Category USA/Canada 2018

Ah, Sydney… hang on, weren’t we just here?

johnandperrystravels 1 Comment

 

We were up and about pretty early – 6am didn’t sound too bad, til I realised that it was 4am Sydney time.  Auckland knew it was early, the sun didn’t show any sign of coming up til at least 7.

Since we found out upon checking-in at the hotel that there was complimentary breakfast, it seemed only fitting to go check it out.  That’s when we discovered it was only one complimentary breakfast … so, well played hotel, well played, you got us.  The hotel room was great, service has been great, so maybe we had pretty big expectations about the breakfast… and even though one of them was free I don’t really think it was good value.  And coffee maybe rated a 4 our of 10 on the Scottboy Coffee Scale  (you should totally trademark that Scott!).  The view was nice, that seemed to be the one thing they couldn’t overcook and dry out.  Ah well, at least now we know!

After that I took a moment to try out my fancy new zoom lens. Sure enough, it does indeed zoom. Phew.

No zoom on the iPhone (see the red circle)
Lotsa zoom from the new camera lens. Yay!

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I took a wander around the Britomart area of Auckland – pretty brisk weather at 8 degrees but OK as long as you kept moving.

IMG_1327But it was soon time to try and forget about breakfast and move on to our one and only non-plane-related event in Auckland.  Of course, it’s a return visit to Baristacats, the Auckland Cat Cafe.  Yes, I am a crazy cat lady and I am not ashamed! 🙂  A good time was had by all – Perry made a number of new friends, and I managed to annoy plenty of cats with my camera.  Just like last time, an hour at the cafe was over before we knew it.  

Beautiful Banksy
Perry makes a friend
Mango
Perry makes another friend
Mango looking proud
Lady Mary Clawley – the boss.
Guarding the bridge
It’s a cafe, not at all a cat prison. Except I guess it totally is.
Lady Mary Clawley – still the boss.
Looking pensive.
Looking snoozy.
Looking for more lovely head-scratches.
Supervising
Do not disturb

And … that was it for our big Auckland holiday – time to hit the airport!  There’s a SkyBus stop right outside the hotel so that made things nice and easy.  No dramas during checkin, all went smoothly, and we ended up with about two hours to kill in the small-but-perfectly-formed Qantas lounge.  They had a fridge full of little ice creams so that means I’d forgive them for just about anything.  The other food on offer was much better than breakfast, too.  Before long we wandered over to the awaiting plane (an Airbus A330-200) and got ourselves seated in the really-quite-lovely seats.  Generously proportioned (just like us!) , sophisticated (well, kinda like us?) and rather elegant (well, ok let’s stop with the analogies.  Regardless, it was a nice place to spend a couple of hours.  

Champagne upon boarding was nice once again, and cabin crew were friendly (one chap in particular was very friendly toward Perry … had to keep an eye on him haha).

Comfy seat, pillow and blanket
Champagne, and seat buttons
It poses the legroom test!

Even though this was a flight home, it’s technically the first leg of our flight to San Francisco, so it was kind weird.  Less weird was a tasty sandwich served at lunch, but sorry Qantas, LATAM air did a better sandwich yesterday.  But Qantas gave me ice-cream, so maybe this particular competition has to end in a tie.  Things got pretty bumpy at some stages – only one little kid screamed, so not the most turbulent flight I’ve been on.  It was enough that the captain felt the need to reassure us all that the plane was quite safe, however!  Glad I’m not a nervous flyer, else I don’t know how reassuring that really would have been.

When not being tossed around in the air like one of the cat toys we’d seen earlier in the day, I took the change to watch the movie “Run Fat Boy Run” – a comedy starting Simon Pegg.  Very good, but as I’m sitting here at the kitchen table and not rushing around outdoors preparing for a marathon, I guess you couldn’t exactly call it inspirational.   There was also time to watch an episode of ‘Nailed it!’, kinda like Masterchef for normal people who can’t bake to save their lives.  That, probably, was more inspirational.  Plus it was all about cake.

We touched down in Sydney at 4:27pm, and we’re out of the airport exactly twenty minutes later.  And that’s because I spent a few minutes trying to decide what to buy at the duty free (the winner: Aperol – come back in summer for Aperol Spritz!).  It was the quickest transfer through the airport ever.  (Only having hand luggage really helped).  Even the taxi rank was completely devoid of people.  Great for us, but it sure didn’t help the mood of our taxi driver who had been waiting a few hours for a fare, only to find he only has a very sort trip to go on.  It sure reminded me while I usually get an Uber if I need to get driven anywhere, that’s for sure.

We arrived home to a ridiculously pleased-to-see-us cat, which was lovely, even though she was being more than ably looked after in our absence by Perry’s niece, who we’re very grateful to have house-and-cat-minding for us for some of our time away.

After that, it was time to finalise the packing, sit back and relax for this 20 hour layover in Sydney.   But then .. bing bong goes the phone. It’s Qantas, with an important message. The kind of important message that can sink the heart of even the most enthusiastic holidaymaker.

“We had change your flight”…

Uh-oh! Drama! What happened?  What a great cliffhanger! Stay tuned ’til tomorrow’s next exciting instalment!

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Nah I couldn’t do that to you.  At first the change seems to be … no change at all.  All the details seemed just as they were.  But Perry, being the clever one, phoned Qantas to double check and they confirmed that yes there was indeed a change.  Ultimately it was nothing too earth-shattering, just that we’d be taking off four hours later than originally scheduled.  Could be worse, but of course that means we lose four hours of July 4 at the San Francisco end.  But we’re still due to get there around lunchtime, so can’t grumble at that.  So, in the very likely event I can’t be bothered writing a blog entry about “well, umm, still in Sydney, now it’s time to go to the airport”, the next entry should be from San Francisco itself. Woo! (But that’ll be like 30-something hours from now). 

Hang in there, see you stateside!

 

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PS: It’s probably obvious but I usually don’t go back and read through all this stuff and edit my mistakes – so sorry if you find a bunch of errors.

Off to the USA, so naturally we’re in … Auckland?

johnandperrystravels 2 Comments

 

Once again, we’re off on another big adventure, and with any luck this little blog will help take everyone along for at least some of the ride.

Packing was all well and good, but remember it’s always good to check on things before chucking them in the suitcase, as we had one casualty… sometime between last June and yesterday, Perrys new camera (bought at the Duty Free on the way to NZ last year) suffered a broken screen, making it pretty much useless.

Otherwise, all good, and after bidding the cat a fond farewell, we jumped in a Taxi and sat in traffic for approximately forever.  OR at least that’s what it felt like.  All good as we were way ahead of schedule, and still reached the airport maybe 20 minutes before the check-in desk for our flight even opened.  So no dramas there, got the formalities out of the way and officially all checked in for our flight to New Zealand?

But weren’t we going to the US and Canada?

You’ve probably all already heard this story – if so just skip the next paragraph or two.  In summary, during our Europe trip in 2013 we found we could save a substantial amount of money by flying from home Stockholm instead of flying home from London.  So Perry wondered if it applied the other way around – was there some cheaper way of getting from Australia to the USA..maybe via Hawaii?  After a bit of checking and trying various options, he found that if we went from New Zealand to San Francisco, the rate would be about one third of the far compared to going from Sydney to San Francisco.  The weird part is that, either way, we’ll be on the exact same plane leaving Sydney.  But by getting a flight from Auckland to Sydney first, the whole only costs about a third.  So yep we get two flights, for a third of the place.  Doesn’t make a lick of sense but hey it means we can go business, so we’d be mad not to.  The cheaper rate more than covers the price of a flight to Auckland and a night’s accommodation.  (We weren’t brave enough to try a flight in and out of Auckland on the same day, just in case there were delays).

So where was I? Oh yep we checked in for the flight, spent a long time at the Tourist Refund Scheme office so I could get the tax back on a lens I bought for the trip.  Then in a case of deja vu, Perry bought a new camera at the Duty Free shop.  Hopefully this one lives a bit longer than the last one.  Then we off to hang out with the fancy people in the Qantas First Class lounge.  This is all thank to Perry and the amazing amount of work travel he’s done in the last few years – his frequent flyer status allows him to bring a guest to the First Class lounge even if were not on a first class flight.  He’s done a lot to earn this privilege. I, on the other hand, have done, well, nothing.  But it’s not like I’m going to turn down such an invitation!

IMG_1284

Love the old ‘click-clack’ departures board

Once nice thing I noticed about the lounge (other than the delicious food, friendly service, beautiful decor, the old-school ‘click clack’ departures board,  the chance to pretend I’m a rich person,  etc, etc) was that they seem to be taking an environmental awareness to heart here – nothing was served in plastic, even the serviettes were cloth.  The only single-use item I saw was the sachet of sugar I put in my (barista-made, of course) coffee.  (Sorry Scott I didn’t get a photo, but I’d rate it an 8 out of 10). << Quick shout out to my very good friend Scott who is currently touring the coffee (And the sights) of Europe, his blog – It’s all about the coffee, is a terrific read.  

Before too long it was time to board.  We were flying with LATAM air, formerly known as LAN airlines, in a 787 Dreamliner.  Well I can’t help but unleash my inner snob and say it is always nice when you have a chance to Turn Left after boarding.  The plane was nicely outfitted with wooden (ok probably ‘wood-look’) flooring in parts, and super big comfy seats – everything was kind low-set, which gave the cabin a great sense of airiness and space.  The quality of service was just brilliant, champagne upon boarding (not that it was wonderful, but whatevs), the Customer Service Manager took time to personally introduce herself to everyone in the cabin. The crew member attending to us kept apologising for her English even though it was fine.  They were all extremely welcoming and really made you feel comfortable.  

Our 787
Ginormous and super comfy.
Champagne upon boarding
It definitely passes the legroom test!
And here we are!
Cute little bag with Socks, eye mask, earplugs
Delicious lunch and pudding to die for

Shortly after we were up in the air – the 787 is nice and quiet and I think their boasts about having better air quality etc really are true, it was a very nice place to be (but in row 1, what’s not to like?!).  Lunch was a delicious warmed sandwich o prosciutto and cheese on rye, with a bread roll, a salad, and the most luscious chocolate pudding with passionfruit and mango, so rich that even I of all people couldn’t finish it off.  It felt like a really short flight, which is always a good thing.  Even though they had tone of entertainment options on board I watched Hannah Gadsby’s ‘Nanette’ that I’d downloaded earlier on Netflix. It’s part funny, part touching, and all important and definitely worth a watch.

Next thing you know it was touchdown time and here we were – New Zealand!  Land of jandals, chilly bins, Jacinda Arden, and people who show the indigenous population and their culture some decent respect.  After a bit of a adventure ride on the Skybus, we made it alive to the city proper, and into our hotel – very nice!  Again, taking advantage of Perry’s work travels, we were able to get an upgraded room, free welcome drinks, and a free brekky.  This is proof if ever you need it – hard work does pay off!  The fact I get to share in the spoils is something for which I’ll be forever grateful.  And I took a video of the day turning into night:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSEoXH5Xnlw

Dinner was at a restaurant we really enjoyed in Auckland last year, Monsoon Poon.  This time we learnt our lessons of order way way too much, and only ordered way too much instead.  Delicious combo plate of corn fritters, squid, curry puffs, chicken wings rice paper roll, and a dish of Tandoori Chicken salad.  Awesome stuff.  And since holidays == cocktails, had to have one of those as well.  “Ho Chi Gin” – Gin, chili syrup, star anise … interesting and tasty!

Still love this sign that show you how many good people are jumping on their bikes instead of getting in their car

Now no trip to New Zealand would be complete without visiting New Zealand Natural ice cream – so despite being quite full, off we went and fulfilled our duty to the nation by enjoying some Hokey Pokey and some Boysenberry.

So, it’s the first day almost done, and the holiday is off to a cracking start!  A flight that could really only be described as perfect, a beautiful city, a delicious meal, and of course, the very best travelling companion, ever.  USA here we come (eventually)!