant fail me cause its not a big deal here, either way I didn’t care! I had passed.

So now I’m a licensed driver in the state of Washington. I am a legal resident of the USA. This is kind of a dream come true. I am a little bit more American now.

But I still can’t park for shit, at least in the truck.

PS David if your reading this, yes I can sit at the big boy table now.

PPS – Managed to recover this, thanks google!

by ·0 Comments

It has been good to have a weekend at home, one where I am pretty much doing chores but chores need to be done and it feels relaxing.  I got to spend my weekend just catching up on life doing the menial tasks like cleaning, groceries, shopping, running errands like going to the bank, getting fuel, checking out the shops, going out to dinner and just cruising around in the truck.

But this is the last chance I will get for the next few weeks to relax like this.  I have had a chance to get all those little things done, and now its time for the bedlam to begin.  I have a busy couple of weekends coming up with more photo time, some fun, friends, food, shopping and my first game at Safeco field and my first Road trip in the truck.  Can’t wait!!

I seemed to of lost my last post during the week about my license, which is a shame.  But during the week I managed to pass my driving test and I am now a licensed driver in the State of Washington. I still passed my test even though I failed the parallel park (but what do you expect when I was in the truck).  I couldn’t believe how nervous I was for that test, man it was nerve racking!

Anyway I am going to go be lazy for the rest of the afternoon, cook some dinner, catch up on TV shows and just generally bum around!  o and lots of pics updated in the Expat folder (yeah caught up on that to!)

Expat Life

by ·Comments Off on Sunburn that was totally worth it

Another Sunday afternoon, sitting in front of the computer, but this time though like the last few weeks I have been “working.” I have another 2000 or so photos to sort, select, touch up and just be shocked over. Yesterday was my first ever airshow here in the USA. Thankfully there was no real travel (apart from about an hour on the road in the truck, which was awesome cause I LOVE road tripping in it, its so effortless driving it) required as it was at the Joint Base Lewis McChord, just south of Tacoma Washington. Now what is a Joint Base, well its a mixed base of a US Army Base (in this Case Fort Lewis) and a US Air Force Bases (McChord Air Force Base) mash them all together and you get one epicly large area of space (one of the signs on the Freeway said “Joint Base Lewis McChord Next 6 Exits and considering exits are usually 2-3 miles apart thats HUGE!).

I had the best time, a new friend up here in Seattle invited me along. He provided the comfort and the company, I provided the transportation, so it was win win all around. I had a good time, i was like a little school girl, the squeeling, the big smile. O it was all to much. But It was the stuff in the Air we were there to see. Now there was 1 or 2 displays I had seen before. A B52 doing a pass. Just one. It came along slowly about 2000-3000Ft high, and just kept on going, straight over the field and didn’t look back. There was the Viper West Demonstration Team (F16) which I had seen at Avalon about 10 years ago almost. The B1 was also doing a flying display and I had seen that at Avalon as well. But thats where it all was different.

There was the usual Aerobatic displays from Extra 300s which make for a good way to break up the action at times but its usually the same. Rolls, loops, smoke, spins. There was the re-enactment displays that usually happen. This time around it was a Vietnam Era display. With an AH-1 Cobra, a Huey a O1 Bird Dog and an A1 Skyraider. All truly awesome as they recreated a typical mission from the Vietnam days in picking up a downed pilot. Pyrotechnics and all. Then came the stuff I had been wanting to see for so long. There was the US Air Force Heritage Flight. A number of years ago the US Air Force put together a display of a Modern Era Fighter with a WW 2 fighter as a tribute. It was so popular it became pretty much a standard affair. I have seen many a combination of shots but this show it was a P51 Mustang and the F16.

There was my first look at a Jet Demonstration team, the Patriots. Now back home we had the Roulettes from the RAAF. Don’t get me wrong, they are good at what they do. but to be honest a turboprop just doesn’t enthrall me doing loops etc. When you see the same manuevers done at high speed it just looks more awesome and I am sure is a lot more fun. So the Patriots were great, multicoloured smoke, loops, rolls, high speed knife edge passes. The only thing I didn’t like during it was the plugging for the advertisers. They are a commerical team so they have to make money, I understand that, but seriously every 2 minutes. Then the next big draw card for me was the B2. Yes thats right I said B2. A fully fledged Stealth Bomber. I had only ever seen photos or videos and they seriously do not do that thing justice. It does not look real. It looks so sleak, slim and it is DAMN quiet, I did not even hear a thing out of it when it was doing it’s passes.

But the #1 attraction for the day for everyone was the United States Air Force Thunderbirds. This is the USAF demonstration team. I mean seriously, you hear about these guys, you see photos, you see videos, you hear the stories. They do not prep you for the sheer awesomeness. But with awesome comes downsides. I was so dumb struck by some of the moves I lost chances for pictures, or there was times I was to engrossed in getting that perfect shot I probably didn’t appreciate it as much as I could of. But to be honest I still loved them. There was a couple of times I wish I had been quicker on the shot with the Knife Edge passes and stuff or the 2 sneaky passes where one of the solo aircraft comes out of no where to scare the crap out of everyone. The blast splits were fantastic and a lot of the slow roll formations were just sheer beauty and skill. But the Thunderbirds still impress me. It makes me want to find the Documentary I saw of them years ago and the one little line I always remember from that video I heard as they broadcasted it out to everyone yesterday “Smoke on Ready Now”.

There is a downside to the Thunderbirds though. When they advertise the Thunderbirds are doing a show. Your looking at a solid hour. But not an hour of flight, only about 25 mins of flight. The rest of the time is Ground displays with the pilots getting in to their aircraft done in formation (will get photos of that next time) and the Ground staff doing their precision work as well. Plus the story telling that goes with it. But it was still amazing. I am not complaining.

Lots of funny moments during the show with some anti government times by people during a swearing in ceremony (people saying they can’t follow the president, so obviously republicans there) and funny calls like during the Patriots demo where they listed one of the pilots real jobs (it accounted to being “show off, show off, show off, die already will you). By the end of the day I was totally sunburnt, tired, thirsty, hungry (skipped lunch) and did not care that I had to wait an hour for a bus to get out of the base. O and the photos were worth it… check em out

JBLM Air Expo 2012

by ·Comments Off on Settling In

As I approach month #3 here in Seattle and after having been in my apartment for almost a month now, I finally feel like I’m settled.

I have the apartment to a level I am happy with, I have my routine pretty down pat, getting to know the short cuts here and there.

Next week I take my driving test (not looking forward to having to reverse park the truck) so that I have a Washington license, then I really will be a local. Trying to hunt down some cheap canvas prints as well is a bit of a mission. I’ve tossed up a Costco membership again as they seem to do them super cheap and have good quality with the reviews I’ve read.

All i
n all life over here isn’t bad. I haven’t been downtown at all lately but that’s cause I’ve been so busy or away and things look to be staying that way. Hoping to maybe go downtown for my birthday… maybe

by ·Comments Off on Its… ALIVE!!!!

HAHA just like Dr Frankenstein shouted when he created his monster, I feel like that this afternoon now that I have created what I am referring to as my “Media Beast.” For so long now I had been running a Western Digital WD TV setup at home. It was fantastic for the videos that I “acquired” and was a great way for me to watch them on my TV at home. Well thanks to the upgrades in the Systems I went from an original non HD version, to a HD Version before I left Australia. Now that I am over here in the USA, I am taking it one step further.

Media Beast Phase 1 is now complete and this is my Living Room TV. The Main Big Screen (Sony Bravia LCD 40″ HDTV) doesn’t have Cable TV hooked up. I decided against forking out almost $100 a month for it over here. Sure this means I am limited to only Free to Air but to be honest, I don’t watch all that much TV anyway (well TV at TV times that is). More often than not I miss the shows I want to watch and end up having to Stream or Download (legitimately of course) or whatever. So Free to Air is fine (King 5 News in the morning for me before work, way better than Sunrise back home).

Well connected to the TV now is a Cheap Blu Ray player (no discs yet though) but then it gets nice. I picked up a cheap Soundbar for the sound system (it works, its nothing all that special) and then it gets creative. I picked up the newest version of the WD TV, the Live version. It comes built in with WiFi so it can stream Hulu and Netflix directly to my TV. But that’s not all. Before I left I had picked up some Seagate GoFlex drives and when I got over here, put them all together with the GoFlex Net which is like a little docking station that turns the portable drives into a Network Attached Storage Server. Not only does it mean I can access my Files on these drives from work, it feeds directly to the TV now as well!

So right now, the small drive connected directly to the WD TV Live is currently syncing some data across, but really once this is done, I will probably just share across the network my “Unwatched” folder and that way once Phase 2 (Smaller but similar bedroom setup) is complete I will have a fully networked Media Beast where I can watch anything I want, anywhere I want in my apartment or even on my balcony thanks to WiFi, Technology and being a Geek on so many levels!

by ·Comments Off on Impending Doom… or maybe not..

So like any Expat Aussie living in the USA the one thing you know before you even come over here is that the Health system over here is farked. I don’t mean its dodgy, it’s just retardly complicated and expensive… or is it? Obviously back home we Aussies are all used to medicare and the fact that you have the choice to supplement this with your own private health insurance. Over here things work a little different. The quality of care is just phenomenal. But if you don’t have insurance. Bend over and prepare to take it… royally! Things will not be cheap if you do not have insurance, I’ve heard of bills of several thousand dollars.

Now I was a little bit intimidated the last few days, my throat had been acting up and I knew what was coming, Tonsilitis. I get it several times a year, know exactly when its coming and now what the treatment routines are here. What I was not really looking forward to was the fact that I would have to navigate my way through the US Health system for the first time. At the moment my cover provided by work has not fully kicked in yet, so I have some stop gap coverage (at least that’s what I call it) that means I don’t have to empty my life savings into the health system. So I was covered. But here is how a visit to the doctors works over here.

1. First work out what doctors you can visit thanks to your insurer. Using all their online tools I finally worked out what doctor I can use, thankfully, it was the Medical Centre in the same building I work in. Convienient++
2. Make an appointment as usual, be totally suprised they can accomodate you within a matter of hours and at a time that will mean very little time off work out of the very little sick leave i get… (looking good so far)
3. Show up 15 minutes early to appointment (as instructed) and fill out the mass amount of forms and paperwork for a first time visit, hand over all insurance cards etc
4. Visit Doctor
5. Walk Away treated

Now 3,4 & 5 are vague because I want to explain some peculiarities and some awesome things that happened today. I was pretty much knowing going into this morning what I was gonna be diagnosed/prescribed. It was a given. However going through the process of first visit was totally different. The set up of the surgery at the Clinic I went to was amazing. The technology was well beyond what I was used to back home. The thermometer for my temperature was connected to the same device that monitored my blood pressure, heart beat etc and all fed directly into the computer! So easy, no hassle of juggling through the doctor going back and forward.

Then there is the Doctor. Or in my case, the Nurse Practitioner. Essentially a more qualified Nurse who handles the easy stuff like what I had today, they can prescribe, treat do all the crazy stuff. Not a normal nurse, but not a full doctor. Awesome++ Then once all was said and done, I knew what they were going to prescribe because I have been taking the stuff to treat my tonsilitis for as long as I can remember. It’s cheap, generic and works a charm. What I did not expect was the fact that I wasn’t given a physical prescription. I said to the Dr/Nurse “Ummm so wheres my prescription” with a reply “O its already at the Pharmacy you nominated, you should be able to pick it up in about 10 minutes” I hadn’t even intended on going down for several hours till my lunch break but to know I could just walk in, give my name, show some ID and away I could go with my drugs… Convienient! Then as I was leaving, I was expecting to have to sign bills, fork over credit cards etc to still pay something I mean we did back home. Nope no extra money, no “CoPay” as they call it over here. I could of just walked right on out. Awesome++ I could not believe how easy it was! I was essentially bulk billed thanks to my insurance. Something I have not had happen for what feels like forever!

Today just made me think, If you combined Medicare back home with the Technology and convience of today. That would be one amazingly good health system. I know it might be a one off situation but for those Doctors visits where its simple and easy like this. I may not be so dreading off ever heading to the doctor… A win for the US Health system?

by ·Comments Off on Avgeek Goodies

3 Days, 400 something photos touched up out of a possible 2500. Not a bad ratio if you ask me. Since a day off on Friday was forced upon me (thanks Frontier… long story) I figured I may as well make the most of the time off and get stuck into all the photos I had failed to touch up since getting here. I had taken so many photos with the Paine Field Aviation Day, Spotting trips to Vancouver & Los Angeles, plus some spotting in Seattle at SeaTac and the Guppy assignment, it was about due (I still have approximately 300-400 Landscape photos to work on to from around town).

There was plenty of time spent both in front of the screen until late in the evening, getting everything done, but it was well worth it. I managed to get some really good shots, stuff that I had not expected to get, and a lot of stuff that is going to be regular to me now. Obviously now that I am here in the USA, gone are the Virgin Australia and the Qantas 737s, replaced with Alaska Airlines (for me anyway), United, Delta, Southwest & American. These will be my new staples, I will be hunting the specials that is for sure with these guys (knocked a couple off my list already). But then there are the rarer ones for me. Allegiant, Air Canada (at least south of the border in the USA anyway), Frontier (with their variety of tales) and all the International Goodies!

So rather than just talk about it… i give you some of the goodies!

From Los Angeles Airport Spotting
From Los Angeles Airport Spotting
From Los Angeles Airport Spotting
From Los Angeles Airport Spotting
From Vancouver Spotting 2012
From Vancouver Spotting 2012
From Seattle Spotting 2012
From Seattle Spotting 2012
From Seattle Spotting 2012

However rather than give you all 400 on one screen, here are the links to the folders, worth a browse, some really good shots in these folders:

Seattle Spotting 2012
Vancouver Spotting 2012
Los Angeles Airport Spotting

by ·Comments Off on Trip Report: 4th July Shenanigans

With a public holiday approaching and one more Radisson stay required to complete my trio of points and an impending deadline for my annual *G status qualification I had the perfect opportunity to get away.

I decided to head to LAX where I would have the opportunity to get in some spotting, a night at the Radisson LAX wasn’t to bdy priced and the flights to LA were not bad with United. So I racked up some time in lieu and booked it all in. Closer to the day I was considering a car for the day to make visiting the spotting locations easier. I found a lovely credit for priceline bids and bid away. I had denied bids till I put $30 for a convertible, Bingo! A car with Hertz was obtained.

Tuesday July 3rd (see I’m adjusting to the American way)

I finished work at 1pm after a quiet morning in the office, jumped in the truck and headed onto the 405. Traffic was fairly heavy till Renton and the 167 off ramp and took about 35 mins to make SeaTac. I had been worried I would have problems as I kept getting told there would be lots of issues due to the holiday.

I had decided to use the MasterPark “Garage” over the outside lots for an extra few dollars. The costs would still be less than a shuttle or a cab in each direction. As soon as I pulled up I was greeted and helped, even the shuttle driver was itching to get me to the terminal but I just had to get a few things sorted first (paperwork, gps put away etc), but I was on the road to the terminal in less than 5 mins and in the walkway to check in, 5 minutes later.

I had expected bedlam, I shouldn’t of worried, not a single person in front of me and I was checking in moments later and pointed towards security. I cleared security after getting an explosive swab down (first over here) but no nude o scope.

As United use the North Satellite I figured might as well just go relax in the club for a while, so off I went to the train station and the train was waiting so moments later I was in the Satellite. I had noticed an unusual Alaskan aircraft on the drive in but it was already gone by the time I got up there so went back to the basement where the club was located.

This was my first time in a United Club and I had heard so many people moan about them, how basic etc. Compared to a Qantas Club or a Virgin lounge yss they are basically, but it’s quiet, there are power points and complimentary drinks. Snacks were limited but enough for a snack or nibble. I grabbed some baby carrots, some trail mix and a diet coke and was about to put my ipod on when I found out I had made a rookie mistake, I forgot to charge my ipod.

I tried to turn it on, dead. I checked my camera bag. I had an ipod connector cable, but no charger. Damn! I scoured the lounge, no usb ports or computers. Double Damn. Went to the reception desk, yeah no chance there! So I figured I would check out the cost of anther charger (not that I needed one, if it was less than $15 I would do it. Yeah $35 for the cheapest charger… um how about no. By this time I had left the lounge and there was only 10-15 minutes till scheduled departure, so I sucked it up and just stayed near the boarding gate.

United Airlines (Operated by Skywest)
UA5358
Seattle to Los Angeles
1546-1825
Canadair CRJ-700 (N762SK)
Economy Class – Seat 12F

Boarding: 1523 (Gate N11)
Push Back: 1544
Take Off Roll: 1554 (Runway 16L)
Top of Descent: 1745
Touch Down: 1819 (Runway 24R)
Shut Down: 1829 (Gate 87)

Boarding was eventually called after the Gate Lice were queuing everywhere. Prepping for the boarding had been done every 2-3 minutes advising that people may need to gate check bags and that they needed to collect special tags etc. I was worried that being my first flight in a CRJ if my camera bag would fit in the overheads, but was advised it would be fine (it was). Eventually Boarding Group 2 was called and I strolled onboard and pretty much all the way to the back. One thing about being *G with United is that since I have no status with United im relegated to the back of the plane, but since I have status and can board early, I’m usually one of the only people AT the back of the plane.

I boarded onto the CRJ and the first thing i noticed was I am 6ft tall and i was skimming the roof. This does not bode well. I had read and been told about how the CRJs irrespective of size were the bain of many people’s existence. They are passionately despised. I wasn’t going to make that decision yet and was going to give it the benefit of the doubt, but things were not looking great so far.

I had managed to snag an exit row when I got to the club so that was ok. But the legroom didn’t look all to bad either way. One thing I did notice that was slightly peculiar about this exit row was not only did you have seat back tray tables, but you also had arm rest mounted tray tables. Very different. Also what is truly peculiar is that even though my camera bag did not fit in the overhead bin, it fit under the seat in front and I was legally allowed to leave it there. That through me big time! Back home that is a MASSIVE no no. Over here, yeah not so much. Thankfully I had the exit row so I didn’t end up sacrificing to much leg space in the end.

Boarding took up the entire alloted time, with what seemed and endless stream of people trying to fill every single overhead bin space. By the time boarding had finished, we actually pushed back pretty much spot on. Good work United. It was time for the manual demonstration since there are no facilities onboard the CRJ’s for any form of entertainment (not even audio) so I was in for a quiet time on my flight south. With offset windows it seems as well, I wasn’t even going to be able to spend my time looking out the window as much without leaning all the way forward.

We taxiied out fairly quickly to the active runway (the 16s today with L,R & C all being used). and there was no real delay in getting the clearance for take off as we barely even had turned onto the runway before the Captain was pushing those throttles to take off power. A quick trip up through the cloud layer and unfortunately as I was in a D seat, i missed the sight of Mt Ranier on the way out. But I was head down in my book by this stage, just chilling out. I had pre grabbed an apple from the United Club for the flight so that was at least a smart way to get over the wanting of a snack onboard. Thankfully drinks are free of charge.

I settled in to the book and eventually the service got around to our row, it was fairly slow but it was a 2.5 hour flight. Unfortunately no full can on this flight it was just a little cup of water and a little cup of diet coke. To tiny cups. I had enough coffee already that day so didn’t want to be adding more coffee to my system but the cold drinks were fine. A 2nd water service was offered a bit later in the flight so that at least helped out if you hadn’t brought anything with you.

A friend of mine had suggested checking out the “Bathrooms” onboard the CRJ for a bit of a laugh. I wasn’t quite sure why he said this, but I did anyway (after much waiting in line to actually get in there since it seemed like a constant stream of passengers in and out of the 1 bathroom at the rear. I almost smacked my head on the way in so it was not a good sign of things to come. The bathroom follows the curvature of the aircraft at the back and god damn is it small. You either have to lean and hunch forward, or lean all the way back like your spine will snap in half. This was a contortionists dream, now I am 6ft tall so anyone taller than I am, I pity them.

The flight just cruised on pretty well, first we were going to arrive ontime, then late, then early, then late. In the end I am pretty sure we ended up drilling holes in the Sky over LA because we ended up coming in what felt like it was late. But either way it was a pretty quiet run down the coast. We pulled into T8 and by the time we disembarked and I walked the endless way through all the corridors to the Baggage Claim it felt like it was forever. This is where United needs some help. We were told Baggage Claim 2 for our bags. WRONG. Their was 1 screen in the entire baggage claim area to find out where your bags come out, and it took me forever to find it after going to Baggage Claim 2 and seeing no bags and the belt not even moving. Turns out it was Baggage 4. Then i followed the instructions for the Radisson shuttle by using the “courtesy” phone in baggage claim, accept apparently the Radissons phone number has been disconnected. Yeah right. So I managed to find the number in my phone (with tripit dying left right and centre (something I still haven’t had a chance to resolve). I finally got through after several minutes on hold (thank you unlimited plan) and was told the shuttle would take 10-15 mins as the Radisson runs its own shuttle, they don’t use offsite companies. This was fine as I was just wanting to chill out after the scurrying back and forth but what the lady at the Radisson said threw me a little. She asked me what Terminal I was at. I said “Terminal 8 (as thats where I had landed) to which I was told “there is no terminal 8, who did you fly in with?” Eventually she told me where and how to locate the driver after I prompted her. But I am sure she would of told me?

Either way, now I was puzzled. Did i dream the Terminal 8, or was I going insane. So I tweeted my LAX experts and they both confirmed T8 is really just an extra satelite for T7. So really there isn’t technically a T8 but there is. All check in is done at T7 but you then move over to the gates at T8 post security (more on this later). So with that resolved I ended up finally at the Radisson. Check in was a few minutes wait but no big deal and I was greeted by a friendly staff member and thanked for being a Gold Member and was told I had been upgraded and that all my details were on file (the best news I like to hear when I am scamming). Nothing was mentioned during the time but i noticed a sign saying the hot water would be shut off between midnight and 4am. Thankfully I wasn’t intending on being awake during that period (nor taking a shower) so that would be fine.

When I finally got up to my room, I had a fair nice location in the building (close to the lifts which i don’t usually like but sometimes its ok) but the view was pretty damn awesome. then I noticed the interconnecting door was half open. Umm what the hell. So I pushed it. It wasn’t an interconnecting door. I had been given a suite! w00t!!! Not that I needed it as I was barely going to be in the hotel 12 or 13 hours. To be upgraded to so much space… happy as. The room itself was a bit of a mismatch. It looked old and run down but the TV’s looked new. The fridge in the suite was nice, would of been nicer if it was plugged in and turned on. The Cheese, Meat and Fruit platter was pretty awesome and provided a spectacular dinner with some vegies that I picked up at the local grocery store about a 15 minute walk away.

Either way, my night was pretty uneventful, TV (Masterchef w00t) some Vegies, a bit to much cheese and some Yoghurt eaten with a fork since they wanted a $5 delivery fee to deliver a spoon to the room… are you kidding me Radisson. The sleep number bed didn’t work but to be honest, I didn’t care, I passed out either way.

Wednesday July 4th

I woke up to lots of looming cloud… damn. But it didn’t deter me from going for a run outside. Why not run around the Perimiter of an Airport if you can? So I did. I had been in #Avgeek heaven the night before walking to and from the Grocery store with planes coming over me time after time. As I was out running, I was running when a Qantas 747-400 and a Qantas Airbus A380 both landed on 24R right next to me. Awesome++ Buzzed by a number of small ERJs etc but by the time i managed to get back to the hotel after running to find the location of Hertz on the way back, It turned out to be a 7km run. Been a while since i’ve done anything that long.

I cleaned up quickly (since the hot water failed to come back on… not happy jan) and as I was checking out I was going to complain about the lack of hot water when I was informed by the Front Office Supervisor (who checked me out) that I would be provided with a bonus 10,000 points for the hassle of a cold shower. Considering i was already getting a decent amount out of this stay.. I could deal with that. I headed off to the Hertz Depot on foot (About a 10 minute walk from the hotel), while consuming my breakfast of mini baguette and banana which all to much reminded me of my times in France last year where that was my daily breakfast while touring Normandy (though no coffee this morning).

Buzzed by many a plane as I walked my way to Hertz and upon entering the lot I saw a large amount of Mustang and Camaro convertibles… o this was good news. I managed to find the Hertz #1 gold office since the lines for the main office were HUGE, and they didnt mind that I had booked with Priceline. She offered me a Mitsubish Eclipse to which my words back where “Got something better?” I was pretty happy at this stage and in a good mood so didn’t mind forking over a little bit extra. In the end she said she could do me a high end mustang or a Volvo. The Volvo wouldn’t be covered by my insurance, no go. The mustang had GPS.. pass I had mine with me.

In the end they brought around a Camaro convertible for me. It was an additional $40 in the end because all the non crappy convertibles came automatically fitted with it and it turned out to be the Top of the Line prestige version of the Convertible. It was an Camaro Convertible SS. Nicely tuned V8 engine, fully optioned including reversing camera, reverse sensors, Heads up display, the Hertz GPS, Sirius XM radio, Onstar, flappy paddle gear box… just about everything! Did I mention it was bright red? Yellow would of been to much!

The car was super sweet. Amazing sound, but I didn’t put the top down till I got back to the hotel as I was in a bit of a rush to get back and get over to Imperial Hill to catch up with some fellow spotters. With my bags in hand and the GPS set, I sped over to Imperial Hill and rolled up to what looked like a full contingent of spotters. Awesome signs for the day! Even though the guys i were meeting couldn’t be around all that long, it was great to just spend a bit of time and get some tips from the locals.

For the morning I got some good shots of some of the heavies coming in including a Qantas A380 with the new “Spirit of Australians” titles that were only applied to one side? err wtf. Also kind of got a shot of a Cathay Pacific Cargo 747-8F (blocked by a building since he turned off short) but otherwise there was plenty of good sites. I did snap the new Southwest Airlines 737-800 (one of their newest in fleet) and also a few special liveries that came in. I did battle with the runways all morning as usually the heavies land in the morning on 25R, but not this morning. So I moved over to In n Out eventually (After a quick little detour via the beach to give the Camaro a good push) and then the runways swapped over to the otherside so all the stuff I really wanted to see, went to the other side.

At In n Out i did manage to get 2 x A380s at close quarters with Singapore Airlines and Air France and boy do they look huge from underneath. I enjoyed my lunch of a Double Double and Fries Animal Style for my once a year treat and being 4th of July, I figured it was fairly patriotic? The afternoon soon died down and tired of losing shots, I moved back to imperial hill, where low and behold the runways swapped back over to In n Out! God damn it! No luck at all.

Eventually I had to take the car back to the Hertz drop off, the staff all loved the fact that a guy was driving in with the music pumping and the top down in the sun (it eventually came out), typical tourist in California look, but I did not care. I was into the shuttle and heading back to LAX for my flight home (via San Francisco). After the driver pulled up at T6 and said “this is for United” i corrected him and said T7. So he dropped me off at T7. When i approached the door, the guard asked me what airline i was flying, i told him United and showed him my Gold Card, he then sent me back to T6… damn my feeble brain. It seems United do all premium check in regardless of destination at T6. So i trudged all the way back to T6 to check in.

During check in, again not a single person in existence I was offered a bump from San Francisco to Seattle and if it eventuated would nett me $200 in travel credits. Awesome++ but my first thoughts were, get the hell to security and get to your flight cause it says boarding at 16:35, which was wierd since I thought my flight was 1730, which it wasn,t it was 1710. The time then by the time I got through security and had to walk really fast over to T8 where my flight was departing was almost time to board! At security I was held up by the TSA not even doing anything with the premium security line, he let me wait till he had cleared everyone out of the normal line (what the hell for I have no idea) and then I got put through the Nude O Scope (Back Scatter Xray Machine) to delay things even longer. Either way I still made it through fine, if not to long of a process (about 10 mins).

Without any time to hit up the lounge, I just got over to T8 as quickly as possible and by the time I arrived at the gate I had a few minutes before boarding began.

United Airlines
UA558
Los Angeles to San Francisco
1710-1825
Airbus A320 (N469UA)
Economy Class – Seat 29F

Boarding: 1640 (Gate 83)
Push Back: 1709
Take Off Roll: 1719 (Runway 25R)
Top of Descent: 1750
Touch Down: 1808 (Runway 28L)
Shut Down: 1816 (Gate 74)

The flight to San Francisco boarded and it seemed that a lot of people were not going to make it. I was tempted to offer to bump on this flight, but could not see any later flights at all Direct to Seattle and wasn’t sure what the options were as I didn’t have time to investigate, so Just left it (if I didn’t have a bag checked through to Seattle it would be a different story).

I boarded with Group 2 after again fighting my way through the Gate Lice (some of them in the Priority line, sorry Premier Access line with Boarding Group 7) to board in the first wave of people of my group. I made it allllllllll the way to the back of the plane and stowed my bag with no hassles at all. Gotta love a mainline aircraft. With audio fitted I settled in, plugged in my headset, tuned into Channel 9 and was instantly greeted with #avgeek goodness. I could hear LAX ground giving instructions. I previously mentioned what Channel 9 was in one of my last trip reports but pretty much you can hear what the pilots have tuned on their main Air Traffic Control radio. So in this instance it was Los Angeles Ground. I could hear them giving orders to all the aircraft for pushback and taxi.

The Captain was a female but the Co Pilot was doing all the talking it seemed so that was a bit different (first time i think i’ve had a female Captain before). The Co Pilot had this really strong Southern/Texan twang to his voice and in sometimes when he was giving his requests on the ground it was as though he was singing them back as they seemed to rhyme (or at least he made them rhyme).

We had a quick taxi to the Active runway after pushing back and it was so great to know when we got clearance etc and got some fantastic photos of LAX on the climb out of the airport. It was due to be a fairly short flight (about the same as Brisbane to Sydney) but the service (same as any standard united flight) just didnt seem to happen. I don’t know if they FA’s serving economy were doing something but it was almost up till descent before they started their service (where as first class had been served immediately). What that meant was that we were pretty much thrown our drinks. Now to complicate matters as we were well into Descent by the time I got my drink and the lovely person in front had reclined all the way back, my tray table was not even remotely level, so as soon as i was handed my drink and cup of ice and placed it on the tray table, It went sliding to the floor and before I could grab the ice, it was gone. Thankfully my can of drink (yep the whole can) survived this encounter and I grabbed it before it went flying.

Other than this and the requirement to rush through drinking the can as we were almost practically on finals by the time I got my drink, it was an ok flight. Dual arrivals into SFO however we were spaced due to wake turbulence so no side by side shot 🙁 I was looking forward to that on my first landing into San Fran. Either way we pulled up to the gate about 10 minutes early and I had plenty of time for my connection which was actually going to be at the gate directly next to mine. However I had to go for a nice long long walk to the club after disembarking.

By the time I found the club (i thought the map had said there was one closer to my gate, but there wasn’t) and had a mild panic I had lost my Gold Card I had enough time for a couple of cups of coffee, about 10 minutes of charging my phone up a bit since I wasn’t sure if it was going to last it through on the power it had, then rock back up to the gate a bit early to see if I can get bumped (with a bowl full of trail mix in my hand that is). Unfortunately no bump though… they cleared ALL the standby guests… damn it!

Either way I was still going to get home tonight without a hitch so I grabbed a salad for dinner from the Takeaway outlet of Gordon Biersch (somewhere I had dinner last year when I visited Seattle) and waited for the flight to board (mear moments away).

United Airlines
UA428
San Francisco to Seattle
1939-2136
Airbus A320 (N408UA)
Economy Class – Seat 35F

Boarding: 1908 (Gate 75)
Push Back: 1939
Take Off Roll: 1949 (Runway 1L)
Top of Descent: 2055
Touch Down: 2121 (Runway 34C)
Shut Down: 2128 (Gate N10)

Boarding began, again wade my way through the Gate Lice as some other guy just trys to push his way onboard without even showing a boarding pass and almost got himself arrested by the TSA doing ID checks at the gate. I hopped on board and head to the back and was greeted with silence on channel 9 (after I managed to turn my headphones on properly). By the time we started push back and the Crew were doing their last checks I asked if we were going to get Channel 9 at all today (it is at Pilot Discretion if they turn it on or not) and was promptly told no. I asked if she could ask the Captain and was told “the captain has already made his decision and WONT be turning it on.” The way it was said just shocked me and it felt like this was going to be another flight where the famous United “service” showed its head. But It was ok.

We took off on the same runway that we used last time I was in San Francisco and the take off was quick, powerful and with an abrupt pull out away from the Airport area. Soon enough we were heading north and since I was in an F seat on the right hand side, had a fantastic view of all the mountains the whole flight home.

By the time service reached my row I could see them sporadically dishing out full cans and figured that there is a bit of a trick to it.

1. Sit at the back
2. Order something obscure that not many people are going to drink (in my case Soda Water and
3. Be nice 😀

In the end I got my full can of Club Soda/Selzer Water and a cup of coffee to keep me awake till I could get myself home safely, and the salad was pretty damn tasty with plenty of Lettuce. A beautiful approach into the airport with a wonderful sunset over the mountains including Mt Ranier. The most amazing thing on the approach though was the amount of Fireworks going off. Everywhere you looked there was thousands of them going off constantly. It was a truly amazing site as they were exploding left right and centre and I wondered if it was affecting the flight crew at all in anyway.

We eventually touched down on a direct approach from the South touching down on the Centre runway (my first time from that direction) and a quick taxi later we were at the North Satelite again. Exactly where I had left almost 30 hours ago. This time though, I had a long wait ahead of me while waiting for pretty much the entire aircraft to empty as out as i was in row 35 of 37… crap

By the time i finally got out of the aircraft, and had jumped on the train back to the main terminal, I was expecting to find my bag sitting waiting for me. But United baggage strikes again. WRONG BELT information! It was changed and no one notified… again! At least when I finally got to the right belt my bag was waiting for me. I headed over to the shuttle pick up area and the right shuttle was about to pull out from the stop so I flagged him down and jumped onboard and gave him my ticket so that they could have my truck waiting for me.

5 minutes later I was in my truck and 30 minutes after that I was driving into my parking space after witnessing fireworks explode everywhere all the way home. A Crazy way to finish a truly crazy 2 days!

LAX Spotting Trip