UMTravels

The travel season is here for Uncle Markie – this week it’s a quick trip to Berkeley to see Lunetta and Onyx. I realized when I got down there it had been a year since I’d been to see they. Didn’t seem like that long since they visited me in Victoria last January.

Three selfies to start the post. Lounge, plane, and BART:

     

It’s wonderful flying into the Bay Area now that both SFO and OAK are connected via BART. No trips to the airport during rush hour – I just get off the plane and BART to Ashby Station – though I might start having them pick me up there as my knee and foot weren’t really happy. Still beat the 30 minutes each way to OAK and 45 to SFO (depending on traffic).

Got there to find them working on their front steps – a project that has stretched for years and should be able to withstand a magnitude 9 earth quake.

Tonight we are holding dinner until 9pm so that Alicia and Devon can come after work – they are stunned to find dinner waiting for them after their group sessions let out (they are both counselors so no pictures). Yum, grilled scallops and a citrus salad – and wine provided by Uncle Markie.

Lots of reorganizing downstairs – one of the reasons I hadn’t visited in a year is they had a roommate who stayed longer than they were expecting – so now my office/bedroom downstairs looks like this:

Which sits atop this wonderful old rail freight cart.

Following day did my booze shopping at BevMo, cashing in a 5% coupon I’d just scored. Made California booze even cheaper!

Tonight’s dinner was equally wonderful grilled chicken breast with a salad with lots of roasted pine nuts in it. I brought a magnum on Scarello with me (a light Italian Red).

Before I knew it – time to go back to Seattle. Two nights passes quickly – but at least I didn’t hit the dreaded three night when fish and houseguests start to turn:

“Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days.”
Benjamin Franklin

And besides that, the stuffed animals were starting to attack me:

Learning my lesson, Lunetta gave me a ride back to the BART station for my trip to SFO. I went HOURS early because Alaska Airlines in temporarily in the International Terminal and with no lounge they are contracting with Cathay Pacific for lounge services – and Cathay Pacific’s lounge is only for Business and First Class passengers on when flying with them. They really knock it out of the park starting with the cardboard cutout that greets you down a long hallway:

I got there just as they opened up their made-to-order noodle bar featuring Dan Dan Noodles, Won Ton Noodles and one other selection – could have sworn I took a picture of the menu!

And here is the buffet bar…

Pretty comfortable – and my “office” in the lounge:

Did I mention free mix your own drinks and wine. Feeling no pain on the flight home even though I was in 6D.

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I started out the morning thinking of Tokyo and thinking of an early February visit. Two ex-pat friends are in Tokyo, and another new friend is heading there. I didn’t get further than the $1200 in coach and either 110K miles on American (for business, direct), 100K on Cathay Pacific (via LA and/or Hong Kong) or 105K on Korea Air (via Seoul). For 10K more miles I can go to Australia and get better value from my banked miles.

So much for Tokyo now.

After banging around the East Side for frames (got 3 out of 4), hit the Safeway bargain rack and scored tons of 50% pate, cheeses, and some 30% off meat. Can’t wait to dig into the truffle pate that was $5 after discount. Thank god it freezes well.

Then off to the apartment to use the frames, unload the dishwasher, fold the laundry, make dinner, eat dinner and leave.

Marinated chicken breasts, green beans, salad. Not bad except for the chicken which the leftovers got washed of the marinated and are now soaking in four cheese alfredo sauce for a later meal.

More work tomorrow.

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Welcome to the Port of San Francisco’s NEW cruise terminal – it opened last Thursday (and today is Saturday):

Other than a long line customs/immigration was easy – and finding the Princess Airport Transfer bus as well. I was a tad concerned because I never got a printed voucher for the bus, but they didn’t ask for one, so who knows/who cares.

I’m excited to check out the new lounge Alaska is contracting with in the International Terminal where they relocated while their old terminal is being renovated… the lounge belongs to Cathy Pacific and I’m guessing the quality is going to be well above that of a standard Alaska Board Room which is above the standards for Delta’s Sky Club and American’s Admiral’s Lounges.

They did not disappoint:

Seems I was the second one in the lounge for the day as Cathay’s Hong Kong flight doesn’t leave until 1:45PM – so the lounge was VERY empty:

They offered a full pour-it-yourself bar, lots of snacks, and between 11 and 1 a selection of custom cooked noodle dishes:

Like a said, a notch up from the Alaska Board Room – unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the “hot dish” table.

The meal in First Class on the way home was interesting – a kale and bacon dish which didn’t sound appetizing, but turns out it was:

Of course, that wasn’t enough to fill me up for the rest of the evening, so for dinner it was a pork, green pepper, and onion stir-fry since I was out of lettuce and needed some sort of vegetable…

And with that, we end the “Birthday Ramble“.

Night all.

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With my washer/dryer still on the fritz, once again I’m checking two bags filled with dirty clothes. Sigh. On the upside, it’s supposed to be delivered and installed the day after I get back.

No upgrade on the way down, and I only had 80% of my seat due to a POS in the middle seat. POS is airline lingo for Person Of Size. And while Alaska (and Southwest) have very generous POS policies, this lady did not take advantage of the offer or possibly didn’t know about it. Here is their policy. In reading it, I learned something new. You can use your companion fare to purchase the second seat, and if there is one seat open, they refund the taxes/fees, and return the companion fare to your account. I’m not sure if she thought that a “Premium Seat” would be wider – it isn’t, just more knee room. Luckily, I know where the latch is to make the aisle seat armrest go up that that we were both (can’t speak for the person in the window) reasonable comfortable on our hour and a half flight. The same for a flight Jill and I took to Boston years ago where she was squished into the window, and I, the aisle as we were in row six, which has fixed arms that hold the tray tables. And this was before they had Premium Class with free booze, which might have made it better.

But, enough about that.

Onyx met me at the airport and we headed off the lunch as is the case when I arrive around 11. He usually hasn’t had food yet, and I’m usually hungry. Today’s restaurant choice was Rudy’s Can’t Fail Café where I had the Rueben (I usually can’t resist) with Cole Slaw, and Onyx had the Denver Omelet minus the bell peppers.

Did I mention Champagne Cocktails as well?

Rudy’s is in the old part of Emeryville – not the high-tech world of Pixar Studios down the road.

This visit is all about hiding out, hanging out, doing laundry, relaxing… and, of course, food. First night’s dinner:

Second day’s afternoon snack at the Berkeley Farmer’s Market up the street from the boys:

Second night’s dinner:

Usually I fly into Oakland and out of San Francisco (taking BART over), but when I booked this months ago, it was only $100.60 round-trip to Oakland and back. I’ll take a deal when I see it!

The reason from plying back out of SFO is that I love the Cathay Pacific lounge and its custom-made noodle bar. No lounge that I have access to in Oakland, but I might actually spring for this one on the next trip ($45, or free to American Express Platinum Cardholders, WOW Business Class, Azores Business Class) since I spent more than the entrance fee on a meal and two drinks.

Inside, before security I had a $25.00 Manhattan (shamefully expensive, but great other than the standard red cherries), and past security it was a couple of starters and a shot of Commenerativo.

Better to eat in the airport, and to subsist on drinks and the snack box on the plane:

Had lovely company in the middle seat on the return flight – everyone in a festive mood with the free cocktails.

The last of the mileage runs, for a bit. Was home by 10pm, in bed by midnight.

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That would be 62^nd Birthday. Applied for Social Security a couple of weeks ago – it was an odd feeling.

Spoiled myself by using First Class Guest Upgrades in both directions on what was supposed to be a direct flight. Annoyed that a month or so out they changed it to stopping in California each way. The upside was that 3 out of 4 flights were on Virgin America metal meaning they had more comfortable First Class seats.

First, a stop in the lounge:

See what I mean about the seats?

And the food wasn’t bad either:

And then lunch on the next leg:

Welcome to Mexico!

Met up with Dan and Lisa at the airport for the shuttle to the hotel:

To be honest – we were all slugs on this birthday get away – the fact that it was 90 also precluded many daytime activities. We DID do a lot of eating and drinking!

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We were actually down there for a full week. Might have been a couple of days long, but still glad we did it.

Dan and Lisa’s flight was several hours before mine, so I abandoned them in the airport and paid $50 for the Priority Lounge – which was WELL worth it.

The way home was via San Francisco (way down was Los Angeles).

Hellish transfer at SFO – there was no one to recheck my luggage so I had to drag it over two terminals, and by the time I figured out where the Cathay Pacific Lounge was, I’d already used a pass in the “not nearly as nice” United Club.

Didn’t get home until 12:30 – and I’d forgotten my key, so around the back I went to the lockbox in the dark. Took a couple of snags of the camera flash for me to get the combo entered.

Not the best way to end a trip.

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