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.

Mo' Bettah Da Kine

My schedule bid for January centered primarily around getting a week off toward the end of the month, so I could go to Kauai for my parents 40th anniversary. Along with my sister and her family, we stayed in a very nice place in Kapaa. It was a very welcome break from the back-to-back standups that I had been doing all month as punishment for getting the week off. I was scheduled to fly in early to LAX from San Luis Obispo and then run over to the American terminal to catch a direct flight to Lihue. This was a gamble because I never have much luck securing a gate early in the morning.

Fortunately for me (and not for the passengers), the flight got canceled, so I had a respectable night's sleep and a surprisingly efficient nonrev process on American. As you will note from my previous posts, the American operation has left much to be desired, but they have made the process infinitely easier. We even got exit row seats and free snacks. Ooh, aah! On our first full day, Anne was fixing to go ziplining, so we left my parents with my sister's young children while we all flew through the foliage of Poipu.

There were 8 separate ziplines and we had the option to ride the traditional way, or like superman as you see Nicole demonstrating in this picture. With the exception of Nicole, it was our first ziplining experience, and a good one indeed. It's an odd sensation after that first step. Now I know what it's like to be a Navy SEAL stealthily zipping into a combat zone. . . especially if the SEALs squeal with childish delight as they are roping in. Pew pew! The following day, we drove around to the north side of the island and played some mini golf. Nicole and I made loco moco for dinner.

The following day, Nicole and I wanted to enjoy the sunshine since we had not seen much of it back in "sunny" California, so we elected not to spend too much time driving around in a car. We lounged around by the beach and I went for a run. It was delightful. For our final day, our flight didn't depart until 3:30pm, so we spent the morning driving to Waimea Canyon and the Kalalau Valley. The last time Nicole and I went to look at the valley, it was socked in with fog, so it was good to see it clearly this time.

We stopped briefly at Waimea Canyon on our way back down and then worked our way back toward the airport. We got some loco moco and then got on the plane, which departed 30 mins ahead of schedule. This was surprising for two reasons -- it was Hawaii and it was American. My parents were able to get on board as well, but their seats were even further toward the back. It may have been just as well since Nicole and I had very loud talkers (and coughers) behind us. All I wanted to do was watch Florence Foster Jenkins and I kept getting whiplashed by the coughing behind me. "Such a smooth landing!," one of them loudly exclaimed as we were still 50 feet above the runway. This is why we need to put more money into education. And on that note, we arrived to LAX in the nick of time. The following day, it was virtually impossible to get in or out of the airport thanks to a hastily implemented and confusing travel ban. Protesters and attorneys flocked to LAX to defend those detained. It took me 45 mins to go one mile on the employee bus. All of this makes me want to do a 180 and go right back to Hawaii. They say ignorance is bliss, but right now I'm at the epicenter as an airline employee.

Last Day in the Great Plains

It was drizzly today. It was in the 30s pretty much all day, so time outside was limited. As we drove back into South Dakota, we made a stop in Deadwood, the town known for its lawlessness -- now home to tacky tourist shops selling confederate flags and t-shirts with Donald Trump riding a motorcycle. We plugged a meter for 45 minutes, and this was ample to explore the town. As previously mentioned, it was also rather cold, so we didn't feel like lingering too long outside in the elements.

After arriving back in Rapid City and checking in to our hotel, we made a brief stop near Ellsworth AFB to visit the free air & space museum. As it was free, there wasn't a lot to it, but they did have some aircraft parked outside. By now, it felt like the temperature was in the 20s since the wind had really picked up. We went to the movies to get out of the elements for a couple hours. After that we had some fine Italian dining at some place called the Olive Garden. After stepping back outside into the cold, we debated whether we should go check out Mt. Rushmore at night.

This was, after all, an outdoor activity. After a brief discussion, we decided to do it. We were the only ones there and it was almost a little eerie. Snow had started to fall. I attempted to catch some of it in the spotlights as it fell onto the monument when all of a sudden the lights went out. Now we were looking out into a black void. I fiddled with my camera settings to work some magic. Unfortunately the sky was a thick overcast, so the prospect of getting the monument with stars was not in the cards, but I did get this bizarre shot of the monument.

Yes, this was taken at night despite appearing to have been taken during the day. The weird scratchy texture is from the snow streaking over the image during my long exposure. It's lucky we showed up when we did, so we saw it illuminated for a few minutes. And that was that. As we returned to the car and headed back into town, our random trip to South Dakota had drawn to a close.

Off to Wyoming!

We woke up this morning in our cabin in the middle of the Badlands. I did a little research on visiting an old ICBM launch facility and found out tickets were first come first serve, so we drove just outside of the park to get our tickets for the afternoon, and then headed back into the park to do some exploring. We drove west a few miles and stopped of at a few viewpoints and did a couple hikes. It was very nice weather. Clear skies, 70 degrees, light breeze. This would all change drastically later in the day.

After feeling we had adequately explored the Badlands, we drove down a dirt road toward Delta-01, the missile launch facility. We weren't entirely sure if we had reached the facility when Google maps said we had arrived at our destination. It was very unassuming from the outside, which I guess is the point. It looked like an average ranch house, other than the chain link fence going around the area. The ranger showed us around the facility, which they tried to showcase as it would have looked when it closed in 1993 -- a People magazine sitting on an old coffee table with Princess Diana on the cover.

Once we passed the crew facilities, we reached an elevator that descended thirty feet underground to a massive concrete and steel door that separated the control room from the outside world. The crew room was actually suspended in a way so that it could move several feet in either direction if it took a hit from a Soviet missile. The two-man crew who would be stationed inside did not have much in the form of entertainment. They would typically be in here for 24 hours straight. After exiting the facility we drove to an old missile silo, which was several miles down the road. We could just look down some plexiglass into the ground to see the missile (now a dud obviously). Despite more than half of America's nuclear missile arsenal being decommissioned, there are still over 450 missile launch sites in existence around the U.S. -- primarily in states with low populations like North Dakota, Wyoming, etc... On our way out of the visitor's center, there was a guestbook where people were supposed to share their thoughts about the prospects of nuclear war and multiple people had trolled the guestbook with things like, "Build a wall!" "Trump!" Disconcerting stuff if you consider that the order to launch comes directly from the President of the United States.

On our way out of South Dakota, we made a stop in Wall for some gas and continued our journey into Wyoming. After checking in to tiny Hulett, Wyoming (pop: 384), we witnessed the temperature plummet about 30 degrees in about an hour. We brought our jackets with us when we drove 20 mins over to Devil's Tower.  The wind had really kicked up and the unseasonably warm and pleasant weather we had experienced thusfar abruptly ended once the region realized it was, in fact, October.  We did a perimeter walk around the tower that was about a mile and a half.

The weather was beginning to seem actually quite ominous. We drove back into the booming metropolis of Hulett and had dinner at a place called the Ponderosa Cafe. The town is about two blocks long, so we walked there from our hotel. People we had seen at Devil's Tower were also at Ponderosa. We saw them again back at the hotel. It's crazy for me to think that people actually live here -- all 383 of them. Though to be fair, we passed through a town called Aladdin on the way in. There were mile distance signs for a ways, but when we drove through we discovered it had a population of 15 (yes, one five). Welcome to Wyoming.

Wait . . . You're Going Where?

After an uneventful flight up to gloomy Seattle and back, I was overdue for another quick vacation. South Dakota it is! Most people did not readily understand this decision. The Uber driver taking us to LAX was a bit confused. The fact of the matter is, the area around Rapid City has a surprising amount of things to do. Also, the weather elsewhere is not exactly ideal. In what became one of the easiest nonrev trips to date, Nicole and I easily got on a half empty flight to Denver and the regional jet connection to Rapid City. The only issue was food upon our arrival. Everything was closed, so we ended up buying snacks at a gas station and that became our dinner.

The following morning, we drove about 20 minutes into the Black Hills to Mt Rushmore. I can't really think of anything to say about it because it's pretty self-explanatory. It's stone heads of presidents. The fall colors were just barely starting to show themselves. The temperature in the morning was about 40, but within a few hours it would be over 70. Confusing weather. After about an hour at the site, we continued on to Custer State Park. The ranger at the gate pointed out where we should see some bison since they hadn't been "worked" yet. Neither Nicole or I had any idea what this meant.

The bison were all corralled behind fences, so it wasn't some kind of majestic migration across the plains we were hoping for, but we did see plenty of antelope roaming the hills. It was a long, winding drive around the park. Eventually we stopped to get some lunch, where I ordered a buffalo burger. One would assume it would be fresh, but the place overcooked it until it was dry and void of taste. Following our exit from the park, we drove back through Rapid City making a quick stop at Dinosaur Park with very natural-looking green dinosaur sculptures and then hit the road toward Wall.

Perhaps you have heard of Wall Drug before. It is the stuff of western legend. Whether you want to buy a dreamcatcher, some fudge, a new pair of spurs, or some pepto-bismol, Wall Drug is your stop. It's also virtually the only thing in existence between Rapid City and Sioux Falls unless you count the Corn Palace in Mitchell (and who wouldn't). Nicole and I stocked up on merchandise -- t-shirts, bottles of water, a magnet, a christmas ornament, and a donut. The creature you see here is a jackalope, half-antelope, half-jack rabbit. Yep.

After departing Wall with a few sandwiches for dinner later, we entered the Badlands National Park. The sun was working its way down on the horizon and the temperature was actually above 80. We stopped off at an overlook and did a few short hikes as well. It's a really interesting topography to see sprout up out of nowhere in the middle of the prairie. As the sun set, we ate our sandwiches and went back out to try our hand at some star photography. Despite being a long way from the nearest town, it was still a bit bright from the waxing moon in the sky overhead.

This created an interesting effect with shadows showing up in our long exposure shots. It was fair to say that Nicole and I were the only people out and about within the park at this hour. In fact, the lodge that we are staying at inside the park closes next week until May or something like that. It's the quiet season in South Dakota. While it has been a challenge to acquire food, it's nice to get away from the crowds. We don't really have any plans for tomorrow as of yet, so stay tuned for further adventures.

Surprisingly No Rain Today

We were expecting today to to be a complete washout, so when we woke up to the natural light seeping in through the window around 7:30 this morning, we bounced out of bed and went out to take advantage of it. We weren't sure if it would soon storm again or not, so we figured every minute was precious. We walked down to the old pier again, since Nicole didn't have her nice camera last time. While the water is always a nice color, the pickings are slim for actual photogenic scenery since it's just you know . . . a beach.

After returning to our hotel, we had breakfast and went for a swim. Sea life is very sparse since there's no reef, but I did spot a crab and a starfish, as you see here. After spending a decent amount of time at the beach, where Nicole finished her thriller novel and I continued reading a thriller of my own -- the trials and tribulations of an American contract pilot flying in China. Scary stuff! After beach time, we walked toward the "town" to do some shopping. Almost everything was closed. Many had signs that said, "Reopening in November." Apparently we are here in the offseason. I got a deal on our hotel (relatively speaking) since it normally goes for well over $300 a night.

And that's the crazy thing about these islands. Who has the money to afford places like this during the "on" season? We walked through a few other resorts which go from $600-$800/nt (during offseason). And yes, they look really nice, but I'm not sure how one can really justify that price in exchange for some more topiaries and a nicer pool. But I suppose some folks like to go big or go home when they go on vacation. Now the bizarre complaints to staff about the rain make a bit more sense. I can picture some big wig from New Jersey yelling, "I just paid $800 a night for this! Can't you make the rain go away?!?!"

We thought we might find an alternate place to get lunch, but everything was closed. We ended up reversing course back to a place called Seven Stars, the same resort we had lunch at a few days ago. If we're going to pay $50 for lunch, we better at least get friendly service. I suggested a boycott of our hotel's restaurant/bar since they always seem to either lie or have attitude. After lunch, we discovered that that the Seven Stars had a bocce ball court and nobody really enforces or restricts access to such things (take that $500/nt hotel!). Nicole, being the Italian that she is, was drawn to it like a bee to a flower. Next I knew we were tossing large balls toward a small ball. A simple game, indeed. The sun was still shining, so now we proceeded back to our hotel and decided to check out a standup paddle board. Neither of us have ever done standup paddle boarding before despite it being quite popular in our area. And you can't beat free, so it was the perfect time to try it out. The people who checked it out before us were struggling, so we thought perhaps it was more difficult than it appeared.

Now not to toot our horns, but both Nicole and I were able to stand up immediately without incident. Perhaps our backgrounds in skating or surfing helped. It was a fairly relaxing activity as well, though I couldn't really get anywhere fast. You are sort at the mercy of the waves/current. I was trying to take pictures of Nicole doing it and she just sort of sailed away to the west in search of new trade routes or something. Tomorrow we face the daunting task of flying American Airlines through Miami to get back to LA. Wish us luck.

Well At Least We Have Yesterday

Today was overcast and rainy the entire day. You can't win them all, though. We were fortunate to have some unexpected sun throughout most of yesterday, so I suppose it's fair. It wasn't particularly rainy in the morning -- just very grey, so we borrowed some bikes from the hotel and rode over to the eastern edge of the island which took less than 15 minutes. We locked the bikes up at a resort nearby and walked around. The place was virtually deserted. We bought a few food items at a nearby market and biked back to our place. We went to the beach (also deserted as you see here).

We did some reading and crosswords even as the rain began to pound down hard. We had an umbrella open over our loungers, so it really made no difference to us. Eventually the wind started pushing the rain into us despite the umbrella, so we sprinted back to our room where we continued our reading and I did one of my training modules for the airline until it was time for dinner. With some bagels and a can of soup on deck, we thought we'd try the happy hour downstairs believing that they had 2-for-1 appetizers and drinks. When we went down, we inquired to confirm that this applied to appetizers and the man nodded.

But as seems to be the case everywhere on this island, people like to say what they think we want to hear until we get the bill and feel like we've been swindled realizing that this 2-for-1 appetizers deal is nonexistent. So we ended up paying $40 for a couple appetizers, a beer, and a bottle of water. We knew the island was going to be expensive before we got here since it's like the playground for A-list celebrities. (After all, we are Bricole, everyone's favorite celebrity couple, but even we try to live like the commoners to keep ourselves grounded). Oh well. It is what it is. It looks like tomorrow we will have that soup and bagel after all.

First Full Day on Turks . . .and Caicos Too

Fully expecting to wake up to rain, we were surprised to find the sun poking through some cloud cover. After a breakfast of bagels and donuts purchased from the grocery store, we went out to the beach in front of the hotel. After a bit we decided to go into the water. It was a comfortable temperature. Not really much in terms of sea life to look at with the exception of an occasional lost fish, but it was nice and clear. We were at the beach for a while, but for whatever reason, my nose started draining uncontrollably from the salt water, so we went back in to take care of me.

After regrouping, and blowing my schnoz a few times, we set forth again to explore the other areas down the beach from our hotel. We had walked about a mile down the beach when I turned around and pointed to rain in the distance that appeared to be about two miles away. I told Nicole we should find a place to eat lunch or get out of the rain should it strike. I assumed we had a few minutes, but I barely finished my sentence when it started pouring. An employee at the nearby resort was sprinting to gather up towels and beach equipment while yelling, "It came too quick!"

We found refuge at a prime ocean view spot at the bar & grill. We split an $18 club sandwich and I tried a Turk's Head Amber beer. The waitress said that everyone has been complaining about the weather. I was thinking that we had gotten lucky with the weather so far. By this time, the rain had already stopped. It had poured for all of maybe three minutes and the place was practically deserted. Now don't get me wrong -- I was concerned about getting rained out, but I realize now that this week the weather may be like Hawai'i, where it does technically rain everyday, but it's not a washout. I assume these folks who are complaining are from the east coast because they need something to complain about.

After a relaxing lunch and finally meeting people who were actually friendly toward us, we continued down the beach beyond what may have once been a pier and for another 1/2 mile or so before turning around. The wind on the beach is quite strong, but it's almost a necessity because the sun, heat, and humidity is extremely strong. The weather online said it was a feels-like temperature of 109º Wowzers. This was making us quite parched, so we walked back to our place where I mixed some ginger-ale with some fruit juice we bought at the grocery store. Gin and Juice if you will.

Finally Arrived in Turks . . . and Caicos too.

Well if you read the last post, it was considerable effort to finally reach the Turks & Caicos. I caught maybe 30 mins of neck breaking sleep enroute from Atlanta, but woke up in time for both biscotti and this view out the window. The water was a nice turquoise blue as you can see. Though, if you look on the horizon, there's a fairly strong thunderstorm cell building up as well. This was to be expected as we are not the brightest and chose to go to the middle of the Caribbean at hurricane season's peak. After landing, the hot and humid weather was a welcome relief to the aircraft's cold cabin. We breezed through customs and immigration and got a "taxi" to our hotel.
Now, I should explain something about transportation on the Turks & Caicos, and that . . . there isn't any. No buses or traditional taxis to speak of - just shared ride vans that charge PER PERSON. Four people in the van all going about 8 miles from the airport? That'll be $80. Uber needs to get in here. After the disheartening "taxi" fare, we received a less than warm welcome at the hotel, where our room was not yet ready.

We got some lunch in the meantime, which was good because I was getting cranky. I just really hate being in 90 degree heat while wearing pants. Nobody likes pants. Finally we got our room and I could take my pants off. Yay! Speculating that we will get rained out for the next four days, we went straight to the beach to take advantage of the sun before it goes away. Soon enough, some storm clouds started rolling in and we were forced to flee the ensuing downpour. After it rained itself out, we walked to a grocery store down the street which is comparable to Whole Foods. You see, everything on this island is quite expensive.

Our hotel is almost like a condo since it came with laundry, a toaster, some dishes, and various utensils, so our dinner tonight consisted of bagels and cream cheese washed down with a local beer called "Turk's Head." It will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow because everything is so weather dependent. With any luck, we will find some gaps in the rain and the storms so we can go out and play.

NonRev Adventures

Recently my parents faced a bit of a challenge trying to get to Santa Fe, New Mexico. You see, it can be a challenge to get to some of the less popular airports due to fewer flight options and one has to change planes somewhere and "Two-Leg It," as I say. Over the course of about 12 hours, I changed my parents' flights three times and had them going to a completely different airport in the end. Needless to say, this was a bit stressful for them. All the flights kept getting oversold at last minute when they had 40 seats open just the day before.

This same airline, which shall remain unnamed (let's just say it rhymes with schmamerican), caused Nicole and I issues just days later. The checkin process was archaic, requiring that we wait in line to speak to an agent who types furiously for a few minutes before issuing a paper ticket straight out of 1992. And despite entering Nicole's TSA-PreCheck number, she was put in the commoners line. Despite boarding a flight with more than 50 open seats, the gate agent issued us tickets that were rows apart from each other. And despite an online listing system that showed 12 seats available for our final leg, the company's own website wouldn't allow tickets to be purchased for said flight -- indicating that in fact that were no seats. In the nonrev world, 12 vs none is a pretty big difference. Why the discrepancy? So as we walked by a lineup of slot machines at McCarran International Airport, we figured that flying Schmamerican was too much of a gamble. How did we end up in Vegas? Well . . .

We were planning to go to Turks & Caicos in the Caribbean, which does not have direct flights. Our first, and most direct option, was to go from LA-Miami-Turks, but then the Miami flight was filling up rapidly because 20 people randomly decided they were going to go to Miami that day. There was a workaround that involved flying from LA-Las Vegas-Miami, so we tried that. Once in Las Vegas, all flights from Miami to Turks looked sketchy at best, so we went Las Vegas-Atlanta on Delta. Now bear in mind that we arrived in Atlanta around 5:45am and hadn't slept, so we wanted a place to rest. We each had some United club passes that we get from our credit card company, but we didn't have a United boarding pass. Ah, but wait! I listed us on a flight from Atlanta to Houston on United, scanned the pass at the desk and immediately canceled the booking once we had our foot in the door.




Now some might say that is cheating, but the boarding pass rule is bollocks as far as I'm concerned. Refueling with hot oatmeal and some Otis Spunkmeyer muffins, we prepared for our third leg, which would (hopefully) take us to Turks & Caicos, and into a tropical depression. Not like emotionally depressed, but the low pressure system kind.