Category: Toronto

Mountains

Toronto AM – Los Angeles PM

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Don’t forget to visit the web page to see any photos. The photo above is the first view of mountains as we approached California.

We went to sleep with a wake up call set for 5 AM and the iPhone alarm set for 4:50 AM. Neither was necessary. We awoke almost simultaneously at 4:40 AM. Shower, coffee, repack and off to find the airport shuttle. Terminal 1 was busy when we arrived at about 6 AM. Of course the checkin for USA flights was at the opposite end of the terminal where the shuttle discharged us. For those of you unfamiliar, all shuttles discharge passengers in the sub basement and take the trip to the departures level in a freight elevator large enough to handle a small car. However, it makes for a very short trip between terminals.

The check-in kiosks seem to have improved so we didn’t need to fight with it to get our luggage tags. The luggage drop-off machines were a different story and needed an Air Canada employee to intervene. Perhaps the airport folks need to take lessons from FedEx.

We are always grateful for Nexus. The line to security for the non-Nexus folks seemed to have no end. There were 10 people in the Nexus line and we didn’t have to take out our bag of liquids or take off our shoes.

When we did the actual Nexus check-in we were both directed to passport control rather than the “hi – goodbye” line but that added only about two minutes to the trip. With all formalities completed, we found a breakfast venue that actually served to the table rather than having to order through a faceless tablet device. The prices were typical of airports—way too high.

Boarding was simple enough but there was really no way to get a good photo of the first Dreamliner in which we have been able to travel. When the time came for us to push back from the gate we were informed that security and Border Protection services were running slowly and 50 passengers were being held captive by the delays so wait we would. Push back was delayed only about 15 minutes but its seemed much longer. Once the cabin crew managed to herd errant passengers to their seats away we went.

The Dreamliner is a BIG plane with between 240 and 350 seats. I think ours was a 350 seat version with nine seats across the economy class cabin. Using two doors did seem to help with boarding. In flight, the airplane is noticeably quieter than others and the cabin air seems fresher but nose and leg room is no better. This flight carried quite a large number of children some of whom were barely noticeable while others were quite noticeable. Who knew that some kids can cry for 5 hours. The music in the earbuds helped. The flight itself was smooth except for a couple of bumps as we passed over the mountains.

It took a while for our luggage to fall off the carousel. I had been convinced to gate check a third suitcase (at no cost) and it was, of course, late coming off the belt. Our Princess Cruises representative met us, waited patiently for the luggage and waited even more patiently for the hotel shuttle to arrive at the curb.

It is only a 10 minute ride to the LAX Marriott and although check-in time is normally 3 PM they found a room just after our noon arrival. That’s 3 PM in Ontario isn’t it? After check-in came lunch at a little restaurant operated by a Korean family. Good food, good price.

We managed to wait until after 5 PM to go for dinner, that’s 8 PM at home and we rarely eat dinner at 8 PM. When we arrived in the Marriott Hotel lobby the Princess Cruises representatives were there so we stopped by to get our morning instructions. That delayed dinner by 10 minutes. The plan now is to try to stay awake for a while and avoid the 4 AM automatic wake up.

Today’s photos are in the right sidebar.

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The Christmas trip begins

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Before starting the narrative of this trip I wanted to mention a few changes on the web site. Firstly, the post that arrives in your email is only an extract from the whole journal entry. To see the full post please click on the “Read the post” button. Secondly, The photo galleries are different. On the main web site visit the menu labeled “Photo Gallery”. The main menu page describes the changes. Thirdly, you will find a collection of recent photos at the bottom of the right sidebar. 

This is a short post because we haven’t traveled far. We are at the Toronto Airport Hilton which is adjacent to Park’nFly. We get a night’s sleep and don’t need to rise at 4 AM to get to our flight. This is the no stress way. Tomorrow will begin early enough with an 8 AM departure and all that goes with that in airport procedures.

OK, dinner is over. A very tasty pizza, Hilton style, and some chicken fillets and salad for Gail with some Rickards and wine to wash it down. That was topped off by a very pleasant waitress. Nothing to cook, nothing to wash up. Tomorrow, Los Angeles, hopefully by Dreamliner.

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Wrapping up the Journey

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Our last dinner in Honolulu was at Tony Roma’s and it brought back memories of a birthday dinner in Burlington more than 20 years ago. Some of you may remember. For those who weren’t present here’s the short version. Dinner plans began with four celebrating my birthday and one other. It ended with a group of more than 20 in attendance as a result of contacts made throughout the day with friends who shared Amateur Radio (Ham Radio) as a hobby.

Our flight from Honolulu to Vancouver was delayed more than an hour because of a needed tire change on the Boeing 737 that was transportation. A task that should have taken half an hour, according to the initial announcement, took much longer. They seemed to have difficulty finding a suitable replacement. By the time the replacement wheel had been installed there were three wheels under the airplane, the original and two potential wheels that didn’t fit. After that, the trip was uneventful but we arrived in Vancouver about two hours later than scheduled.

The Culprit Tire

Honolulu Tire Change IMG 3189

After a night of sleep we returned to the airport for our flight to Toronto. There were no delays with this airplane, in fact we arrived in Vancouver 30 minutes earlier than scheduled. It turned out to be irrelevant as did our quick clearance through Canada Border Security thanks to NEXUS. The luggage handlers didn’t get suitcases onto the carousel for nearly 30 minutes. We did get lucky and our bags were among the first group to arrive. Kevin picked us up promptly and we started the drive back to Burlington.

We picked up our car from Kevin’s home, transferred our baggage and collected groceries for our next breakfast, however, we still needed to have dinner. A quick call to friends Chris and Marie found them ready to share a late evening table at Kelsey’s. The trip home continued after an enjoyable meal and once home the suitcases were virtually abandoned until the following morning.

We have no plans for another trip although I am nearly certain there will be another and when plans are made the journal will again become active.

Thanks to all of you who followed our 2018 journey we, Gail and I, hope you found something of interest in the commentary and posted photos. Another thank you for the comments made on many posts. I have now added the nearly 1000 trip photos and videos to the gallery which can be accessed directly at the link Australia 2018. You will also find the Photo Gallery menu item above and link to the photos from there. There is also an Australia 2018 link on the sidebar of this page. Not all of the photos are captioned but that should cause no trouble.

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First day of air travel, Feb 3

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What we won’t see in Ontario ’til May

Let us begin on January 30. That was the date Gail had her second dental crown repair in preparation for our odyssey Moving forward, Friday arrived and Kevin was kind enough to transport us to the Toronto Airport Hilton for the night. Much thanks for that as it delayed our Saturday wake up time by 2 hours meaning we were able to delay our rise time untill 5 AM.

A full sized motor coach served as our shuttle from the hotel to the terminals. Amazing how many people are travelling on a Saturday morning. Even more interesting is the drop off procedure at Terminal 1. Even though your are departing, the shuttle lets you off in a desolate area of the arrivals level. If you happen to be with at least one other person who has done this before, you find your self in a very large elevator; reminded me of a freight elevator. We had the privilege of a jolly airport employee who inquired; “everyone going to the same place?” My immediate response was “I certainly hope not”. That stopped him for a moment but gradually a few announced their destination.

We arrive on the departures level at check-in bank 1, ours is 11. Fortunately the airport is not over crowded and checkin at the kiosk, luggage drop-off, NEXUS security and immigration all went uneventfully and we arrived at Gate F65 in time to have breakfast. Of course technology has taken over airport breakfast service. The iPad ordering went fine, credit card payment seemed to lock up their system for me, Gail’s worked fine. With assistance from a server/tech support person we both received breakfast, not too bad either.

We had checked two bags and had two smaller bags to carry on plus two very small bags with medical supplies and shoulder bags. The Air Canada offered to gate check our two small bags for free we said “let’s make a deal”. Boarding was easy as was reversing the procedure about six hours later. Then the miracle happened. The luggage carousel started to move and our two smaller bags emerged from the darkness below almost instantly. Only moments later or two large suitcases emerged and were claimed. This, without priority luggage consideration.

Our Cunard representative had met us at the luggage claim area and escorted us to a prepaid taxi to carry us to the Sheraton Fishermans Wharf. Apparently, everything was going far too well. As we travelled to the hotel Gail noticed another dental crown seemed too loose to trust for a three month tour. As we checked into the Sheraton, Gail starts talking to the Concierge who immediately called a dentist who actually answered the phone, on a Saturday, and was prepared to offer treatment, on a Saturday afternoon if we could get to her office in 15 minutes or so. Twenty minutes later we were at the dentist’s office. About an hour later, with the application of suitable inducement provided by our deal with Mr. VISA, we were off to start exploring the Embarcadero.

We took Taxi’s to and from the Dentist’s office which was a little less than 3 km away, up a steep hill, and down a steep hill. The two “steeps” helped persuade us to ride rather than walk. Once at the hotel walking on level ground along the sea front seemed like a good idea. After we wandered for a while we stopped for something to eat. For us it was dinner time but it was only around 3 PM local time. We found ourselves at an eatery called Castagnola’s where they had already declared it to be happy hour and they offered Dungeness crab and pasta which pleased Gail. What a way to try to forget about the dentist.

More walking, then back to the hotel. As I write this the clock indicates 6:30 PM but it feels closer to midnight. If we manage to keep the eyes open for four more hours perhaps we won’t wake up before dawn tomorrow. Here goes.

San Francisco Skyline

 

Alcatraz

 

 

 

 

 

 

A couple of housekeeping items:

Don’t forget to click on the text within a post. The email often contains fewer images than the full post.

I have made a number of updates to the website. Technology changes, new techniques replace old ones. During our last trip some of you attempted to add comments to a post discovered that the CAPTCHA technique I used to help avoid spammers malfunctioned. Should you add a comment to this or future posts you may notice the CAPTCHA is absent. However, the anti-spam prevention remains, it is just hiding. Hopefully this will make it easier and encourage more to add comments. I have also tried to identify potential problems and prevent them.

You may notice a couple of new features on this and some future posts. Each post will have a travel related quote at the end of my ramblings. I hope it may sometimes be inspirational. Some, probably not all, posts will end with a leaflet map identifying my exact geographical location at the time of posting. I have way points for maps today but I’m too tired to build the map. Perhaps I’ll backtrack on one of our sea days.

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