I’m out the door at my home and in a taxi to the airport by 4AM. The United counter Victoria airport opens at 5AM (2 hours before flight time). Once my bag is checked through to Atlanta (US$25+tax), I clear security and grab a cappuccino from the Spinnaker’s On The Fly restaurant in the boarding lounge. My flight for San Francisco leaves at 7AM, so I have some time to kill. Once the flight to San Francisco departs on time I can relax, since there is nothing further I can do about anything except find my gates at each airport along the way. I’m flying through San Francisco and Houston to get to Atlanta today.
Canyon and flatlands – enroute San Francisco to Houston – flying over New Mexico
I only have an hour to find the gate in Houston for the final leg to Atlanta, but I catch a break. The flight arrives on time, the aircraft isn’t full so unloading goes well, and the next gate turns out to be in the same terminal. So instead of rushing around, I have a few minutes to spare.
Atlanta’s domestic terminal is under construction, and is a mess both inside the terminal buildings and outside with the access roads. I finally find the hotel shuttle and arrive at the Hyatt Place at South Terminal. This hotel is a pretty good choice. Although the room fixtures are starting to show wear, check-in is quick, and it is clean, quiet, and well-run.
February 7, 2015 – Saturday – Atlanta to Dubai
Today is a lazy day to start with, since my flight to Dubai doesn’t leave Atlanta airport until 9:45PM. I have a leisurely breakfast in the hotel lobby, fool around on the Internet for awhile, and then go for a walk in the sunshine along a local bike trail. I pay the hotel an extra charge so I can stay in my room until 6PM, since it makes no sense to spend an extra half day in an airport when I’m facing a 14 hour flight later today. I have a shower and sleep in the afternoon, and put on some fresh clothes before catching the airport shuttle at 5:30PM. The shuttle takes me to the domestic terminal parking area, where I have to transfer to the International terminal shuttle, which takes a good 20 minutes. I remember Atlanta airport being big, but not quite this big!
I check in at the Delta self-serve kiosks and give my tagged bag (Dubai-DXB) to the check-in clerk. Since I am “TSA Pre-cleared”, I breeze through security and onward to the concourse and find our gate by 7PM. An hour later I meet the tour group near the gate for the flight to Dubai. Of course it is a blur of introductions; names I will not remember for a few days yet. Boarding is disorganized, and it is a full flight on a Boeing 777-200SP. I purchased Economy Comfort in order to get an additional 4” of legroom and more seat recline, so I am in the Group 1 boarding. It’s nice to get onboard ahead of about half of the passengers for this 14 hour direct flight.
The captain announces we will arrive in Dubai a few minutes ahead of schedule. Our route is up the Atlantic coast, past Newfoundland, south of Greenland and Iceland, and over Western Europe. Let’s hope we steer clear of war-torn Syria on our way to Dubai!
February 8, 2015 – Sunday – Atlanta to Dubai
Sunrise over the Atlantic – Mid-Atlantic south of Iceland
7AM (Azores Time) I take a guess at the time zone as we are south of Iceland when the Sun rises. Sunrise over the North Atlantic is spectacular from my SE-facing window seat, and of course I take lots of photos since I’m such a sucker for sunrises and sunsets.
I’m the only one with my window shutters open, but I can’t sleep and want to look out the window. We are served a cold breakfast bun and some coffee, and then everyone goes to back to sleep, except me of course. A flight attendant comes by and asks me to close one window and keep the other one half-shaded, so I finally give up and close them both and try to sleep as we fly over Europe. Now I’m sitting here typing this journal entry in the dark cabin while it’s full sunshine outside as we pass Sicily, crossing the Mediterranean on our way to the Middle East. Four hours and 15 minutes to Dubai.
We are now 1 hour 50 minutes from Dubai, flying across the Arabian Peninsula. The cabin is still dark despite it being early evening outside…bizarre! We are served another meal before our 9PM arrival in Dubai. The airport is controlled chaos as our group retrieve our bags and walk at least a kilometre (no people movers) to clear immigration, and then wheel our bags out to the waiting bus. We are staying in the old part of the city at the Arabian Courtyard Hotel, which is an older hotel, but I like it. My room is very nice, they have a couple of restaurants and a bar, and the location is ideal for shopping and sightseeing.
I‘m up at 6AM to get ready for a 6:30AM pickup by an airport shuttle I previously arranged and paid for. The 9-passenger van shows up early, and I’m ready to go. There are five others in the van already, and we make one more stop to pick up two more before we head for Charles de Gaul airport (CDG). It takes almost an hour to reach the airport, and we drop a few people off at Terminal 1 before the rest of us are delivered to Terminal 2. This terminal is ultra modern, and as I expected, very busy.
Space Museum – Terminal 2E, Charles de Gaulle airport
I manage to check into the Delta flight without a problem despite the crowds. I have to take a train to transfer to terminal 2E, which is even newer than the main Terminal 2. There are high-class shops everywhere, including a Space Museum! The gate area is super modern and clean, and there are power plugs at each seat in the waiting area.
I have a cappuccino and a pastry at the cafe beside the gate, since I have over an hour before the flight starts boarding at 9:40AM. The boarding process goes fast, we leave the gate on time, and we are number one for takeoff. The captain announces that the flight time to Seattle is 9 hours and 55 minutes, but he later announces that we will arrive about 35 minutes early.
I usually don’t watch movies on airline flights, but this time I found “a personal portrait of a Broadway legend”, which I really liked: Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me. She is so funny, and yet at the same time portrays a vulnerable side. She is 87 years old and still performing. The video was a nice hour and a half diversion from the boredom of the long polar flight.
I’m not looking forward to the jet lag after this trip. I always take a couple of days to recover when I fly from east to west over lots of time zones. Flying west to east doesn’t seem to bother me as much for some reason, although I was very tired on the second day in the Netherlands at the start of the trip. My final connecting flight from Seattle to Victoria goes without a hitch, and I’m home!
Pacific Coach Lines (now the BC Ferries Connector) takes us from Victoria across the water to the mainland on BC Ferries to the Canada Place Cruise Terminal in Vancouver without a hitch. They drop us off right inside the terminal, and our bags are delivered to our cabin aboard ship…what terrific service!
Boarding the Volendam is pretty easy, despite having to go through three stages before actually stepping aboard: security screening (like airports), US Customs and Immigration, then Holland America’s own check-in.
Somehow I manage to leave my dress jacket at home, so once I’m settled in my cabin, I leave the ship and make a quick dash to Dunn’s Tailors on lower Granville Street where I buy a new dress jacket. So now I will be ready for the seven formal nights we have scheduled while on board this 30-day cruise. I arrive back on board in time for the compulsory lifejacket drill, just before our departure.
Leaving Lions Gate Bridge behind as Volendam departs Vancouver Harbour
The Volendam slips away from the dock at 5PM, and we are on our way! There are some passengers who boarded today in Vancouver and who will leave the ship tomorrow in Seattle – a one day overnight cruise! No doubt they will party hard tonight to take advantage of all the fun stuff aboard.
Sailing under Lions Gate Bridge is spectacular this evening, with great views of the North Shore Mountains, the harbour, and Stanley Park. It brings back memories of when I sailed under the same bridge in 1981 aboard the Cunard Princess bound for the Caribbean. Everyone is very excited as we pass under the bridge, but then it is time for dinner. We opt for a BBQ dinner served alfresco on the (covered) Lido deck beside the pool. We watch the sun set over Georgia Strait and Vancouver Island as the ship slowly makes its way overnight to Seattle.
March 8, 2009 – Sunday – flying from San Jose, Costa Rica returning to Victoria, Canada
I’m up at 5am because I set my iPhone alarm, and it changed to Daylight Saving Time overnight. Costa Rica doesn’t observe DST, so the alarm is an hour early. I go back to bed for a half hour and then get up, have a shower, and finish packing. I haul my big bag down to the lobby and then give the room one last check before leaving. I’m prepaid, so check-out is easy. The front desk calls a taxi for me and I’m at the airport in a half hour. The taxi was off the meter, so I paid US$20 instead of 10,000 Colones – about double, but the guy was worth it. Perhaps I made his day.
They pull the American Airlines 757 to the Gate 3 jetway at 7:30am, so things are happening. As they board passengers at the Delta gate, they are doing another security check of carry-on bags. They don’t allow any liquids such as bottles of water and pop as you board aircraft in San Jose. As we board, they search all bags even though we have already passed through security before getting to the gates, but they sell this stuff in the gate area – goofy!
Mexicana, Frontier and Delta flights all take off while we wait for our flight departure, which leaves on time and arrives in Dallas/Ft. Worth a few minutes early. I’m seated next to two young Tico guys on the flight out of San Jose. There are some terrific views of Lake Nicaragua, and the coasts of Honduras, Belize and Galveston as the flight angles across Central America and the Gulf of Mexico. We are served an omelet for breakfast, which I appreciate, since I missed the breakfast they were going to serve at the hotel starting at 7am.
San Jose to Dallas/Ft. Worth to Seattle to Victoria – flight map
In Dallas/Ft. Worth I’m departing from gate A9 for Seatac, which is located in the original terminal. It is still nice, but not as grand as the D terminal where I departed for San Jose on my way down a couple of weeks ago. I take the train to get to this terminal. The train is designed better than Seatac’s since it is elevated and it is also behind the security lines, so I don’t have to go through that ordeal again. Oops I should be at gate C17 instead of A9 – back on the little train and 15 minutes later I’m there with time to spare! The flight attendants on my first flight gave me the wrong gate for my ongoing flight, so from now on I’ll just check the display boards once I get into the airport terminal.
We are flying through slush as we approach Seattle, but it clears by the time we are on final approach. Needless to say I’m wearing my coat in the terminal – so cold compared with Costa Rica! It’s controlled chaos at the Horizon Airlines gates, but I have lots of time before my 11pm departure to Victoria. Lots of people are waiting for flights to Kelowna, Edmonton, Montana, and other destinations. I strike up a conversation with some folks who are flying to Montana after vacationing in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico – their first trip outside the USA. They have premium Tequila stashed in their checked bags. I don’t have the heart to tell them it will either be smashed or stolen by the time they arrive home.
My flight to Victoria leaves on time, and thank goodness my checked bag shows up in Victoria all in one piece. I clear Canada Customs and Immigration and take a taxi home, arriving around 1am. When I get up in the morning, there is snow coming down!
I am up at 3am this morning so I can get to the Victoria airport for my 6AM departure to Seattle, and then onward to Dallas/Ft Worth before finally arriving at 10:15pm local time in San Jose, Costa Rica. The Horizon Air flight from Victoria to Seatac is uneventful, with 71 people aboard the pre-dawn flight on a Bombardier Q300 – a big twin prop aircraft. Originally, a De Havilland DHC-8 Dash 8-400 was scheduled for this flight, but I guess they needed more capacity, so the Q300 was brought into service.
My flight to Dallas-Ft. Worth is overbooked, so American Airlines is offering a $250 travel credit to anyone who wants to reschedule. Obviously I don’t want to do this, since I have a connection to Costa Rica, although I do have a 3.5 hour wait in Dallas/Ft. Worth. I am seated beside a mother and her two year old boy, which she apologizes for before we even leave the gate, but the kid is fine throughout the flight to DFW. I catch a nice view of Seattle and Elliott Bay as we climb out of SeaTac (see banner image above), and later the snow-covered Rocky Mountains appear out the window. American Airlines uses a McDonnell Douglas Super MD-80 for this flight – a pretty old aircraft. The cabin is fairly new, but there are no services at the seat like I’m used to with more modern aircraft on Flight 1476. We are only served beverages – nothing to eat, so I break out a granola bar to tide me over.
My flight to San Jose leaves at 6:20pm after a three hour wait here at Dallas/Ft. Worth. We board Flight 2167 on time, but wait a minute…the captain announces over the intercom that he has left his passport at home. His wife is driving to the airport, so we will be delayed 45 minutes. Sure enough we leave 45 minutes late aboard our Boeing 757. We run into some pretty serious turbulence as we cross the coast of the Gulf of Mexico near Houston. Of course the flight attendants are serving dinner just as this happens, and have to stop their service until things settle down. We arrive in San Jose at about 10:50pm local time. I quickly clear customs and immigration, find my Swiss Travel rep, and catch the transfer van to the Courtyard Marriott Hotel. Walter, the bus driver from last year’s tour is driving! I think he remembers me, but his English is not good, so we have to keep it simple.
I arrive at the hotel at about 11:30pm, check in, unpack, and have a well-deserved shower. I have been travelling since 4am when I was picked up by the taxi in Victoria, to 11:30pm, losing 2 hours along the way by going to Central Time, making it about a 17 hour marathon. Not as bad as my past flights to/from Africa, but I’m tired.
So here I am in Costa Rica one year after my previous trip here. I’m looking forward to the next two weeks – the first week will be similar to last year at La Ensenada Lodge, and the second week will be something new, with my planned visit to Tamarindo on the Pacific Coast.
November 9, 2008 – Sunday – Cape Town, South Africa to Victoria, BC, Canada
I kill time in my hotel room until my 4:30pm transfer to Cape Town airport arrives. The hotel insists that I pay 450 Rand (US$54) for a late departure, and I have to change rooms, so I feel entitled to take full advantage of the facilities before I depart. I use the time to catch up on my travel journal, annotate photos, have a couple of naps, and have a shower before leaving for the airport. I will be traveling for over 30 hours before I arrive back home!
The South African Airways flight from Cape Town to London/Heathrow takes 12 hours. SAA serves a wonderful dinner and complimentary wine after we leave Cape Town, and then the cabin lights are shut off until a couple of hours before our arrival. As usual I don’t sleep during the flight. We are in a holding pattern over Heathrow since we arrive a bit early. Apparently they have a 6am curfew at Heathrow – no doubt to give the surrounding neighbourhoods a bit of respite overnight.
Cape Town to Heathrow flight map
South African Airways uses Terminal 1 at Heathrow and Air Canada uses Terminal 3, so I catch the shuttle. At least Terminal 3 is a more modern and civilized place to wait five hours for my 12:05pm departure, although I still can’t find any Wi-Fi networks. This is a prime people-watching place, since Heathrow is probably the busiest transfer point in the world.
After boarding my Air Canada flight to Vancouver, I notice right away the more “basic” service provided as compared with the full service provided by SAA on my previous flight. The 9-hour Air Canada flight departs on time and goes smoothly. I don’t see any aurora over the polar region this time, like I did on the Victoria to London flight at the start of my trip.
I only have an hour and forty minutes connection time in Vancouver, but manage to clear customs and immigration and board my flight for Victoria with time to spare. I’m home by dinner time on November 10th, having gained 10 hours as I cross so many time zones traveling in a westerly direction for some 32 hours elapsed time. The marathon flights are over, and I can finally sleep!
October 13, 2008 – Monday – Victoria, BC, Canada to Johannesburg, South Africa
Native scupture in the secure departures waiting area at Vancouver airport
Today is my 56th birthday, and it is also the day I leave for Africa – what a birthday present this is! I am writing this entry as I sit in Vancouver Airport waiting for my flight to London/Heathrow. I had to take a 1:30pm flight from Victoria; however I don’t depart for Heathrow until 7:50pm, so I have five hours to kill. I also have another five hours to wait in Heathrow before I depart for Johannesburg. I left Victoria at 1:30pm on the 13th and I should arrive in Johannesburg at 7:10pm on the 15th!
At least I don’t have to clear security again here in Vancouver, however I’m in the area where Air Canada’s flight leaves and there are no shops open. At the moment, it is completely empty except for the odd passer-by. It looks like the Vancouver airport is being expanded in a fairly major way. Unfortunately, they have turned it into a maze of corridors.
People watching – I spot a woman packing her own pillow. I have to wonder if she is really going to drag that thing along with her wherever she is going. Another woman is wearing a small backpack which has a teddy bear in it. There appears to be nothing else in the backpack. She is busy on the Internet terminal doing her email. Perhaps the teddy bear has a large circle of friends?
It was drizzling when we left Victoria Airport, and it is raining pretty hard outside Vancouver Airport right now. It will be a welcome change to experience the hot and dry climate of Northern Botswana. By the looks of the climate tables, it should cool down a bit from the 40°C in Northern Botswana to the 25°C range by the time I travel down the South African coast to Cape Town.
I have a hot meatball sub from Subway for an appetizer around 4:30pm this afternoon after finding a food court about five minutes’ walk from where I had setup beside the gate. I am still in a secure area, so at least I don’t have to go through another security check just to have a meal. I’m not sure what Air Canada will serve after we are onboard, since our 7:50pm departure is well past the dinner hour. We are scheduled to arrive at London/Heathrow at 1:25pm local time, so I expect they will serve us a meal before our arrival. The stories about how Air Canada has cut back on in-flight services and meals makes me wonder what to expect on the upcoming flight.
There are a few dozen people in this area with the food court and shops, but the airport still looks pretty empty to me. There are only seven international departures up on the notice board for this evening: Amsterdam, two to London, JFK New York, Sydney, Taipei, and Hong Kong. I’m bored already, and I really haven’t started my journey. It seems everyone else is in the same situation: bored and killing time until their evening flights depart. One bonus: there is free Wireless Internet in the airport, so I can read and send email and browse some news and other online sources. I check my weather website: it is raining at home.
It is now 6:00pm and I’m back at the gate. There are sensible stout women waiting for the flight “home” to England (I assume). Almost all of them have a bag of duty free goods, and some of their feet are already swollen. The shops in the gate area are now open, so they obviously know there is little business when there are no flights scheduled (like this afternoon). It looks like the rain is settling in, so I will be glad to soon escape from this grey, cold and wet dreariness.
My time spent traveling is precious to me.
The holding lounge fills up by departure time. People are constantly after the gate staff to change their seat assignments, and they seem to good-naturedly put up with this endless parade. When I board there are no spare seats. I have a window seat and the seat beside me is occupied by a woman from Victoria. I’m happy she is quite small build, so we both have room to move. We will be over nine hours in the same seat.
Vancouver to Heathrow flight map
The aircraft pulls away from the terminal and then just sits there for about 20 minutes. The pilot finally tells us there is a mechanical problem, so we pull back into another gate at the terminal and spend the next two hours sitting around while they fix the aircraft. The crew and pilot keep us informed along the way, and we finally depart two hours late. It’s not a problem for me, since I have a five hour layover in London/Heathrow, but other passengers with tighter connections are justifiably worried.
Aurora over the North polar region out the aircraft window
Once we level out at cruising altitude, a nice dinner is served with drinks included. I am peeking out the window regularly, and I notice a nice aurora visible over the wing as we fly over the polar region. A couple of hours before we arrive, a nice breakfast is served. Thank goodness I managed to get a couple of hours sleep in-between.
We have a 100 knot tailwind for most of the flight which saves us a full 45 minutes, so we end up arriving just over an hour late at 2:00pm local time.
October 14, 2008 – Tuesday – enroute Vancouver to London/Heathrow to Johannesburg
It is 3:45pm as I write this in Terminal 1 at Heathrow. We arrived at Terminal 3, so I had to catch a shuttle bus to Terminal 1 and clear security again. Terminal 3 is modern, but Terminal 1 is decrepit by comparison. I can’t find any Internet connections – even if I am willing to pay. All I can do is wait around. They don’t post the gate numbers until 30 minutes before boarding time. When I’m in strange airports, I like to find a gate early so I’m not rushed, but I can’t do that here. Posting to my blog will have to wait until I get to the hotel in Johannesburg.
SAA A340 tail fin at the gate at Johannesburg airport
The woman with the teddy bear shows up at the gate for my flight to Johannesburg. I hope she’s not on my safari! There are a few empty seats on this flight; however most people have spread out to take advantage of the extra space so they can stretch out and sleep. The rest of us make do with trying to get some rest in a single seat. South African Airways in-flight service is very good – the meals are tasty, the cabin crew gives us good service, and the aircraft appears to be brand new (unlike Air Canada). We depart on time, and arrive early – what more could one ask for from an airline?
Heathrow to Johannesburg flight map
I rest fitfully throughout the flight, but I flip open the window shade regularly to see what is visible outside. The Orion constellation is lying on its side and is a pretty sight despite the illumination from the full Moon. Toward dawn there is a beautiful sunrise over Southern Africa as I am served breakfast just before our landing. The man sitting beside me is from Mozambique, and regularly travels to/from Johannesburg since he is involved with airport equipment. He is returning from a training trip to London.
October 15, 2008 – Wednesday – Johannesburg
Despite arriving at Johannesburg airport a bit ahead of schedule, Derek from Wilderness Safaris is there to meet me this morning. He suggests I get some South African Rands from the ABM in the terminal, and then he puts me on the shuttle to the Mondior Concorde Hotel. It is only a 15 minute drive from the airport. This hotel is part of a larger gambling complex called The Emperors Palace, which is obviously a direct copy of Las Vegas – including all the shops, the fancy concourses, and of course the noise! The hotel is nice and quiet, and although they don’t have any non-smoking rooms available at 8:30am, I take a smoking room in the interest of getting to bed as quickly as possible.
Emperors Palace Casino interior
I sleep for four hours and then get up to walk around the casino this afternoon – they obviously took liberal use of the designs of Caesars Palace or the Venetian in Las Vegas. I have dinner this evening at Squisto Ristorante in the casino mall area. It is recommended by the desk clerk, since their own Oriana restaurant is closed. I ordered a Spanikopita (spinach & feta pie) to start and Pescatore (seafood) pasta as a main. They only have a red house wine – no selection, but it was good (not too dry). This place reminds me of the Venetian in Las Vegas, except the prices are about a third of the Venetian’s. This evening’s dinner cost about 180 Rand (CD$23) including two glasses of wine and tip.
This evening I have to repack my two bags, since I will be storing the large one at the Mondior Concorde hotel here in Johannesburg while I take the small bag on the Botswana Safari. I’ll leave my notebook computer and some of the bulkier stuff here. All I need is cameras, clothes and my more compact electronic technology while I’m off on safari. When I’m traveling in Northern Botswana we will be transferred between camps in small aircraft. The maximum dimension for a bag is only 9″x12″x24″ due to the small cargo holds of these aircraft. It’s a good thing I purchased a new backpack MEC Fast-Track Roller from Mountain Equipment Co-op. It is actually two bags in one: a rolling bag with a handle that also has shoulder straps, and a smaller over-the-shoulder bag that is…you guessed it, only 9″ high. The small bag is is the one I’m taking to Botswana.
Speaking of technology, my power adapters all work here on the 220v 50Hz power. The 2 prong conversion plug I brought along works fine. My Rogers cellphone works from here – I call home successfully to check in with the family. I expect the next time I can use my cellphone will be when I return to Johannesburg on Oct 25th, since I’ll be staying in remote bush camps most of the next 12 days. Internet is not free from the Mondior Concorde hotel, but I purchase a low cost plan and the wireless connection works fine from my room. I post an update to my JoeTourist blog, and I also post a few preliminary photos on my Flickr space before going back to bed.
Tomorrow I start my safari adventure by flying to Livingston, Zambia!
Feb 15, 2008 – Friday – San Jose, Costa Rica to Seattle, WA, USA
Flight map – San Jose – Houston – Seattle
I’m up at 4am after about 4 hours sleep. I’m going to be beat flying to Seatac, so it’s probably a good thing that I overnight in Seattle to allow me to get some sleep before returning home. Diego and Walter are there at quarter to five to pick me up, along with another couple leaving on the same flight. I guess Diego and Walter will be going back and forth to the airport all morning as flights depart.
I pay my US$26 Departure Fee, clear security and wait for my Continental flight to Houston. There are only folding chairs in the departure area – I hesitate to call it a “lounge”, since there is no counter, and the gate itself is well-hidden. I start the waiting process by sorting through my photos after find a carpeted bench area to sit on so I can plug my notebook adapter into a nearby outlet. My friends soon show up, and we trade stories about the last week, since they went off on their own instead of booking the Volcanoes and Rainforest tour. My group certainly accomplished more, but my friends wanted some down time to just relax, which I can relate to.
Since I only slept four hours last night, I try to get some rest on this leg of the journey once we’re airborne. The breakfast bun Continental serves is dreadful, but I eat the egg and ham and drink the lukewarm coffee. Once we land in Houston at the George Bush airport, my friends and I take one of the golf cart shuttles since our gate for the flight to Seatac is a long way across the terminal.
Our flight to Seatac is full except for one empty seat which my friends happened to get in their row – a good thing. I’m seated in the third-to-last row, which is fine except for the deodorant smell emanating from the nearby washrooms. As on the previous flight, I zone out by listening to music through my noise-cancelling Shure earphones. That way I isolate myself somewhat from the stress of a full aircraft cabin, as well as from the noise of the jet engines. When I arrive at Seatac, I experience no ringing in my ears. Previously, I would normally have ringing in my ears for a couple of days, and have trouble hearing.
I like George Bush airport in Houston, since despite it is huge, it is well laid out and I find it easy to navigate. There is a good choice of services near each group of gates, and the airport staff are helpful and friendly. I find that Seatac airport is also improving as far as customer service is concerned, however the poor layout and those infernal trains between various terminals present challenges to passengers who have to find their gates.
When I arrive at Seatac I clear customs and immigration, retrieve my checked bag, and then proceed to the ticketing and check-in area at the front of the main terminal. I find the Horizon Air counter and ask if there is a seat available on the flight leaving this evening. They confirm the flight is fully-booked, so I then find the Continental counter and tell them I will need a hotel voucher, as instructed by my travel agency. After a short delay, the woman gives me the voucher for a stay at the nearby Clarion. I proceed to the hotel shuttle pickup area, call the Clarion, and shortly after the shuttle picks me up. This hotel at Seatac is not exactly a first rate hotel, but the room is clean and the bed feels good.
Feb 16, 2008 – Saturday – Seattle, WA, USA to Victoria, BC, Canada
I am up at 5am in order to be at the gate at Seatac for my 7:30am flight to Victoria. I am out the door at 5:45am and join several other folks in the shuttle to the airport. I check in at the Horizon Air kiosks that are located in the walkway between the drop-off point and the main terminal. I print my boarding pass and go to the baggage check-in area for Horizon/Alaska airlines. It is very crowded, but I get through after waiting only about 10 minutes and check my bag – no overweight charges this time thank goodness! The line to clear security is very long, but it moves quickly.
I find my gate with almost an hour to spare, get myself some coffee and sit down to work on my notebook computer for awhile. It is great to have my notebook with me, since it gives me something productive to do during the inevitable waiting time while travelling. By the time I get home I’ll have all my photos organized and captioned, which will be a big help to process them more quickly than my last trip, which took me many months.
The Horizon flight to Victoria departs on time, and the flight to Victoria is uneventful. Although there are lots of clouds, there are enough clear spots to give me opportunities to photograph the Olympic Mountains from my left side window seat. My checked bag appears on the baggage belt at Victoria airport, and I clear Canadian Customs in short order. The officer asks me about my farm stay, but wasn’t concerned since I say it was a week ago, and my shoes had been washed since that time. I find my vehicle parked in the long term parking, pay the fee and drove home.
Today I travel to Costa Rica. I’m up at 5:15am, do some last minute packing, say goodbye to my family, and I’m out the door at 6:20am. I drive to the Victoria airport, park in the long term parking, and check in at the Horizon counter. My checked bag is overweight by 5lbs, which costs me $25 extra – not a problem, since I can’t lug anymore carry-on luggage. The security guy asks me about the Astrotrac tracking mount for my camera, and we then get into the inevitable discussion about astronomy.
I find a power plug for my notebook in the gate area and sit down to write in my journal to kill a bit of time. My friends (who are also going to Costa Rica) arrive a few minutes after me. Our flight to SeaTac is delayed by about a half hour, but once airborne we are treated to a flight path that loops over Mill Bay, the Malahat and Victoria as we head southeast to Seattle, Washington. Despite the delayed departure, we arrive in plenty of time to find our bags, clear customs, and find the gate for our Continental flight to George Bush airport in Houston.
Our flight to Houston is also a bit late taking off, however we have a smooth flight – seeing Mount Rainier (see banner image above) along the way is a treat before the clouds close in for the last part of the flight. We have less than a half hour between flights in Houston, so Continental has a motorized cart waiting for us at the gate to ensure we connect with our flight to San Jose. The gate for the connecting flight is way across the terminal, however the nice lady driving the cart gets us there with time to spare. As we find our seats, the overhead bins are full, so I keep two carry-on bags on the floor under my feet for this flight.
I’m seated beside a huge guy from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who overflows the seat with his enormous tattooed arms and shoulders. I manage to survive by ignoring him as best I can, plugging into my music with some Shure in-ear earphones I bought awhile ago to use on this trip. They are fantastic at effectively shutting out the aircraft engine noise in particular, so when we arrive in San Jose my ears are not ringing as they normally do. The airport is controlled chaos, but we clear Costa Rican customs in short order, find our transportation, and are transferred to our hotel after only about a 20 minute wait.
The Courtyard Marriott hotel is pretty deluxe with North American style rooms with Internet connections, telephones, TV, wet bar, coffee maker and hair dryer. I take advantage of the free Internet connection to contact a few folks back home to let them know we arrived safely and will be on our way to the lodge tomorrow. Speaking about La Ensenada “Star” Lodge,I understand that it is more primitive, so it doesn’t have Internet, and even the telephone is not always working. I’m assuming my cellphone won’t work there, unlike here in San Jose where it roamed on the local provider right away.
My friends and I have some beer from the wet bar, and chat about a few things. We are excited about the astrophotography possibilities at the Lodge we are going to stay at starting tomorrow. I go to bed around 1:30am local time (11:30pm Pacific time).
April 14, 2006 – Friday – Flight from Athens, Greece through Milan to Toronto and onward to Victoria, Canada
My alarm goes off at 3am and I am picked up by Jimmy (Paul’s alternate) at 4am. It is a bit confusing picking out Jimmy, since there are so many cabs going by. Exarhia is still going strong at this late hour! Jimmy and I have a nice chat on the way to the airport, and I pay him the €500 I owe Paul for the taxi services over the last week.
As I board my Alitalia flight to Milan, it is raining lightly at Athens airport. We taxi over the airport’s main access road on an overpass to get to our runway. As we takeoff, the rain is increasing. What luck I’ve had on this trip. At most we had some overcast in Venice, otherwise it has been sunny every day. We fly the length of Italy’s east coast south to north, and land on time in Milan. I end up only two gates away from where my group left Malpenza for Tripoli three weeks ago! This is the old part of the airport, and it is very crowded. Destinations for the four gates include: Prague, Bucharest, Tunisia, Timisora, Cairo, Istanbul, Krakow, Dublin, and (of course) Toronto – my flight.
Flight map – Athens to Milan
The Tunisia flight seems to be popular with the Italians by the look of the passports. Lots of tired, squalling kids all appear to be waiting for the Toronto flight. I observe two types of passengers bound for Toronto: Indians with kids returning home (after already spending many hours in the air), and older Italians obviously going to visit their family in Toronto. We board Alitalia Flight AZ652, a Boeing 767-33A (ER) about 20 minutes late, then once we are aboard, another 30 minute delay is announced due to ATC traffic congestion.
Flight map – Milan to Toronto
I take some nice photographs of Lago Maggiore, where my eclipse tour group stayed in Beligerate on our last night. The Italian Alps are spectacular, as are the beautiful blue waters surrounding the Isles of Scilly off the south coast of Wales. I spot several large ships in the Atlantic shipping lane off the coast of England as we have dinner. Several hours later we fly over Newfoundland, revealing endless frozen lakes and not a tree in sight. I think the Italian woman sitting beside me is impressed, and perhaps a little worried about finding the same thing in Toronto! Unfortunately she doesn’t speak English, so I can’t reassure her about Toronto’s milder climate.
I’ve noticed as we fly over the Atlantic that aircraft in the traffic lanes fly very close to each other – at times I could almost make out the aircraft markings. One of the female Alitalia cabin crew sees my digital SLR, and tells me I can’t use it in flight. This doesn’t make any sense – it’s normal to prohibit use of electronic devices during takeoff and landing, but not during flight. Alitalia’s own announcement states this, but I wasn’t going to argue the point with her so I put my camera away. Despite this warning, I took some great aerial shots all the way from Athens through to the St. Lawrence.
After 9.5 hours in the air, we finally arrive at Pearson Airport in Toronto. Alitalia lands at a skyway equipped gate, but it is off in some remote area of the airport. Everyone has to get on a shuttle bus and go for a 20 minute ride to Terminal One, where we go through Canadian Immigration. There are a dozen officers, however two flights are being processed: ours from Italy, and one from China. The Chinese take a long time to be interviewed, since many don’t speak English, and it appears some haven’t filled in the form. Once I finally speak with an officer, I breeze through in less than a minute. I also am lucky to find the correct luggage carousel and grab my bag right away. Canada Customs decides they don’t want to talk with me, so that was easy!
I now have five hours to kill before my Air Canada direct flight to Victoria departs. I sip a Cappuccino Grande, which is my first cappuccino since we left Italy. While in Athens, I made brewed coffee with my breakfast in the apartment. I really didn’t feel comfortable spending time in the numerous cafés in Athens for some reason – perhaps it was all the smoking that put me off.
Pearson International Airport is quite impressive, now that the expansion is completed. The new Terminal One is grand-looking, with soaring ceilings and glass, new car displays, bars, restaurants, coffee bars, duty free shops, bookstores and all sorts of other shops. Even the cleaning staff are impressive: they wear black and white suit-like uniforms complete with ties, and the airport is absolutely spotless.
While I’m waiting for my flight, I call home and let them know I’m in Toronto and the flight appears to be on-time, so they should plan to pick me up at 10:30pm. After this call, I watch a young Chinese guy try to use one of the pay telephones without success. He then asks me for help, and I see that the number he is calling is Ottawa (long distance). I coach him through the process of using a credit card, but the telephone rejects his Chinese card. I then offer to let him use my cellular telephone, which works fine. He is very grateful, shakes my hand, and runs off to the gate to board his flight.
Flight map – Toronto to Victoria
I am extremely tired when I finally arrive at Victoria Airport. It takes me about five days to fully recover from the jet lag. The westward journey was certainly the killer. I wouldn’t let a travel agent talk me into a 30 hour elapsed time flight again. I should have stayed overnight in Toronto on the way back, as happened for the start of my trip.
