Saturday, 4 March 2017
Trip 2 Day 8 - 14 Holiday in HNL
It's time for a holiday at this point, my girlfriend connects from the UK and I meet her at the airport, we're staying on waikiki for the week at the Marriott.
Trip 2 Flight 12 Day 7 LAX-HNL 18.20
Day 7 LAX-HNL 18.20
Class: First
Boeing 757
Tier Points: 210
AA connections in LAX have been fantastic and again they
this one is smooth as silk. Departure gate is next to the arrival flight, I
have about an hour to go to the Admirals club and help myself to a bottle of
Evian and some hot buffet in the flagship lounge which again is about as
densely populated as the moon. Evian and Airbus in American Airlines, the
French are doing well here!
I board the flight and for the first time all trip there are
3 spare seats in First. A chap sits next to me with an AA lanyard on and we get
chatting. He’s ground crew in Arkansas and is going to Honolulu for a date for
24 hours only, and I thought I was hardcore!
I am unable to get settled on the flight despite feeling
quite run down, I turn down the offer of food and stick to water and shuffle
through 3 discs of definitely maybe ‘remastered’. Nice to see the white label
demo version of Columbia on there.
The flight drags on and on and I catch up on writing this
blog, which I’ve been very lazy with.
Eventually we land, it’s dark. Straight through HNL to
baggage claim where I find my girlfriend who was on the flight before me. We
managed to logistically connect my flights from SJU and hers from LHR to end up
in HNL within an hour and a half of each other, with her flights on avios
points to boot!
Quick shuttle to dollar car rental to pick up an convertible
mustang and then we are on our way to the Marriott Waikiki for a week.
Trip 2 Flight 11 Day 7 MIA-LAX 14.10
Day 7 MIA-LAX 14.10
Class: First
Boeing 757
Tier Points: 210
The connection is quite tight but I have time to take 30
mins in the Admirals club. The Miami Admirals club is poor, just cookies and
water. The coffee is undrinkable.
Again another on time flight, they serve fillet steak which
was just about edible and I treat myself to an ice cream sundae. The chap next to me absolutely stinks of
garlic, I have to point the fan in between us to try and blow away the smell.
I settle down to sleep and nap all the way through to the
descent into LAX. Feeling pretty good at this stage.
Trip 2 flight 10 Day 7 SJU-MIA 10.00
Day 7 SJU-MIA 10.00
Class: Business
Boeing 757
Tier Points: 40
I have a fantastic breakfast at the doubletree and get
another great taxi back to SJU. I’d pencil in a return to Puerto Rico as it’s
much more civilised than I imagined it would be.
I get ticketed and through security within 10 minutes.
There’s a nice Admirals club here too although I have very little time as I
left the hotel 30 minutes later than planned.
Flight is again on time, I decline any breakfast and fire up
some Courteeners on my iphone.
The 2 hour flight is over before I even get settled.
Trip 2 Flight 9 Day 6 MIA-SJU 19.15
Day 6 MIA-SJU 19.15
Class: Business
Boeing 737
Tier Points: 40
I have a few hours in MIA and have experienced the terrible
Admirals club around gate D. Apparently there is a ‘premium lounge’ near gate E
so I trek on over. I take the sky train and it’s about a 20 minute transit from
D8 to the premium lounge.
It’s designed for BA flights and the food is pretty decent,
salad, some meat and cheese lots of fruit, premium spirits etc.
As I arrive Ronaldo scores a penalty to make it 4-1 on the
Champions League final.
After my experience of landing late in STT last time and
feeling incredibly unsafe I phoned up my hotel in San Juan to ask about the
Taxi situation at the airport and if it was safe to just get a cab at the
stand, they told me it was fine.
It’s my first AA 737 experience. The first cabin seats are
identical to the 757.
The flight leaves on time, dinner is not edible, some sort
of chicken and cheese. I literally don’t know how they got chicken tasting so
bad and they drizzled some disgusting sauce all over the salad, almost spewed
at just the smell.
If there’s one thing that I’ve learned about plane food its
keep it simple. You can mess up a bare salad and fruit, and if your going to
serve a main meal just keep it to simple plain foods, every attempt at gravy,
sauce, cheese or dressing renders the dish inedible.
The chap next to me in a resident of Puerto Rico and
clarifies to me the situation that he is a US citizen but Puerto Rico is not a
state of the USA, they don’t get to vote in US presidential elections and
return their own government. He explains there’s a movement in the country to
become an official state of the USA.
As we come in to land is SJU its much bigger and much more
developed than I expected. It looks like quite an interesting place.
We land, it’s a proper airport, unlike STT, and I get a
taxi. Some locals push in straight to the front of the taxi line and this seems
to be normal. The taxi guys give me a piece of paper with the fair to my hotel
already agreed and $18 and 10 minutes later I arrive at the Doubletree.
Again a local lady pushes to the front of the queue at check
in, and again it seems to be fine with the staff!
I get checked in, the hotel is really nice, and its time for
bed.
Trip 2 Flight 8 Day 6 LAX-MIA 08:50
Day 6 LAX-MIA 08:50
Class: First
Boeing 757
Tier Points: 210
Connecting though LAX with AA is a doddle, the gates have
always been right next to each other when I land.
I head to the Admirals club (just above the gates) and have
a shower.
I’ve got a couple of hours to kill so I have yogurt and
berries followed by eggs and sausage for breakfast and check in on some emails
and work.
Again the Flagship lounge is deserted.
Before too long the next flight is boarding and is on time.
Waffles are served for breakfast which I have, it’s going to
be a food day, and they are decent enough.
I blast through disc 2 and 3 of Definitely Maybe
‘Remastered’ which consists mainly of unusual live/acoustic songs and B sides.
Listening to some of Noel’s finest keeps me in good spirits. Still feeling fine
when we land, that turnaround in HNL really messed me up more than I realised
on trip 1.
Trip 2: Flight 7 Day 5 HNL-LAX May 23rd
Class: First
Tier Points: 210
The bus to the airport was very straightforward, and $2.50
vs a $14 shuttle.
I go to the Admirals Club at HNL, it’s a pretty poor
offering shared with JAL. There’s chicken soup and that’s about it. Chicken
soup and a Budweiser then.
I remembered to sun cream my head so no sunburn this time,
and I get ready to deploy the travel pillow as the next section of flights is
seriously going to mess with my body clock.
I do feel a million times better for getting a good night’s
sleep in a hotel, I distinctly remember this point on the first trip where I
turned around same day and it was horrible.
Boarding is swift and the flight leaves on time. A pizza is
served as an evening snack which is absolutely disgusting.
Lights out and I get to sleep. Its pretty uncomfortable in
the 757 recliners and I manage to hook my leg over the arm rest which probably
looked ridiculous but was the only position that I could get comfy in.
I had a broken sleep all the way through to LAX.
Between the 6 hour flight and clock going forward it was now 0500.
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