Tag Archives: Los Angeles

Toronto to Los Angeles to Sydney to Canberra (YYZ to LAX to SYD to CBR)

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I’m grateful that my flight out of Toronto and beyond went relatively well. The journey up to Toronto was a little out there. Toronto is the largest city in Ontario (and Canada) and is the provincial capital. The Toronto Pearson (YYZ) airport is a lot larger than the Ottawa airport (YOW). I spent an hour or so in the Air Canada Maple Leaf lounge and enjoyed a couple of glasses of diet coke. My flight from Toronto to Los Angeles was really good. I sat next to a friendly passenger and the entertainment system in the Air Canada aircraft is very good. They have a USB port for recharging and connecting your smartphone and all the programs are on-demand. During my five hour flight I watched quite a few situation comedies that are not yet screened in Australia. I really enjoyed a compilation from the latest Winnipeg comedy festival.

I got into Los Angeles with a reasonable amount of time to spare (two hours) and managed to get into the United Lounge in terminal seven. It looked like United Airlines was continuing to have problems with its flights from that day. There were large lines of unhappy passengers asking to be put onto other flights, some of them were being sent to other airlines while others were being told to spend a night in LA.

When I got on board flight UA839 I thought we were going to have a trouble free flight except we didn’t move for more than an hour. At first we were waiting for domestic connections, then we were waiting for passengers from the last evening’s cancelled flight to turn up and collect their duty free, and then there was an on-board computer failure and the engineers were called. None of this really mattered given the prevailing tail winds and after an hour or so of delays we ended up being in Sydney about 15 minutes late. For me the flight was great. I was really tired and after watching Star Trek XI (2009) and eating dinner I fell asleep and didn’t wake until about 0300 AEST. The last 90 minutes of the flight was a little bumpy but not really bad.

Creamy garlic salad (iPhone)

Prawns and lime (iPhone)

Garlic bread (iPhone)

Tenderloin and gnocchi (iPhone)

Cheese (iPhone)

Sundae (iPhone)

Sundae (iPhone)

Fruit and yoghurt (iPhone)

Egg and sausage (iPhone)

Egg and sausage (iPhone)

I’m glad I’m back in Canberra. I’m tired and will sleep well tonight I hope.

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YOW to YYZ (Ottawa to Toronto)

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I woke up this morning a little sad that I was going to be leaving Ottawa and Canada. I’ve enjoyed the weather and the meeting I came here for. I always enjoy meeting with Canadians and colleagues from similar countries. I also had a feeling of happiness that I’d be returning to Australia and I’d see Bron again soon. I’ve missed her ❤ I really am not that happy to return to the cold and dry weather of Canberra.

When I woke up I knew that I would be flying in the reverse order of the flight to Ottawa, i.e., Ottawa (YOW) to Chicago (ORD) to Los Angeles (LAX) to Sydney (SYD) and then finally early Sunday morning I’d fly on to Canberra (CBR). My flight with United Airlines to ORD was due to depart at 1241 local time. I left the hotel at 1000 to give myself time for an international connection and in case anything when wrong.

In an unexpected twist I am now flying via Toronto (YYZ).

My flight to Chicago (ORD) was cancelled yet I wasn’t told (they have my mobile telephone and hotel number). When I arrived at the airport (YOW) I was told the Chicago flight was full and I was bumped to the Newark (EWR) flight which left at 1650. That would be a six hour wait at Ottawa airport.  When I asked if that gave me enough time in Los Angeles I was told I had an hour which doesn’t seem long enough for there. I was told to then go on-line to check-in because they couldn’t do it at the check-in counter. I proceeded to check-in on-line and discovered a discrepancy. I went back to the counter and asked them to change this. This is when I was told my Chicago flight had been cancelled and I was then told the Newark flight was now delayed. I was then told to go to the Air Canada desk to get a flight to Toronto and then to Los Angeles. They didn’t give me a boarding pass for my flight from Los Angeles to Sydney (SYD). I should point out the entire conversation/interaction lasted fifteen minutes and was very cordial. It seemed the United Airlines computer system is very slow.

I went to the Air Canada desk and they laughed because United Airlines does this regularly. They were also concerned that it looked like my flight from LAX to SYD was now cancelled (it had also been cancelled the night before). They printed me a UA boarding pass on AC card so I’ll see if I get back to Australia (I’m currently writing this in the Air Canada Maple Leaf lounge in Toronto).

Security at the Ottawa airport was very thorough. Even though I emptied all my pockets they had to run a handheld metal detector over me. My belt was off yet it pinged over my crotch. The bloke then patted and prodded my crotch and actually felt my penis. I then had to go through the full body scanner. It was totally bizarre.

When I got through security I discovered my flight to Toronto was delayed by 30 minutes. Such is life.

AC451 YOW to YYZ. I have my US visas in my old passport and I need to carry my new passport as well (iPhone)

I also found the Toronto airport very confusing in terms of passing through customs to get checked in for a transit through the USA. I wish I could read French because the French language signage seems to be more comprehensive than the English signs.

The YYZ Air Canada Maple Leaf lounge is very comfortable but there isn’t a view to speak of.

AC795 YYZ to LAX The BlackBerry is still delivering me lots of work e-mails to respond to :-) (iPhone)

I’m sorry if it sounds like all I do is complain. I suppose blogging about the experience is my way of ventilating and feeling like I’ve shared a lesson identified and hopefully a lesson I’ll learn from.

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Travelling to Frederick, MD

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Last week I spent five days in Frederick, MD. I was there for work and knew I wouldn’t be able to spent much time looking around. Fortunately the people I was meeting with knew places to go to dinner.

The flight over and back was with United Airlines. I’ve flown with them before and it was an enjoyable experience. Over the Pacific Ocean I flew in a Boeing 747 and over the continent it was a Boeing 737. The flight attendants were friendly and cheerful and the food better than average. The flight from LAX (Los Angeles) to IAD (Dulles) was great with a really good main flight attendant who was incredibly friendly and helpful. I managed to sleep reasonably well on all the Pacific Ocean legs.

On the first night I stayed in the Washington Dulles Airport Marriott. It is very close to IAD and very convenient. It was very good value for a one night stop over. On the Monday morning I took a shuttle bus transfer for the 70 km drive from Dulles to Frederick. The countryside was beautiful. The architecture was really interesting.

On the first night in Frederick I ate at Brewer’s Alley. The memorable thing about that night was sitting at a table with a jug for beer that had a core that could be filled with ice to keep the beer cold.

Beer jug with a core for ice to keep the beer cold (iPhone)

While in Frederick I stayed in the Hampton Inn Frederick. The hotel does a free breakfast and one of my colleagues told me he thought it was great because you could make your own waffles. Having tried a waffle, I’m not so sure.

Fresh made waffle with pork sausage pattie and pork sauce (I don’t know what pork sauce is) (iPhone)

The waffle was also served with breakfast syrup and I’m assuming it contains a lot of corm sugar. For the rest of my time there I ate a banana for breakfast and read the paper.

Banana and paper (iPhone)

On the second evening in Frederick I went to the local Cracker Barrel store and restaurant in Frederick. The menu is great and I chose from the fancy fixin’s area. I asked for the chicken fried steak with hash brown casserole, corn, breaded okra and sawmill gravy. For dessert because it was my birthday I had the house special coconut cream custard pie.

Chicken fried steak with fancy fixin’s (iPhone)

Coconut cream custard birthday pie (iPhone)

The following night I tried the crab cakes in the hotel’s restaurant. They tasted okay but the next morning I was feeling quite ill.

Crab cakes with asparagus and chips (iPhone)

The following night I went to the Black Hog. This place is known for its barbecue and its ribs. I asked for ribs, brisket and collared greens.

Ribs, brisket, collared greens and corn bread (iPhone)

After five days of meetings I took a shuttle back to Washington and stayed at the Melrose Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue NW. I would highly recommend this hotel. It was small cosy and relatively inexpensive. On the Friday evening I went to Macy’s to buy a new bag because my bag was damaged on the flight from Sydney to Los Angeles. I ate dinner at a place called One Fish, Two Fish on Pennsylvania Avenue NW. I enjoyed a small wonton soup and twice cooked pork.

Short (Wonton) soup (iPhone)

Twice cooked pork (spicy) (iPhone)

The next morning I enjoyed my best breakfast while in the USA. Crab cake eggs Benedict.

Crab cakes Eggs Benedict (iPhone)

After breakfast I went for a walk and visited the Lincoln and Albert Einstein memorials.

Abraham Lincoln memorial (Panasonic DMC-TZ10)

Me and Albert Einstein (Panasonic DMC-TZ10)

The flight back to Canberra was via San Francisco (SFO) and was uneventful.

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Flying with United Airways

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Last year I flew with Vaustralia (now known as Virgin Australia) for a work meeting. I flew SYD to LAX and return with them. After the trip I blogged about the LAX to SYD dinner on Vaustralia.

For this recent trip I flew United. It was my first time. A Twitter friend, viz., @TinyTheCabbie asked me to write about my experience. I had never flown with United before. Friends who have told me to expect a below par experience. I went aboard after looking at the website and hoped I was boarding one of the refurbished jumbo jets. Indeed I did and I wasn’t disappointed. The business class cabin was modern and reasonably appointed. The entertainment facilities were as good as any other I’ve seen and the movie and television selection was very reasonable. The seats themselves were comfortable. The didn’t feel as spacious as Qantas seats but like most fleets now, they were flat bed seats so a decent sleep was possible. The headphones were noise cancelling and the jacks also accepted standard plugs. The power outputs accepted US, UK and AUS plugs too. There was a lack of in seat storage compartments. There was nowhere convenient to place my passport wallet and mobile telephones like Qantas and Virgin Australia seats.

In terms of service, the United attendants were more like Qantas attendants. Pretty friendly, helpful, courteous and matter of fact. They were all very mature and experienced. Well seasoned. When they weren’t doing a meal run, they kept to themselves in the galley areas. This can be contrasted with flight attendants from Virgin Australia who were all young, vivacious, and friendly; they smiled and without being ‘in your face’ were always around just when you wanted something. They also seemed to maintain the lavatories more regularly too.

For me the other difference was the food quality. I was pleasantly surprised by both experiences. The Virgin flight because it was exceptionally good and the United because I was led to expect a lot worse.

Smoked salmon entrée on the way to Los Angeles

The salad with a Caesar dressing on the way to Los Angeles

The steak on the way to Los Angeles. It was tough and dry.

The cheese "selection" on the way to Los Angeles

Poached eggs breakfast descending into Los Angeles. The yolks were firm to hard and dry.

A noodle roll and dipping sauce out of Los Angeles to Sydney

Garlic laden Caesar dressing with a little salad on the flight to Sydney.

Steak and potato cake flying back to Sydney. The meat was very tender.

Chocolate shell around pink ice cream. This was pretty nice. Not as good as the sundae on the domestic routes though. Before I fell asleep on the way back to Sydney.

Cheddar cheese omelet with corn fritter and sausage patty. Breakfast as we descend into Sydney.

I suggest you compare these meals to my description from my Vaustralia flight LAX to SYD.

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LAX to SYD dinner on Vaustralia

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On my flight from Los Angeles to Sydney I had what I think was the best airline meal I’ve ever had.

It started with a lovely Mexican bean soup with tomato bean and coriander salsa. Having spent some days in Mexico this week this was a nice touch. With the soup I had some nice garlic bread.

Mexican bean soup with tomato bean and coriander salsa

For the entree I had the Atlantic smoked salmon with tomato caper and herb dressing with sesame seed grissini.  It was just the perfect amount.

Atlantic smoked salmon with tomato caper and herb dressing with sesame seed grissini

For the main course I had the most amazingly tender Red wine braised beef with soft polenta roasted shallots and salsa verde. This was better than almost any fancy restaurant meal I’ve eaten.

Red wine braised beef with soft polenta roasted shallots and salsa verde

I finished the meal with three cheeses, viz., Brillat savarin triple cream from Normandy France, Foume d’Ambert Blue from Auvergne France, and Saint-Nectaire Washed rind from Auvergne France. This was accompanied with dates, almonds and crackers.

Brillat savarin triple cream from Normandy France, Foume d'Ambert Blue from Auvergne France, and Saint-Nectaire Washed rind from Auvergne France. This was accompanied with dates, almonds and crackers.

I apologise for the poor photography. These images were captured with an iPhone and its pretty ordinary flash.

I cannot recommend Vaustralia more highly. It was a fantastic flight. The cabin manager and her team were friendly, attentive and cheery the whole flight.