First about plane tickets, Anne didn’t make the last Hong
Kong trip (11/2019) so had to rebook her flights (at a cost of around $300, I forget
the actual amount), she rebooked from her original itinerary (via the West
Coast) to our current one, pay another penalty, and still came up ahead. I just did a straightforward booking, at one
of the lowest prices I have seen for this route (a little less than $900).
As usual we left our packing till the last minute, so had
to scramble a bit to get ready.
Wednesday 1/22. We left the house around 12:45 pm for a 2:35
pm flight. Security at EWR wasn’t too
bad, and we saved a little bit of time by using CLEAR. Anne is in first class, I am in coach. With an empty seat next to me I’m very
comfortable. Anne enjoyed her seat very
much, and managed to get some sleep, which was good.
Priority Pass allowed us to eat at Landry’s Seafood at
IAH, which was on our way to the gate for UA101. Food was good, a bit expensive. We still had time to stop by the United Club
to have a light snack before we boarded.
The pressure inside the cabin is about 6200 feet. (The reference value may be off a bit, but this should be a reasonable indication of the pressure.)
Economy Plus wasn’t very crowded on this flight, and Anne
and I were in the middle seats with an empty seat between us. The flight was over 16 hours long, and felt
long today. Otherwise no complaints, except
they had to close one of the bathrooms during the flight, and coach sections
are not known for the number of bathrooms they have. A slight nuisance especially towards the end
of the flight.
Friday 1/24. We got in a bit before 7 am, and with the
automated system immigration was straightforward (the USA has a lot to learn
from Australia and the UK, especially for how long foreigners have to wait to
clear immigration). We had some
chocolate and energy bars with us, so customs asked a couple of questions.
Ruth and Stephen were going to pick us up, but we
mis-communicated as to when. The upshot
was we ended up using Priority Pass for breakfast at Mach 2. I knew enough from past trips to print out a paper
boarding pass, but still had to explain why I got in this morning, given the
flight left two days ago. We then went
to Market City, a Chinatown shopping center, and when The Eight opened for
business, had some light dim sum dishes.
It had been a couple of years since I last visited, and the place has
been transformed.
Oh, and when we stepped into the open air from the
airport building, we could smell smoke, a result of the raging bush fires in
NSW (and other provinces), many of which set by arsonists.
It rained before we landed, and one could see all this "stuff" from the smoke washed down onto cars. Because of the drought, use of water is restricted. (Photo by Anne.)
We were then dropped off at Pier One, a Marriott property
that we booked with a certificate. Tim
had stayed here before and complained about the low room ceilings, we have a
room with a gabled ceiling so don’t get the same claustrophobic feeling.
Our room at the Pier One Hotel, a Marriott property. Tim in an earlier stay complained about a low ceiling. Our room has this gabled ceiling which was a lot better.
After settling down, I walked by myself to the Opera
House, a short distance away as the crow flies, over a mile as one has to walk
around Circular Quay. The Sydney Guide
available at the airport has a coupon for 20% off, but the actual discount was
not in the system yet – as the marketing and the IT departments don’t talk
enough. So it took a while to get that
straightened out; and when the agent said “we do the best we can,” I couldn’t
help (after telling her she wasn’t the problem) responding that “I hope your
best is better than this.” Anyway,
bought two tickets for Don Giovanni tonight.
Anne and I talked about but decided against going out in
the afternoon. I wanted but failed to
get any sleep. We took our time walking
back to the Opera House, stopping by Hungry Jack for dinner, Anne had the
Chipotle Angus, I the Chorizo Angus – they sell a much larger variety of
burgers.
The Ovation of the Seas is a large cruise ship that can accommodate close to 5,000 passengers. Several of its passengers were lost to the White Island volcanic eruption in early December 2019. It left port by the time we were done with the opera.
We didn’t get out of the opera until after 10:30 pm, and
got back to the hotel after 11.
Accommodations.
Sydney Pier One (1 night).
Saturday 1/25. There are a few restaurants that serve
breakfast in Walsh Bay, a few minutes walk from the hotel. We had hearty breakfasts (bacon an eggs in my
case) there.
After hotel check out we took a taxi to the airport to
pick up our rental car for the next few days.
The “only” car in our requested size was a Camry Hybrid, and I am still
trying to get used to how it behaves (like how quiet it is when the car is at
rest). More challenging has been
adapting to driving on the left side of the road. I am sure the lanes in Australian roads are
wide enough, but they all feel narrow when your tendency is to drift the car
left, and either Anne or the lane departure warning system would warn me of
being too close to the curb.
Nonetheless, I managed to drive first to Le Perouse to
have lunch, then to the Eastern Suburbs Cemetery, before driving all the way up
to Gosford (total distance around 60 miles) where the others were already
there. In this case the “others” are Tim
& Whitney, Ruth & Stephen, Alfred & family, Wilson & family,
and Susanna & family; 17 people altogether.
While Wilson and Alfred were cooking the BBQ dinner, Chris was trying to
get the small dinghy working – which he did, and gave the children rides on the
inlet.
Visiting my parents' graves at the Eastern Suburbs Memorial Gardens.
Fish & Chips and Salad at Danny's Cafe, Le Perouse. (Photo by Anne.)
Fish & Chips and Salad at Danny's Cafe, Le Perouse. (Photo by Anne.)
Frenchman's Beach at Le Perouse was quite busy. (Photo by Anne.)
East Gosford House as seen from the pier. Boat house in foreground. (Photo by Anne.)
View of Brisbane Water from house.
Accommodations.
East Gosford House (4 nights).
Sunday 1/26. We spent the day driving around the
area. Breakfast was at a nearby café,
the staff there told us several points in the area that were worth visiting:
the Entrance, Crackneck Point, and Terrigal Beach.
We started by driving around the “harbor” (not exactly
sure what to call it) which is called Brisbane Water. Woy Woy is near the inlet into the ocean, and
the town was all set up for Australian Day, meaning many streets were blocked. Our original plan was to have Fish &
Chips there, but decided it was both too early and not worth the hassle. People were already camped out around the
Terrigal area, but we managed to find parking in town (it is an one-hour
parking zone so spaces do open up). We
had a Fish & Chips lunch at a seaside restaurant (Fishbonez Café), and
walked on the beach before heading out to the next destination: Crackneck
Lookout.
When we last visited The Entrance it was after their peak
tourist season; things were serene.
Today it was like a fair with rides, and again many downtown streets
were block. This time we parked a few
blocks away and walked to the actual “entrance” (an inlet). The pelicans were still there, but there were
lots of people in the inlet, walking and swimming.
Norah Head is another 15 minutes north. The lighthouse is still operational, its
lenses spinning around. The geology of
the shore is certainly varied, and interesting.
We spent some time walking on the beach and the rock formations.
The inlet at The Entrance is crowded with holiday makers. Many standing in the channel. I was more interested in catching the pelicans. Good that Anne snapped this picture.
After that we headed back to Brisbane Water and to
Ironbark Point. From there one could get
a reasonably good view of the house we are staying in.
Dinner was at Golden Lotus Restaurant in town.
When we got back, Tim and his friends Isen and Winnie
were already home. Isen brought along ingredients
for a meal, and I ate a small piece of the Wagyu beef he prepared.
Monday 1/27. Most of the day was spent on various
chores. For lunch we went to Erina Fair
Shopping Center, we also bought some groceries for dinner tonight.
While Tim and Whitney went out to try to get masks and
goggles for Alyson (supplies running low for medical staff who are combatting
the Wuhan virus), Anne and I drove to Bouddi National Park for a visit. It was about a 30 minute drive. The only noteworthy event was the credit card
reader (for admission) grabbed on to my credit card, and I had to find a nearby
camper with a pair of pliers to pull it out.
Given the threat of mosquitoes, we took only a short walk
along the beach.
Ruth was the main cook this evening, chicken curry and
grilled salmon.
Tuesday 1/28. It took a while to get the four of us (Anne,
Tim, Whitney, and me) organized, and we ended up heading out for lunch at The
Coast in Gosford. The food was
well-prepared, the portions were large, so we ended up taking quite a bit home.
We ordered a lot of food.
Tim and I put the engine on the dinghy, which we managed
after quite a bit of struggle, at one point nearly dropping the entire engine
into the water. The small boat ran quite
well and we took it along the shore back to the Coast Restaurant before heading
back.
Anne and I then planned to visit Nelson Bay, which is
about 2 hours away. It didn’t take long
before we realized that was a bit too ambitious, so we changed our plan to
driving around Lake Macquarie. The first
town we stopped at was Toronto, a little after 3 pm, which is undergoing
considerable redevelopment. Part of the
foreshore needed a lot of work. That
evidently isn’t to some people’s liking, and we saw a banner saying “we need a
masterplan.” What upset me the most was
the carrot cake I bought was blown off the table before I finished it! Just a bit beyond Swansea is Reid’s Reserve
and Reid’s Mistake, must sees for us as Reid is our grandchild’s name. This is where ocean enters Lake Macquarie and
we saw some rowing crews training at the inlet; things looked difficult.
The Entrance was quiet when we got there (about 5:30 pm),
the heavy rain didn’t help. Only
pelicans and seagulls were about, we didn’t see one single person in the
inlet. (I didn’t mention this earlier, The
Entrance is the inlet for Tuggerah Lake.)
We stopped by Erina Fair Mall again, most of the shops
were closed, including the food court.
We did get some burgers at the Grill’d.
It was after 7:30 pm when we got home.
Our grandson's name is Reid, so he'll probably find Reid's Reserve and Reid's Mistake quite interesting.
Tim took the boat out again this afternoon, and the
engine quit a few minutes into the ride.
It took him about half an hour to row the boat back to the house.
Wednesday 1/29. Today was a day of travel. We left the house a few minutes before 10 am,
and drove straight to the airport, or rather a gas station close to the
airport. We put 530 km (329 miles) on
the car, and that used about 22 liters (5.8 gallons). Works out to 56.7 mpg, so this hybrid does
put in impressive gas economy. When I
tried to get our luggage tags from the Qantas kiosk, I got a note that we had
to see a service agent. Turns out the
auto-bag drop system wasn’t working, so everyone had to see an agent. The terminal was quite quiet, so it was not
an issue.
The agent printed out new boarding passes for us, and I
found out our seats wee 25B and C, and the Qantas APP showed 7E and F. The seats I picked when I booked the tickets,
and when I checked in yesterday, were 47K and L, the side seats in an
A330. The switched the plane from the
A330 to a B737, which means a lot fewer seats (around 250 to 180), and a full
plane. I was dreading the 4:30 hour
flight a bit, but it ended up being okay.
The movie (Terminator) I was trying to watch kept resetting (a problem
they decided not to fix), so I saw only half of it; WiFi worked reasonably well
– and was free.
I had no preconception of what Perth is like, but the airport
terminal looked modern enough. Taxi into
town cost close to A$40, Uber probably around A$30. We got upgraded to a suite at the Hyatt
Regency, which was a nice surprise. Our
stay also afforded us access to the lounge, where we went for snacks after
settling down. Dinner was at a small
Chinese Restaurant on Hay Street, and the dishes remind me of those we had in
Gosford.
Another impression of Perth is this is a small city. Adelaide and Hay appear to be the main
streets that lead to the CBD. By the time
we were out and about (around 5 pm) there was little pedestrian traffic.
We got upgraded to a suite at the Hyatt Regency.
View of the Swan River from the Regency Lounge at our hotel.
Accommodation: Hyatt Regency Perth (4 nights).
City of Perth behind us.
The chapel was completed in 1858 with prison aboriginal labor, used as a chapel until 1904 when the prison was closed. It was rededicated as an Anglican church in 1965 and has been in use ever since.
Visitation of Mary with Elizabeth.
The Tea Tree (or Maleleuca) tends to lean in one direction. The guide said it wasn't so much the wind but rather the trees were trying to avoid the salt in the air.
At the Cape Vlamingh Viewing Platform at the western end of the island. South Africa is due west.
Shearwaters could be seen flying around. (Not in this photo.)
Some of the informational stand are, well, informational. This talks about the natural diversity of the area.
This is on display in the Island Museum, describes how the rising ocean created the Island.
There are twelve osprey nests on the island. This is visible from the road. We saw an osprey carry a fish.
Wadjemup Lighthouse, first lit in 1896, was the only lighthouse on the island until the City of York ran aground in 1899 when it was deemed necessary to build a second lighthouse (Bathurst). Wadjemup is the name of the island in the native language.
Rottnest Island was considered strategically important as guns during WWII could reach Freemantle and Perth from this island.
Bathurst Lighthouse.
A peacock, a quokka, and I are having a meal together. (Anne took photo.)
My feeble attempt at a Quokka Selfie.
The mother (above photo) has mottled skin due to her eating human food. This joey still looks healthy.
Thursday 1/30. Today was spent on visiting Rottnest Island.
Rottnest Island was named by the Dutch when they
encountered these small marsupials known today as the Quokka, which the Dutch
mistook as giants rats, thus the name. The
island’s fame is helped by people such as Roger Federer taking selfie’s with these
cute animals. They used to roam over
much of Australia, but populations were killed off by foxes and cats brought over
by the Europeans (British being the main culprits) as game and pets. About 12,000 of them live on this island. Despite signs all over asking tourists not
to touch or feed them, those that live around human settlements tend to get
sick, and have a life expectancy about half of those in the wild (4 to 5 years
vs 11 or so).
The other notoriety of the island is its use as prison
for aboriginals, who were incarcerated for the slightest “crimes,” many because
of cultural differences.
The waters around the island are clear, partly because
there are no rivers on the island that drain into the sea. And there are many small secluded beaches
protected from the elements.
We were picked up at around 8:05 am by the tour company’s
bus, which made many stops before dropping us off at the Barrack Street Jetty
where we picked up our tickets and boarded the ship for the island. The “tour” consists of a roundtrip ferry
ticket and a bus tour.
The photos of these quokkas are certainly cute. They are all over the ferry terminal and the island. We did see a few live ones.
The ferry took us on an hour-long cruise down the Swan
River which drains into the Indian Ocean at Freemantle. Along the river are 10 yacht clubs, including
the Royal Perth Yacht Club which won the America’s Cup in 1983. After picking up more passengers at “Shed B,”
the ferry did the rather rough crossing to Rottnest Island.
The ferry that took us from Perth to Rottnest Island, and from Freemantle to Perth.
The bus took us on a 90-minute round the island tour that
passed by several beaches, the Wadjemup Lighthouse, and a few quokkas. While it was a pleasant journey, and the
commentary from the guide was interesting, both Anne and I kept thinking “Kangaroo
Island.”
After having lunch (pies and cake) at Rottnest Bakery, I
walked to the Bathurst Lighthouse and we then visited the island museum, a
small building with information on the history, geology, flora and fauna of the
island. As to the latter, the island is
mostly limestone, was connected to the mainland until about 6500 years ago when
the oceans rose considerably.
We took an earlier ferry to get to Fremantle where we
spent about an hour – not much happening there, and then caught the scheduled
ferry from Freemantle back to Perth, arriving at around 6:45 pm.
We didn't see much in Freemantle, but did come across this St. Patrick's Basilica.
Dinner was at a Korean restaurant in the CBD, and we took
the free bus back to the hotel.
West Australian Maritime Museum. We thought the logo could add another M to it.
At least this part of the museum was purpose built to fit the sailboat Australia II, which won the America's Cup in 1987, becoming the first foreign country to do so since the cup's inaugural race.
Nothing wrong with national pride, especially if the country knocked off is the USA.
I had TSA Pre-Check for my original flight, but lost it when they rebooked me on a later flight.
Friday 1/31.
Breakfast was at the hotel’s café, a full buffet that may (or
may not) cost A$15 per person. In any
case, we ate quite a bit of it.
We decided to give Freemantle a chance. Our main objective was to visit the Fremantle
Prison, which was built with convict labor by the British, then turned over to
the state as a “modern era” prison, starting around 1902, although the conditions
for the inmates did not improve much. As
an example, all the “toilets” inside the cells remained buckets – the brief
introduction of portable toilets was suspended as the inmates used the
chemicals to make alcohol.
There were several tours to choose from, we picked the “Behind
Bars Tour,” a 90-minute walk through various parts of the prison led by a guide
(Ian in our case). It was interesting, somehow
reminded me of Alcatraz, but somewhat expected.
The only uncomfortable part of the tour was the death chamber where over
40 inmates were hanged. It was last used
in 1964, and Australia abolished the death penalty soon after that. There was an addition to house women (mostly
girls, it seems) whose typical crime was vagrancy or drunkenness, for which
they typically got a few months incarceration.
The guide stressed quite a few times that this is now a
World Heritage site, the same designation as the Sydney Opera House.
The Fremantle Prison has been declared a World Heritage Site.
The inside reminds me of Alcatraz.
Some inmates decorated their rooms. The artwork has been kept.
We then stopped by the Market which on weekends have many
small fruit stands, food stalls, and other markets. We got only light snacks as lunch as we had a
big breakfast.
The Fremantle Markets are open on Fridays and weekends. It was quite busy when we visited.
West Australian Maritime Museum is a short hop away, and
we visited that for a bit. My takeaways
are Australia’s naval involvement in World War II, and that it won America’s
Cup in 1983. The Australians contributed
a lot to the war, one of the many losses it suffered was the destruction of
HMAS Sydney, with the loss of the complete crew of about 700 sailors. Australia II beat Liberty 4 races to 3, and
the last race by 40 seconds. This (naturally)
was attributed to perseverance and ingenuity, a new keel design (claimed by the
Dutch) was one aspect. In defense of the
cup in 1987, Australia lost to America 4-0, by over one minute each race. Reasonable people may attribute the
Australian win to other reasons, but – hey – they won.
Our trip to Freemantle from Perth was by train, which was
quite inexpensive (A$4.90 each way). The Freemantle today was much busier than the one we saw yesterday. We probably were not in the correct part of town for activities, or today was start of a weekend.
We attended a West Australian Symphony Orchestra concert
in the evening.
Perth Concert Hall was completed in 1973.
The Western Australian Symphony Orchestra at the conclusion of the evening's concert.
Saturday 2/1.
We started the day having ambitious thoughts, but ended up taking
it relatively easy.
Breakfast was again at the hotel, after which we took the
bus to the Elizabeth Quay area, with the aim of visiting the Perth Museum. When we got there, things looked so quiet
that we decided to skip the museum, and instead walked around the waterfront. Nearby was Transperth ferry which for a
nominal price (A$2.2) will take one across the Swan River to South Perth. We decided to do that. South Perth was nice enough, and even quieter. A short walk took us to Perth Zoo, and we
decided to give it a go. Out of the four
sections, we visited two related to Australia (Wetlands and Bushwalk), and
skipped the Asian and African sections.
No the biggest zoo in the world, but its compactness made it manageable. It was here that we saw our only black swan, which
is supposed to be quite common.
Sculpture in front of Elizabeth Quay. Per their website, "Spanda" is a 29 meter design that represents ripples and links the Swan River, land and sky.
Sculptures of a frilled neck lizart and a numbat are on display near the South Perth ferry terminal.
The numbat sculpture led us to think this is a rather large marsupial (Anne took this photo).
Groups of meerkats are placed along the walk from the South Perth pier to the zoo.
Some penguins at the zoo are rescue animals. This one must be hand-fed and showed no interested in the fish being tossed about during feeding time.
The perentie is Australia's largest lizard.
Two stilts in front of a black swan (Anne took this photograph).
Storks.
A marine biologist can explain why this small fish stays close to the much bigger fish.
The numbat is Western Australia's state animal. A rather small marsupial. (Anne took photo.)
This is appropriately called the Blue-Billed Duck. It's body is quite wide relatively its length. (Anne took photo).
A Tree Kangaroo (Anne took photo).
At Elizabeth Quay is "The Island" that is connected to mainland via this bridge.
View of skyline from bridge.
It was still quite a bit of walking, so we toyed with the
idea to go back to the hotel. When we
got to the bus stop, we decided to go “the other way” and visit Kings
Park. It is a 400 ha (about 1000 acres)
park with many memorials and a botanical garden. We visited part of the botanical garden and a
memorial before taking the bus back to the hotel.
The baobab tree is native to Australia. This one was moved from northern Western Australia to this spot.
Part of the State War Memorial on the grounds of Kings Park.
Snack at the Regency Club followed by dinner at Wok and
Ladle, a small Thai Restaurant on Hay.
In between I walked along the Swan River waterfront for 20 or so
minutes.
Between the hotel and the Swan River is this Langley Park. A huge expanse of manicured lawn.
My impression of Perth is quite positive. We visited during a lull in their summer
heat, which helped. The forecast is over
100F a few days from today, we have been enjoying mid 70s to low 80s highs the
last few days. In any case, I suspect this
is a better place to live than to visit.
A resident would take the time to enjoy what the city has to offer, a
visitor (at least this one) would quickly run out of things to do and see. Some of the most popular tours are outside of
the city (Rottnest and Pinnacles, for instance).
Not all diversions are nail-biters (whew!). Our plane left the gate, taxi'd for a couple of minutes, and then returned to the gate because of a defective lightbuld.
Sunday 2/2. This
morning I discovered that my T-mobile line wasn’t working. That includes the data plan I purchased for
US$50. As I type this on 2/4 at Holiday
Inn SYD it remains inoperative. I don’t
know if it is a phone issue (T mobile is on eSIM in my iPhone 11), or they
suspended my service because of some issues.
I say that because last time they said I was roaming too much, and I had
just traveled to Australia and Hong Kong and purchased the same plan which also gave me 15 GB of data.
Back to the trip: It was a short taxi ride to the Perth
Airport. This time the luggage system
worked fine and we were through security in a few minutes. Again the plane was packed, Anne had the good
fortune of having an empty seat next to her.
If you looked at flightstats.com you would see our flight was diverted,
cleared the gate at 9:59 am, diverted to Perth at 10:16 am. Reality wasn’t nearly as exciting, they ended
up having to change a bulb, probably one that lit up a critical gauge. We landed about 30 minutes late, and Wally
and Ling were waiting for us at luggage claim.
Dinner was at the house Ling and Wally moved into late
last year, and I took a walk to meet my exercise objectives for the day. (Same on Monday.)
Brisbane can get quite warm during the Australian summer,
and it did for both nights. The A/C for
the sleeping area was broken, so I had a little bit of problem getting to sleep
at night. It did cool off during the
night.
Accommodations: Ling’s house in Billbowrie (2 nights).
Monday 2/3.
The day was spent on BST BoR events, starting with breakfast with Andrew
P. The meetings concluded at around 3:30
pm, and traffic was fine on the way back.
There was a slight delay in the morning.
Tuesday 2/4. We took things easy this morning. The trip hasn’t been exhausting, but feels
long enough. After lunch Wally took us
to the airport, where we had lunch using our Priority Pass privilege. Flight again was quite crowded, and Anne
again had an empty middle seat.
All my Qantas flights were on 737-800s. These are efficient planes that pack them in and get them there. QF is nice enough that they have a good entertainment system and free wifi, which help make the long flights bearable. While the SYD-PER and PER-BNE flights aren't quite as long as EWR-LAX/SFO transcon flights, the former felt a lot more comfortable. Only issue was on the PER-BNE flights entertainment was only available through a cell phone app which we didn't download.
We will be flying transcon LAX-EWR "tomorrow," in a 787-10. I hope United demonstrates it can keep up.
The data speed on this Qantas flight (QF541) should put United's to shame.
The taxi ride to the hotel was short. I could hear the groan of the driver, let’s
hope the rather generous tip I leave him make it somewhat worth his while. (One could argue law of averages would eventually
work out for him, I guess.)
After checking in, we walked to a neighborhood O’Porto
for dinner. I have driven through this
area multiple times on my way to the airport, but never walked in it. It is a mostly residential area, most
buildings are quite new.
Accommodations: Holiday Inn Mascot (1 night).
Wednesday 2/5. Going to the airport from Holiday Inn was straightforward enough: an A$8 ticket on the supershuttle gets one to the International Terminal in about 10 minutes. Only problem was the van leaves every 40 minutes or so. We took the 9 am one for our 11:50 am flight, which would give us time to relax at the airport.
Getting through Immigration was equally straightforward with the new electronic system. Anne again (!) got selected for a swab test. I couldn’t help it but utter “they always select the low risk people,” realizing I may end up getting picked for detailed scrutiny. What I got from the agent was a chuckle. Another lady who got selected actually had to use a wheelchair. I sometimes wonder if they indeed do a disproportionate amount of (what I would think are) low-risk people so there is less paperwork; I certainly hope that’s not the case.
We actually have a choice of four lounges at SYD International: 2 via Priority Pass and the Singapore and New Zealand lounges of Star Alliance. Our pick Singapore was very busy, and somewhat disappointing.
Boarding was on schedule (11 am for an 11:50 am flight) but was halted for a while. We noticed many mechanics walking in and out of the cockpit, and the captain outside talking to passengers in Row 1. Eventually he came on the PA system and said there was a problem with the brakes, so United needed to purchase them from Qantas, and it should be quite straightforward to replace the system. Obviously easier said and done, because he eventually let people off the plane (I wonder if the 3-hour tarmac rule applies in this case, or this country). Anne and I went back to the Singapore lounge, and it was empty this time; we grabbed lunch. The plane eventually took off at around at 3:16 pm, and landed at LAX at 9:17 am (per flightstats.com). The purser actually joked the crew was “barely legal;” indeed I was worried that the delay might have necessitated a new crew.
Since my phone was down, I was looking at a way to contact United to try to rebook. An email address allows 1K members (Anne, a Gold member, doesn’t have that phone number on her APP), and I wrote them to see if they could put us on another flight. I did have web access on the flight, so managed to exchange a few emails with the agent at the other end. The upshot is she couldn’t do anything about our flights, but offered Anne and I each some mileage credits as compensation. Meanwhile (as far as I could tell from our APPs), United booked us on both the 10:15 am and 12:15 pm LAX-EWR flights, and assigned seats (which I managed to tweak a bit) on the 10:15 am flight. Our original arrival at LAX was 6:30 am, and departure at 8:15 am; once we were in the air, the revised arrival was 9:15 am. Connecting at LAX involves clearing customs and immigration at the Tom Bradley Terminal, a transfer (usually walking) to Termainal 7, and security screening again. When we cleared customs (quite quick even without use of the “short transit” cards United provided) we talked to an agent at the transfer desk. She could print out our boarding passes (which we didn’t need) but couldn’t put us on the upgrade list. At that time there were 4 empty seats and 4 on the upgrade list, so one or both of us stood a chance. The walk between terminals was actually a bit refreshing, and Terminal 7 was quite empty, which was a nice surprise. Anne had Pre-Check so she went her way; I had Pre-Check on my 8:15 am flight, and somehow lost it when rebooked on the 10:15 am flight, so I used CLEAR to speed up the process. The place was so empty that it probably saved me 10 seconds. Sure enough, all the upgraded seats were taken, so Anne had a middle exit-row (but reclinable) seat in Economy Plus, and I chose to take an aisle seat in the regular economy section. It was a full flight, but I must say it was quite bearable, even after our business class inter-continental experience. Oh, this flight did have trouble locating a crew, so was delayed by 30 minutes, which made our connection possible. Actually, we were at the Boarding Gate a little before 10.
Breakfast at SYD Singapore Lounge.
UA842 actual departure and arrival times. Schedule was 6:30 am arrival.
Not too many items in the menu excite my palate.
Business Class seats.
My coach seat LAX-EWR.
This is not meant to be a review blog, but I do have some thoughts I want to record.
I have never found Business Class to be very compelling for the prices airlines charge, and the SYD-LAX flight confirms it. Give me an aisle seat with an empty seat next to me and I am fine; I don’t need the entire row to lie down, and I didn’t lie down much on this flight either. I probably will feel different if I am in the middle seat in a reconfigured and packed 777, but today’s 787 had a wide open Economy Plus section where (almost) everyone had a row to oneself. There were four choices for lunch, and the only one I felt like eating was the chicken curry. You get two pillows, a blanket, and linen to make up a bed; my problem was finding the place to stow them.
I may have used CLEAR four times since I signed up. The setup in Newark is such that if one doesn’t have pre-check one ends up in the security line where people with odd-shaped objects (such as strollers) go, unless one aggressively cuts into the next line. MCO (Orlando) can be congested, but not the time I used in last month. I don’t know how much it is worth for me, but I am quite sure I won’t pay $179 (list price) for it.
The third area I wanted to say something about is United's atrocious WiFi. Because of some prior experience I wanted to make sure I stay connected when I am in the air if the price is not prohibitive. I paid $69 for an international data pass, which worked out well price wise. United has a variable pricing policy, and (if memory serves) the Florida flights would cost $10 each way for WiFi, but the LAX-EWR flight would cost $40! However, the speed is so slow that the SpeedTest APP wouldn't work the few times I tried in. Qantas does it for free (domestically anyway) and at very respectable speeds.
The fourth was T-mobile. I still haven't summoned up the "rage and sarcasm" to contact them about cutting me off during my trip. There may be legitimate reasons, or misunderstandings, but not to give me advanced notice was simply inexcusable. (I may update this blog if I know more after I contact them.)
Anyhow, we Uber’d home and had takeout food for dinner.
