The Drrons shoot a killer and other delights.

[Jacques Vert]

Looks like row 17 is still available so I'll just settle in for the ride.

 

[drron]

So just a little taste of the experiences.
First of all Phoenix.Turns out that there is a lot to do apart from the shopping even though we have been to Phoenix before.
I did not know about the aircraft museum in Phoenix.
Fly With Us | B-17G and B-25 Airplane Rides | Arizona Air Force Museum

So I really would have liked to have flown in the B17 but unfortunately that was only going up on the morning we fly out to Mexico.
Instead I am flying as a waist gunner in the B25J "Maid in the Shade."Really looking forward to this experience.

As well as that we will both be going to Taliesen west-a Frank Lloyd wright building and residence.We have been to Taiesin in Michigan his summer residence and offices.
Taliesin West | Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation

So a couple of things you may want to consider.Obviously a lot more on these once the trip begins.

 

[drron]

So a taster of the first leg of our cruise spent in the Gulf of California.
The first full day hopefully is snorkelling with the sea lions of Los Islotes.
The second day sees us making acquaintance with blue footed coughies,tropic birds and frigate birds as well as being in the territory as well of pods of bottlenose dolphins and sperm whales.Off Isla Partida.
Day 4 is Isla Santa Catalina the home of the rattleless rattlesnake.And offshore 3 dolphin species and pilot whales.

Days 6 and 7 should be a highlight-a cruiseless cruise!Taking the Chepe from El fuerte,the home of Zorro,to Divisadero in the Copper canyon.
Chepe - Ferrocarril Barrancas del Cobre

Why riding El Chepe through Copper Canyon is just mind-blowingly amazing - The Travels of BBQboy and Spanky

Overnighting at the Mirador hotel.
Home - Hotel Mirador - Barranca del Cobre - Mexico

Then a day in Cabo San Lucas before heading to San Diego.

 

[drron]

So the final taster.Hoping for a couple of things of my bucket list.One was a real surprise.On this leg of the cruise we have a day in Monterey.An optional tour is to this place-

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Yes Pebble beach golf course.
Golf | Pebble Beach.

And of course there is this one-
Resident Whales
We have an afternoon kayaking of San juan island.hopefully the orcas have been told to make an appearance.

After the cruise we are spending 6 days on Vancouver island.

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The Best Time to Visit The Gardens During Spring
And we will be there in May.
So in 1 week will be on our way.

 

[drron]

The trip is now underway.On saturday it was a perfect Sunshine Coast morning when we set off at a comfortable 0830 for BNE.A very good run down the Bruce arriving in just on an hour.Very good service at the QF Premium entry with the fellow already waiting on the other side of the Xray to wand me.So very soon into the J lounge.Caught up on some emails before setting out to gate 19 for our flight to SYD.A short wait for boarding.As usual QF priority boarding not working as it should.
However kudos to QF staff for what happened next.Into our seats and waters delivered immediately.Everything was done efficiently and it was not until the last pax was onboard that they announced that this crew was not the crew for the flight as they had just arrived on the flight from MEL-fortunately at Gate 20.So everything was ready to go when our crew boarded.Well done.delay was minimised.

QF 525. BNE-SYD. ETD-1205. Push back-1238. Take off-1245. Seats 2A,C.
ETA-1340. Landed-1345. At gate-1350.
Lunch served-chicken in a garlic sauce-

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Quite nice.Mrsdrron had the SB and I a Coldstream pinot noir.
Some good views down the coast.First Newcastle and the Lower Hunter then some coal cough!

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Then a spot I spent some time in my youth-Woy Woy.

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In the words of Spike Milligan-if they can call Wagga Wagga,Wagga why cant they call Woy Woy,Woy?

A nice shot of Barrenjoey.Reminds me of something-

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Then Narrabeen lake and Long Reef.

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[drron]

We then proceeded out over the ocean and went a distance south of the airport before turning back and giving us views we rarely see.In a couple of photos the early signs of the bushfire that gave Sydney concerns over the weekend can be seen.

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Now I post my photos to flickr before copying for my TRs.They are all public.This time I got notification from a photographic studio that they have used a couple of these shots for their fave travel shots for 2018 on their website.Felt good.

 

[ALH]

I had selected that seat!! You can have 1C.....

I’ll take 5B (Qantas B747)

 

[drron]

Soon after collecting our bags it was off in our Avis rental,an upgraded coommodore.Had a feature where it warned you of speed and red light cameras.Sure a lot of them in the CBD.
Once again the SYD office was the SOTP.A renovated park view room.

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The weekend was spent on grandchildren duty.Full on.Went out to one of their favourite restaurants on Saturday night-Unas.Just near the Victor Chang Cardiac Research building.They all had schnitzels whilst I had the pork knuckle and mrsdrron the veal scallopini.

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The pork knuckle was huge and there was no way I could finish.
Next we F around the world.

 

[drron]

The first F is of course the SYD Flounge.We have got around loosing acces with mrsdrron losing her WP status by flying F.First of all some drinks and I am having the pink champagne.

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Now the menu with bigger pics so you can read it.

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Unfortunately the Flounge is continuing it's enhancement of food.Mrsdrron started with the char sui pork lo mein.

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Now that is not char sui pork.In fact a curried pork.Unacceptable.She did like her pavlova but even that is not as good as it once was.

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Now I decided to go for the market inspirations.Obviously this week the market wasn't very inspiring.I started with the spiced carrot soup.

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It lacked one important ingredient.Spice.The chilli on the side was from mrsdrron's pork dish.
I then had the Kung Pao chicken with Sichuan pepper-

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The good citizens of Sichuan province would be sorely disappointed as again lacked spice.In fact for those of you have read Bill Bryson's travel in Australia this dish would be at home in the Macksville Chinese restaurant.
So now off to our plane.

 

[ellen10]

Signing on, sitting somewhere in J, hopefully a window seat.

 

[drron]

So off to the gate.Once again flying BA F.
BA 16. SYD-SIN. ETD-1450. Push back-1449. Take off-1502. Seats 2D,F.
ETA-2105. Landed 2036. At gate-2042.
Didn't recognise any of the pax in Row 1.Seems some people forgot to confirm their seat allocations.
So my seat-

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Certainly not a great F seat .But a pretty good J seat.
So now the menu and wine list.

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Sorry but my excuse for the next one is that I had consumed 2 glasses of champagne by now and the "blues"had gone.

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[drron]

So to the food.It was good,not great and again more a very nice J meal rather than F.The service though was exceptional.Andrew the FA on mrsdrron's side and young Mark looking after me were really good at their job as well as being easy to talk to.
Now the antipasti plate and the crab and avocado timbale.Both tasted very well.

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I had the Indian prawn curry.Again the taste was excellent.

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Then the chocolate cream tart.

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I washed it down with the burgundy and then the muscat with dessert.I do love Rutherglen fortifieds.
Settled down and watched the Darkest Hour which I did enjoy.Then watched the Death of Stalin.I enjoyed the dark humour.Finally as we are visiting Mexico I watched Rick Stein travels to Mexico.He only got as far as Monterey though.
A couple of hours shut eye the time for a British afternoon tea.Not being of nobility my tea choice was Earl Grey.With sandwiches naturally.

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Landed early.Straight through Immigration but this time the F bags were not waiting for us.Some J bags came out before ours!

 

[drron]

We overnighted at the Sheraton Towers.Even with taxi fares It was cheaper than the CP Changi.Besides we were still in our hotel room within an hour of deplaning.
Our room-

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No view as it was dark the whole time we spent there.In a taxi back to the airport at 0545.The start of a very long day ending up going to bed in Phoenix at 2300 their time that day.
SQ F checkin and Immigration is just as it should be.Then off to the TPR for breakfast.

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Mrsdrron had the French toast and I the eggs benedict.

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And unlike an AFFer I had fresh tomato juice as my beverage of choice.
Caught up with my emails and unfortunately found out that the B25 had gone tech.So no being a waist gunner when I get there.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Better to go tech before you board, I guess. A disappointment in any respect.

 

[juddles]

.....

Now I decided to go for the market inspirations.Obviously this week the market wasn't very inspiring.I started with the spiced carrot soup.

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It lacked one important ingredient.Spice.....

Hey there drron!

I eat the carrot soup each time I do SYD-SCL - it is flavour of the month, but I prefer any hot soup to most of the other choices.

I completely agree that spicy dishes should be that. I know it is hard catering for all tastes, but if something is meant to be spicy - let the spices rain down!

There used to be an old cooking/crime show called Pie in the Sky - a brittish thing with a part-time chef, part-time detective. He used to travel with some olive oil and a lemon - his way to bring life to bland dishes. I think I will start carrying a bag of dried hot chillie flakes to do same. But maybe always travelling out of colombia this may get me "profiled" to the extreme......

 

[drron]

I am in total agreement with you juddles-a spicy dish should be spicy.Mrsdrron on the other hand prefers that a dish that should not be spicy not be spicy.If it is spicy such such as her char sui pork it should be descibed as such.
But back to the TR.
Leaving the TPR a little early as a long walk to our gate.As well the thing I really dislike about Changi is the security at the gate.Quite a line up when we got there.A grumpy security guy didn't help but a very perfunctory pat down instead of a wanding.By the time we were through though they were calling PE for boarding.
However all was right with the world on boarding.
SQ 12. SIN-NRT. ETD-0925. Push back-0921. Take off-0941. Seats 2D,F.
ETA-1735. Landed-1641. At gate-1713.
My office-

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I really do like the fact that on SQ F your carryons go under the footstool so easily accessible.
Now to the menus.I recognised one of their advisory chefs-

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A better Aussie pick than Neil Perry IMHO.
So the menu-a choice of Western or Japanese.

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[RooFlyer]

What's the aircraft type, drron, please?

 

[Denali]

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Am I the only one one that was wondering why you had a stuffed unicorn on your table for a couple of seconds?

 

[drron]

Both the BA and SQ flights were on B777's.
Now for the wine list on both the SQ sectors.

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Now an example of SQ service.I took this picture of mrsdrron with her first glass of Krug-

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As you can see someone noticed and in 30 seconds was taking a picture of us both-

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The F cabin has just one row of 4 seats.1A was occupied but 1D empty.

 

[love_the_life]

Both the BA and SQ flights were on B777's.
Now for the wine list on both the SQ sectors.

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Now an example of SQ service.I took this picture of mrsdrron with her first glass of Krug-

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As you can see someone noticed and in 30 seconds was taking a picture of us both-

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The F cabin has just one row of 4 seats.1A was occupied but 1D empty.

I see you’re slumming it again.
Looks wonderful.