Bucket List Trip #1

[SimonM]

AA169 LAX-NRT B777-200 Seat 10J.



This flight was a much better product than the domestic service. The IFE was pretty good, but perhaps not as good as the Finnair system. Amenity kits were already in the seat storage. I haven't opened mine, but by the feel of it, I'd say it has more in it than the current Qantas kits.

Lunch was a salad entree followed by a choice of meals and I picked the sirloin steak, which was awesome. Ice cream followed for dessert. The FA was very attentive and drinks service was frequent, but as usual, more or less wasted on me.

The flight path lead us up the west coast overhead San Francisco and I think we got as far Portland then out to sea and quite close to Alaska. I'm sure the great circle route thing is just some sort of scam by pilots paid by the hour.

The seat felt like it wasn't quite horizontal lie-flat, but was comfy enough to grab an hour or so of sleep. I was trying to stay awake as much as possible, then sleep on the overnight flight down to Sydney.

Probably a bit naive, but I had expected to fly over Tokyo and get a view of one of the world's largest cities, but obviously Narita is a long way from town and we mostly seemed to approach over countryside.

Narita airport doesn't see to have much exciting to offer the air-side transit passenger. The lounge was OK and I gratefully used the showers. Food offering was finger food of the sushi type, which was quite nice.

After two fairly long flights, I'm looking forward to getting on the next plane and sleeping.

 

[SimonM]

QF22 NRT-SYD B747-400 Seat 4a.



Despite the low seat number, 4a is a business class seat in a pair, but in the nose of the plane. I was hoping it was a first seat, but sadly no. As usual Champagne, orange and water were offered and this time I thought I'd try the grog. Not bad, but then I'm no expert!



As it happens, everyone in the forward cabin had an empty seat next to them, so that was a score. Also, the seat was MUCH more comfortable than the last, with a different structure underneath. The crossbar was indented down with no ridges and the cushion used that extra space for more padding.



The IFE didn't work for my seat or 4B. The crew reset it a couple of times, but I told them not to bother any more as I was going to sleep after dinner anyway.

Dinner was a very nice tuna entree, followed by a thing of veal that I didn't like at all.


Another glass of champagne and a bourbon & coke had me feeling very relaxed and ready for sleep.

PJs were handed out with the amenity kits, but not the same type as when I went north. These ones just have a big Qantas logo on them, not the Morrissey(?) style.

After a good sleep, I woke around Rockhampton and chatted to an FA for a while before breakfast.

Arrival into Sydney's arrivals area was like descending into madness. More in the next message.

 

[SimonM]

QF512 SYD-BNE 737-800

After getting off the plane first-ish, whipping through duty free and the passport check, baggage claim stopped me in my tracks. I can't even begin to estimate how many people were in the claim area, but it was certainly 4 or 5 plane loads.

Although I had an express pass, I'd ticked a few of the boxes on the arrival card (food, medicine, wilderness area, soil on boots) and so could not use it.

The queues for getting through the quarantine checks went back through the lanes and then right back past the baggage conveyors. To make things worse, I found out that my queue was actually two queues merging and so took twice as long. After long flights, there were some very grumpy people, me included. A few who pushed in at the front of the queue made things even worse.

With one thing and another, I arrived at the domestic terminal with just a few minutes to spare before my flight was called, so no lounge visit for me.

I was seated next to a doctor's wife from the Sunshine Coast. The husband was on the other side of aisle, so I didn't get to talk to him. Seasoned travellers, they were just returning from a trip around the world. Those medical conferences are very handy, I would say. 4 day conference, 4 week trip.

Arriving back in Brisbane, I was very happy to see a driver with my name on a board and home was just an hour or so away.

 

[drron]

Us Sunny Coast doctors know how to conference.My last trip was 2.5 days conference,8 weeks trip.

 

[docjames]

(Makes note to move to sunshine coast).....



Great TR SimonM, looks like you had a great time and ticked off much of "the list".

 

[SimonM]

(Makes note to move to sunshine coast).....
Great TR SimonM, looks like you had a great time and ticked off much of "the list".

Thanks docjames, I did have a great time and there's still lots on the list to do. I should make a list here to help me remember.

 

[SimonM]

Matters arising:-

More for me than anything, but here's some things I'm going to bear in mind.

1. Don't go live with a major project the day before you leave on a two week trip.
2. Get a visa for China, even if they say you don't need one for < 48 hrs in Shanghai, because the border control guys will make it tricky and the hotel people won't know what to do.
3. Fly with Finnair again.
4. Plan a nice long trip to Norway.
5. Aim to see the Northern Lights in Feb/Mar or October 2012.
6. Driving in the US isn't a problem and Alamo rental cars are good to deal with.
7. Allow more time in New York.
8. Carry a lighter camera. I used my iPhone almost as much as my Canon 5D, but something in between would be good.
9. Travel with someone.

 

[samh004]

Excellent TR, it’s been an enjoyable read!

 

[totalk]

A trip of a life time indeed. Enjoy to your hearts content. Have a nice time.

 

[tangof1]

Fantastic report, how long did it take you to do the whole trip?

 

[SimonM]

Thanks, the trip took 17 days. Seemed like an eternity on day 1 and the blink of an eye on day 17.