Category Archives: air travel

The Third Leg

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As I mentioned yesterday, there were 3 legs to my journey to Maui. We almost missed the this connection but American Airlines held our plane for us. I had upgraded my  seat for this leg and it wasn’t a full flight so I had the aisle in a very roomy seat and my row mate had the window. The middle seat was empty.

There was quite a bit of turbulence so the seat belt sign stayed on the whole 6 hours.

Somewhere over the Pacific the pilot came on from the flight deck to announce the Superbowl was 7 to 0 Falcons. Not what I wanted to hear.

I went back to my book and a bit later he announced that the score at halftime was 16 – 0, Falcons. There were a few cheers at that but still pretty subdued. I hung on to hope. After all, Belichick hadn’t gotten them into the locker room yet. No further announcements were made.

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My phone alerts me to the results of the Pat’s games but I’d turned it off on the plane. Putting it in Airplane mode just sucks down the battery.  Flying into Maui at 6:15 Hawaiian time was quite a sight. The sun was setting and the clouds were rimed in pink. I think its the first time I’ve been to Hawaii when I didn’t land in the dark!

As soon as we touched down and the flight crew gave the ok to use cell phones I powered up. The very first alert I got was “Pat’s Win”.

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Brady & Belichick did it again. You have to admit these come from behind wins are pretty amazing. So many teams would have given up; choked.

What a great feeling…I’m landing in one of the most beautiful places on earth at sunset after a last minute connection save and getting news that my team just pulled out a great win.

Baggage claim, Maui

Baggage claim, Maui

I strolled through the open air terminal to baggage claim felling pretty darn good about everything!

 

 

My Superbowl Sunday

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I want to thank everyone who reads and follows my posts. You kept your comments positive. I don’t agree with the”trash Talking” world we live in. I was very into sports in high school, even a cheerleader, and the golden rule was always to support our team but treat our opponent’s with respect. Win or lose, be a good sport!

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So let me tell you a little about my experience yesterday. There were 3 legs to my journey to Maui. The first leg was Providence RI to Charlotte, NC. There were a lot of Patriots shirts, hats and T’s to show support for the big day.

I didn’t think much about it. In New England we wear sports team jerseys every day. Its just what we do. Anyway once we landed in Charlotte after an on time and very pleasant flight, the flight attendants announced (as a joke, I hope) that they were now “kicking all of the Pat’s Fans off the plane, Go Falcons!” I’m not sure if that was in good taste but I thought it pretty humorous and I didn’t see anyone take it the wrong way. It all depends on how you say things.

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Between the Concourses at Charlotte Airport. Love the rocking chairs

Between the Concourses at Charlotte Airport. Love the rocking chairs

Leg number two was a nail biter. The plane coming in was delayed. They never said why but American Gate attendants did their best to keep us updated and once the plane did arrive they hustled us on board as fast as possible. Apparently quite a few people, myself included, had tight connections. Once on board and sealed up we started to taxi to the run way, then stopped. I bet we sat on the tarmac for 20 minutes or more, at least it seemed that way.

 

The crowd waiting to hear news of our delayed flight

The crowd waiting to hear news of our delayed flight

As if to make up for the delay, our flight crew gave us a travelogue all along the way. “We’re flying over the Mississippi, look now the Rocky mountains are coming up, You can see Santa Fe. There’s Albuquerque to the left. Looks like  plenty of snow for the skiers in the mountains.” The one thing they didn’t say was what time we’d land.

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Finally there was Phoenix! The cabin crew asked everyone to let off passengers with connecting flights first. Luckily we landed at Gate 23 and our departing flight to Maui was Gate 24. Same concourse, just “across the way”.

Myself and my fellow passengers to Maui (7 of us) raced to the gate. Our plane was scheduled to leave at 2:45 Mountain time. It was 2:55 when we landed. Many thanks to American Airlines. They held the plane for us!

Now for the cynical side comment…It was probably cheaper to hold the plane than to put 7 of us up for the night and rebook the next day…or option two, ship us to San Francisco and then look for a connecting flight to Maui. In any case, Thanks American! Nice job!

 

Basic Economy

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American Airlines is launching a new level of service on selected routes starting in February.

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I’m not sure it is anything I would be interested in but for a short jaunt it might be ok. From what I gather it is called Basic Economy

 I’m not sure anything with the words basic and economy in the same sentence is good but we’ll see.

 This is American’s lowest Main Cabin fare. It still allows you to have a free soft drink, snacks and entertainment and you’ll still earn credits ans award miles, albeit at a reduced rate.

 The restrictions are

·        1 item that fits under seat (no access to overhead bins)

·        Seats assigned at check in

·        Fees to choose a specific seat

·        Not eligible for upgrades

·        No flight changes or refunds

·        Board in last group

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For me I would not like to be limited to 1 under seat bag.

Under seat items can’t be larger than 18 X 14 x 8 inches.

If seats are assigned at check in my guess is there will be a lot of center seats. I don’t like that, window or aisle for me please.

And finally I hate boarding in the last group.

I can see if you are just making a short flight somewhere and have no baggage that this might be ok but that doesn’t describe most of my travel adventures.

I wonder how much of a savings this is too? It would need to be substantial for me to be interested. What do you think about this?

I want to find a nice decent job as a helicopter pilot.

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Well maybe not but our Tuesday morning adventure did involve a helicopter.

Of the 3 of us, I was the only one who had ever been up in a helicopter. My first ride was back in 2008 in Sedona. It was an awesome experience. But Sandy has steadfastly refused to even consider taking a helicopter ride. Of course Kathy didn’t know this and she pushed hard for a chance to see Maui from the sky.

To my surprise Sandy agreed with very little argument. I don’t know what that was about but we found ourselves booked with Sunshine Helicopters for a flight over Haleakala and the Road to Hana. I was hoping for some good aerial photos. Alas, this was not to be but the seating worked out for Sandy and Kathy.

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The 3 of us were assigned the back seat, Kathy to my left and Sandy to my right while I was in the middle.

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The road up Haleakala

That meant that both Kathy and Sandy had windows where they could take pictures but I soon found that my seat pretty much prevented that. In fact it was hard to see much of anything.

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The front seats had a couple and they where constantly bouncing around, heads or hands always managing to get into the frame. The other seat was occupied by the Pilot. So much for getting shots out of the front window.

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Still it was interesting and fun and I am thrilled that I was there when both Kathy & Sandy experienced something new.

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Polo Towers

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After a long but uneventful flight we arrived at McCarren International Airport, Las Vegas, NV.  A quick hello to the tortoise in the terminal

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and we were taking a  short cab ride to our destination, Polo Towers, in the heart of the strip.

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Polo Towers is a time share resort. There is no casino but we had a lovely one bedroom on the 14th floor.

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There was a huge bed in the bedroom and a pull out couch in the living room. We also had a full kitchen with fridge, stove and microwave.

There is a shuttle to some of the malls and a grocery store but we were content to pick up our provisions in the little mini mart in the resort.

There is also a pool and a fitness center although we didn’t get a chance to use either.

Upon arrival we were treated like VIP’s.  Everyone making us feel welcome.

It had been a long day . We left Albany Airport at 11 am but didn’t arrive in Las Vegas until 6:30 pm. We quickly got checked in and settled.

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We took a quick look at the views of the strip from our room and then headed out for dinner.

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DSC_2412 copyOur meal was enjoyed with the elephants of the Rainforest Cafe before we returned to our room for the night.

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Time enough to explore in the morning.