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.
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:
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…
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.
After finishing up at the EMP Museum I made my way back to the Sheraton to claim my bags and switch over to the W Seattle for my second and final night. The reasoning? I needed to get one more night to requalify for SPG Gold status, and they had a fairly decent rate of $120/night. Currently the hotel lobby is going through a renovation and I have a feeling that what was driving a lower rate at this hotel, as in the past I think I have seen this property in the $180/night range. Other than rates, what it means is that instead of entering through the front of the hotel, they are using a side entrance on Seneca Street and there really isnt a lobby to lounge in, if that is your thing. Suppossedly the bar/restaurant has been relocated on the 2nd floor, but I didn’t check it out.
Heading up to the room I found that I had been “upgraded” from a Wonderful room to a Spectacular room, which are identical, just that the Spectacular rooms being on the 14th floor and higher. As usual, the bed was comfy, large bathroom, but what I did like was the sitting area at the window. Coming back to the hotel to rest up for a bit after a full day wandering around the city and before heading back out for the night, it was nice to kick back there and look out at the city. Even if I didn’t have a view of the Space Needle.
W Seattle - Spectacular Room
W Seattle - Spectacular Room
W Seattle - View of the Seattle Central Library
After dropping my bags I was definitley needing some lunch. Every time I come out here I seem to be search of the best burger in Seattle. In 2010, I discovered Red Mill Burgers (amazing burgers) and this year I headed out to Blue Moon Burgers in South Lake Union. I probably should have ordered a standard burger to get a good comparison, but opted for the December special: The Festivus Burger. Essentially it was a meatloaf sandwich, and while good, it didn’t steal the spot from Red Mill.
Blue Moon Burgers - Festivus Burger
I opted not to ride the South Lake Union Trolley (or now known as the Seattle Streetcar – South Lake Union Line, due to an unfortunate acronymn), and walked back along Westlake Ave back into the downtown core. I don’t exactly remember what I did for those few hours in the afternoon, but I do know that I eventually I wound up at the Kinokuniya Bookstore located in the International District/Chinatown area. It’s a Japanese copmany that has a few locations in the US and other countries. I’ve perused books in their stores on multiple continents and found the one in Sydney to have a good mix of books and a wide selection of English-language ones as well. Seattle on the otherhand, pretty much just had items in Asian languages, which meant there was almost nothing in there I could read and ultimately buy. I at least looked through a few things before heading down to Pioneer Square to see if I could find dinner.
It wasn’t looking good for options, but I headed into the Merchant’s Cafe which claims to be the oldest restaraunt in Seattle. I figured that this would be a place for dinner, but once I sat down at the bar I wasn’t feeling very impressed. As such I just had a Pyramid Hefeweizen and some sliders which were pretty decent, but I just didn’t see too much on the menu. At this point I needed to head back to the hotel – I was starting to get a headache from drinking only coffee and beer all day, and I needed ibuprofen and water stat! Some R&R at the hotel for a few hours and I was back in the game ready to go to find a real dinner!
I settled on heading to the Elysian Brewing Company in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, which was uncharted territory for me. Elysian is a local Seattle micobrewery and they (I think) have three “brewpubs” in the area. It had been highly recommended to me and found myself trying several of their brews – the favorite being the Bifrost Winter Ale. As for food, I kept it simple and had the Pork Chile Verde, which very good. I stayed here for a while and opted to walk a bit down Pike and Pine until the bus came by and deposited me back in downtown. Being nearly midnight, it was on the quiet side around Westlake and a short walk later I was back in my hotel ready to pass out and go to bed.
Sunday, Decemeber 11
Surprisingly, I didn’t sleep in that late. I wasn’t going to have much time in the morning as I had a 12:10 flight to Memphis to catch. Since I can’t get enough of Top Pot Doughnuts, I headed there for a second day in a row, but not first noticing that on this morning was the Seattle Jingle Bell Run. Streets were shut down, runners were everywhere, the plaza and streets around Westlake were jammed full of people – people that I had to negotiate my way through to get to my very delicious, but I’m sure unhealthy doughnuts. I didn’t have my full sized camera with me, so I didn’t stick around to take any pictures.
I did return back through the crowds, but I didnt go straight for my hotel. I had not on this trip yet made my way down to the waterfront, so I headed down to there to just sit for a minute before heading back up and through Pike Place Market. By now it was getting close to 10AM and that meant I needed to grab my bags and make my way to the airport on light rail. Luckily I didn’t have to wait too long and got to SeaTac just over an hour before my flight. At the TSA checkpoint I ran into a problem with the e-boarding pass scanner being busted for the second time in two months. Although this TSA officer didn’t try to blame Delta, but had someone go fetch another so I wouldn’t have to go back and print a paper boarding pass at a kiosk.
Today’s flight would be the last time that I would hav ethe opportunity to fly the Seattle-Memphis route, which as of January 4, 2012 has been discontinued (along with Memphis-Panama City and 5 others). I’ve taken the SEA-MEM flight three times this year, twice as a Silver Medallion and this last time as a Platinum Medallion, and I never missed an upgrade on those times. Compare this to the SEA-ATL flights where I’m lucky to be the 27th person on the upgrade list for zero seats. I will miss this option in this new year and now I guess I will have to try to avoid going non-stop through ATL and do double connections through MSP, SLC or DTW (if those are any better for upgrades).
Delta Air Lines Airbus A320 - SEA-MEM
Service on the flight was pretty good as usual with Delta. Meal orders today were being done front-to-back (sometimes they jump around the cabin by passenger status), and being seated in 4B, meant I would get whatever was left. On today’s flight that meant I got the inflight cheeseburger, which really isnt super horrible compared to some other options available on aircraft these days. The rest of the flight was mostly spent surfing the web, since the A320 does not have personal entertainment.
SEA-MEM - Delta First Class Hamburger
Having almost 1h30m to connect in Memphis is more than plenty. I decided to walk around the concourses a bit since this will likely be the last time I pass through for some time and settled on going and getting some Memphis BBQ. I had decided to go to Corky’s in Concourse A, despite the fact that I usually grab my BBQ from Interstate BBQ. It reminded me that I like Interstate BBQ better and on another note it was really quiet over here! I think its the sign of what the future holds for the Delta Air Lines Memphis hub, if they keep reducing flights and frequencies here. I just wonder how much longer until the Amsterdam flight gets removed from the schedule. My guess is after Summer of 2012 – hopefully I’m not right.
Memphis Becomes a Ghost Town by 7:00PM
The flight back to Panama City actually was the second to last to depart for the night according to the departure boards in the terminal, although it looked like perhaps the Amsterdam flight might have been delayed a bit. The flight had roughly 18 people (out of 50 possible), and by the time we boarded they still had not catered us, so we had to wait for that before we could go. Taxiing away from the terminal and out to the runway, we went past most of the other Delta gates, which were largely empty aside from a few planes here and there. That sight in itself just makes it feel even more of a ghost town.
I got home to rain unfortunately which was very fun to walk through from the terminal to my car given that Panama City is completely uncovered – makes me wish the airport authority had thought about that before it opened in May 2010.
To summarize, I had a really good weekend in Seattle, as I always do. There’s never a shortage of good food and brews and things to keep me occupied. More generally speaking I really like the “vibe” of this city and always look forward to heading back out there. Hopefully, my next trip will be sooner than the past times, as I would really like to head out there in the summer-time. I haven’t done that since my Imagine Cup days back in 2005, having gone every other time in fall, winter, or early spring. Maybe Seattle can be to 2012 what New York City was to 2011 for me…
With 2011 behind us and 2012 now 3 days old, I thought now would be a good time to recap my travels over the past year. It has been my busiest year ever in regards to travel and I got to go to many new places and experience new cultures and cities. This year also was marked by being sent on a few business trips across the US, although the majority of my trips were still personal ones. This included my first trip to Asia (Japan), my first trip to Canada since the mid-90s, spending lots of time in NYC, earning Delta Gold Medallion and then later Platinum Medallion/Starwood Preferred Guest Gold/Hilton HHonors Silver status, rented a car for the first time, hiked a mountain, and “survived” the earthquake in Japan.
If statistics bore you, this is your chance to escape, otherwise lets break it down by the numbers:
Flights: Number of Flight Segments: 77
Number of Airlines: 3 (Delta, Alaska, Horizon)
Total Flown Miles: 52,211
Time Spent In The Air: 6 Days, 11 Hours, 42 Minutes (Almost One Week!)
Average Flight Distance/Length: 678 mi / 2 Hours, 1 Minutes
Longest Flight: DTW-HND (Detroit to Tokyo-Haneda) 6412 mi / 13 Hours, 25 Minutes
Shortest Flight: PDX-SEA (Portland to Seattle) 129 mi / 41 Minutes
Aircraft Flown On: MD-88, CRJ-200, 757-200, 757-300, A320, DC-9-50, 737-800, A330-200, A330-300, CRJ-700, 747-400, Q400, CRJ-900, MD-90
Airports:
Airports Flown Into/Out Of/Through: ATL, BNA, BWI, DCA, DEN, DTW, ECP, EWR, HND, JFK, LAX, LGA, MCO, MEM, MLI, MSN, MSP, NRT, ORF, PDX, PHX, PIT, SEA, YUL
Top Five Airports: ATL, ECP, MEM, SEA, MCO
Number of Connections in ATL: 28
2011 Flights - Domestic/Canada
SkyMiles Earnings:
SkyMiles Status: Silver (2010) -> Gold (July) -> Platinum (November)
Total Medallion Qualification Miles Earned: 82,464
Total SkyMiles Earned: 209,273
Total SkyMiles Redeemed: 90,000 (3 Award Tickets)
Travels:
Countries: Canada, Japan (New)
Cities: Denver, Hiroshima, Kyoto, Madison, Moline, Montreal, Nashville, Norfolk, Orlando, New York City, Portland, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Tokyo, Washington DC
Other Places: Rocky Mountain National Park
Number of Trips: 17
Days “On The Road”: 58
Average Trip Length: 3.4 days/trip
Trip Frequency: 1.4 trips/month (There were some stretches where I was on the road every two weeks or greater between work and personal)
Back towards the end of October, despite having just gone to Orlando for a weekend and booking two mileage runs to Nashville, I decided that I wanted to have one more “legit” trip for the year. Wanting to head out west I had to decide between somewhere new, like San Francisco for example, or head to one of my favorite cities, Seattle. Ultimately, it cxame down to price as fares to San Francisco were just way too high (something I’ve noticed all year). Of course I could have tried to wait it out (I did buy unusually early for my tastes), but considering how I’ve noticed an upward trend in airfares this year, I figured it would be better just to purchase than to potentially miss out on a trip.
With that said I bailed out of work a few hours early last Friday and on my way to the airport. The flight was particularly full which is always good when dealing with CRJ-200s and despite an initial delay due to the inbound aircraft being late, we got to Atlanta essentially on time. With a leisurely 1h45m layover, I decided to head to the Cafe Intermezzo/Buckhead Books in the Concourse B centerpoint. The chances of an upgrade looked very slim, so unless if I was going to eat, now was my chance. Besides, they have a nice view of the ramp facing Concourse C and watching planes never gets old.
As boarding got close, I noticed on my phone that I was #7 of 51 on the upgrade list for exactly zero First Class seats. I wasn’t exactly betting on getting the upgrade as flights between Atlanta and Seattle have always been a failure for me. All I could do was hope that I would win the seatmate lottery (which I all to often lose it seems). It turned out I lucked out for once and actually sat next to someone interesting for once – we probably talked for the first hour or two into the flight before settling into our own music and TV.
On arrival I made my way to the light rail and took it into downtown. Seeing as how for my first night I would be staying at the Sheraton Seattle I went to the end of the line at Westlake Center. Walking into the lobby of the hotel I was greated with a massive crowd. Turns out the Sheraton builds large gingerbread houses or something that attracts tourists. I just wanted to get my bags up to my room and then head back out in search of something to eat. I’m not sure if I got an upgraded room or not, but it was plenty large enough for me. Ultimately after walking around for a while and not really lucking out in the food department I settled for the Rock Bottom Brewery. Considering that by my internal clock it was past mid-night, my brain wasn’t as functional and wound up with a massively large plate of nachos. And no, I did not even get close to finishing them.
Sheraton Seattle Pike Tower - King Room Entry
Sheraton Seattle Pike Tower - King Room
Sheraton Seattle Pike Tower - King Room
Saturday, December 10
Getting up in the morning, it did not look like it was going to be a great day in the weather department. Essentially it appeared to be the typical Seattle weather: cold, wet and gray. That didn’t matter much to me however. Walking down 5th Ave I made my way to Top Pot Doughnuts – my favorite doughnut shop anywhere. Even better was a get $10 if you spend $10 AMEX Foursquare deal, so on top of two delicious doughnuts and a mocha, I figured I needed a coffee mug! I have to admit, I’ve been enjyoing all of these credit promotions that AMEX has had lately.
After breakfast, I made my way towards Pike Place Market. I love to meander throught the market when I visit Seattle, not nothing really did catch my eye this morning. Tried some Chocolate Pasta, but honestly I wasn’t getting the chocolate flavor. Besides what sauce would even work with that? The best part was that there were not many tourists out at all, which also meant I could stop into Starbucks #1 for a quick coffee before heading over to the park next to the market to watch some of the traffic in the sound for a bit.
Watching the Ferries in Puget Sound
More wandering about occured until I made my way back to the Westlake Center to catch the Monorail to the Seattle Center. The Space Needle wasn’t my interest here – I’ve been to the top twice before. One attraction I’ve never been to is the Experience Music Project-Science Fiction Museum EMP Museum (apparently the name changed earlier this year), which focuses on Music and well Science Fiction (Bet you didn’t guess that!). The great thing about it was there was not many people here. This meant that I got to take my time through all of the exhibits and at times be alone at some of the exhibits. One awesome part is the Sound Lab exhibit. Basically it gives you the opportunity to use keyboards, guitars, drums, or your own voice, and for the less-than-musically inclined (like myself) instruments had built in assists. This meant keys that lit up, where to place your fingers on the frets, etc. A few times I could have swore that I actually heard real music – believe that!
EMP Museum - Tower of Guitars
EMP Museum - Battlestar Galactica Exhibit
After enjoying the museum it was time to 1) Find Lunch 2) Switch Hotels. I’ll pick up the rest of the weekend in Part 2…Time to take a break!
A few weeks ago I posted about how I made my first ever mileage run that took me to Nashville, Tennessee. Originally, when I was planning to do this, I had booked a ticket to Nashville for this past weekend (December 3, 2011) for a “day trip” The plan was that I would go head downtown, explore a bit, grab some lunch, and then head back to airport to catch a flight back home. It was after booking this trip I had decided to book separate pure mileage run for a Saturday in November, because two trips at around $100/piece just isn’t that bad. Besides, with this past weekend I can actually say that I have been to Nashville.
I won’t bore anyone with any details on the flights – they weren’t overly notable. I did get Upgraded on my three eligible legs (ATL-BNA, BNA-ATL, ATL-ECP) of which all but the BNA-ATL cleared 6 days out (the BNA-ATL cleared 2 days out), which is always nice. The first flight of the day I had my first “celebrity” sighting on a plane when I realized that former Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden was sitting in the row behind me. I’m not an FSU fan by any measure (I stay loyal to the Knights), but when you live in NW Florida it’s kinda hard to not know who he is. Which is why I was surprised that only one person briefly mentioned anything to him on the plane. Also wouldn’t have figured to be someone to fly out of ECP…
Anyways, I found out the night before my flight that I would risk missing the bus to the downtown area since from official arrival time to bus departure time was 9 minutes. Now I knew that good chance that due to the schedule padding that is common with ATL flights I would be fine, but I just didn’t want to risk it in the end. I checked with Hertz and with my corporate rate code I was able to get a 1-day rental for $25. Considering that a 1-way taxi costs $25 between BNA and downtown, I just went ahead and rented a car. Paid for the Nissan Versa, but got upgraded to a Toyota Corolla (oh, how I hate Corollas!) when I got to my parking spot.
After a very quick drive downtown, I parked the car, and proceeded to walk around. I honestly had no idea where I was going or what I was going to do, so I just did some aimless wandering. Eventually settled on some BBQ for lunch from a place on Broadway called Jack’s, where my meal consisted of a half BBQ chicken with baked beans, mac and cheese, cornbread, and a Sam Adams Winter Lager. They had a variety of sauces to choose from, with the XXX-911 Sauce I think being the best…a great combination of flavor and heat (and really not burn your taste buds off hot either). After that filling meal, there was more walking to be done, and as such I continued to explore the downtown area. The one thing I did realize as I explored was that to get the most out of this town, you kinda need to enjoy country music. A lot of the attractions are geared towards this it seems, well at least the things tourists would be here for. I know there is other stuff to do here, but that is how I saw it.
Looking East on Brodway
Riverfront and Regional Rail Station
Old and New (Fort Nashborough + LP Field)
Jack's Bar-B-Que on Broadway
Downtown Nashville Skyline
As it got closer to time to head back to the airport I grabbed my car, drove over to Vanderbilt University, just to see what that was all about and then back the airport. It was here that my track record of being able to avoid Millimeter Wave and Backscatter X-Ray machines ended. I’ve always been able to make my way into a metal detector only lane, but this time that was all that they were running at BNA. Hardly the end of the world.
I had 3 hour layover in Atlanta on the way back. I originally thought of spending time in one of the Delta Sky Clubs, but decided to use the free wifi in the Concourse E food court (only free public wifi in ATL) before heading over to gate E26 where I found myself watching the sun set over Concourse D and the Air France Boeing 777 that was finishing preparations for a flight to Paris-CDG. After dinner in Concourse T, I headed back to Concourse A for the flight home.
Atlanta Sunset - Air France Boeing 777
It was a quick trip, but a good way for someone like me to spend a Saturday. I can finally say that I’ve actually been to Nashville and can say that I flew somewhere just for lunch I guess. Either way when you have nothing better to do why not get up and go?
This year has been a rather good year for me and travel, especially with some work related trips to supplement my fairly frequent personal trips. As a result after starting out as a Silver Medallion with Delta at the beginning of the year (and re-qualifying for next year in March thanks to Rollover MQMs and my trip to Japan) I made the jump to Gold Medallion towards the end of June. Since then I kept on going to both new and familiar places and soon found myself within striking distance of Platinum Medallion status, sitting at around 72,000 MQMs I knew that I would want to take one more weekend trip to a west coast destination as well as down to Orlando. I made it to Orlando a few weeks ago for a great weekend and had gone ahead and booked a trip to Seattle for mid-December.
Around the same time Southwest launched a fare sale where flights 0-450 miles were only $35 one way and increasing over several increments. Delta wound up matching this sale, with ECP-ATL-BNA-ATL-ECP itineraries pricing out at $65 before taxes. Seeing as I could do same day turns (and well even same-hour turns, if you want to get specific), I figured why not? I originally booked a day trip to Nashville in December that would give me plenty of time to leave the airport, go downtown, find lunch, and then make it back in time to catch a return flight to Atlanta. A couple of days passed and I figured that since it was so cheap, I might as well pick up another run. At this point I could go ahead and qualify for Platinum in November and my two remaining trips would generate MQMs that would rollover into next year and help with qualification for 2013.
So on a Saturday morning I got up at 530AM, got ready and headed to the airport with it still dark out. Check-in was a breeze, with the kiosk being able to check me in for all my flights that day, including my BNA-ATL-ECP return legs. I had expected to run into trouble with having 4 segments in one day, like I encountered while flying ECP-ATL-MCO-MEM-MLI a few months ago. Even better was that my upgrades cleared on the first three legs in advance (the last as a CRJ-200, isn’t Upgrade Eligible due to lacking a First Class cabin).
Delta ECP-ATL MD-88 First Class Seat 4D
Flying up to Atlanta doesn’t really take that long, and once there I wandered over to Concourse E where it would be a bit quieter in the morning (the bulk of long haul International flights arrive/depart in the afternoon and evening). I brought my camera along, so I filled my time playing around with that in the empty gate areas and halls. After killing enough time I went back to Concourse B where I figured I was going to show up with boarding underway, but to my surprise it wasn’t. Five minutes later however, I was stepping foot through the aircraft door only to find out that the same flight crew from my ECP-ATL flight were working the BNA-ATL flight. The First Class Flight Attendant recognized me and welcomed me back, but I didn’t say anything about my return BNA-ATL flight….yet. As far as they knew I was just a regular person going to Nashville (or I so I assume that’s what she must have thought).
Delta Aircraft Parked at Concourse E
Nearly Empty Concourse E
Take Note That My Shirt is the Foursquare "JetSetter" Badge - Definitely Earned That One!
Once up past 10,000 feet, one of the coach Flight Attendants passed through the cabin and asked me “Weren’t you on our Panama City flight this morning?” to which I confirmed and then followed up with “Are you and the rest of the crew working the return back Atlanta today?”. She, somewhat confused, responded that they indeed were to which I told her that I was going to be on the flight as well (and why I was doing it), which earned me one of those WTF looks. After informing the other Flight Attendants in the galley, I got one more WTF look while the First Class Flight Attendant was genuinely amused. None of them had seen or heard of anyone doing this before I later found out as I chatted with her we waited for the jetway to be connected and the door opened.
Right across from the Gate in BNA, I grabbed a pretty decent pulled pork sandwich before I walked back down on the same aircraft. The only thing I learned is that Delta’s system throws up an “Already Onboard” error when scanning my boarding pass, probably since I was on the same flight number coming up from Atlanta. Anyways, the third flight of the day was as good as the others, and from my observations I probably got the best service out of all the other passengers. Win.
Once back to ATL it was a short layover before I took a hop back to ECP on an ASA CRJ-200. No first class here, and I had to say goodbye to the awesome flight crew from my first three flights as they were continuing on to Akron/Canton, OH next. On the plus side I arrived back home 20 minutes early. Overall, it was a successful Saturday. I got tons of reading done on my flights, and while I only accrued 2000 miles I made that important jump to Platinum Medallion status. While doing it caused crazy looks from everyone (especially coworkers, who just don’t understand), it was actually fun since I especially like flying – even if its a “go-nowhere” trip like a mileage run. I think I’ll be doing this again…
Well, so much for updating frequently…Looks like that went out the window over the past month as work-related things kept me busy. But that didn’t stop me traveling completely. Last weekend I headed down to Orlando for the homecoming game at the University of Central Florida! Normally I would have opted to fly down on a Friday and return home on a Sunday, but this time I flew down on a Saturday Morning and returned back on Monday morning. I hate catching early morning flights, but I was more than willing to do it to shave like $80 off the cost of the ticket.
My Delta flights ECP-ATL-MCO that morning were pretty standard. I got upgraded for both of my flights, which wasn’t even full on the ATL-MCO leg. On arrival, I made my way to the Hertz #1 Club Gold spots in the parking garage and picked up the Mitsubishi Galant I reserved. This marked a first for me – Ever since graduating in May 2010 from UCF, I’ve always had friends or my younger brother to pick me up or drop me off at the airport. That also meant that I usually crashed on couches and as a result also meant that I would be staying in hotels this time.
Upon leaving the airport I realized I forgot my SunPass transponder back in my car at home, so I opted for just taking Semoran north out of the airport and figured that I would take that to University and shoot over to UCF. Somehow I made it nearly to Colonial Dr before I even hit a red light, and soon enough I was on the main UCF campus. I figured that parking wasn’t going to be the easiest, but headed to the lot that I had often parked in my freshman year. I used to have to circle this lot to find a spot, but to my surprise I pulled right into an empty spot – not bad! With time to kill, I wandered the campus, picked up a new shirt from the bookstore, and grabbed lunch before making my way through the tailgaters at Memory Mall and on to the stadium.
UCF Reflection Pond
Despite the less-than-stellar season that UCF has had thus far this year, fans were out everywhere. I guess it doesn’t take much to get football fans to tailgate and get drunk. I got to the stadium and originally took my seat for the ticket I purchased – right on the goal line next to the student section. However, I didn’t wind up sitting there after I got a text from my brother and moved to a student section seat with him and a few others. One can read recaps of the game online – but in short, UCF dominated Memphis and ran up a a 41-0 zip defeat.
UCF vs Memphis - 50 Minutes to kick off
UCF vs Memphis - 1st Half
After spending some time with my brother and the others from the game, I made my way to the Sheraton Orlando North in the suburb of Maitland, FL. Upon checking in at 11pm that night I was informed that I had been upgraded to a Club Floor room, due to availability. I don’t think that this is standard for a Sheraton (I haven’t been upgraded to a Club Floor room thus far as a SPG Gold), but I certainly wasn’t going to have any complaints. The room was pretty standard and had a comfy king sized bed. Luckily my room was on the opposite side of the hotel from Interstate 4. My only complaints was that it was nowhere near anywhere I was that weekend and there was no breakfast in the Club Lounge. I’m guessing that Sundays there just isn’t enough demand for the hotel to offer it. Would have been nice though if there had been a note in my room saying “Hey, don’t get your hopes up, because there is no breakfast tomorrow morning in the lounge.” Other than that this hotel is a pretty decent property and I wouldn’t hesitate to stay here again in the future, even if it is a bit out of the way for what I am usually in Orlando for.
Sheraton Orlando North - Club Floor King
Sheraton Orlando North - 'S' Marks the Spot
Actually the whole lack of breakfast thing wasn’t that big of a deal since I was planning on meeting my brother for lunch at the Orlando Ale House. Of course I did have a bit of time to kill so I drove aimlessly in downtown Orlando and Lake Eola only to fight one-way streets (damn you Pine Street and your change of direction!). Either way I eventually made it to lunch which lasted for a few hours before I headed back to the UCF campus for something else.
One of my friends through college who was one of my roommates for three years was heading down to Orlando for the afternoon from Gainesville so we could hang out for the first time since graduation. I spent my time waiting next to the reflection pond enjoying the beautiful day that Orlando was having. Eventually he showed up and without getting into too many details we spent the afternoon checking out some of the new things on campus, heading down to the I-Drive area, eating chicken tenders at Huey Magoo’s (a staple of mine during college), and eventually winding up at Hard Knocks.
For the less familiar, Hard Knocks is a place that bills itself as an indoor combat simulation arena and LAN center (that means video games). Essentially, what they do offer is laser tag using guns that have the close feel, weight, and look of actual weapons. That means running around with replica FN P90 or M-16, shotguns, handguns and more through either an office environment (with cubicles and all), a warehouse, or the “house” environment. My friend and I figured there would be at least a few people out here, despite being a Sunday night, but the only people there included a 10 year old (I’m guessing here) and his dad. That actually just meant me and my friend and this random kid running around shooting each other. That’s fine in the free for all missions, but wasn’t exactly fair for the kid when team missions were being played and we teamed up on him. After getting worn out and re-hydrating we went our separate ways and I headed for the Sheraton Suites Orlando Airport.
Now, when I stay at an airport hotel, I really don’t expect much. The average person is just there for one night and nothing more and probably just wanting a place to crash. Still, when you are dealing with a major brand, you expect certain levels of service and cleanliness. Upon first arriving to my 2nd floor suite (the only type of room here it seems) I first noted that it looked a little bit on the dated side. It did have flat screen TVs but the decor was definitely older. Since this was just a one night crash pad I didn’t really care too much – I really just needed a bed (while earning SPG points of course!). As I was getting ready to jump into my bed I saw something out of the corner of my eye. “Why is the carpet moving?” I thought until I snapped to and realized there was a good sized bug scurrying across the floor. Now I don’t get freaked out really, but I do move swiftly to kill the intruder. I figured I could call down to the front desk and swap rooms, but I really just wanted to sleep so I figured that I would take care of it in the morning.
Sheraton Suites Orlando Airport - King Suite
Sheraton Suites Orlando Airport - My "Guest"
There was just one problem with my plan. When I got down to the front desk at 430am in the morning there was no one there. I mean I even tried shouting out to the back office area and no one responded. I even waited 5 minutes at the counter, thinking that surely someone would be around soon, but no one came. Eventually I just said screw it and made my way out to my car and to the airport. After getting through security (and listening to the TSA blaming Delta for the e-boarding pass scanner not working) I sent a tweet to Starwood about my bug problem. They referred it on to the hotel who a few days later told me no other bugs were found and that they would be crediting my account 3000 points. I’m still waiting on the points, so we shall see if I have to escalate that or not.
Flights that morning were pretty easy, but I did not make the upgrade on the MCO-ATL flight. I even volunteered my seat since they were oversold, but in the end they didn’t need me. Such a shame too, since they were going to route me MCO-MIA-ATL-ECP and toss me $400 in vouchers. This year I think I’ve volunteered my seat 3 or 4 times and never once have they needed me. The only other thing to note that the flight was early enough that it was still completely dark when we arrived in ATL. Other than that my ATL-ECP flight arrived about 20 minutes early and wound up only getting into the office an hour later than usual, which isn’t too bad.
