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.

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.

G-g-g-ghosts?!!!

At least from my own experience, trying to get a standby seat on a direct flight from Newark to Los Angeles is a near impossibility. Out of the previous five times I have been in New Jersey visiting Nicole, I have ended up in the jumpseat five times. . . including one time where I had previously been awarded an economy-plus seat only to have the plane grounded for maintenance just after it pushed from the gate. Anyway, Nicole found herself in New Jersey once again, and knew that I was going to be overnight in San Antonio, Texas. She felt her odds were good if she met me there and then flew with me back to LAX the next day.

The hotel we stay in is well-located on the San Antonio riverwalk, but is apparently haunted. Now, most of the time, such a claim wouldn't faze me, and I have stayed at this hotel multiple times without giving it much thought.

The hotel is over 100 years old and has changed hands a few times, and is now the Sheraton Gunter Hotel. San Antonio itself has a lot of history, so I feel like there is a lot of, "Ah, this place is old, therefore it's haunted!" There are stories of ghosts of Alamo fighters, the spirits of 1920s flappers, and just about everything in between. I consider myself to have a healthy dose of skepticism about such stories, but then I made the mistake of reading the background of why people believe the Gunter is haunted.

Back in the 1960s, some guy checked in to the hotel, brought in a woman of unknown profession, and then murdered her with a knife, butchered her, and tried to dispose of the body by flushing it down the toilet and down the drain of the bathtub. It was the bloodiest, most gruesome murder San Antonio had ever seen. Since then, guests and staff alike have reported seeing a woman roaming the halls and other strange happenings.

This all took place in room 636, and I recounted this story to Nicole before she arrived so that she could mentally prepare herself for all kinds of paranormal activities. Room 636 was her first destination upon arrival at the hotel. She reported back that she saw, felt, or heard nothing. Phew. I don't need any ghosts following me back to my room. Nobody has time for that. I can't sleep with someone watching me.

Miraculously we made it through the night and the only thing that disturbed my sleep was a very noisy air-conditioning unit that kept going on and off. Ghosts? º_º

When we woke up, we sought out some breakfast. It must be the end of tourist season because the riverwalk was absolutely desolate. Ghosts? We ended up eating breakfast at La Panaderia, and spent a few minutes looking at the numerous selections of fancy baked goods.

I settled on a cheesecake-flavored pastry as well as this key-lime cruffin. What is a cruffin you ask? Why it is a hybrid croissant-muffin. The worker behind the counter described it as "stupidly good." I feel like that is a fairly accurate assessment. It is an item that shouldn't even exist, yet it was delightful.

Afterward, we strolled along the river, and although the central area of the riverwalk was quite empty itself, we wandered away from the restaurants and bars to find a calmer, quieter portion to walk along. It was very relaxing and a nice change of pace from the times I have been here and frustratingly wondered how many people get pushed into the river every day.

After reversing our course on the opposite side of the river, we walked up to the Alamo to find some shade in the courtyard under a pecan tree. Some birds had decided that they also liked the pecan tree and kept pecking at the branches. Every few seconds, a nut would come crashing down nearby. We felt it was only a matter of time before one hit us on the head, yet miraculously it never happened. Ghosts?

Nicole bought a souvenir pin in the shape of a bottle of BBQ sauce from the Alamo gift shop, then we walked back to the haunted Gunter Hotel.

All in all, I think we made it out of there without being followed, but who can know for sure?

When Nicole tried to check in for her flight online, it said there was no record of the booking or that perhaps she had booked a paper ticket. Paper tickets? What is this 1992? Strange happenings, indeed.

Bricole Take On Guanajuato

 After months of tired and outlandish excuses like, "I have to work...," Nicole finally gave in and joined me on a red-eye flight to Léon, Mexico.  Nicole, incidentally has been to some pretty interesting places around the globe ranging from Sri Lanka to Albania and Bosnia. Until last week, she had not been to Canada. And until this weekend, she had not been to Mexico. How about those apples? . . . or should I say manzanas.

After catching a few winks, we went into town and walked through the historical center of Guanajuato. Nicole snapped this wide-angle shot of the iconic church, which I believe goes by the official name of "Big yellow church" which is far easier than the unofficial name of "the basilica Colegiata de Nuestra Señora de Guanajuato." We continued our stroll through the streets and went to the Mercado Hidalgo to do a bit of shopping for some kind of memorabilia.

Nicole ended up buying a hand-made spoon rest and drip catcher thingy. Do they have an actual name? You know what I'm talking about, yes? We made our way out of the market and had some drinks in a nearby plaza where musicians kept coming to us like magnets.

A stray dog was also drawn to us, but soon clashed with the musician, whom the dog did not find to be terribly appealing to his ears. We slowly made our way to catch a taxi to the hotel. We then walked down to the tried and true BrasiTacos, which Nicole is standing in front of here. I shall quote her when she said, "You made it seem like much more of a hole in the wall." Unbeknownst to her, Nicole has changed a lot these last few years. Brasitacos, I believe, is the definition of a hole in the wall, seeing as though it is in fact missing a wall and its roof is corrugated metal. Nevertheless it has reliably good and safe food (*cough* Applebee's *cough*) and Nicole had a pair of chorizo tacos for dinner. After this, we relaxed at the hotel by watching American films poorly dubbed into spanish. We tried to go to bed around 9pm local time despite members of a school group running through the halls, yelling, and knocking on doors.




At approximately 1am, the fire alarm went off. Immediately assuming it was a fake, Nicole and I ignored it, though were now very much awake and our hearts were beating quite rapidly. Then it went off a second time. And a few minutes later, a third time. Begrudgingly we got dressed and walked into the hallway where somehow I became the leader of about 40 Mexican schoolchildren who appeared confused. After going down the fire escape and through the parking garage, we ascertained that this was in fact a disorganized mess and while everyone crowded in the lobby looking confused, Nicole and I went back upstairs to bed.

From its famous overlook at Pipila to shopping at the mercado to tacos and a fire alarm, I do believe Nicole had the full Guanajuato experience and I hope she had fun.

A Relaxing Workday

After a stressful week during which Nicole and I had to figure out how we were going to move out of our current residence due to some pretty intense fumigation of the entire complex. With that and wedding planning stress building up, I had a trip with a long layover in Palm Springs and found it a perfect time to get away from it all and just enjoy the 90 degrees and sun while the rest of the country gets snow dumped on it.


Nicole accompanied me for this trip and after arriving late last night, we got breakfast at Sherman's Deli across the street for some omelettes. After that we walked around the downtown area for a bit, checked out a couple of the stores, and then walked into the Palm Springs Museum of Art, which was simultaneously marked "free" and also "$12." We ignored the second sign. We didn't spend much time in it, but checked out the Andy Warhol section. Nicole has always been partial to Campbell's Soup.

From there we checked out the rest of town, which seemed to consist of elderly folk and young kids roaming around aimlessly. Nicole stumbled across a statue of her idol, Lucy Ricardo. Lucy was also the namesake of Nicole's childhood guinea pig.

After returning to the hotel, we sat out by the pool for a while and came to the conclusion that nobody is in school today. There were a lot of kids for a Tuesday. Evidently spring break is still happening.









After this very taxing day of sitting in the sun, I had to go to work. Somewhat surprisingly, the most direct way to go from Palm Springs to Los Angeles in the evening is through San Francisco. Nicole narrowly got on the plane. I assume we can thank some geriatrics who were struggling to get their rascal through security and missed the flight. Nicole got the last seat on the plane.

Then in SFO, we had a three hour layover to do some more sitting. While we were eating a dinner from Klein's Deli, we spied Chris Christie, former governor of New Jersey, ordering a pizza next door. He looked like a sad shadow of his former self. The imagery of a large man in a fleece ordering a pizza in Terminal 3 is disheartening enough, but knowing that he was once one of the most powerful governors in the country is sad. I actually felt bad for him. But we musn't let former NJ governors bring us down. Nicole and I had a fine trip to a city that is a mere 2 (maybe 4?) huor drive from LA.

Lil' Side Trip to Richmond

 Since the end of last month, Nicole has been working for the show Homeland. It is filming its seventh season in Richmond, Virginia. Needless to say, it's a long way from L.A. and there are no direct flights. It was a bit of a stressful day trying to get there. The first Delta gate agent ran down to the plane (to check on pax counts I assumed). Except I looked out to see the bridge being pulled away and the plane being pushed back without her ever following up with me about the jumpseat. That's TWICE now, Delta. TWICE. I caught one 90 mins later and got a seat in the back. I was not completely free of the jumpseat, though as I ended up in an MD-88 from Atlanta to Richmond. It was my first time in the infamous "Mad Dog" as we do not see them much on the west coast. The FO jokingly commented, "Those engine start/stop switches on your plane must be nice," and then proceeded to do a 30-step process to start an engine on the mighty MD-88. After enough coal was fed into the boiler, we were on our way.

Richmond seems like a nice enough city. It feels like a small town. No traffic. Easy parking. Old architecture. In other words, nothing like Los Angeles. It has a nice network of pedestrian bridges and pathways criss-crossing a place called Belle Isle near downtown. One of them is actually hanging from an overpass. It was about 85 degrees and quite humid, which I was not expecting for this time of year. It felt like the middle of summer. We spent the rest of the day driving around places like Monument Avenue, a long street with various statues.

Being the capital of the Confederacy at one point, I suppose it was unsurprising that this avenue was full of confederate statues. Whether or not they deserve to be prominently displayed out in public is a whole different debate and I've made enough of such political rantings lately, so I'll let this one be. Robert E. Lee was our first sighting, followed by Jefferson Davis. I guessed (correctly I might add) that the next statue would be Stonewall Jackson. After that was Arthur Ashe . . . a black tennis player, who won numerous grand slams in the 60s/70s. And now he shares a street with Jefferson Davis. Only in America. We walked by the Museum of the Confederacy and the Confederate White House. It was $10 for the museum, so we didn't go in. The "White House" didn't look like anything special either. I saw much nicer homes in Richmond in an area known as "The Fan." Later in the evening, we returned to the river by downtown.

We enjoyed a nice sunset and then had dinner outside at a French restaurant in Carytown, another trendy neighborhood in Richmond. Although it was brief, I enjoyed my time in Richmond. It seems like a friendly and relaxed town that has tried to establish a new identity for itself. The next day I found myself in the jumpseat again and dodging tropical storm Nate as it moved through the Southeast. Maybe I'll be back some day when I can spend more time there.

Still in Denver...

Logbook: It's Day 25. The others are starting to show signs of fatigue. As someone already working for the company, I did not have to attend the first two weeks of class like the majority of my class, so I have a slight edge in endurance, but barely. Over a week ago, we lost half of our class to cholera Cincinnati. Now there are but 8 of us. Provisions are low. I have been fashioning makeshift dinners out of vending machines and 7/11. Any time I have a day off, I immediately leave. After a brief stint in Orlando for a dentist appointment, I returned to Denver with Nicole along for the ride.

For our first excursion, we drove to a wilderness preserve. I had previously run through the area only to be harassed by small insects that would follow me for miles as I tried to outrun them. We didn't fare much better in the car. It was like an endless expanse if nothing. Finally, as we were about to exit the park, we spotted a bison. It eventually walked right in front of our car and I was briefly concerned about declining the rental insurance. We then went to a shopping center nearby before returning to do simulator training.

As it was Nicole's birthday a couple days later, I had to combat four different schedule changes in an attempt to make her day enjoyable. First we went to the zoo near downtown. She got free entry, a free ride on the carousel, a free ice cream, and a button announcing to the world that it was her birthday. She took advantage of all the perks with the exception of the carousel. There were lots of children who were like heat-seeking missiles going straight for my knees, but fortunately the zoo was fairly expansive so it was relatively easy to get away from the crowds.

Highlights included a tiger on a catwalk (ha!) who tinkled a little on an unsuspecting passerby below. A nearby elephant played with an empty keg (no doubt evidence of a wild night of trunking and peanut-binging). On the other side of the zoo, penguins queued up to get some fish from a worker. It was a fairly well-done zoo. I just get confused by zoos in cold climates. Like I'm sure the cheetahs are fine now, but what happens in December when there are like 3 feet of snow?

Due to my discombobulated schedule, we had to leave around noon. We got there at rope drop you see. I had to go to a briefing for two hours, then was supposed to have about 5-6 hours gap before the sim, but someone's checkride got rescheduled because they didn't have logbooks or something. And just like that, we were summoned in to do our sim session, 5 hours ahead of schedule. I had plans to take Nicole out to a nice birthday dinner, but I didn't get out until almost 9, had to return the rental car, and by then the food options were limited.

Ruby Tuesday's in the hotel parking lot was about the only thing still open. Hopefully Nicole enjoyed her large brownie fudge sundae served in a large goblet.


The following day before she left, we had a chance to try an Italian restaurant next to Ruby Tuesday's. It had a very interesting vibe. It was windowless, had three different levels of seating and was projecting Celine Dion music videos from the 90's onto the wall. Why? Who knows. It was entertaining. Evidently for dinner, it's hard to get a seat.

For another few sim sessions, my partner and I fought off engine fires, engine separations, stalls, flap failures, cabin smoke, windshear, and single engine missed approaches. We've done so many of them that I feel like flying a plane with two working engines is going to seem unusual at this point.


Now car-less again, meal options are severely limited. If I have a day off, I leave. I went to LA for 24 hours just to get out. Then, coming back, I chose an early afternoon flight on a 777 that was projecting 30 open seats. Somehow I ended up in the jumpseat. Summer travel is highly unpredictable. It's almost good I've been in training for the thick of it. Once fall rolls around, I can actually go somewhere and not have a family of six show up 10 minutes before the flight and ruin the numbers. Bah. One week left . . .

   

Hot in the City

With Nicole in tow, we left Los Angeles last night for Tucson. It was a cool 97 when we touched down. Since I had a long overnight in Tucson, Nicole decided to rent a car. The following morning we drove east of the city to the Tanque Verde Ranch, the shooting location of Nickelodeon's Hey Dude. Nicole was a big fan. She showed me a few episodes prior to going to Tucson. It was your standard Nickelodeon fare complete with jokes that landed flat delivered by kids who couldn't act, but I suppose as a kid, it would have been enjoyable.

Nowadays, the set is basically collapsing on itself and has been abandoned since shooting ended in the early 90s. We could feel the temperature rising as we walked around the ranch. It was only about 10am, but 100 degrees. Since we were already in the area, we continued to Saguaro National Park. We only had flip flops and it was quite hot and dry, so we weren't really fixing to go for any hikes. We just did a loop drive through the park that had a few pulloffs to look at the cacti. We saw some javelinas, or pig-like mammals, asleep in the shade of the visitor's center. I get it. It's hard to do anything on a day like today. It was now 110 degrees.




After the short loop through the park, we continued on toward Pima Air & Space Museum.

The desert surrounding the air force base is known as "the boneyard" and contains the remnants of older military aircraft that have been retired from service or are no longer needed to meet the country's needs. We visited the museum after chugging some Gatorade. There were various exhibits inside, within range of overworked air conditioning systems, but the most interesting sites were outside. There were examples of military aircraft, civilian airliners of past and present, and even some old MiGs.

Naturally all of this was probably a lot more interesting to me than Nicole. I was frolicking amongst the petting zoo of aircraft and Nicole was dragging behind me, her body slowly succumbing to the heat. If I spent to much time with the B-52s and KC-135s, I'd be peeling Nicole off the ground like a fried egg.


After getting some Mexican food for lunch, we went back to the hotel to relax before getting ready for our flights. It was now 116 degrees. Supposedly Phoenix SkyHarbor airport closed down a few years back because the temps got so hot that takeoff performance could not be calculated since it was off the scales. Anyway, that's my next stop and it's supposed to be 120 tomorrow. At least I'm not flying the 200 anymore.

Memorial Day Weekend in San Diego

My San Diego overnights are typically short, arriving in the evening and departing early in the morning. During this last four-day trip, I finally had a San Diego overnight of respectable length. Nicole even decided to join me by taking the short hop from LAX on American... in first class. Pretty swanky twenty minute flight for her. I was flying for Delta and coming in from Las Vegas, where I have been running shuttle flights for the last few weeks. I'm not too keen on that airport or its clientele, but that's for another blog post.






We both arrived around noon, and after checking in to the hotel, we began walking around downtown. It's about half a mile from the hotel to the bay, where we found large crowds.

We walked by the USS Midway and all the various charter boats and fishing vessels before reaching this statue entitled, "The Unconditional Surrender." Look, clearly she's not into it. I feel like I read that the photo that inspired this statue was actually staged, which makes it more confusing. She knew there was going to be a picture taken and still was like, "No, I can't even pretend. Not into sailors. Just not feeling this at all. Is it over yet?"


Anyway, from there we cut back in near the gas lamp district, where we encountered more crowds and slow walkers. We walked by the Padres stadium and then back out to the bay. We used the bathrooms at a Hilton near the convention center (sometimes a good bathroom is hard to come by) before relaxing for a bit at a nearby park.

There were various workout stations throughout the park including balance beams, pull up bars, and hanging rings. I impressed Nicole with my Olympic caliber performance at each station. We slowly worked our way back to the hotel, which was a little over a mile away at this point. We stopped briefly at a rooftop bar called Altitude on top of one of the hotels. We didn't stay long. We took in the view and called it good enough. Some of the folks on the roof were quite loud and obnoxious, and we are basically old people who are no longer amused by such things.

We got dinner later on in Little Italy. I had fish n' chips. If that seems off, it's because Little Italy was packed. Waiting two hours to get a table was far less desirable than going to a pub owned by some kiwis. You see, people feel obligated to eat Italian food in Little Italy, but as the area is not yet called Little Auckland, we lucked out. Tomorrow is Memorial Day and both Nicole and I are hoping for an easy nonrev experience back to LA. I'll be heading back from SLC since my deadhead isn't for almost four hours after we are scheduled to land. Hopefully it all goes smoothly.

Same Time Next Year?

Perhaps I previously mentioned, my March schedule is not ideal. I have been spending far more nights in Best Westerns and Hiltons than I have in my own bed. Every once in a while, I'm at least in one place for a decent amount of time. Today we flew four legs and ultimately arrived in Monterey, California around 2pm. Nicole was kind enough to join me by managing to snag the last open seat on the plane. I flew the last leg, which culminated in a smooth landing. Phew. Unfortunately for Nicole, it was just a CRJ-200, so the plane was an uncomfortable temperature the entire flight.

When we got settled at the hotel, we walked down to the wharf which was relatively close. We braved the crowds of tourists as we walked to the end of the pier and then to Cannery Row. It wasn't really our scene. Neither of us is keen on things that are essentially built purely for tourists. I was also getting quite hungry despite it being only 3pm, so we decided that we had to leave our current area to find anything worthwhile. We summoned a Lyft and went to Carmel-by-the-Sea.

It too had its share of  tourists, but it didn't seem as tacky. In fact, Carmel seems like a make-believe land where quaint little buildings line the streets and people can make a living selling fudge or glass lamps. We browsed some of the stores before ultimately eating our dinner before five. It's just as well since we ate off the bar menu instead of the more expensive dinner menu. It's quite expensive in Carmel. The hotel attached to the restaurant was evidently $275 a night. Oy vey.          

After dinner, we walked down to the ocean.  I was hoping to see some whales, and even called to them, but there was no response. Nevertheless, it was a nice view, but it was a bit chilly. Not like Minot cold, but it was in the 50s with a stiff breeze. It was quite a bit different from Santa Barbara the day before despite having not even left the state for the last 24 hours. Tomorrow I have three more legs and finally get back home for a whopping two days and have to go back for more.