David Gessel
Heading Home
After a lovely visit to Italy, Austria, and Germany. The upstairs of a 747 feels like a private plane but with more comfortable toilets, a bigger kitchen, and a bunch of boring old men (as a rule).
Vienna Austrian air club
Not a bad club, stylish and quiet but the liquor selection isn’t very good (limited, mostly well-drinks) though it is free and there’s food.
There is good free wifi with no hassle (not even a log-in screen, so you can use it with a skype phone).
Vienna Purple Escalator Lights
You know you fly too much when…
… at check in your friend Laura gives you a big hug because you haven’t seen her for a few weeks. Then you talk about your travel plans with Cedric at security who’s the coolest DHS employee there is. Then you’re glad to see the purser is Elisabeth who asks where you were last week and you compare flight schedules to figure out the next flight you’ll be on together. Then you get on the connecting flight and the purser is Lou Ann and who is really surprised you didn’t get upgraded and brings you some treats in economy. Then you get to customs and line up with one of the agents you know (but Canadian customs agents don’t tell you their names or have name tags, just numbers)….
United has some good employees. All it really takes to be taken care of is if, when things go wrong, you’re not a total dick.
My best travel advice, this from someone who’s flown about 1.5 million miles, is simple: don’t be a dick. When things go wrong, and something will most of the time, just be pleasant and patient and figure out your best option on your own and you’ll almost certainly get it because you’re helping while everyone else is being a dick with attitude.
And really, what’s to like about a dick with attitude?
Rental Canadian Grand Am
Sutro Baths
Just a kinda cool picture of the fractured end of a rail line that used to run through a tunnel at Sutro Baths in SF and is slowly dissolving.
Maple Leaf Club YUL
The Maple Leaf Club at the Montreal airport (international side) is small, but as elegant and well kept up as the international and domestic clubs at YYZ. Maple Leaf clubs always have soup and salad (after 4:30), which is generally quite good, and always seem to have a good selection of cookies and other treats.
They also have decent free alcohol including good beer (draft Guinness) and a good selection of liquor. My preference is for the Crown Royal. The bathrooms are clean (small at YUL). There’s free “DataValet” wifi, but I couldn’t get an IP address at YUL (generally it works, but the service isn’t particularly snappy).
Star Aliance Gold gets you in, but you can also buy access with your ticket for small extra fee – something like $15, which is a lot cheaper than buying a few drinks at an airport bar. Plus free soup! Can’t go wrong with free soup.
Air Canada 777 with funny lighting
I took an Air Canada flight from Toronto/YYZ to Montreal/YUL on Friday. This is basically a regional flight – LA to SF, 54 minutes… but it was a two class 777, completely full. The plane was brand new and very nice inside. It had color-varying LED lighting inside. I noticed it had changed blue mid-flight, and then it cycled to a few other colors as we landed. Very festive.
Car Kisses Truck on 401
Oops.
Ford Taurus X Rental
Rental car review
- I used the backup sensor in a parking lot – a good thing as the car is long and has poor visibility out the back.
- It has an outside temperature indicator which I like.
- The seat moves all the way back when you take the key out, and then back to where it was for us old people.
- The tailgate opens and closes itself, which is kind of absurd and overkill but fun in a gadgety way.
- The engine is fairly powerful (Canadian rentals seem to be more powerful than US rentals – my .ca Grand Am would spin it’s wheels embarrassingly easily, whereas my .ca.us Grand Am in LA was kind of anemic).
- It’s quiet and comfortable.
- The rear seats fold into the floor of the car – just like a mini-van.
- The stereo had an analog input and a 6 CD MP3 changer
- It has Microsoft Sync – more on that below.