Vancouver & Surrey

It has been a busy month, and I find myself flying even when I'm not flying. Nicole's movie got into a film festival in Vancouver, so we made an effort to attend. The nonrev game is not for everyone and a lot of legwork (literally) to get to Vancouver from LAX. Our first priority was a SkyWest flight for United out of terminal 8. It was showing full, so as a backup we would do WestJet leaving 50 minutes later from terminal 3, the furthest point from terminal 8. In spite of this, once we found out for certain that we wouldn't get on United, we made it to the WestJet gate at Terminal 3 just as they were calling our names. Phew. We were sweaty and tired, but had seats (albeit separate). Three hours later, we landed in Vancouver.

We rented a car because if nothing else, it was a place to store our bags the next day as we went to the festival. We drove downtown in some traffic and rain, but eventually arrived at the Le Soleil. It was in a prime location close to the waterfront. After getting settled and grabbing a donut at Tim Horton's, we walked around for a bit. It was dark out already, so it felt much later than it actually was. We walked along the waterfront in light drizzle which slowly increased in its intensity. By the time we got to the Cactus Club (a popular chain restaurant in these parts) we were rather soaked. I splurged and had a steak and a beer. It was actually fairly reasonably priced. After our relaxing dinner, we walked briskly back to the hotel and snuggled in for the night.

The next day, we woke up to even more rain than the previous night. It was an umbrella kind of day. Checkout time was a reasonable 12pm rather than the standard American checkout time of 10am. Since we couldn't really do much outside, we chose to get tickets for Flyover Canada, a large-screen ride that transports you over various landmarks in Canada. Think of it like Soarin' at Disney, except Canada. In fact, it's very likely made by the same company. Instead of scents of oranges sprayed at us, we got smells of pine trees and mists from Niagara Falls. It was about 8 minutes long and probably not worth the price we paid for it, but Nicole was able to get a Canada flag pin to add to her camera bag, so it was all worth it in the end.

After all that, we checked out and drove to Surrey, the location of the film festival. We met with Nicole's composer for lunch and then went to check out the movie at the theater inside a university. It seemed to be received well, and the Indian humor seemed to really hit its mark with the primarily South Asian audience. Nicole did the obligatory schmoozing after the screening, answered a few questions, and we rushed off to the airport, grabbed some Tim Horton's and flew back on WestJet to Los Angeles, where it was 85 degrees.

Flyin’ Brian Reviews SFO’s eating options

I was supposed to be spending my first night of a four-day trip up in Eureka, California — home to Redwoods, Sasquatch, and presumably a large number of marijuana producers. I was supposed to be there for 30 full hours, spending two nights there and an entire day without flying. This, however, was not to be. As I hopped into my seat at the flight deck, I sent for the latest weather report, which was around 1/2 mile visibility. This isn’t great, but it would have been good enough. However, as we boarded the passengers and got set to go, it dropped down to 1/4 mile which would make even attempting the approach illegal as far as regulations are concerned. To complicate things further, sitting and waiting for weather to improve wasn’t an option since the runway was going to shut down for maintenance at 1230 am (it was 1030pm at the moment of this revelation). The flight was canceled and the company initiated the circus that is finding an unscheduled hotel in an unscheduled city (San Francisco). They sent us to the Crown Plaza by the airport, which is where we often stay for SFO overnights, but we were informed that they were full. After another hour or so, a limo came to pick us up and drove us to what evidently was the nearest hotel with four rooms available — Berkeley, California. This would have been convenient if we were flying in and out of Oakland, but obviously, we were not. I think I got to bed at 2am. We were expected to deadhead to Eureka the next day, spend a night there, and resume our scheduled trip. So after I went for a stroll down by the bay the next morning in Berkeley, I put the uniform back on and we went to the airport.

 The first flight canceled for weather, so they booked us on the next one. That also canceled due to weather. The third and last flight of the night was canceled out of sympathy or perhaps common sense that the weather in Eureka is just absolutely crap this time of year. We would again be in San Francisco, this time they found us a hotel by Union Square in downtown San Francisco at an estimated cost of about $500 per night. It’s too bad we couldn’t have just spent the day downtown instead of wandering aimlessly around SFO, but you can’t always plan these things. So instead of searching for sasquatch in Northern California or riding cable cars up Powell Street in San Francisco, I spent the majority of the previous 48 hours in San Francisco International Airport. It’s not a great story, but that’s just the way it is. Accordingly, I can tell you a lot about where to eat inside the airport. 

 I have done a few “Why Your Airport Sucks,” posts and have few gripes about San Francisco. Sure, there’s often fog and flow delays because of fog, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s a lot better than O’Hare’s average weather, and 1000x better than Newark in all ways possible. At the end of the day, SFO is actually a pretty decent airport. The bathrooms are plentiful and clean, there are ample places to find food, and it’s relatively easy to get around. LAX hasn’t really been excelling in these areas as of late. And while the southern California airport modernizes, many of the fast and cheap eats have disappeared, getting replaced by trendy (and overpriced) SoCal joints such as Lemonade. If you are unfamiliar with this establishment, just imagine eating dogfood that’s undercooked. 

Anyway back to SFO — I have been in and out of this airport fairly frequently throughout my flying career. Some eateries have come and gone. Boudin Bakery used to be my go to place. I’d order a sandwich on sourdough and get a real jaw workout. If I was feeling frisky, I’d get some cookies along with it. Since its disappearance from the United gates, I have had to look elsewhere. If I’m fixing to get something cheap, I’ll just go to Burger King and get a chicken sandwich. It’s perhaps the only place in the airport that you can walk away with a meal under $10. It is, however, quite terrible for me I am sure, so a much healthier alternative is Klein’s Deli. It’s a local establishment and there are maybe three or four locations just within the United terminal alone. All the sandwiches are named after San Francisco neighborhoods. My go to is usually the Haight, which is essentially a BLTA (Bacon, lettuce, tomato, avocado for those who live outside California and don’t put avocado on everything). It is divine. Also their salted caramel cookies are a real punch in the mouth. If I could only eat at one place at SFO, it would be Klein’s. But variety is the spice of life they say, so sometimes I look elsewhere.

Since I was spending so much time in SFO these past few days, I have been branching out. A new place in the terminal called Bun Mee has taken the place of Boudin. If you order one of their banh mi sandwiches, you will get a similar jaw workout since they’re made on french baguette rolls. They are generously filled with spiced chicken, pork, beef or whatever catches your fancy. Next door is a pizza place, which is popular with people who have hit rock bottom and have just stopped trying at life. I observed former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, wearing oversized sweatpants, getting pizza from there. You can also get Mexican, Peruvian rotisserie, Chinese, Japanese, and mediterranean cuisine within a short walk. In short, you have a good variety of places to choose from . . .unless you’re flying Delta through SFO.

  

As great as SFO may be, I’d much rather be back at good ol’ LAX. This has been the most pointless four-day trip and I’d much rather be sitting at home than sitting in airports and hotel rooms. As a whole I’ve been pretty lucky with my schedules and disruptions, but thats’s all part of being in this industry. It could be worse. I could be flying in and out of Newark.

The Midway

After a considerable amount of time avoiding hotels, I seem to be finding myself in them quite often these days. In the past couple weeks, I have been in San Diego three times. This most recent one, however, actually occurred during daytime, so I could go out and explore a bit. I elected to check out the USS Midway aircraft carrier museum. At over $20 admission, it isn’t exactly a steal, but there are only so many aircraft carriers one can walk around on, so I caved. Unlike the Intrepid in New York, which displays any kind of airplane they got their hands on, the Midway stuck strictly to its Naval past and the only aircraft that could be found on board were those that might have actually flown from its decks.

 It wasn’t too crowded, fortunately, because there’s nothing worse than narrow hallways and corridors filled with hundreds of sweaty tourists. After walking around the flight deck, I waited in line for about two minutes to take a tour of the ship’s island. The guy leading the small group was a former colonel who kept using, “in that aspect” after every sentence. After the 30th time (no exaggeration), I was losing my mind. I honestly have no idea what else he was saying, though occasionally he switched to “in that regard.” After about 15 mins and a thousand aspects, the tour of the island ended. I continued a self-guided tour below decks to the crew quarters, briefing rooms, and radar room. I was the only one roaming these parts. There were a few more former naval servicemen in these rooms to educate people as they passed through. The guys I ran across must have been real bored, because they came at me at 1000 words a minute. I can now tell you how to operate a Naval SPS radar system, what the different symbols on the screen mean, and how different sources such as an E-2 aircraft flying overhead can feed data to the system. Maybe someday this information will be useful.

Following this, I headed off deck and back through downtown to the hotel. It was an interesting museum, and far more accessible than other carriers that have been converted to museums. According to its Wikipedia page, the Midway underwent multiple deck and stabilizer conversions to adapt to modernized aircraft and the changing times. One of these proved rather unsuccessful and it was nicknamed the “Rock n, Roll carrier.” The pictures were unsettling. It is best that the Midway is permanently at port now. As I once famously said to a Naval recruiter at age 17, “I don’t like boats.”    

Po-Town and the Hudson Valley

It was not easy to get from Houston to the Hudson Valley. Our initial plan to go to Detroit and connect did not look promising, so we went to Atlanta instead. Once there, we did not get on our intended flight to White Plains, and we weren't going to get on the next one either. We ended up taking American to Philadelphia, and a small regional carrier to Stewart airport in Newburgh, NY.  It was a slightly stressful day, where we had set an alarm to get up early and yet didn't arrive at our hotel in Poughkeepsie until almost midnight.

Then following morning, we ventured to the Vanderbilt House. Nicole knew the area because she had gone to college in these parts. I was eager to see the fall foliage, but more things were dead than were popping with color. It was a bit chilly out, but manageable in the sun. The wind wasn't too strong either. After strolling around the Vanderbilt mansion, Nicole showed me around her old haunts, but there was a football game taking place, which eliminated all chances of finding a place to park.

We continued to a recently built rails-to-trails pedestrian bridge spanning the Hudson River. We walked most of the way toward the opposing bank before turning around. It was an active spot with lots of cyclists, runners, and walkers. There didn't seem to be a lot of other recreational exercise options in the city of Poughkeepsie, which is kind of sketchy looking to be perfectly frank. It's the kind of place that has succumbed to heroine it appears. Behind the old architecture and Hyde Park quaintness seems to be this kind of ominous and unsettling vibe.

The wedding was outside before going indoors for the reception (and warmth). I characteristically ate a lot of food including personal-sized apple pies which nobody else seemed to finish except me. The following day's flights were a lot easier than our adventures getting to New York. We had one quick hop to Detroit and had no issues getting on our flight to LAX. Now I will have to go back to work for a few weeks, which seems quite silly. Doesn't the company realize I'm all about not working? I have some four-day trips coming up, so this blog might actually seem some action this month until I get my precious locals back. Harrumph.

I'm in . . . Waco?

Nicole and I have had a fairly busy 2019, having found ourselves in places like Central America, Africa, and Europe multiple times throughout the year. There were a couple months here and there where we didn't go on any big trips, and were in places like New York or Florida, (which as everyone knows) don't count. Anyway, this is one such trip that didn't count -- to the Lone Star State. My sister was competing in a Half-Ironman Triathlon which for some reason was taking place in Waco. The Waco Airport only flies to one other airport - Dallas, so rather than change planes and deal with DFW, we flew direct on SkyWest from LAX to Austin, roughly 90 mins drive away. We hadn't booked a hotel until we were basically on the ground in Austin because nothing looked great. Along with a major event comes quite high hotel pricing. We always figured we'd be driving in from 30 miles away, but ended up finding something last minute in Waco for about $100/nt, a vast improvement over the $350+ prices we were seeing elsewhere.

We set the alarm to make sure we didn't miss breakfast the following day, and then plotted out a few spots we might be able to intercept my sister while on the course. With road closures and a generally bad course map from the Ironman website itself, this was not always easy. Further complicating things was the fact that everyone in a helmet and Tri-gear looks exactly the same. By the time I realized she was coming, she was riding past me. There are several pictures of her back. We were able to see her about six times, however (some by accident), which I thought was pretty decent.

Before she transitioned to the running phase of the triathlon, Nicole and I drove just outside the city to the former Branch Davidian complex which famously burned down after a long standoff with federal agents. It seems like a silly thing to do as a tourist, but Waco isn't known for much else, though I have heard mention of a Dr Pepper Museum. Anyway the former site of the standoff is in a very rural area and we were a little surprised to see that the sect of "christianity" that the Branch Davidians subscribe to still exists. They have rebuilt a church and facility including an Audio Visual building where one can presumably learn their take on past events. The entrance to the whole thing was through a large gate. Neither Nicole or I liked the idea of being on the inside of the gate, so we elected to not leave the car. Another vehicle was slowly driving at the same time, and we tried to keep them from visually identifying us. It was kind of an unsettling environment, so we snapped a couple quick pics of a memorial and a big stone welcome sign and called it good enough. It looked as though the other car started following us, but we quickly slipped away.

Meanwhile, back on the triathlon course...

My sister had to do two running laps traversing the Brazos River a few times and doing all sorts of silly u-turns and roundabouts to reach 13.1 miles. It was more difficult to observe her during this phase since we decided to not deal with the car once we found a place to park it, but we still saw her twice. It was a decent day as far as weather was concerned, not too hot, but I was comfortable in my t-shirt and jeans. My sister was able to complete her triathlon before the cutoff, and we drove three or so hours to get to the Houston airport to drop off our rental car. We spent the next few days in Houston before heading off another "trip" to upstate New York for a wedding.