Around the world in 10 days

[harvyk]

Day 1 - CBR - SYD - LAX
I arrived at Canberra airport much later than normal. Normally for big trips like this I am on the first flight out in the morning.

As I am a member of AFF I knew exactly what the check in agent said when she said "looks like you're in W class" my upgrade had come through, and I was flying Premium.

I took the family up to the Qantas Club for some lunch before saying goodbye, of course right on schedule the youngest starts the waterworks.

The flight to Sydney was a positioning flight, nothing more, although the flight attended on boarding made a comment about "we get it, you're traveling overseas" as he saw my departure card in my top pocket. Personally I put boarding passes, departure cards and passports in that pocket so I know where they are, and not really give a thought at what is visible out the top of my pocket. I'll make sure in the future to properly hide my departure card and passport less any QantasLink flight attendants get jealous.

On arrival in Sydney I made my way down to the train for the trip to the International Terminal. Yes I know there is a transfer bus, I personally prefer the train, at least on departure.

The flight onto Los Angeles departed very late, well over an hour, apparently there was a passenger whom "decided" they didn't want to go to LAX.

Once we were in the air I got very attentive service. The flight attendant was the perfect amount of chatty, happy to either have a yarn whilst serving, and happy to leave things be whilst movies were going.




Started as a bit of a grey ole day in Sydney.

 

[harvyk]

Day 1 (repeated, thanks to the date line) - arrived at LAX

So the flight got in about an hour late, thanks to our late departure and detours around weather mid-flight.

I had dutifully entered in my arrivals card, however on arrival they now have kiosks which ask the same questions, does the fingerprint and photo.

After finishing the customs formalities I got a message from Vodafone warning me of the cost of using my phone OS, but I could still sign up to Red if I wanted to. With that I gave them a call and it turns out it was a really handy thing to have done.

I hopped onto the car rental bus, and despite having "checked in online" they still insisted I go inside and re-checkin. Fine, so I did that, I then went and picked out a car (Alamo don't assign cars, just classes of cars, you then pick out the one you want). Well the car I picked out their system thought it was in San Francisco and thus
wouldn't believe I was there sitting in it in Los Angeles, of course I had to get the trainee and equally inexperienced supervisor whom ran my card through the machine 3 times. Finally a real supervisor came over and told me the problem with the car I had picked and told me to go pick another, which I did. After that little debacle I tried to enter the address into Synic, the GPS program recommend by a few AFFer before I left. As it turns out around 50% of the addresses I tried, Synic didn't believe the house number I entered existed.

After reverting to google maps I then drove up to Santa Clarita, to meet up with my friend R. He was helping a drumming team practice for a comp the next day so I met him at a nearby high school where he was finishing up with the practice session. As it turns out, all those American high school movies had been spot on with the whole football / cheerleader practice culture. It was pretty cool to watch because it's not something a normal tourist would see.

After that we went to a nearby sports bar for "buffalo wings" and beer. Which was both very tasty and it was great to catch up with R.

 

[harvyk]

Day 2 - A day in LA

Started off with a visit to IHOP (International House Of Pancakes), which was great and which I am happy I only got the smallest of small serves, as even that was big.

After that I made a quick trip to Walmart since Mrs Harvyk had given me a list of things she wanted me to bring back.

Once I had dropped the purchases back at R's place (he let me crash there for a couple of days) I then went to the Reagan Library. Even if you are not a fan of Reagans policies I would still recommend a visit. The highlights include a walk-through of Air Force One (a Boeing 707 - SAM27000), a walk-through of Marine
One, both the real deal as used by Reagan, and a replica of the Oval Office.

I then made my way to Santa Monica where I did my traditional Ice Cream and walk along the pier before heading back to R's place via the walking pace 405. However it worked out nicely as I got to R's place at the same time he got home from work.

For dinner that night I tried my first In-n-Out burger, as Steve Buscemi's character in the Big Lebowski said, they are some good burgers.

After dinner we went down to a nearby microbrew pub called BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse. (I think it's actually part of a chain) We tried a few different beers and eventually settled on the Amber Ale. Side note Pumpkin Spice beer - not so great.

After a few rounds, and then a few more we then headed back to R's place for a couple of night caps. Just before going to bed I got a call from Mrs Harvyk asking where all our money was. Very confused I jumped on internet banking to find that thanks to Alamo swiping my card multiple times, hundreds of dollars had been put on hold. It was at this put in time I was super happy I had listened to my gut instinct before going and had left some emergency money sitting in another account.

With that little emergency taken care of, I went to bed planning on having some friendly words with Alamo the next day.


A replica of the oval office




Air Force One - The old one. (no photos allowed inside )



Marine One - Again no photos allowed inside.



Just the one or two

 

[harvyk]

Day 3 - a day of doing nothing

This was a relaxing day of doing absolutely nothing except sit by a swimming pool and drink drinks. There was a quick phone call to Alamo to get the ball rolling on getting the money back, but that's about it.




Day 4 - Malibu has wines now?

The day started with me driving over to M's place (another friend), and me then facing the challenge of reverse parallel parking a left hand drive car. I met her new boyfriend J, and we all sat down for breakfast.

After breakfast we made our way up to Malibu Wines. We tried 5 of their reds, unfortunately the one we all liked also happens to be the most expensive. That said we brought a bottle of it and found a table. M & J also brought some stuff for a picnic lunch, so we then spent the next few hours talking and listening to the guitarist playing, a rather pleasant time indeed.

After the drive back I said goodbye to M and R and made my way to the airport to return the car, discuss getting my money back and then flying onto Seattle.

I got to the airport a good 2 hours early, however since I was flying Alaska Airlines, I didn't have lounge therefore I was relegated to the terminal. After security where the TSA where showing their true colours, I then walked over to T5 for some dinner via the underground walk way.

As it turned out spending the $15 to get myself moved to an exit row turned out to be a great investment, I got both an exit row and priority boarding, which was a blessing when the average passenger was
carrying on more luggage than I take checked in for a whole of family trip somewhere.

On arrival into Sea-Tac I caught a very scary taxi ride to the hotel. Since it was now pretty late I called it a night.



Say When

 

[harvyk]

Day 5 - The reason I'm on this trip

The reason I was on this trip was to attend Red Gates SQL-in-the-city event, the day way truly worth it. I learnt a lot and spent half the day writing notes and emails back to the guys at home.

After the day ended and so did the free drinks a few of the attendees made our way to Yard House for some more beer and dinner.




Day 6 - off to London

I was picked up in a Town Car just after 8am. After the last Taxi ride I didn't exactly feel like a repeat, and at $45 without a tip been required it put it in the same range as a $40 taxi with tip.

At check in the American Airlines agent gave me my boarding pass from Seattle to Chicago but told me to pick up my Chicago to London boarding pass in on arriving in Chicago. This isn't the first time AA has pulled this
on me so I didn't think too much of it. However on landing at Chicago I went to gate 20 as instructed by American Airlines for the terminal transfer bus. When I told the rather unpleasant lady that I didn't have a boarding pass she told me to take the train. That meant I had to run. Luckily I just made the terminal transfer train and got to the British Airways desk before they had closed check in, but not by much time. As it turned out American Airlines did NOT check me in for my British Airways flight, as such my nicely selected seat was already reallocated. I resigned myself to 57F, a middle seat in the middle row, at the absolute back of the bus, I was not happy at all, and I plan to have some words with American Airlines as I see this as their fault.

The flight itself was terrible, terrible food coupled with a Flight Attendant whom just could not care less. Example, when coffee was served, they served everyone except myself and the person next to me, I'd even taken my headphones off waiting in anticipation. After they had up and left without asking us if we'd wanted anything I
pressed the call button. You could tell that she was annoyed that we'd have the audacity to actually ask for coffee, something which we should have been given in the first place.

I now see why some people see the code BA as meaning "Bloody Awful" rather than "British Airways"

 

[harvyk]

Day 7 - A day in London

The flight landed on time on a rather wet morning.

After the customs formalities I went down to the info desk and found out which tube stations I needed to go to get to my hotel.

After watching the first train progressively fill up it was the stereotypical London tube by the time I got to Earl's Court station to transfer to the District line.

A few stations later I'd arrived at Bayswater station where I noticed everyone except me had an umbrella. I quickly remedied the fact for a couple of pounds and went to my hotel to check in. Unfortunately it was too early for me to check in but they offered to look after my bag for the day.

I went back to Bayswater station where I purchased a Zone 1 day pass for the tube, best decision I'd made all day as it was only a couple of extra quid on top of the normal ticket and it became all I could eat tube and busses for the day, at least in zone 1 which is where all the attractions I wanted to see was located.

I made my way to Trafalgar Square. The Square itself was pretty full as they had put up things to celebrate the world cup. I found a cafe and got a coffee and a croissant and waited until it was time to meet my friend London M, not to be confused with LA M.

We caught the bus to Buckingham Palace. On the way we went past Big Ben and St James Park.

We arrived at the palace just as they were doing the changing of the guard. Surprisingly the guards were wearing grey uniforms rather than the red ones I was expecting.

We started walking around the side of the palace looking for the entrance. We got half way and realised just how big it is. We stopped off to grab a coffee at a nearby cafe before finding the entrance to the "mews".

Here we saw some of the horse drawn carriages used by the royal family, along with a bit of history about the "mews". Unfortunately the state rooms were closed so we didn't get to go into the palace itself.

After the mews we made our way to Leister Square, where there was a Mexican restaurant, which seemed like a good place for a now pretty late lunch.
After lunch we made our way down to the river so I could get a photo to prove I’d actually been there. We then made our way up to Regent Street stopping off at Hamley’s Toy Store. After that we made our way up to Oxford Street station where I said goodbye to M, and went to join in the craziness which was 10,000 people all trying to get into Oxford St Station. After 15 minutes or so I decided to give that up as a bad joke and I caught the bus down to Victoria station, sitting on the top deck of course.

I then met AFF member Flashware and we went to a nearby pub for dinner where I tried my first English warm beer. It was warm (well not cold), it was flat, but it pretty good since it was made for drinking that way rather than just a beer which someone had forgotten to place into the fridge. After a few pints, including a “Fosters” just to prove our aussieness, and one purchased by the rather drunk guy sitting at the table next to us, we walked back to Victoria Station where I said good bye to Flashware, and made my way to the hotel.
The hotel itself was literally a tiny bedroom with a single bed pushed into a corner, and a very tiny ensuite. It was certainly not grand or flashy, but it was perfect as a place to sleep the night which is all I really wanted.




A carriage fit for a Queen



Piccadilly Circus, shown in just about any movie which wants to remind you that it's set in London, or that it's characters have an association with London.



A real life monopoly board, now where is that toy store?


A real life English Pub, complete with warm beer.

 

[harvyk]

Day 8 – A visit to Cambridge
I started the day off by heading downstairs of the hotel for breakfast. I don’t normally do this, but I didn’t have a huge amount of time up my sleeve if I wanted to make the train in time.
After breakfast I made my way down to Bayswater station where I purchased a ticket for Cambridge. I then caught the train out to Kings Cross station, to connect to the train to Cambridge.

I was surprised at the speeds the train got up to, it’s certainly not advertised as a high speed service, that said we were averaging around 160km/h and we topped out at 175km/h. This is according to the GPS on my phone, which has been pretty accurate thus far. Not the 300km/h services over in Asia, but certainly not slow.

After about an hour we arrived in Cambridge, and I discovered my phone had absolutely no phone reception, and there was no WIFI single around. I knew the name of the place I needed to get to, however without internet access I didn’t have the address. I jumped into a taxi hoping they knew how to find the place I was visiting, he didn’t, however he asked one of the other drivers whom gave him directions.

The next few hours were spent meeting vendors and discussing things, and before long I was on the train back to London.

On arrival back to London I found out that my ticket could be used to take me from Kings Cross to any Zone 1 station, not just Bayswater, excellent, so I made my way back to Piccadilly Circus, and from there I just went wandering. I ended up going through SOHO which I know does have a bit of a reputation, but it also has a whole lot of ye ole English architecture and certainly a lot of character. I then continued down into Chinatown. Interesting place, but as someone whom has been to Asia for real, it just didn’t quite compare.

As it was now getting late on in the day I caught the train out to Heathrow. I checked in, and was informed that I could use the Admirals Club, but not the BA Galleries Lounge, obviously a result of the divorce between Qantas and British Airways a few years back.

Admirals Club at LHR is certainly better than their domestic offerings, but it was certainly nothing to write home about.



Looking for Platform 9 3/4.




China town

 

[harvyk]

Day 9 – Traveling home
After a few short hours (about 6) we landed at Dubai. This was a place that I have wanted to visit for the last 15 or so years, so it was a little annoying that I was only here for a stopover. I made my way up to the Emirates Business Lounge. The food in the lounge wasn’t quite as good as I was expecting, and “turkey bacon” just isn’t quite the same. Whilst I got a spare seat next to me for the London to Dubai sector, the Dubai to Sydney sector I had people next to me.


Day 10 – Arriving Home
The plane from Dubai tracked very south, right over the top of Perth, so for the last 3.5 hours it looked like nothing more than a Perth Sydney red-eye on the moving map. Sure enough before too long we’d landed in Sydney, and I now officially been right around the world.

I had a spare express pass, which I had and was willing to give up, however even when I went through the express lanes, no one ever collected it from me, so I wasn’t about to voluntarily give it up. I made my way over to the line for the transfer desk, looked at the length of it and decided it was not a good sign it started inside the terminal building. So I made my way down to the transfer train.

By the time I made the transfer to T3, and got through security it was time to head straight to the gate, no time for lounges. After the short flight I was back in Canberra, ready to be greeted by “daddy daddy!” by the kids.


Arriving into Dubai

 

[Skyring]

BA = "Best Avoid". At least in Y. Even in J I've been ignored by the FAs. They seem to think flights are for socialising with their mates.

Love that Vodafone Red. $5 a day for data overseas is a bargain, without the hassle of hunting down local SIMs.

Sounds like you had a reasonable amount of time for socialising and sightseeing. These long and quick trips can be pretty lonely.

The Dubai lounges are incredible. The First Lounge is my new favorite, but even the Business Lounge isn't bad. They have a vast quiet room, where you can stretch out for a bit of a nap.

Thoroughly concur about the American habit of travelling with immense amounts of carryon. And then shoving it all in the lockers, rather than the "small" bag under the seat. Having some sort of priority boarding is a must if the flight is anywhere near full.

Thanks for the pix, too.

 

[RooFlyer]

I'm exhausted just reading it! Thanks

 

[mmchow]

I'm exhausted just reading it! Thanks

Likewise, but was an interesting round the world in 10 days. Wouldn't mind doing a spontaneous trip like this ;-)

 

[JessicaTam]

Thanks for the TR, harvyk.

 

[andye]

You didn't need Foster's to prove your Aussieness-going to Earl's Court as soon as you hit London is enough ☺

 

[Flashback]

You didn't need Foster's to prove your Aussieness-going to Earl's Court as soon as you hit London is enough ☺

It's not really referred to as Kangaroo Court these days. Been quite a shift over here in the last 5-10 years.

 

[PaulST]

I wonder why they didn't allow cameras inside the old AF1. The museum of flight in Seattle have JFK's 707 there and you're more than welcome to take photos inside and out.

 

[kermatu]

I wonder why they didn't allow cameras inside the old AF1. The museum of flight in Seattle have JFK's 707 there and you're more than welcome to take photos inside and out.

I'm curious too - any reasons given for no photos allowed?

I've seen JFK's 707 too - nothing remarkable or too out of the ordinary best I recall.

 

[harvyk]

They never gave reasons for no photos inside, it's not like it's a strongly enforced rule, and there would certainly be nothing sensitive still on that plane.
I suspect it's more to do with selling outrageously priced photos down stairs than anything else.

 

[coriander]

Thanks for the TR, harvyk - thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I suppose the one thing that came out of your TR is to NEVER use a debit card to pay security deposits for car rentals (and hotels for that matter).

 

[harvyk]

Thanks for the TR, harvyk - thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I suppose the one thing that came out of your TR is to NEVER use a debit card to pay security deposits for car rentals (and hotels for that matter).

Since I don't have a CC, I kinda have no choice. I tend to opt in for a security deposit in cash (as they are returned on checkout) or I am aware of how much deposit will be required and then factor that in as a cost.

This is the first time I've had a vendor attempt to charge my card multiple times, I suspect even a real CC would not have been immune to a stuff up like that.

 

[coriander]

This is the first time I've had a vendor attempt to charge my card multiple times, I suspect even a real CC would not have been immune to a stuff up like that.

Correct, the CC would have had multiple charges, but it's the bank's problem ....... well for 55 days it is anyway ..... and your funds aren't quarantined. I use a "28 Degrees Mastercard" as a zero fees / zero international fees / best interchange rate as my go-to card for OS security deposits.