Char and I got upgraded to a suite at The Westin in Seattle. It’s massive, and it’s a long way up… above the 40th floor!
Here are a couple of photos to give you some idea of the scale of the room; more photos are here ( the photos start at the bottom this album page in the link and go on to the next two pages of the album).
The Westin in Seattle -- main bedroom
The Westin in Seattle -- looking from dining area past the Murphy bed in the wall and the office desk to the living room
My good friend Char was waiting at baggage claim when I arrived in Seattle late this afternoon. Her flight from Boston (via Denver) had got in about 15 to 30 minutes before mine and we’d agreed ages ago to share a ride into town. What we didn’t expect until a few days ago, was that the ride would be provided by Chuck, the conference’s official photographer and all round nice guy!
Chuck’s number plate is great “User1st” (user first); he drove up from San Francisco yesterday and was happy to wait in the cell phone carpark for us both to arrive (they have a car park just off the SeaTac airport for those picking up loved ones; as far as I know they don’t charge for it and it keeps the access points from being clogged by people circling looking for their party — an EXCELLENT idea). Chuck dropped us off at The Westin in town which is where the conference is being held.
Thanks Chuck!
This morning I flew American Eagle (American Airlines commuter airline) from Orange County to San Francisco (SFO). Before the flight, I checked in and was pleased that I could check my luggage all the way through to Seattle, which means I didn’t have to collect it in SFO and re-check it into Alaskan Air. I was also able to get a boarding pass for the SFO to Seattle flight too, so that was good. What was not so good was the fact that EVERYTHING (except soft drinks and pathetic nibbles) in the Admirals Club lounge have to be paid for, and the free wireless is NOT available to Qantas Club/OneWorld card holders, only American Airlines people.
The flight to SFO left a couple of minutes late, but it was a very acceptable delay, and arrived some 10 minutes early which was good. We flew along the Californian coast, past Hearst Castle (I could see it ‘cos I knew what I was looking for), Big Sur, Monterey Bay, etc. It’s a beautiful day with clear blue skies and no fog banks, so the view from the plane was just gorgeous. Photos here.
It was a TINY plane — about 60 seats (seat > aisle > seat > seat) and my laptop bag wouldn’t fit in the overhead locker so I had to use “Valet Check-in”, which means you leave your bag on a cart outside the plane and it gets loaded into the hold. Problem: I have all the chocolate snacks in the laptop bag and it sat in the hot sun for at least 15 minutes, so I expect the chocolate to be spoiled 😦
We deplaned (I hate that word!) at Terminal 3 and Alaska Airlines is in Terminal 1, which meant I had to leave the security area in Terminal 3, walk a LONG way to Terminal 3, and go through security again (that’s the fourth time!). On the walk I found a $20 note lying on the ground — not a soul was in sight, so that was a lucky break!
When I got to Alaskan, I re-checked that my boarding pass from American Airlines was OK and that the gate was still correct, and asked directions to the lounge. I got to the lounge and found that being a member of the Qantas Cub has no value with Alaskan (even though they are a subsidiary of American Airlines which is part of the OneWorld alliance and where my Qantas Club membership usually gets me into their lounges). However, the lovely Mike at the Alaskan lounge counter said that only Qantas Business Class travellers could gain access. Guess what? 😉 The catch was that they had to be travelling Qantas Business that day — which I wasn’t. But a sweet smile and showing him my itinerary with all the Business Class flights that I’ve already done, and that I’ll be doing in the next week sold him 😉 He let me into the small lounge (but there was almost no-one there, so it was no big deal).
But the big plus was that Alaska Airline’s lounge has COMPLIMENTARY drinks, and decent snacks (well, cheese and bikkies, but not those horrid bar snacks like American’s lounge), and best of all, COMPLIMENTARY high-speed wireless access — they have these little table cards everywhere with the username and password! Cool! So that’s where I’m typing this from.
So far, I’m impressed with Alaska Airlines. The guy at the check-in counter was very helpful; Mike at the lounge was equally helpful and friendly. The flight to Seattle this afternoon (which is fairly short) and my flight next Thursday on Alaska Airlines to Vancouver will be the ‘proof of the pudding’. But so far, I’m impressed with them. It’s much more like Qantas (not that Qantas is a benchmark, but compared to most US airlines, Qantas is positively luxurious with both the meals and drinks on all their flights and their lounges). Alaska is looking good…
Update later the same day: The flight to Seattle was fine — a little turbulence, but nothing major. The hosties had fun with the passengers in their announcements etc. especially when they were singing Seattle’s praises as the Emerald City, then told us the expected weather on arrival (38F and wet) and suggested we turn around and go to Cancun (Mexico)! Nibblies were free as were the soft drinks — and according to the hostie I spoke with, they’d like to keep it that way. I don’t know if you had to pay for beer, spirits or wine — I suspect so. And light meals were charged for. I liked their attitude and would happily fly with them again based on today’s experience (which is lucky seeing as though I’m flying with them again on Thursday!)
Alaska Airlines tail
I drove down to Carlsbad today to do some shopping stimulate the US economy at the outlet mall there. I took Pacific Coast Highway from Corona Del Mar to Dana Point as I hadn’t been on that bit before. Pretty drive. And pretty enough to do it again on the return journey.
Laguna Beach was busy coming back — it was a 75F+ day in Southern California today, with clear blue skies, and quite a few people were braving the beach. I saw a few bikini tops and board shorts walk by while sitting in the slow traffic (for West Aussies, think of Marine Parade in Cottesloe, multiple it by 4 lanes of traffic, and 10+ times as long… in the middle of summer).
Anyhow, while I was coming into Laguna Beach on the return journey one of those BIG American chopper motorbikes went by in the opposite direction… and I realised who was riding it. I’m pretty sure it was the father (Paul?) from the TV ‘reality’ series American Chopper! The one with the big white moustache. His bike looked really cool, but it looked a sod of a thing to ride with those handlebars up so high. If it wasn’t him, whoever it was was doing a darn good impersonation.
The radio in the rental car I picked up at LAX yesterday is pretty darned clever. I noticed that when it’s playing a song, the metadata for the song is also displayed — specifically the artist’s name and the song title. I have no idea how this is done, but I’m impressed! And no, I don’t think it’s a satellite radio — this is a fairly cheap rental car, not some high-end fancy thing.
Yesterday, after I got to my uncle’s place near Newport Beach, we went to lunch at Rothschilds restaurant on the corner of Pacific Coast Highway and Macarthur Blvd in Corona Del Mar. Why? Because when I was chatting to Monika, the travel agent who did my ticketing in Perth, about where I was staying before heading to Seattle for the conference, she mentioned that her family owned Rothschilds in Corona del Mar! So we went there for a lovely lunch. And we met Monika’s sister, who now owns and runs the restaurant. BTW, I’ve never met Monika as all our dealings were over the phone and via email.
Small world.
I had booked a rental car (Compact) through National Car Rental via the internet before leaving. The process at the counter was quick and easy and I didn’t get asked every sullen question under the sun about insurance. That was nice.
But the big surprise was how they deal with allocating cars there! The lady behind the counter said “Go out to the lot and to the Compact section. Pick a car, any car. Whatever you want. The keys are in the door.” And so it was! What a great idea. No hassling with “I booked a [insert name and model of car here] but you’ve given me a [insert other car name/model here]” and the whole “We’re sorry Ma’am. We’ll upgrade you for no extra, but we have to print out all the forms again… blah blah blah … and did you want the CDW, LDW, PITA insurance with that?”
Another good thing about that system — if the car doesn’t work, you just try another one! This happened to the other guy in the lot at the same time. He got to the car he chose, tried to start it, but it wouldn’t start. So he gets out of the car, grabs his suit jacket and bag and just hops into another one in that section. Cool!
… was actually a pretty nice place to be first thing this morning! I HATE having to come into or go out of LAX as it’s usually a bloody nightmare. Not so this morning — at least part of it.
We touched down around 7:30am as scheduled, but we couldn’t get off the plane until 7:50 even though we were at the gate and the jetway doors were lined up by 7:40 (I have no idea what the hold up was).
Because this aircraft (A380) is so huge and it’s two storeys high and there’s a jetway for both storeys, I think we were in a different part of LAX. It was a LONG walk through a major construction zone (are they EVER going to finish that airport? They’ve been in construction mode every time I’ve landed there since 1993!). When we got to immigration, they was much joy (in my heart anyway) — we were the only plane being processed! Yay! Last time I landed at LAX it was just after a couple of 747s came in from Korea and South America and the immigration lines were very long and very very slow.
Anyhow, immigration took seconds, the bags came through nice and quick, and I was waved through customs.
I was out in the street, on a rental car shuttle bus, and had signed up for the rental car by 8:20am! That has to be a record!! Maybe it’s the downturn in the economy, maybe we were just lucky. Whatever. My experience meter at LAX just went into positive territory.
The flight from Melbourne to Los Angeles was on a new Airbus A380. Woohoo! Man, is that plane HUGE!!! When we were taxiing out at Melbourne, the windows of the upper deck were level with the tail exhaust of a 747…
In his welcome, the Captain said it would be quiet — he explained that this new aircraft had lots of extra soundproofing and that it flew higher than 747s. He also said that some 560 tonnes of weight had to be lifted off the ground!
How well did this new beast measure up? Well, the take-off was MUCH quieter — there was very little rattling and shaking that typically happens on a 747. Though we didn’t seem to be doing a great speed taxiing down the runway… I wondered if this beast could get into the air, but it did, though I suspect that it had to use the entire length of the runway to do so!
We took off 40 minutes late — we were told we were waiting for some passengers, so perhaps someone was held up on a late connection.
Dinner was fillet steak, green beans, layered creamy potatoes — like last night’s meal coming over from Perth but WAY more palatable (I wrote earlier about that horrible meal on the Perth to Melbourne flight). Voyager Estate Shiraz.
As of now, I’ve officially given up on ever trying to sleep on a plane. This time I tried a hypnotic suggestion MP3 — it’s meant to drop you into a deep state in the 15 minutes. I listened to it 6+ times in a row. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. No sleep. This plane even has a fully flat bed — that didn’t work either. I can usually get to sleep easily any other place — but not on planes. I think it’s the continually drumming/humming noise and the echoes of people walking up and down the aisles all night, and the kids in front of me begin wide awake and chatty with their parents, and the air conditioning, and who knows what else. Even with ear plugs in and noise cancelling headphones on, I STILL can’t sleep. I’ve tried doctor-prescribed sleeping pills previously — they didn’t work either. So I’ve now given up. I’ll just have to learn to occupy myself for the 13+ hours flight time.
So I watched a couple of films: Slumdog Millionaire — parts of it were heartbreaking but the human spirit is an amazing thing and really well highlighted in this movie; I really enjoyed it. And Vicki Christina Barcelona — I watched this ‘cos it was nominated for an Oscar. But I really didn’t see the point of it. I did like the ‘Dick and Jane’ style narration though!
I also read three online books (one on CSS and IE8, a Q&A one on Seth Godin’s Tribes concept, and most of another on web design), and watched a heartwarming episode of The Secret Millionaire, on a lady called Gill Fielding.
The first part of the journey is over — I made it to Perth despite quite a lot of roadworks along the way. The next step is the flight to Melbourne, due to depart in less than an hour. I stay overnight tonight at the hotel at Melbourne Airport, then fly to Los Angeles arriving some 4 hours before I leave! 😉
On Saturday, after a couple of days with my uncle and doing some shopping, I fly to Seattle for the conference and to catch up with ‘all me mates’!
Update: The flight from Perth to Melbourne was smooth and, despite leaving 10 mins late, we arrived 5 minutes before the scheduled time. It took only 25 minutes from touching down to getting inside the hotel room! Then I immediately left the room as the smell of cigarette smoke was overpowering. Some 10 mins later and I was in a new room across the hall — one that had no odour. By then it was well after midnight, and after a fitful night’s sleep, the alarm woke me at 7:00am (5:00am Perth time!). I’m currently in the Qantas Lounge at Melbourne Airport, waiting for the flight to LA.
Oh, one other thing. The flight over was uneventful, but the meal was atrocious. It was served 2 hours into a 3 hour 10 minute flight (why so late? the meal was on board as were the passengers, and the flight left at 6:20pm), and the beef tenderloin I had, while tender, was overcooked and grey. The green string beans were also a lovely shade of grey, and the sliced potatoes (which I think were meant to be in a creamy sauce) were burnt on the edges. It would have to be the worst meal I’ve ever had on Qantas — in Business or Economy class (and I was in Business last night). The only redeeming thing was the wine — an Icely Rd Sangiovese from Mayfield Vineyard, Orange, NSW. Very nice. Very smooth. And the female steward who was bubbly and friendly.
Rhonda Bracey: At Random 