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Uncle Markie out and about.

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Thu
5
Sep '19

Trip Report: PDX Mileage Run

In my quest to get to Alaska MVP Gold 75K faster than December, I decided to take a little day hop down to Portland. Even booked it in First (only a few dollars more since they are such short flights) so that I could have my favorite seat on an E175 – which is 1A, which is both a window and an aisle, and for the return, bulkhead aisle in one of the last Virgin America planes (they were bought by Alaska a couple of years ago) that hasn’t been renovated. They are much more comfortable than Alaskas, though their new First-Class seats are a step in that direction.

Here is what the numbers look like:

08/30/2019

ALASKA AIRLINES
Flight 1901 PDX SEA

Credited

129

1,371

1,500

08/30/2019

ALASKA AIRLINES
Flight 2662 SEA PDX

Credited

129

1,371

1,500

Last three columns are: Actual Miles, Bonus Miles, Total Miles Credited

The reason for some many bonus miles is that the minimum credit is 500 miles, and as an Alaska Gold MVP 75K I get a 125% bonus on top of that, and since I purchased the ticket in First Class (rather than upgraded), I get another 100% bonus. Whew.

Started the day in the C Concourse Lounge for a bagel-cream cheese and a hard-boiled egg (and some bubbles).

Then onto the plane:

Got settled into Seat 1A – and they came by to take drink orders for the quick flight:

One of the night reasons for getting 1A is that it is both a window and an aisle seat – and it’s on the mountain side of the flight path, though it was socked in today:

Got to Portland where to docked us at the FAR FAR end of the Horizon gates…got my steps in! And they’ve remodeled the Portland Lounge over the summer. Still no full bar, but there is now an Espresso Bar in addition to the beer and wines.

The footprint didn’t change, they just knocked out a conference room, turning it into a small administrative office, and put the check-in desk was, turning the former check-in desk into the espresso bar. It really opens the place up. Much lighter and airier.

After a couple of hours, it was back on the plane, which, being a full-size jet, was parked just across from the club.

And this is the former Virgin America First Class seat that I was talking about:

And now with me in it!

Got back to Seattle right about the time my buddy, Shua, got off. He works at Florette, which is affiliated with Café Flora in the Madison Valley. Went back to the C Concourse Lounge to hang out and wait for him.

Yes, they’ve added an espresso section to this lounge as well – the test for the concept was at the JFK Lounge.

And Shua finally made it during my third cocktail!

Last year I’d taken him into the United Club when I was on my way to Barcelona, and now I have a goal to get him into all the private lounges at the airport he works at, since as an employee he doesn’t get access to them.

Had a cocktail and a snack (no, not the green onions he is bringing home from work), walked down the beginning of C/D Concourse, popped in that lounge to show him around (it’s a two-floor affair), had another cocktail and some soup, and then took the train to the newest of the Alaska Lounges, the monstrous one on top of the North Concourse (see my review a couple of posts ago).

It was a fun day of playing around in airports/planes/clubs.

Curious where else I’m off to in the future?

Purchased reservations

Departs

Confirmation code

Check-in 

Seattle (SEA)

Fri, Sep 6, 2019

   

Kansas City (MCI)

Tue, Sep 10, 2019

   

Denver (DEN)

Tue, Sep 17, 2019

   

Ho Chi Minh City (SGN)

Mon, Sep 30, 2019

   

Honolulu (HNL)

Mon, Oct 14, 2019

   

Seattle (SEA)

Fri, Oct 18, 2019

   

Bogota (BOG)

Mon, Jan 27, 2020

   

Tokyo-Tokyo Narita (NRT)

Mon, Mar 2, 2020

   

London-Heathrow (LHR)

Tue, Mar 10, 2020

   

 

Still have to figure out my trip to Santa Fe in December to see sis/bro-in-law and The Colonels, And Shanghai to visit a friend who is teaching there.

Added bonus for today – I hit the Safeway discount racks on the way home. Here is the score:

And the savings.

Well, that it for today’s post.

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Sat
5
May '18

Trip Report: Escaping The Rain In Maui

Several weeks ago, I just couldn’t take the rain anymore and booked flights to Maui on United…yes, United. You all know I’m a loyal Alaska flyer, BUT I CAN BE BRIBED! And bribe me, United did.

The offer? Spent $300 on flights completed before the end of July and get an additional 9,000 miles on top of whatever miles you earned from the flight. Spend $1500 (these are just ticket costs, no fees) and they bump it to 42,300 miles. Add another 2 miles per dollar by putting it on their credit card, and the condo on a different card that does a one-to-one match, and by the time this is all posted, it will be just shy of 60,000 miles which is enough for a roundtrip economy ticket to Europe, or one way in Business. And I get a trip to Hawaii in First Class out of it!

The adventure begins:

Yep, taking both sandals AND Panda Slippers.

Sadly, I missed my friend Shua (short for Joshua) who works at Floret at Sea-Tac in the atrium:

Before settling into United’s Domestic First Class:

I had a stop in SFO, but sadly, no new books for my collection. I love the two locations of Compass Books in the United terminals – they have a great selection of remainders (new books, but discounted):

I have two (well, now one) passes for the United Club for use when I’m flying domestic – I get free access when I’m on international. I made use of one of them at SFO:

.

It was a several hour layover, but before you know it, I was in my seat headed for Maui with my “on the ground” cocktail – one of the advantages of flying United.

And once we were in the air, my hot nuts!

What I don’t understand is meal service in First Class – it’s a five-hour flight, but they plop your dinner down all at once…

Rather than salad, then the main. At least they served dessert separately!

Aloha Maui!

Got the rental car, and the first stop is the grocery store for dinner, breakfast, booze and mixers. Here is tonight’s dinner:

And breakfast in the morning:

And yes, I cooked ALL the bacon and clarified the bacon fat using a coffee filter and the cone from the coffee maker:

And this is what the final product looks like. This makes up for not packing any cooking oil.

But I should show you the place that I’m staying…it’s a small studio, but with a full kitchen:

And then there are the grounds:

And the pool:

But, I’m at the far end of the complex:

Yep, it’s a BIG place, bur the oddly had a unit available when I booked two weeks out, VERY RARE for Hawaii and WorldMark. And the major reason that I chose Maui as my “mileage run to the sun” destination.

I only have three nights here, so the focus is on pool time, but I still have to engage in my favorite Hawaii passion – thrift shopping for Tommy Bahama shirts (average price was $12 each).This would be what I scored at The Rainbow Attic – LOTS of great stuff here:

And I did pick up a few other things to bring home:

Next nights dinner was flank steak off the grill (communal grills located around the complex):

Which, the following night, turned into steak salad – no leftovers when I left the place!

My last day held a special moment – I had lunch with Swanda’s sister from Portland. She happened to be on the island as well!

It’s great to see her enjoying life on her sabbatical from teaching. She is recently back from a couple of weeks split between Amsterdam and Paris.

And here is the requisite flower photo:

And the 360-degree video:

My last day on Maui, I had to make a stop at one of my favorite fabric stores:

With it’s GREAT selection of Asian and Hawaiian fabrics:

Before I knew it, I was back in the air headed home, with yet more food and drink.

More room on this 757 from OGG to SFO:

And room for drinks and food:

Warm nuts, and, once again, they didn’t bother to warm the rolls:

Even more room on my SFO to SEA flight:

And a present from the flight attendant – from the “pay for it” in back:

Didn’t get home until around 2am. And there is work tomorrow. Sigh.

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Wed
26
Dec '18

Trip Report: Santa Fe The Long Way

It used to be easy to get to Santa Fe…flight left in the morning, got into ABQ in the afternoon, plenty of time to drive/train to Santa Fe. Not anymore. A couple of months before my trip Alaska sent me a note saying that my flight that was supposed to get in at 1PM would, instead, be getting in at 10PM, and leaving on the return, butt early, in the morning.

Doesn’t work when you are an hour and a half from your final destination by the time you pick up your luggage.

Hello Portland along the way…

Started the trip with the usual trip to the Alaska Lounge

With a stop at Florette to hug Shua. It’s rare that his work schedule and my flight schedules align.

Bulkhead aisle to PDX…

Upgraded to First on the E175 flight from PDX to ABQ, which is 2-1 seating, with me in the 1:

So, aisle and window and the same time – and LOOK at the view!

This is why I call the Pacific Northwest home. And then, lunch was served.

On time into Albuquerque, off to the Rental Car Center, into the rental car, and headed north to Santa Fe, and checked into the WorldMark Santa Fe…Studio Handicapped Unit:

Because of getting in at 4PM, and not to Santa Fe until after 6PM, no hanging with the relatives, just grabbing food from across the street (Chopstix):

Popular, cheap, OK quality… perfect for taking back to the room, and she threw in a couple of wontons since I wasn’t willing to wait 20 minutes for the Bulgogi.

Lunch the next day (who is up for breakfast!) was at one of my favorites, a block away from the condo. Bumble Bee’s for Lamb Tacos. Love their drive through sign:

Dinner with my sis-in-law (might as well be sister at this point), and her husband, Uncle to Jameson and Julian, at Atrisco for their Chile Relleno.

Yes, this trip is about food – it is Santa Fe, after all!

Lunch at LottaBurger…a tradition with both The Colonels and I should mention that I was supposed to see The Colonels on this trip, but management messed up their 3-week reservation at their condo and turned it into a 2-week stay, so they headed back to Kentucky. I also missed them in New Orleans due to weather…I’ll see them in January in West Yellowstone.

Dinner with the family out in Eldorado (about 20 minutes from the condo):

The following afternoon Jen and I met up for lunch at Taco Fundacion – where Bert’s Burgers was for 30 years, but brought it back to the condo since it was only a block away, and they don’t really have warm seating:

I ordered the Roasted Pig, the Lamb, and the Goat (and then went back for dinner and ordered the Fried Oyster, Bison, and a side of chips). Damn good – worth a second trip.

My afternoon was spent on the computer, watching George H.W. Bush’s train ride home…

My final meal in Santa Fe was breakfast at another one of my favorites…The New York Deli:

The Eggs Benedict were $9.95 – a freakin’ bargain.

Got upgraded to my favorite seat on the E175, which is 1A – the combination aisle/window. And since it’s First Class, it comes with dinner:

And more mountain views….

Guess I’ve taken to photographing the wing tip for perspective. It works.

That’s my last flight trip for the year. Got a driving trip to Vancouver and Blaine coming up.

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Fri
18
Oct '19

Trip Report: Return From Vietnam

Well, it’s been a fun trip, but now it’s time to head back to the US. Fortunately, Sean lives 10 minutes from the airport – it was a ridiculously cheap Grab fare, and quick. 51,000 Dong – or $2.20 USD – which included the 10,000 Dong airport drop off fee (0.43 USD).

No one in line in front of me – I got there minutes after they opened, and I’m in Business Class. Even customs/immigration was only 10 minutes – much less than Sean warned me about. Next up, the lounge!

And my plane is here!

It’s a 787 so it should be comfy.

Sadly, the Asian airlines don’t believe in Champagne on the ground before takeoff. Fortunately, I had a couple of scotch and sodas in the lounge. And the menu was at hand.

I went for the Japanese Menu for my lunch. And it was pretty!

I even managed to get a little sleep, along with watching Hangover 3 (that’s a movie), along a couple of TV shows.

The next photo I put in for Kathy – she loves a good bidet photo, and our plane had them (at least in Business Class).

Nothing like seeing a sign like this as you are transferring flights!

Good thing I’m getting out of the day I am – lots of flights being cancelled for tomorrow.

Unlike on the way to Vietnam, I actually had a little time in the lounge in Tokyo…with my souvenir from the Saigon airport:

Actually, there are TWO JAL Lounges at Narita – and I’d forgotten the main difference. The small one has hard alcohol, the big one doesn’t. Sadly, I didn’t remember that until I’d walked all the way (and it is closer to the gate.

The next jet is a 767-300, fortunately with an updated Business Class.

I really like the side table. And the privacy. And the food. This time I went for the Western Menu:

And they actually managed to get the steak done to medium rare!

This flight’s movie is Stand By Me, which my buddy Fluffernutter was an extra (in the pie eating barf scene).

Probably got three hours or so of sleep.

Since it’s a 10-hour flight, that means a second meal before landing…back to the Asian Menu:

I must be running out of steam because I don’t have any pictures of the lounge in Vancouver. The picture I do have is of the “haul” from Duty Free. There is a weird quirk in the system when you clear US Immigration/Customs in a foreign country (Canada has a bunch of ports of entry, as does Ireland, even Dubai). You still get to purchase Duty Free – BUT, you are already on US Soil. When I asked how much I could bring in (experiencing this in Calgary as well), the clerk asked, “How much can you carry?” Apparently, six liters is my limit!

That would be two bottles of Maker’s Mark, and four bottles of Canadian Club Rye, with two complimentary mini bottles of Maple Syrup. Thank got Shua is meeting me at the airport – at the gate! He works at Sea-Tac, and gets off a little before my flight gets in.

Here’s to friends. It was a good trip all around. Friends on both ends to meet me.

If you need refreshing on the trip – here is an infographic:

Another trip under the belt. Using Alaska Frequent Flier Miles this trip in Business Class was 125,000 miles + $67.43 in fees. According to the booking rules, I could have stopped off for a week in both Seoul and Tokyo for the same fare (though they are tightening up those rules). I’m using those rules next March to do an around the world for 160,000 miles and (because of British Air excessive fees) $850 in Business and First. People ask how I can stand to fly so much – this is the reward, one set of flights that would cost me as much as I spend on a year of flying (last time I looked I’d spent $7,500 this year on paid flights).

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Wed
22
Jul '20

Home Report: Living Room Redo Done

Just realized that I’m cleaning/redoing the décor in a very slow clockwise path. Finished the living room this afternoon.

Here is the before:

Can you say CLUTTERED!

I’d been wanting to change out the artwork for the last couple of years – but the piece with the massive frame weighs a lot. The frame is built on a 2×4 base with quarter inch plate glass in the front. 70 pounds is my guess.

Thanks to Roxy and Shua, the piece has been relocated to the “art closet” in the garage, and several large pieces that hadn’t seen the light of day will go in their place.

Yes, we had to take the door off to get “The Legs of Christ” into the closet. The artist is David Best, best known as one of the major temple architects at Burning Man.

That was almost a month ago. Nothing on this house redo is getting done quickly.

And now the after (still need to clean and sort the junk on the couch (a.k.a. my office):

I’m turning Japanese, I really think so. Of course, I had to look up who the artist was from the 80s. That would be The Vapors.

All the Japanese city scene oil paintings are by Kristina Hagman (daughter of Larry Hagman, granddaughter of Mary Martin of Peter Pan fame).

Complementing her pieces are some Japanese wall hangings – which are actually traditional obi, the fabric sashes festooning kimono.

One of the things slowing down the living room was figuring out how to hang the obi. A week or so ago I had an inspiration, and even had all of the materials on hand:

Wish I’d had gold three-inch screws, but couldn’t find any in the garage, and not worth a trip to Home Depot.

The last one is actually a composite of two different obi.

And, yes, the far-left clock is set to Tokyo time.

Whew! Another room down. Now the kitchen, then the garage.

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