The Last Frontier: Alaska – Exploring Kenai (Part 3)

Posted on May 13, 2012 by Berto

Index:

Sunday, April 8, 2012
With my venture to the extreme North of Alaska and the United States, I figured that on this day I would drive the Seward Highway from Anchorage to the terminus in Seward.  According to Google Maps it would take me roughly around 2.5 hours to get there, which isn’t really isnt that far.  I figured that I would want to avoid as much tourist traffic on the way down (not that I was figuring that there would be much), so I resolved to get up early to hit the road.  Again, thanks to the time difference that wasn’t going to be much of a problem despite going to bed fairly late.  I was on the road shortly after 7AM and ready to start adventure #2 for the trip.

Traffic out of Anchorage was not bad at all, nor was it on the Seward Highway.  Everything was still rather quiet as I started the venture south.  As I made it to the coastal stretch along Turnagain Arm (a branch of Cook Inlet) the Sun was starting to peek out from behind the clouds and mountains, illuminating everything with a perfect morning light.  There was a layer of snow still everywhere and the ice chunks floating out on the water and of course very little traffic.  With no rush to get anywhere or from anyone I took my time driving and I stopped at many pull offs just to look and/or take pictures…It was just beautiful and a great way to start a road trip.

Mountains Across Turnagain Arm

The Sun Is Hiding...

..But I Found It Shortly After.

As I made it towards the end of Turnagain Arm I passed through the small town of Girdwood where I managed to hit a bit of fog. With no one else on the road it felt like I was transplanted into some sort of horror film! It was like I was half expecting something to jump out of the fog at my car, although in this part of the world odds are wit would be a Moose. Luckily, I didn’t encounter one here – that would have been very bad for my rental Camry! I passed the road for Portage Glacier and it was starting to clear up as I made my way across a river plain. Once to the other side I was welcomed with a sign indicating that I was now on the Kenai Peninsula.

Lonesome Road

Venturing Into The Unknown

"Welcome to Alaska's Kenai Peninsula"

As you enter the Kenai Peninsula, it feels like you are driving up into the mountains, although in reality from the sign above to the highest point in Turnagain Pass, there is roughly only about a 1000 foot elevation change.  I think it has that effect due to the road being in a pass/valley between two mountain ranges.  I did stop at the pull off at the top of the pass where I got out of the car for a bit to take a few more pictures and again just sit.  There was no one else out here so I ventured out on the snow a bit from the car.  In retrospect, that snow was probably pretty deep, so it’s a good thing it was still pretty solid from overnight and easy to walk on.

There's Something About Snow Covered Pine Trees...

Turnagain Pass

Mountains Blanketed In Snow

Exiting Turnagain Pass - Can't See The Mountains Ahead!

As I exited the pass on the Seward Highway and the road dropped back down to a lower elevation the clouds cleared up again and I made my way past several small lakes.  Eventually you reach the point where the highway forks and you decide if you continue to Seward or head west towards Kenai.  I obvviously picked to keep on going to Seward.  It feels like that after this point I would see signs of civilization more often with a few small towns spread across the highway here and there.  Still not much in the way of signs of wildlife though…

I did make it to Seward and found myself in a very quiet downtown.  There didn’t really look like much was going on or really open aside from a few restaurants.  Since I didn’t really plan this out I just headed down to end of the road to the shore on Resurrection Bay.  I sat down here for a bit looking out across the water hoping to catch a glimpse of maybe a whale or something else, but didn’t luck out.  Even looking way out there through my telephoto lens gained me nothing.  Oh well.  It was just a good place to sit anyways.  I finished up my time in downtown by walking around a bit before getting back into my car.

Downtown Seward

Resurrection Bay

Only 1910 Miles To Nome...That Seems Like An Easy Hike

I had read about a few places to eat breakfast at the Seward Harbor, so I figured I would see what was open.  Sadly, the first few places I would try were all closed.  I guess it being Easter Sunday kinda screwed with my plans there.  Well that and the fact that it’s definitly not the tourist season at that time of the year…and that is something I unfortunately understand being from a Florida tourist-town.  Since all the places in walking distance of my car were closed I figured I would just walk around the harbor area for a bit before trying a few other options.

Seward Harbor

Eventually, though I did luck out with one fo the places that I had read about – the Smoke Shack.  It’s located on the North side of Seward Harbor and suppossedly has really good biscuits and gravy.  But that’s not even the beginning.  The place is in a retired passenger railway car and doesn’t have much in the way of seating inside, perhaps only 6 or so tables.  It’s actually part of a “complex” of sorts of four railway cars, I think the other three were rented out as hotel rooms.  Not really sure on that, however.

Anyways, to the food…I did wind up ordering the biscuits and gravy with scrambled eggs, potatos and coffee.  I will say that the biscuits and gravy were pretty good and filling too.  A highlight that I wasn’t expecting however, was the jalapeno ketchup.  Man was that awesome with the potatos…and I decided that at somepoint I’m going to see if I cant recreated that at home.  It just works awesomely.

Breakfast At The Smoke Shack

Once done with my ”Easter Brunch” it was time to head back in the direction of Anchorage.  I had planned to drive to Exit Glacier, which is suppossedly the most accessible glacier in Alaska.  I turned off the highway and started to drive off into the woods, only to get about a mile or so in before I was greeted with a ’Road Closed’ sign and what looked like an impassable road.  Obviously, my plans to make it to the glacier were not going to happen and only later did I find out that the road is regularly closed during the winter.  Of course in my Florida mind where April is already almost Summer, it just didn’t quite register that it was still Winter in Alaska!

Road to Exit Glacier

As I headed back north it was the exact same route so for the most part, it was the same stuff that I had seen only a few hours earlier.  Not really anything to comment on, but I did see a Moose though.  First and last encounter of wildlife that I would see during my entire trip!  As I exited the Kenai Peninsula I did pull off the highway and took a side route to at least view the Portage Glacier.  I skipped the visitor’s center that the Chugach National Forest runs (It was built to view the glacier, but since then the glacier has retreated behind a mountain), since you can’t see the glacier from it and continued through a tunnel to an observation point on the other side.  From here you could get a good look across Portage Lake to Portage Glacier.  I climbed up on a snow bank to get a better picture and to get slightly away from some of the tourists only to find myself sinking down into snow that was pretty deep!  I think it was up to some point on my thighs.  It was a bit interesting trying to climb out with my camera in hand.  After that I decided to just give up more or less and go back to the car and continue back towards Anchorage.

Portage Glacier

I think a lot of tourists to Anchorage just bother to drive the Seward Highway to this area.  From Portage Glacier all the way back traffic was noticibly heavier and every turn off along Turnagain Arm was filled with cars parked and people taking pictures.  It made me glad that I choose to head out early in the day and keep the experience from being ruined by crowds.

I got back to the hotel a little earlier than I had anticipated, which meant I had a about an hour or two extra to kill before my scheduled appointment on the 16th floor.  Since this long weekend was the first time off from work that I had taken since my New Year’s trip to Montreal, and work had been rather intense in the weeks leading up, I figured I would treat myself to a massage at the Sheraton Ice Spa.  My seat mate on the MSP-ANC flight a few days prior had talked it up and with a $25 SPG Award Certificate in my pocket it seemed like the perfect idea.  The massage which was scheduled to be 50 minutes, I’m pretty sure lasted longer.  The spa closes at 6PM and I wasn’t out of there until almost 630PM.  Now I know my post-massage shower didn’t take that long, so I’m thinking that massage therapist went a bit long.  Which, is perfectly fine in my book, because it was damn near perfect.

After I wrapped up and made my way back down to my room I got ready to head out for dinner.  I was going to go to Humpy’s Great Alaskan Alehouse, but like many things in Seward, It was closed for the holiday.  I eventually settled on The Glacier Brewhouse around the corner.  The place was pretty busy and the food was pretty good.  I went the halibut and was slightly disapointed when I saw what looked like s small salad as one of the sides on my plate since I ordered a salad before my main arrived.  Oh well.

Halibut - Glacier Brewhouse

Once back at the hotel it was already 830-9PM and I had to get packed.  I contemplated going out in search of a drink, but with a 6AM flight the next morning I just stopped at the hotel bar for an Alaskan Amber before heading to bed rather early (for me).

Alaskan Sunset

Monday, April 9, 2012
A 6AM flight means getting up all way too early.  I think I got up around 3AM and proceeded to make my way to the airport.  Hertz wasn’t even open yet, so I dropped my keys in the box and made my way to the Delta ticket counter.  Checking in was no hassle in the Sky Priority line and the agent thanked me for flying with Delta as much as I do.  Security even was pretty painless too, I didn’t even bother going through the elite line since there wasn’t any reason to really.  It was just notch up from ghost town it felt.  Which is probably odd because I would have thought there would have been a good deal of flights from Anchorage to the lower 48 around that time.

My upgrade had been confirmed in advance and after wandering around a little bit, I made my way to the gate where we eventually started boarding.  Today’s flight must have had an equipment swap as we lucked out by getting a 757 with personal screens at every seat.  Much better than the overhead version that the flight up used.  Once in the air breakfast was served, which consisted of a Gouda and Tomato Omelette, Potatoes, Sausage, Fruit, and Croisssant while I watched a variety of movies.  The nearly 6 hour flight to Minneapolis passed by pretty quickly.

Delta First Class Breakfast ANC-MSP

I had a short layover in MSP about 45 minutes, so I didn’t have any time really to stop at either of the Sky Clubs or meander any.  After picking up a sub from Quiznos I made my way to Concourse B, which I had never been to before.  Since it seems to be only regional jets out here that doesn’t really surprise me – If I’m passing through MSP it’s almost always on mainline aircraft.  The flight attendant on the way down to Nashville welcomed us onboard “United Express Operated by Sky West” before correcting herself.  It got only a few laughs and it turns out they were a Houston-based crew (Houston being one of United’s hubs).   Then as we were heading towards the runway I noticed that the flight attendant had recieved a call from the cockpit, which is usually nothing.  Turns out when we got up to altitude and they started the beverage service she mentioned that the pilots wanted to know who had the Quiznos because the smell of my sub had made it all the way up to them. Haha…

Back in Nashville I noticed a flight for Atlanta boarding and attempted to get on it.  Unfortunately, the agent couldn’t confirm the upgrade so I decided to stick with my original flight an hour and a half later and opted to roam the airport a bit.  Found where all of Southwest’s and American’s gates are and I have to say American seems to control quite a few.  I guess thats the remnants of the hub they used to operate here in the 90s.

Lots Of Delta Activity - Flights to MSP, LGA, DTW, MEM, and ATL Were All Arriving Or Departing

My next flight of the night, BNA-ATL, turned out to be full of errors.  First, since it was a regional jet, I had to gate check my smaller suit case.  Turns out that the handle would get ripped off at this point, which I’ve already documented.  On top of that, after the flight attendant took my order for a drink, she never came back with it.  As I sat there in my First Class seat I thought about whether I should say something or not.  It’s a short flight so it wasn’t like that I needed to have that drink, but I saw it as more or less a test.  A test that the flight attendants failed.  After serving everyone else, they retreated to the galley to talk amongst theirselves and chow down on snacks.  Way to go ExpressJet for making this Platinum feel special.

Broken - It Was Probably Time For A New Suitcase Anyways

In Atlanta I made my way to my final gate with my broken suitcase in tow.  At least now I didn’t have to worry about it being broken for this last leg so there was that.  On top of that, I’m pretty sure I’ve encountered the flight attendant on this last flight before.  Seemed familar for some reason.  Just like the previous flight it was short and before I knew it my journey was over and I was in my own car on the way home.

Alaska was a great place and this trip was fantastic.  I feel like I crammed much more than two days worth of activities into my weekend, but at the same time I know I missed out on so much.  Visiting a place with this short amount of time really doesn’t giving you a true sense of it.  I mean let’s face it I spent not even three hours in Barrow.  I didn’t make it to the actual point.  I wasn’t able to see the Northern Lights or really much of any wildlife.  No hiking or really out in nature activities.  But you know what, it was still incredibly fun and got my mind completely off of work for a few days.  That you can’t argue with.  I know that at somepoint I’ll go back to Alaska and make a ”legit” trip out of it.  I would really love to go hiking/camping/backpacking in Denali National Park.

Posted in Delta, Photography, Travel, Trip Report | Leave a comment

The Last Frontier: Alaska – Northern Exposure (Part 2)

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Berto

Index:

Saturday, April 7, 2012
I found myself waking up rather early, around 6AM, without even needing an alarm.  With all the time zone changes my body was still confused I’m sure and as a result thought it was much later.  That though was a good thing for me though – as I mentioned in my last post I had booked a day trip award ticket for later in the day and I wanted to go around Anchorage a bit before I headed to the airport.

Immediately, my first thought was breakfast.  Although I was granted access to the Sheraton Club Lounge which features a free continental breakfast, I wanted something real and something local.  After flipping through the pages of my guidebook, I discovered a place that seemed intriguing: Snow City Cafe.  It sounded good and it was not very far at all.  So downstairs I headed and out to my rental car.  Now I knew it was snowing when I woke up and looked out my window to a very gray and dreary looking landscape, but I did not realize how much had fallen overnight.  By estimating the thickness of the snow on the roof of my car, I estimated it to be 1.5-2.0 inches deep.  Did I also mention that on this day Anchorage broke their record for most snow fall in a winter season?

Saturday Morning Weather

Luckily Hertz included a brush and ice scraper, and off I went across downtown.  After parking and feeling generally ripped off by the rates, I settled down in a corner of Snow City Cafe and started to look over the menu.  There was plenty on there that looked delicious, but ultimately I settled on the Tundra Scramble, which includes Reindeer sausage, green peppers, mushrooms, red onions, and cheddar, as well as a mocha to wash it all down.  It was indeed good, although I’m not sure if I could tell reindeer sausage apart from any other sausage.  I would certainly recommend stopping in and trying any number of the items there.

Snow City Cafe - Tundra Scramble

It seemed that business had picked up by the time I left to run back to the hotel to grab my gear for the day.  My flight however still wouldn’t depart until 2:37pm, so I had a little bit of time to roam around town.  I decided I would see if there was anything of interest downtown, which it turns out there really wasn’t.  I checked out the mall there, but there wasn’t anything that jumped out at me.  I found myself driving around for a little bit, discovered where the University of Alaska-Anchorage is and eventually made my way over to the airport, although not for my flight.

Alaska Railroad Passes A Snow-Covered Elderberry Park

It's a Winter Wonderland...In April

Next to the airport is the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum which focuses on the unique aviation history of the state which focuses around bush aviation, military and the commercial services that bring the heavy lift cargo to the most remote cities and towns.  It also seemed fitting since that afternoon I was making my way to Barrow.  The museum’s exhibits were pretty decent overall; not a ton of aircraft, but it isn’t a very large museum either.  There were a lot of aviation related artifacts however.  Somehow they also managed to get an Alaska Airlines 737-200 a few years back and they keep that parked next to an F-15 Eagle and a Northern Air Cargo DC-6 right outside the museum.  There was also a hanger that had several other aircraft stored – a mixture of ones in great looking condition and ones that looked like piles of scrap.

Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum - Float Plane

Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum - Northern Air Cargo DC-6 and Alaska Airlines 737

Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum - Hanger

After finishing up at the museum, I still had a few hours until departure, so I figured I would go grab lunch before heading to the airport.  I made a short backtrack from the area to a place called Taco King.  From what I can understand, its a local quick-service Mexican chain that is nothing like Taco Bell.  Sure, you order at a counter and it has a drive-thru, but that’s where the similarities end.  The food is more like what you would find at any number of Mexican restaurants across the US and is presented the same.  Only thing, is that you know how they say “Careful the plate is hot” and it usually isn’t that hot.  Yeah, I burnt my finger on my plate of enchiladas.

Once done, it was back over to the airport where I parked the rental car and made my way into the terminal.  After checking in and grabbing my boarding passes from the Alaska Airlines kiosk, I breezed through the Elite security line, and made my way to the observation deck above Concourse C to hang out for a bit.  It turned out to be a good place to watch ground operations and I gives you the overview of all important of a cargo hub Anchorage is.  At one point I counted three Korean Air Cargo 747s while a fourth did a go-around on landing.  A pretty impressive sight I might say, watching such a large aircraft jolt back into the sky at the last minute.  I wandered around the terminal a bit more before making my way down to the gate for Alaska Airlines Flight 50 to Prudhoe Bay with continuing service to Barrow.

Anchorage Air Cargo

Gate C4 - Flight 50 to Prudhoe Bay / Barrow

Boarding of the flight was fairly quick.  There were only a few Alaska Airlines elite members, I was the only partner elite, and the remaining 25 or so people followed after me.  Being as this flight is a lifeline to several North Slope communities, Alaska Airlines using a Boeing 737-400 Combi aircraft.  These aircraft are configured such that the forward half of the cabin is for cargo pallets, while the rear section is configured for 72 passengers – four fewer seats than you would find on a Delta Connection CRJ-900 or E175 (regional jets).  One particularity about these aircraft is that you board from the rear door of the aircraft up stairs, meaning that you have to walk out across the ramp to get to the plane.  Since I took my parka off in the terminal I was walking through the snow/rain mix with just a t-shirt.  Was a bit chilly, but not anywhere near what it was going to be to North.

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-400 Combi Interior

Once we had everyone on-board who all appeared to either be oil workers heading to Prudhoe Bay or Native Inupiat Eskimos heading to Barrow.  If I had to guess I was the only “tourist” on the aircraft today.  For this flight I grabbed the window, which is usually pretty rare for me.  I wanted to be able to look down at the frozen landscape below, which you might just think just nothing but barren white mountains.  Turns out I was wrong – the geography is quite varied including one spot where frozen waters formed a crazy spiral pattern in the landscape.  The only problem?  It was all that looking outside that I realized I left my sunglasses in the rental car back in cloudy, rainy Anchorage.  Whoops.

Alaskan Mountains From 35,000 Feet

Spiral Landscape

Almost to Deadhorse...

Soon enough we were on approach into the Deadhorse Airport and could finally see signs of civilization again.  Prudhoe Bay does have a road link to the rest of the state and you could see that and what I assumed was the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.  On final approach right before lining up with the runway, you could see all of the what I guess is the entire town.  Not really much to see it seemed…

Once most of the passengers disembarked from the aircraft I grabbed my camera and made my way to the galley.  I had wanted to step outside the aircraft on to the stairs to take a few pictures, but as I approached the flight attendants stopped me and informed me that if even one of my feet landed outside of the aircraft door I would have to go all the way to the terminal and re-clear back through the TSA.  Two people wanting to have a smoke opted for that, I figured I would just stay put and use the handle they pointed out so I could swing out the door a little bit (with my feet firmly planted inside the aircraft of course!).  I actually spent the entire layover back there up until boarding just talking to the two flight attendants.  As usual when I go on these short/crazy trips, I either get strangest of looks or looks of amazement.  They were the latter, which made for good conversation about traveling and some of the different places they had been and I had been as well as some of the things they’ve encountered as flight attendants.  I wrapped up taking my pictures as the first of the passengers started to make their way across from the terminal and headed back to my seat.

Touchdown - Deadhorse Airport

Alaska Airlines Terminal

Just Inside the Aircraft Door

Looking Forward

The captain of the two legs that would get me to Barrow, had come out into the front of the cabin before each take off to personally introduce himself and the crew as opposed to talking over the PA speaker.  According to the flight attendants, there are only a very small handful number of pilots at Alaska Airlines (2 or 3, I think) that they said did this.  As he made his way to the front of the passenger compartment he stopped by my row and asked me: “Is it true? Are you really flying to Barrow for just a few hours?”  Looks like I got ratted out by the flight attendants!  He chatted for a few minutes and when I said I was from the Florida Panhandle, he asked “Valparaiso?”, so if I had to guess this pilot must have been Air Force and stationed at Eglin…how else would you know Valparaiso existed (to most its just Fort Walton Beach)?

After his speech, the cabin was prepped and we made the quick taxi out to the end of the single runway and shot up into the air for the rather short 200 mile flight to Barrow.  The flight pretty much goes along the coast, although this time of the year you really can’t tell where Alaska ends and the Arctic Ocean begins.  I guess, it means that the ice caps haven’t melted quite all the way yet…

Frozen Landscape Looking North

Soon enough we were on approach into Barrow and I pulled my camera back out so I could start capturing as much as I could the minute the wheels touched down.  As with landing in Prudhoe Bay, it didn’t take long to having the aircraft parked and ready to disembark.  I powered up my phone and noticed that cell service was probably going to be rather spotty.  a 1x data connection seemed to come and go and not really ever hold steady.  I did secure a connection just long enough to see that temperature was a “warm” -3F outside.  I wasn’t going to play dumb like I did in Anchorage a few hours ago – I was going to have my parka on before I stepped outside the plane to get me to the short walk inside.

Touchdown - Barrow

Airports on the North Slope Are Busier Than You Would Think...

Cargo Door Opening / Disembarking

Alaska Airlines Terminal - Barrow

The terminal really isn’t much at all, considering that Alaska Airlines is the only airline that uses it.  Once I finished getting everything else on for the arctic environment I made my way outside and walked down the street to the West.  It’s not very far until you reach the Wiley Post/Will Rogers Memorial and a giant directional post with distances to major places all over the globe.  From there it was time to head north.  I opted to walk into “downtown” Barrow which took me through a residential neighborhood and got me to my destination about 15 minutes later.

Everywhere is Pretty Much Far, Far Away

Will Rogers / Wiley Post Memorial

Barrow Houses

Entering Downtown

Church in Downtown Barrow

Honestly, I had no idea what I was going to do or where to go.  I figured I’d find the Arctic Ocean, eat dinner, and just see if I would stumble on anything before my flight departed just about 2 hours later.  I’ll be honest, I didn’t stumble on much.  Finding the Ocean wasn’t hard, but it was completely frozen over.  Off in the distance was an iceberg or something that someone had planted an American flag on and that was about it.  After walking around some more I figured I could use some warmth and headed for Pepe’s North of the Border Mexican Restaurant.

A Very Frozen Arctic Ocean

Pepe's North of the Border Mexican Restaurant

I walked in and it seemed quiet and empty.  It took me a few moments before I realized I had to walk down a hallway into a separate dining room to which I became the second occupied table for my late dinner (although given how bright it was I felt like it was lunch time again).  Not exactly bustling.  The restaurant itself was interesting in that it just didn’t really feel like a Mexican Restaurant inside…the Easter decorations probably didn’t help.  As soon as the waiter came over I ordered a Mountain Dew and he brought out some chips and salsa.  Surprisingly the salsa had a little bit of heat to it and soon enough I decided to settle on the burrito plate.  It didn’t take long for it to be brought out and while it isn’t anything special (pretty much beef + tortilla + cheese) it still sadly was better than one of the places back home.  That just shouldn’t be, since after all I live in Florida.  Even the owner of the place, came out and asked everyone if this was their first time here.  Since I think it was for almost everyone present, as she made her way around everyone got certificates for crossing the arctic circle and to sign the guest book.  I think I’m on their Christmas Card list now…

Burrito Plate - Pepe's North of the Border

Anyways, once I finished up, or well as best as I could – it was a massive amount of food, I finally got to see what my bill came to and did I have sticker shock!  Nearly $30 for my meal!  The Mountain Dew alone cost $5 for a 12 ounce can.  I guess that is what happens when everything has to be airlifted in on one of the several Alaska Airlines flights a day.

After heading back outside I wandered for a few minutes before deciding to hail a taxi to drive me around for a bit before eventually taking me back to the airport.  I thought I had planned it well by flagging the guy who was dropping someone off at the bank, but it turns out this was a round-trip passenger so my journey included more sightseeing of the residential areas.  Not really much to write about.  My driver did eventually take me a spot for a photo op in front of a giant whale bone arch where I even managed to toss my parka to the side and get a picture of me in just my t-shirt in the sub zero temperature.  You know honestly, it didn’t feel that cold…

Proof That I Am Crazy

He attempted to take me by a few other places, but they were all closed, so I had him run me back to the airport so I could reprint my boarding pass and get queued up for security.  I must have timed it just right because right after I got there they started boarding.  Boarding is unique here as there really isn’t a gate.  They make the call for the various groups and you then head to the security checkpoint which is crammed into a corner and within a few steps of exiting the metal detector you hand your boarding pass to the Alaska Airlines gate agent and then head out the door to the aircraft.  Rather efficient.

Time To Leave Barrow

Setting Sun

The load on the flight down to Fairbanks was very light just as it was on the way up.  I even had a whole row to myself to stretch out and relax at 35,000 feet with an Alaskan Amber while watching the sunset.  Not a bad way to end a day in my book at all.  Just as with the layover in Prudhoe Bay on the way up, during the layover in Fairbanks the few of us continuing on to Anchorage, stayed on the aircraft.  The interesting thing I learned during this stop was that the flight attendant stationed at the front of the cabin was only on her second flight into her career.

Not A Bad View At The End Of The Day

The plane was nearly full for the last segment of the day and it didn’t take long to reach Anchorage.  I was pretty tired by this point – it was already past 11pm and I just wanted to get back to the Sheraton and pass out in my bed.  To my surprise the rambunctious kids across the hall were still making noise.  I guess when you are hyper you don’t need sleep?

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The Last Frontier: Alaska – Planes, Planes and More Planes (Part 1)

Posted on April 22, 2012 by Berto

Index:

Introduction
This year thus far I really had not yet taken much time off from work or gone anywhere for a fun weekend somewhere since I celebrated New Years in Montreal.  I decided that needed to change and so around mid-March I started thinking to myself where is it that I could go?  I was checking literally everywhere, tried and true NYC, Puerto Rico, and the destination I was 99.99% for sure going to go to: San Francisco (wait, didn’t you mean Alaska?).  You read that right, air fare out there wasn’t terribly horrible and I had a $300 voucher from a bump I took on the way back from Bahrain.  Then all of a sudden, I’m playing with Kayak and for whatever reason I decide to throw Anchorage, Alaska into the mix.  Surprisingly, it had priced out only $200 more for the round trip by utilizing a fare break in Nashville (and $200 cheaper than available on Delta.com without a stop in Nashville!).  At only about $440 ($740-$300) I considered this a steal!  Not only would I get to visit somewhere completely new that I’ve always wanted to visit, but I would also rack up almost as many miles towards re-qualifying for my 2013 Delta Platinum Medallion status as I would from a trip to Europe.  Those two considerations pretty much sealed the deal.  Despite the fact that I would only really be there for a weekend, I still figured that like usual, I could have an excellent time exploring as much of the state as possible.  And just a fair warning, this is going to be long-winded, so if you really just want to read about my time in Alaska, feel free to skip to Part 2 (that is if I’ve written that up already).

Friday, April 6 2012
Today and Monday would be dedicated to nothing other than travel.  A grand total of 16 hours on four different aircraft and in five different airports.  As mentioned above I used a trick in order to drive down my fare, and as a result I wound up on a more interesting routing that would take me ECP-ATL-BNA-MSP-ANC.  It also means that I wasn’t able to check in for my flight the night before, since Delta.com doesn’t like more than three segments in one day; you have to see an agent at the airport and at that you typically only get the first three boarding passes at a time.  Since it was a 730a flight and that means me getting up around 530am, it does always make me a little nervous that I will roll out of bed a little too late and thus miss my flight because I will be past the check in cutoff time (just like when I overslept before my flights to Japan last year).

Luckily, just like most of my other early morning flights, I actually did make it to the airport and breezed through the Sky Priority lane at check in to receive my boarding passes.  Unlike when I did my Delta Air Lines Aerial Tour of the Southeast US last fall en-route to visit family in Illinois, the agent did not give me a strange look.  Perhaps they recognize me by now or have seen crazier things these days.  Interesting note in that the new Sky Priority signage that Delta is rolling out now that Sky Priority has gone SkyTeam-wide clearly excludes Silver Medallions and SkyTeam Elite members.  The old signs in small outstations like ECP when Sky Priority was available on Delta only included these members as well.  I wonder if they just got the wrong sign or if Silver Medallions no longer have access to shorter lines.

New Sky Priority Signage at ECP

After clearing TSA with no issues and a stop for a quick breakfast I made my way to the gate and boarded the aircraft to settle into my first class seat.  Luckily for me, on all my eligible segments on this trip my upgrades cleared in advance, but that would still mean a 2 hour ride on a CRJ-200 BNA-MSP.  As usual, there was nothing special about this quick flight: I just tried to down a few cups of coffee and a few packs of Biscoffs before landing in Atlanta.  Atlanta was starting get busy as all the morning flights were unloading into the Concourse and luckily for me I just had to walk down to the other end to catch my ride to Nashville on-board a DC-9-50.  Which despite it’s age (First Flight in 1979 and Delivered to Republic), is really a comfortable ride.  Plus I always like looking into the flight deck and noting how the pilots on these aircraft still have to rely on all sorts of analog gauges as opposed to modern glass cockpits.

Heading to the Gate to Board My Flight to Atlanta

I arrive in Nashville around lunch, which was planned as my “Strategically Scheduled BBQ Layover” given the existence of a BBQ joint right across from the Delta gates.  I didn’t have long, about 45 minutes or so, but that was more than plenty of time to enjoy a pulled pork sandwich before getting on my 2 hour torture-tube flight to Minneapolis.  Unfortunately, the seat next to me was not free, so I was crammed into there pretty good.  On that note nothing else to report about that flight…

Minneapolis is actually one of my favorite airports that I just don’t get to connect through enough.  Although the layout is terrible in terms of being able to sprint from one corner to another, it has more than plenty on the airside to keep one busy; plus if you have a long enough layover (Like I did in 2010 en-route to Australia), you can always jump on the light rail over to the Mall of America for a few hours.  With that said, I actually spent my layover at the F/G Delta Sky Club.  Even though I was taking the day off from work, I had a deadline approaching and thus I needed a few hours of relative quiet (compared to the terminal) to dedicate to some work.  Besides, its always more fun doing Engineering when you can have a glass of beer and some snacks!

I know a lot of people complain about the noise and crowding of the Sky Clubs these days, especially given all the different ways to get in (Membership, International First/Business, Day Passes, American Express Cards, Delta American Express discounted rates, Frequent Flyer status and so on).  But still for $25 as a benefit as part of my Delta Platinum American Express card, you just cannot beat the deal when you have three or more hours to kill on a layover.  Especially given how much it would cost to have a few drinks at a bar in the airport and a few snacks.  Throw in the free wifi and you come out ahead.

Anyways, after working for a few hours I inquired to one of the agents at the counter if they could make a booking for me; you see I had decided to one-up myself for crazy travel ideas on this trip and decided to burn 25,000 SkyMiles on an award ticket on Alaska Airlines to take me to the northernmost community in the United States on Saturday.  Strangely, they told me that they could do no ticketing in the lounge or for a matter of fact anywhere in the airport except for the designated counter outside security.  Surely I would have thought that nearly any Delta agent would be able to make a reservation and it could just be that the agent just really didn’t want to do it.  Who knows.

Since I got shot down by the Sky Club agent and delta.com was having more issues than I cared for I called up the Platinum Medallion line and was instantly connected to an agent at the Chisholm, MN call center that routinely is pretty good at delivering awesome customer service.  Once I told the agent the flights I wanted, he had it ticketed and I was off the phone in under five minutes.  That right there is one of the reasons why it will be hard to ever go back to being a non-frequent flier.

By the time I wrapped up with this I figured I should start heading to my gate at the end of Concourse F.  As previously mentioned, my upgrade to First Class cleared in advance, which I was certainly thankful for given the nearly 6 hour duration of the flight to Anchorage.  Unfortunately I found myself on one of the older 757-200s that only had drop down video screens from the ceiling, but it still beats sitting in coach by any means.  Service on the flight was good and the flight attendants kept passing through the cabin to ensure that everyone had whatever they needed.  When it came time for dinner all I remember is that it was a chicken dish that I had never had before, so I went with that.  Unfortunately, there wasn’t a picture to remind me what exactly it was, but it wasn’t that bad. Once the meal was over, and with over three hours left in-flight, the in-flight movie dropped down from the ceilings and started to play.  It kept me entertained for the non-wifi regions that encountered over middle-of-nowhere Canada.

High Above Canada Enroute to Anchorage - Covered in Snow/Ice

The approach into Anchorage was rather beautiful as the sun was setting – we flew in over the water between some mountains before circling back around to the airport.  As I looked outside I thought to myself that this didn’t look much different than Montreal four months prior – it was still clearly winter here and what was I wearing? Shorts and a T-shirt.  Yep, I’m from Florida and it shows.  Luckily I had a jacket packed in my backpack that I could throw on for the little time that I spend outside.  The one thing that did get my on arrival was just how light out it was at 8PM.  I think the official sunset was like 10PM.

As I was driving away from the airport to my hotel I spotted a restaurant on my route that a someone from work had recommended that I check out.  Pizza Olympia – I was told that the gyros here were fantastic, so in I went.  The service was rather slow and the place pretty empty, but you know it was a pretty good gyro.  A little different from what I’m used to, but still pretty good.  As I left it actually started to get dark and that made things interesting.  For whatever reason the streets of Anchorage just don’t seem to have any lanes painted – that or paint just wears off so quickly.  Driving around unfamiliar streets that are 4-6 lanes wide (at least I think they were) with no markers to give you cues as to where you are supposed to be in relation to the other cars is interesting.  And did I mention that I had never driven in winter conditions before?  Looking back, perhaps I’m lucky to have made it to my final destination of the night, the Sheraton Anchorage Hotel and Spa.

By the time I arrived, I was pretty tired.  To my body it was midnight and I was just ready for sleep.  I got up to my room, which I was able to get for about $90/night with a view of the water and lands north on the 13th floor.  I found a letter from the general manager on my bed along with a few snacks, which actually I think has only ever happened once before at a hotel for me.  The room was pretty standard Sheraton accommodations, comfy bed, a very large TV, but a small bathroom.  Actually, it’s probably the smallest bathroom I’ve seen in a US hotel, although certainly not the smallest that I’ve encountered anywhere (that award goes to the easyHotel London Paddington).  My only complaint, the continually loud children across the hall.  I swear it sounded like there were four or more of them over there and seemed to be up at all hours of the day.  Luckily I didn’t spend much time at the hotel, so I guess it didn’t bother me that much.

Sheraton Anchorage Hotel and Spa - King Room Bed

Sheraton Anchorage Hotel and Spa - King Room TV/Desk

Sheraton Anchorage Hotel and Spa - Water View

Now, If you read through the above, well then you should get some sort of award, because that was a bit long winded for just a write up about airports and airplanes.  The next two installments are going to be about my day in Anchorage/side trip to Barrow and my day trip to Seward and the Kenai Peninsula.  Hopefully I’ll have those up later this week and I promise, for most of you, it’ll be much more interesting.

Posted in Delta, Travel, Trip Report | 2 Comments

Ode to a Suitcase

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Berto

You would think that a suitcase isn’t much – its really just a reusable box to transport clothes and other items on journeys when it comes down to it.  Recently, while flying home from Alaska I had a layover in Nashville between MSP and ATL that was used to drive down the cost of the ticket by creating a fare break (creating pricing that was ECP-ATL-BNA and BNA-MSP-ANC and vice versa).  Long story short, once I deplaned in ATL and claimed my bag, I discovered that the handle was ripped off.  My suspicion is that it happened at BNA noticing that the ramp agents were moving rather quick (since our flight was delayed) and how I noticed a tag from my bag go flying across the ramp as I looked out the window.

Aftermath of Delta's Baggage Handlers

I got this suitcase back when I was in high school – Christmas 2004 as part of a set.  I had decided a few months prior to join the rest of my friends on a school trip for our Latin class to Italy over the Summer of 2005, and of course I needed my own gear.  Ultimately this bag didn’t go with me to Italy since I just couldn’t fit two weeks work of clothes into, but one of the others in the set did.  Aside from that first overseas trip, this suitcase has been with me to nearly everywhere that I’ve been to: Germany, France, UK, Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada, Japan, Australia, countless US cities – pretty much everywhere that I have been to.  It’s racked up approximately 131,387 miles in the air from a quick look at my stats and who knows how many on the ground.  It’s been locked in lockers in train stations in Europe, wandered the streets of Sydney, inspected by Customs Agents, and according to my cat, a nice bed.

Cat Approved

Now it seems it will be relegated to the trash pile.  I filled out a claim with Delta and have a FedEx label to mail it off to their approved vendor for repairs.  Odds are they won’t be able to repair it and I do doubt that Delta will send me any reimbursement for it either.  Actually, I probably just won’t even bother to send it out.  I was already thinking of replacing it, and really with all the other damage it has from the past 7 years of travel just means that my odds are slim of getting anything in return.

Now I have the task of finding another bag that will last me the next 7 years and hopefully another 100,000-200,000 miles.  Luckily, I have at least a few weeks before any upcoming travel, so I have a little bit of time to scope out a good deal.

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Celebrating the New Year in Montreal (Part 4)

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Berto

Index:

Monday, January 2
With a flight that was departing around 3:30pm, I wasn’t going to have much time to do much else in Montreal before I left.  Especially since I wasn’t familiar with the processes for trans-border flights and the US Customs Preclearance, I figured that I would get to the airport with plenty of time to spare.

I really wanted to try to find a little, good place for breakfast and yet so again I found myself wandering the streets of old Montreal.  Eventually I settled on Marché de la Villette, which is just around the corner from Place d’Youville.  It must have been a slow day, because the entire time I was in there I was the only customer that was in there.  Maybe the citizens on Montreal were still hungover from New Year’s and just not willing to venture out so early for breakfast.  For my meal I ordered a plate that came complete with: Omelette Alsacienne, Bacon, Potatoes, Cretons Maison, Fruit, and Salad.  It was a pretty comprehensive meal all together and wasn’t bad by any means.

Morning at Place Jacques-Cartier

Morning at Place Jacques-Cartier

Back Streets of Old Montreal

Back Streets of Old Montreal

After walking off breakfast I made my way to the one place that I had been trying to visit everyday, but failing to each day: Basilique Notre-Dame.  Now’ I’ve been inside a lot of beautiful places of worship across the world, but I found this one to be one of the best in my book.  I think it had something to do with the how the back of the church behind the altar is lit up and the overall darkness of the church inside.  Unlike some churches that are very airy and open, this one felt more dark, and compact.  It’s a bit difficult for someone like myself to describe (plus I’m trying to recall something from January and its now mid-March), so I’ll let some pictures do the talking:

Basilique Notre-Dame

Basilique Notre-Dame

Basilique Notre-Dame

Basilique Notre-Dame

Basilique Notre-Dame

Basilique Notre-Dame

Stained Glass Window - Basilique Notre-Dame

Organ - Basilique Notre-Dame

Basilique Notre-Dame

Interior - Basilique Notre-Dame

Once done inside, I knew it was that time to head back to the hotel, gather up my bags and head to airport.  I think it took around 30 minutes for the 747 Express bus to get me to the airport and from there I made my way through the very uncrowded terminal to the Delta check-in desk.  As usual, I went through the Sky Priority line where I inquired about my upgrade and had my luggage tagged.  There was no upgrade yet, but I was only #2 on the list, so I was crossing my fingers that it would clear at the gate.

One thing I found interesting about the process of going through bag drop off, security inspection, and US Preclearance is how many times they scan your boarding pass.  I would figure that scanned the first time would be enough to validate the pass and the passenger, but at every step?  Perhaps it helps them ultimately track how the line is moving?  It remains a mystery to me.  Once clearing security, I pulled out my customs declaration form to fill out only to discover that I did not have a pen in my bag.  Luckily someone had borrowed one from a local cop which just kept being passed around right before the line for Customs and Immigration.  As a whole, the process really did not take a lot of time.  I suppose that during busy flight periods, security, immigration, etc could all take a very long time, but it was relatively quick and painless.  I wound up in the airside of the terminal with more than enough time to spare.  Unfortunately, Delta does not have a lounge in Montreal, so I was doomed to roam the concourse with nothing to do.

Yet Another Passport Stamp

I did decide though that I should at least get something for lunch before boarding which I finally settled on a place to grab a quick burger.  I wasn’t sure if I would make the upgrade still and the flight this afternoon was outside of the meal window for sub-1500 mile flights in First Class.  The place, whose name escapes me, was a bit on the pricey side, but at least the burger seemed decent.  Once finishing up I headed to the gate to inquire about my position on the upgrade list now that there was an agent there, and to my delight I had cleared!  The best part: I was given seat 1A, which is perhaps my favorite seat on Delta’s CRJ-900 aircraft.  You can’t beat the legroom and having both an aisle and a window.

Boarding commenced slightly there after and I was settled into my seat enjoy a pre-departure beverage as the rest of the plane filed in.  It never really takes that long to board regional jets and soon enough we were up in the air.  I settled in for the almost 3 hour flight to Atlanta, kicking back and relaxing, and enjoying the fact that this aircraft recently had in-flight wifi installed.  For the most part the flight was uneventful, however upon landing in Atlanta, as we approached our gate, it was announced that it was still occupied.  One never gets excited arriving in Atlanta early, because quite frankly there will never be a gate for you to pull into.  After sitting on the ramp for 10 minutes the Pilot finally announced that we would be using a remote stand and would be bused to Concourse E.  All this meant was less time for me to hop around a few Sky Clubs.

It Was Actually Pretty Cold In Atlanta...

My first stop of the evening was to head over to Concourse D where I wanted to try the newest Sky Club in Atlanta that I had yet to visit.  It’s a relatively small one located on the ground level of the concourse.  I don’t know if many people just dont know about it yet or what, but despite it being a peak travel hour, it was hardly packed.  The snack selection (along with most other Sky Clubs) wasn’t exactly the greatest, so I didn’t stay too long after having a drink.  There was still one other Sky Club in the airport that I have never been to, so I headed over to Concourse T.  Since Concourse T has the fewest Delta gates (and overall for the airport), the lounge over here wasn’t very crowded again.  Very quiet and very spacious, but I again I didn’t stay for long.  I had to head back over to Concourse A to catch my flight back home…a flight that I didn’t get the upgrade on.  I found it rather strange that as a Platinum on an award ticket that there were only two other people out of 8 or so total on the list below me waitlisted according to the screens at the gate.  Even on an award ticket I should be above any Gold or Silver Medallion members and I just don’t believe that there were only two of those on the list.  Not exactly the end of the world, it was a relatively light load in coach and the flight is quite short at 39 minutes (usually).

Concourse D Sky Club

Arriving in Panama City I was greeted with rain.  It wasn’t a light rain either; it was coming down pretty good out there.  I had luggage to wait for so inside I was hoping that there would be a break in the storm once I got my luggage so I could get to my car.  Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.  What did happen was that my priority-tagged luggage was one of the last bags to come out of the conveyor belt.  Actually many priority-tagged bags were nowhere near the beginning which just is not right.  I shouldn’t see a family of 8 get their 12 or 14 or however many incredibly large non-priority suitcases before my one bag gets off.  There were several Diamond and Platinum Medallions around me feeling the same way.  The ground crew at ECP had gotten pretty good at this for a while, but this was just a complete failure.  Perhaps I just shouldn’t have checked my bag…

Anyways, Montreal was a fantastic city and overall I thoroughly enjoyed myself in the city.  I think it was the history and culture that really grabbed me – in just 2.5 hours from Atlanta I can be in a place where everything is in French and almost feel like being in Europe…almost.  I really would like to visit in the warmer months maybe in the late summer and I know that I would definitely like to visit Quebec City as well.  Sitting in the parks reading a book, sitting outside at a cafe, maybe some hiking up there – the possibilities are endless and I’m for certain that I will be back.

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Celebrating the New Year in Montreal (Part 3)

Posted on March 7, 2012 by Berto

Index:

Sunday, January 1
This was my last full day in Montreal and I still had a lot to see and do across the city.  It being New Year’s Day wasn’t going to help me though it seemed.  After getting up and taking advantage of the free breakfast in the lobby I figured my first stop would be the Montreal Biosphere in Parc Jean-Drapu.  The ride on the metro doesn’t take that long and soon enough I was on a quiet island.  Seriously there really was not any one out here and as I approached the Biosphere I found out that it was closed.  With nothing better to do, I walked around for a little bit and played in the snow in order to make a mini-snowman!  I haven’t done that in a number of years, so yeah it took me back a bit.

Montreal Biosphere

Snowman!

With no biosphere to do I figured that I would make my way across town in search of lunch.  I had heard about the various markets across Montreal being good for picking up a bite to eat while perusing the various goods.  As a result I made my way towards Marché Jean-Talon.  Problem was that once I found the place, it was closed until January 3rd.  I didn’t know at the time that they were all closed, so I then headed to Marché Atwater and that as well was closed up for the holiday.  I was starting to feel defeated in my search, so I popped out my Montreal guide and discovered a place called Reuben’s Deli.  It appears that it is a well known place for smoked meat (similar to pastrami) – and it was pretty good.  The sandwich was stacked rather high which caused the top slice of bread to be a bit difficult to balance on the meat, but overall pretty top notch.

Reuben's Deli - Smoked Meat

Since the restaurant also has wifi, I took advantage of that to figure out my next move considering it was already around 1:30pm.  Not knowing what would be open with already experiencing a day of failure, I figured I would try the Montreal Biodome.  Actually, my luck turned for the better and it was actually open!  The various habitat rooms were all very interesting, but the first room which was the tropical room was impossible to use my DSLR in.  The lens just kept fogging up from the humidity.  Even my point and shoot took a while before I could even use it in there.  Also, as a Floridian, I wasn’t impressed by the small gators.  Rooms with some Canadian habitats were more interesting and of course Penguins – how can you not like Penguins.  They’re birds too cool to fly and swim and jump and hop and everything else.  One looked like it had a cast or something on its foot.  It really was starting to get dark outside, so I opted to head next door to the Stade Olympique (Olympic Stadium).

Biodome + Stade Olympique

Flags Outside the Stadium - Interesting In That Several Are of Defunct Countries

Biodome - Birds!

I Think This Penguin Just Discovered That He Can't Fly...

I made one mistake in how I purchased my tickets.  Going into the Biodome I wasn’t fully sure if I would go up to the top of the tower at the Olympic Stadium, so I bought a ticket just for that.  I could have saved a few bucks if I had purchased a combination ticket for the two – a tip for those out there looking to do both.  Anyways, back to the stadium, you ride a funicular that runs along 266 meters of track to the top of the observation tower which on a good day gives you a view of much of Montreal.  Today, however was not a very good day and on top of that it was starting to get dark.  I could make out Mount Royal in the distance and what appeared to be downtown Montreal, but quite honestly I couldn’t make sense of anything.  Not even looking through my telephoto lens helped me make anything out below, but then the weather probably contributed to that as well.

Going Up To The Top

Downtown Montreal - From La Tour de Montréal

By the time I got back down the base it was now dark and time to get back to the hotel.  I had no clue what I wanted for dinner, so after dropping my backpack off and getting cleaned up I wandered around the old city trying to figure it out.  I spent way too long looking and ultimately settled on Les 3 Brasseurs.  The place was packed and the only spot I could get at the bar.  Despite my sitting right in front of a register, it was difficult getting service.  I understand being packed, but pretty much ignoring a customer is certainly not a way to earn a decent tip.  On the plus side, they eventually did get to me and I ordered some sort of beer and a lamb sandwich, which was ok, but nothing overly fantastic either.

The night was still early and I wasn’t anywhere near being done with the night.  I had heard that there were some bars out by Concordia University and since the Montreal app on my phone listed McKibbin’s Irish Pub as a place with beers and the occasional live music, I headed there.  Unfortunately, everyone must have still been recovering from the previous night, because it wasn’t very busy and there was no live music that night.  The beer selection was decent and I snacked on an appetizer as I watched a game on TV.

Still not being satisfied with the night I figured I’d do something I’ve actually never done before: go to a Casino.  Seriously, it was my first time and as a first-timer it was a bit of an overload at the Casino de Montréal.  There truly are slot machines everywhere and other odd machines in what seems like hallway after hallway in a maze that is designed to keep you from escape.  Worst part was that I didn’t pay the best attention to where I entered and since (I believe) that the casino is really three different buildings connected together, its not hard at all to get turned around.  I admit that I stuck mostly to machines during my visit there and that I allowed myself to only what was in my wallet (probably around $30 CAD), but it was fun to say the least, but it was fun.  I was probably feeding off some of the energy of those really into it (especially while roaming the poker floor), but it was rather fascinating.  Never did find that glass floor though…

By the time it hit midnight, I knew I needed to start heading back to the hotel since I was relying on public transit, despite the casino being open 24 hours.  The next day would be my last in Montreal and in reality I still had a few things I wanted to do in the morning before I headed to the airport.  If I had stayed out any later, I would probably have screwed up those plans.

Posted in Travel, Trip Report | 3 Comments

Hyatt Regency Orlando International Airport

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Berto

This week I finally got to stay in a airport hotel that I’ve actually wanted to.  There was a need for me to fly one way to Orlando from Panama City Beach (on Southwest unfortunately) at the last minute and with my late arrival around 10pm I was going to need a place to crash for the night.  A quick survey on Kayak.com and other sites showed that availability was scarce.  There were plenty of sketchy hotels on International Drive (or well near it) and a few decent ones splattered across the Orlando metro.  I was actually planning on going to the Sheraton Orlando North, which in the past I have found pretty decent for the rate (plus I have received upgrades to Club Level rooms there as a SPG Gold), but I got distracted by work while booking and the rate went up beyond my liking.

So I sat there in the Gate 60-129 atrium when I realized – why don’t I just stay at the Hyatt Regency Orlando International Airport that is surrounding me on all sides?  I’ve always wanted to stay here being a bit of an aviation nerd (guess it comes with the whole travel nerd thing).  Its located right above the TSA checkpoint and you can either get a room facing inwards to the atrium or you can get one facing outwards to one of the airside terminals.  I knew that is what I wanted and I was able to get a pretty decent rate at the last minute as well.  Being just a crash pad I wouldn’t say that it stands out as feeling like anything but an airport hotel, but it does command a premium due to location of being right above the TSA checkpoint/in the terminal, but it was much better than the Sheraton Suites Orlando Airport, which seemed to have a slight pest control problem at the time.

Hyatt Regency Orlando International Airport - 2 Double Beds Room

Hyatt Regency Orlando International Airport - Towards Balcony

While it was late and I had a friend meeting me to go grab a car and get something to eat, I didn’t really to my room until 1:30am which meant I pretty much walked in fell forward on the bed and passed out.  Luckily I had set some alarms.  Waking up the next morning was a bit of a treat for me.  There wasn’t much time to sit and stare, but I probably took about five minutes to watch some of the early morning departures and the sun as it rose over Airside 4, which is home to Delta’s operations and many of the international arrivals and departures.  I wish I could have 1) stayed long enough to enjoy a cup of coffee and watch the airport come to life and 2) brought a camera other than my phone.  I guess there is always next time.

View From The Room - Orlando Airport ATC Tower

View From The Room - Delta Gates (Airside 4)

Bonus:  My friend took me to a place called Junior Colombian Burger on Kirkman Rd (just North of Vineland Rd on the right hand side, if you go past the Hooters, you’ve gone too far).  Let me just tell you this: order a double and get it with everything.  Do not, I repeat, do not order any other way.  There might be things in the description that are making you think “how could that work” and more, but trust me its pretty freaking delicious.  Even when we went around midnight the place was crowded and there really isn’t much for seating, just a narrow hallway with a counter; many choose to just eat in the parking lot it seems.  While I wouldn’t call the best burger that I ever had, it is definitely in the top 5.

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Celebrating the New Year in Montreal (Part 2)

Posted on February 19, 2012 by Berto

Index:

Saturday, December 31
I’ll admit that my first morning in Montreal I just did not feel like getting out of bed.  I was rather comfortable and it was well, much warmer than compared to the weather outside.  I eventually found the courage to get up and get ready and headed down to the lobby, contemplating if I would avail myself of the free Embassy Suites breakfast.  I took one look at the very crowded dining area and figured that I would much rather go find something else.  What that was I don’t remember quite anymore, but that’s just what happens when you wait forever to try to write something up.

The plan was to head for Mont Royal first thing, but the weather was looking to be much less than stellar, so I continued my exploration of Old Montreal.  I headed down Rue Saint Paul Ouest walking past Place Royal and to Place d’Youville / Place de la Grande-Paix (which are the same place, but apparently the name was changed to the second back in 2001).  Place d’Youville is a public space or square down the center of the road of the same name and contains several museums including the Pointe-à-Callière Museum and Centre d’histoire de Montréal.  It was still relatively early in the morning and I found that the while the Pointe-à-Callière Museum would be open later in the day, the Centre d’histoire de Montréal was closed for the holiday weekend.  I figured that I would come back later in the day, but with a slight bit of what appeared to be freezing rain starting to fall I made my way across the old city to the Marché Bonsecours (Bonsecours Market).

City Streets

Place d'Youville / Place de la Grande-Paix

Marché Bonsecours is a fairly impressively large building visible from the riverfront in Montreal that started out as a farmers market and closed in 1963.  At some point since then the building was saved from demolition that houses shops, restaurants, and supposedly office and meeting space.  I didn’t know all that at the time, but I figured it would be rather full with stalls/stands selling goods.  Thing is I walked through and I have to say there just wasn’t much that I was into, as it was mostly little boutique shops that had things of either no interest to me or a decent bit out of my price range.  I still made a point to explore what I could and eventually made my way to a cafe to get some coffee.

Once warmed up and with the freezing rain stopping, I headed back outside to see about visiting the Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel which is located next to market, and which gives the market its name.  I walked up to the ticket window and was denied yet again – closed for the holiday weekend and not opening until Tuesday.  I opted to take a look of what I could of the exterior and the surrounding buildings.  Just something to add to the list for a future trip (I would really like to come to Montreal in spring or late summer).

Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel

Wait - Am I In France?

With nothing to see or do, I made my way back towards a Metro station and rode out to the Mont Royal station.  I had read about a place that was supposed to offer up some amazing sandwiches, so I made my way to the Café Santropol, which I walked past without even realizing it at first – I must have looked a little lost.  Once inside though I found myself in cozy establishment that was nowhere near busy and a menu that made it very difficult to make decisions.  Starting out I had to go with a Café Moka – I needed to get warm first!  Once I thawed out a bit, I found settled on the Jambon a la Menthe (Minted Ham) sandwich.  This sandwich consisted of smoked ham, apple and cucumber slices, and mint jelly served on what they call Santropol Bread with a small salad served on the side.  When it first came out I was impressed with the size, it was huge!  And second it was incredibly delicious – the bread was perfectly soft and the mint jelly really added something that I’ve never thought to put on sandwich before.  Take a look for yourself:

Minted Ham - Café Santropol

I finished up that amazing sandwich and then made my way towards the Parc du Mont-Royal.  Cafe Santropol is very near and after passing through a smaller park and noticing a pick up game of hockey being played I found myself at the edge of Mont Royal at the George-Étienne Cartier Monument.  Not being Canadian, nor an expert in Canadian history means that quite frankly I had really no idea as to what level of importance this monument has.  I still really don’t know, but I do know that it is a monument to George-Étienne Cartier, who was apparently one of the fathers of confederation of Canada and a Premier of Canada East – so an important politician from back in the day.

Here the snow was densely covered in snow and on the slopes here on the edge of the park there were plenty of young ones sledding down the hills and into hay bale barriers.  I contemplated in my head for a moment of asking someone to let me “rent” their sled for $5, but decided that probably wasn’t a great idea.  There was a cardboard box on the ground that I also considered, but I remembered back to last January to that failed attempt in Central Park in NYC.  I started my way along the trail “Chemin Olmsted” thinking that I might actually hike up the “mountain”, but after looking at my map (which probably didn’t have every trail on it), I figured that the more circuitous route it took might take me too long to reach my destination.  Not wanting that to happen I quickly retreated back down to street level where I waited for a #11 bus to take me.

George-Étienne Cartier Monument

Parc du Mont-Royal

Waiting on the 11 Bus

I consulted Google Maps and had in my head how many number of stops that it would take to reach my destination.  Only problem is that the number of stops on the bus didnt seem to match up with what Google offered up, and I wound up a few stops further down the line when I realized I was probably too far.  It meant a 10-15 minute walk through the snow, but which also meant an encounter with a friendly horse of the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (Police) mounted unit, whose headquarters are located on park grounds.  The horse seemed interested in me and maybe it thought I would give it something.  But I had nothing and after taking a few shots I made it to my original intended destination.

From this spot its a short walk to the Chalet du Mont Royal, although the signs if I recall correctly told me that it was 0.7km – perhaps I was reading them wrong?  Anyways, from here you get a good view of the downtown core of Montreal and across the river.  Being a relatively bad day for weather (low, gray clouds and the sun nowhere to be seen), you couldn’t see much or at least recognize much of what was in the distance.  Downtown wasn’t a problem however.  I decided to hang out up here for a while just looking out over the city and checking out the actual building before heading out on part two of this hike.

SPVM Cavalerie

Montreal Skyline

Me + Montreal

Happy New Year!

Chalet du Mont Royal

Getting to the next landmark on Mont Royal involved me hiking through the woods on what I am pretty sure is a service road or just a paved path, albeit covered in snow.  It was quiet and since it was getting closer and closer to dark there were not as many people up here as back at the Chalet.  Which was nice – relatively alone in the quietness of the woods surrounded by snow covered pine trees.  It’s only a 1.3km walk when you reach the Croix du Mont Royal or Mount Royal Cross.  It’s exactly what you would think it is: a cross that happens to be 103ft tall and is illuminated.  Supposedly the first cross was placed here back in the 1600s and an illuminated one was installed in the early 1900s.  There really isn’t much to really see or do there, so after a few shots I found a path that looked like it might link back up with the road so I headed on out.

Road Less Traveled - Making My Way To The Top

Croix du Mont Royal

I wound up at a vantage point that gave me a view of the Olympic Stadium which was of course, covered in a gray overcast clouds.  I decided to try out my gorillapod on the railing here along with my telephoto lens, but with those weather conditions it wasn’t going to help much.  Eventually the bus came and picked me up and back down the mountain I went.  A kinda funny moment was while waiting for the bus two people got fed up and decided to walk down along the road.  Well the bus came about 5 minutes later and we passed them waving and hoping the bus would stop.  No such luck and that’s what you get for not reading the schedule that was posted at the stop.

Eventually back at my hotel I had to figure out what I was going to do for New Years Eve, since it was that night.  As I have noted earlier, one of the downsides with taking last minute trips such as this is that I don’t have that much time to figure out what is going on in a city.  I had noticed that there was going to be fireworks, a concert, and other activities around Place Jacques-Cartier and Parc du bassin Bonsecours, so I figured I would do that as spending it inside somewhere like a bar just seemed lousy when I can do that back at home any night of the week.  This however was the easy part.  I still needed to figure out a dinner somewhere and it being New Years Eve I figured I wouldn’t really care too much about how much it was going to cost.

I failed when looking around online at the hotel so I figured that I would walk around Old Montreal and see what I saw and what looked good.  There were a few finer establishments that looked really good offering up steaks and other things.  A few that I checked on Google or Yelp actually turned out to get consistently average to negative reviews unfortunately.  Plus I had the whole everyone is here problem and not having made any reservations anywhere.  This meant I found myself wandering for over an hour.

Place Jacques-Cartier (Before Dinner)

Old Montreal All Lit Up

Eventually this led me to settling on a place called Restaurant Papillon.  It appeared to be an Italian place, but they had a special menu for the night that was decently priced and because I was willing to sit at the bar, had space for me without waiting.  I started off with a beer which led to a pretty tasty soup and from there more beer and a rack of lamb that was very good.  I took my time with my meal and finished up with desert and coffee.  By the time I was done it was about 1.5 hours until 2012 started so I started to make my way to the waterfront.  I stopped by the concert happening in Place Jacques-Cartier for a bit, despite not understanding any of the music that was in French, but soon enough I knew I needed to get a more upfront position for the countdown.

Concert Stage - Place Jacques-Cartier

I settled on the Parc du bassin Bonsecours, where I went ice skating the night before.  Telus, a Canadian telecommunications provider was sponsoring a number of activities including ice sculpting displays and free marshmallow roastings!  I’m not going to lie, roasting a marshmallow in the last few minutes of the year was a different way to close out the year.  After that I got near the ice skating rink figuring that would be the best vantage point that wasn’t going to be all crammed.  Honestly, I was surprised that I wasn’t in a shoulder-to-shoulder crowd.

Ice Sculpting Demo

Roasting Marshmallows Over An Open Fire

5, 4, 3, 2, 1….HAPPY NEW YEAR!  Once that happened the sky erupted in a very impressive fireworks display.  It just kept going and going and going.  I’m thinking it lasted for at least 15 minutes maybe even 20 minutes.  Definitely put the fireworks display back home in Panama City Beach to shame.  Not really sure to how to describe it, but take a look for your self:

Happy New Year!

More Fireworks

Place Jacques-Cartier - Packed for Concert

Place Jacques-Cartier - Concert

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New Delta Boarding Passes

Posted on February 12, 2012 by Berto

Here’s something I found out this past week that I found to be interesting: When I checked in for a flight out of Gainesville, Fl I discovered that Delta has completely redesigned their boarding passes.  It’s a complete redesign that throws out the concept of the “ticket stub” where a passenger receipt/stub would be ripped off of the larger ticket.  In fact a lot of the information that used to clutter the boarding passes is being removed and simplified.  Take a look at the image below.  The top shows the new design that I got from a kiosk on Thursday – It’s very clean and (for the time being) there is a lot of white space.  The one on the bottom is from last month and has much more information, most of which has no use to the average flyer.

New Versus Old Delta Boarding Passes

Generally I like this new layout and I think it will be a lot better when Delta adds the ability for multiple segments on a single boarding pass later this year.  One feature you don’t see on the new design (but should actually be there – I dont know why the kiosk in ATL removed this) is the addition of how long of a layover you have.  In this case it would have said “Layover  1h 19m” right above the departure time.  The only thing I dont get is that “SKY PRIORITY” is in very small text – even smaller than the rest of the text around it.  On the old design it was very clear and in two places nonetheless.  We’ll have to see if this presents any issues since I often dont fit age or look of the average Platinum Medallion.

Now if Delta could just roll out mobile boarding pass capability at ECP I would be a very happy camper…

 

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Celebrating the New Year in Montreal (Part 1)

Posted on February 5, 2012 by Berto

Index:

After finishing up the Christmas holiday at home I realized I didn’t feel like spending New Year’s Eve in Panama City Beach.  For the past several years I’ve done the local Pier Park celebration, but I was craving something different.  With less than a week to go to 2012, I needed to think of something quick.  I had floated several ideas including Chicago or Boston (I immediately ruled out NYC, just because it didn’t seem fun to stand in Times Square all day), but ultimately decided to leave the country.  Hello Montreal!  Sure Canada isn’t exactly long haul travel, but it’s not the US and it at least the French part of Canada.  With that said I secured a relatively last-minute mid-tier Delta SkyMiles Award Ticket that had Medallion Upgrade space open for the ECP-ATL-YUL legs.  One feature I love about Delta’s higher status tiers is the ability to get upgraded on award itineraries, and with the tickets that I booked I tend to look for flights that have Upgrades Available.

Friday, December 30
As usual I got to the airport about an hour before my flight, which unfortunately meant getting there around 530am.  As usual getting checked in was quick, but for some reason security was unusually backed up for so early in the morning.  TSA wasn’t any slower than usual and the Delta and Southwest flights were on usual schedules, so it’s beyond me.

Boarding was quick I and settled into my First Class seat 1C for the quick ride up to Atlanta.  As usual, there wasn’t anything too remarkable about the flight.  I had a 60 minute layover in Atlanta and even though I stopped in the Delta Sky Club across from E14 for some oatmeal and coffee.  However, I misjudged when to leave and found myself standing around at the gate for 10 minutes before we could finally board.

Concourse E - Atlanta

For the flight up to Montreal I had picked out seat 4A, which is the last row of First Class on the CRJ-900, but is also on the side of the aircraft where (at least in First Class) the ‘A’ seats are both an aisle and a window.  On the CRJ700 and 900s these are my favorite seats; I always like to look out the window, but I just so much prefer aisle as I can stretch out into the aisle a bit, especially when in coach.  I can’t wait for all of Delta’s long-haul international aircraft to get outfitted with lie-flat seats with window seats with aisle access in the Business Elite cabin.

Anyways, back on point, there was no in-flight wifi, so I mostly just read and listened to music for the duration of the flight.  Shortly after takeoff, a cold breakfast was served as is standard for flights over 900 miles.  Granted I would have much rather have had the choice of a hot mystery omelet, but breakfast is still breakfast.  On my plate today: Cheerios, a very generous bowl of fruit, a bagel (a bit on the dry side), and some strawberry yogurt.  Overall not bad and really how can a breakfast with a view from 30,000 feet ever be bad?

Delta First Class Breakfast - ATL-YUL

There was cloud cover over most of the route north, but as we were on approach to Montreal I looked out and the first thought in my head was that it looked really, really, really, really cold and wondering why I left warm Florida.  Frozen over lakes and rivers, snow covered fields and towns, and just the fact that was overcast…but you know what?  It looked perfect.  Yes, I enjoy the relative warmth during the winters in Florida, but I miss the change in seasons.  Of course with that said, I’m also glad I don’t have to deal with snow and ice on a daily basis.  I’m glad there’s places like Canada to escape to for a weekend to get my fill.

Waiting For My Bag In Montreal

After I got my bag claim I had to make the long trek to Canadian Immigration and Customs, but luckily they were not busy at all so there was not much of a wait.  The officer did go through quite a few questions and seemed ultimately puzzled while a single guy from Florida would want to come to Montreal in the winter, but ultimately he let me pass.  From there I walked into the arrival hall, got my bus pass and boarded the 747 express bus into Montreal.  It was here on the bust that it really hits you that while you are in Canada, this is a very different part of Canada – the French part.  In airports I’m used to seeing multiple languages on signage, so it really feels like any other airport, but once you get on the bus, you start noticing that there isn’t a single advertisement or sign that is in English.

I Guess This Makes It Official

747 Express Bus - It's French

The bus really doesn’t take that long, even though I was one of the last stops on the route.  Immediately after getting off the bus, the cold really hit me as I worked to find my hotel.  Thankfully I added 50MB of data roaming for Canada, so Google maps was able to route me around the convention center and to my hotel for the night: The Embassy Suites Montreal.  I literally booked the hotel just a few hours prior – I wasn’t finding anything that was super affordable, but while on the flight to Atlanta I jumped on wifi quickly and found a rate for $149 CAD/night.  Supposedly it was for a non-suite room, but maybe as a result of my Hilton HHonors Silver status, I wound up in a regular suite.

Embassy Suites Montreal - Living Room

Embassy Suites Montreal - Kitchen/Entry

Embassy Suites Montreal - Bedroom

First order of business after checking out my hotel room was to get some warmer clothes unpacked and trade out my jacket for my parka.  It was time to explore Montreal for a few hours to get a feel for the city and also find myself a late lunch.  I made my way out of the hotel and walked around the corner to find that the Basilique Notre-Dame de Montréal was right there.  It’s a beautiful church from the outside, but I did not have any Canadian money on me yet, so I decided to just admire the outside for the time being.  Since the Basilica is on the edge of old Montreal, I decided that I needed to dive deeper into the old city and find lunch, but not before taking in some of the architecture.  It really does have that old-world feel to it and given some of the buildings it almost felt like wandering the streets of Paris.

Maisonneuve Monument - Place d'Armes

Basilique Notre-Dame de Montréal

Vieux-Montréal (Old Montreal) - Rue Saint Paul Est

Eventually I settled on a place called Crêperie chez Suzette – for, if you guesed it, crepes.  I went with the La Quebécoise which was filled with Ham and Cheese, but topped off with Quebec Maple Syrup.  Along with a Quebec beer called Raftman which is a red “peat-smoked whisky malt ale” that I found to be a bit different from what I normally drink and actually pretty good.  Of course the crepe was pretty good too and just the right size since by this point it was 2-3pm in the afternoon.  After finishing up I made my way back out into the cold and continued to explore by foot.

Crêperie chez Suzette - La Quebécoise

I found myself eventually on the waterfront or the Quays of the Old Port of Montreal.  A quay is synonymous with wharf in many commonwealth countries.  I’m not sure how the Quebecois pronounce it, but I know in Australia I was surprised when I was told its pronounced like “key”.  Anyways, along here are actually a few ships I noticed, but mostly the former docks have been taken over by other ventures.  Such as the Montreal Science Center and an ice skating rink.  Even though it was about 3:30-4:00PM, it was starting to get quite dark so after playing with the snow park that exists between the buildings and the waterfront I figured it was time to run back to the hotel for a bit.

Old Montreal - Waterfront

I was seriously cold and I had no idea where I was going to go for dinner or what I would do for the rest of the day.  Part of booking last minute trips is that sometimes you never really know what is in store for the trip.  That was proved true yet again on this trip.  I had read about the ice skating on the Quays and seeing it earlier in the afternoon made me want to give it a try – especially since the last time I put on a pair of ice skates was back at UCF the first year they put up that outdoor ice rink.  I guess most Canadians must own ice skates, because I felt like one of the few who was renting a pair.  And I definitely felt like a Floridian when 1) I remembered how much ice skates hurt my feet and 2) when finally made it on to the ice and had to hug the wall.

After a while though I actually started to the hang of it and surprised myself to be able to actually move a way from the wall and complete multiple laps without having to stop.  I was proud!  Unfortunately right as I got my stride, they kicked everyone off the ice to run the Zamboni, which meant it was time to take a hot chocolate break.  I warmed up and once they opened the rink back up I was back on the ice and this time it was much easier to get going.  That was until I managed to bust my ass on the ice at one point.  Luckily a local sitting on the wall taking a break helped me back up.  I went around a the rink for a while longer and after about 2 hours I decided to find dinner.  Besides at this point it was already almost 9PM!

The Quays Skating Rink

Zamboni Time!

I had decided that I was going to go in search of a place called La Banquise in the Mont Royal neighborhood that is open 24 hours and known for their poutine.  This place is apparently considered the best in Montreal/Quebec and they have a lot of unique varieties compared to the standard dish.  In case you aren’t familiar with Poutine, its french fries + cheese curds + gravy.  Mine was the Poutine T-Rex and it had the standard + beef, hot dogs and bacon.  Pretty much I went straight for a heart attack in a bowl…and it was delicious!  I was only able to eat about half before feeling beyond full and decided at that time that it would be best to retreat back downtown to my hotel for the night.

Poutine T-Rex at La Banquise

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