Tennis (and a whole lot more) in Eastern USA

[BarnyNQ]

Just checked it out - looks a big trip. Jealous about all the sports!!

 

[kevrosmith]

The Chicago Meeter Greeter service is now booked and confirmed, and I've managed to start booking some day tours while in Chicago. Very late, and I hope I don't miss out what I'd like to be able to do, though work has been too busy.

Based on blackcat20's recent trip report (http://www.australianfrequentflyer....the-virgin-traveller-59576-9.html#post1046428) I went with Chicago Cruise Lines for the Architecture boat tour (do you get a kickback for the recommendation blackcat20? ). The complimentary snacks did it for me, so I've booked a 3pm timeslot and figure it will make for a nice afternoon-tea break.

I've also booked the Chicago Architecture Foundation's L Train tour (L Train Tours - Chicago Architecture Foundation).

NYC meeter greeter service is fully booked, so I've missed out there. I'll just have to find some other walking tours.

Only 24 hours till I depart home now (catching up with family in BNE Thursday night), and 48 hours until I leave BNE. In an unusual move for me, I'm already packed! :shock: (Now there's time to un-pack and re-pack ).

 

[drron]

We have a little book-city walks,New York.So you can DIY your walks and know what you are seeing.Available in most bookstores there and ours was picked up in the Info centre.
NY is a very walkable city.

 

[TomVexille]

I went with Chicago Cruise Lines for the Architecture boat tour (do you get a kickback for the recommendation blackcat20? ). The complimentary snacks did it for me, so I've booked a 3pm timeslot and figure it will make for a nice afternoon-tea break.

If she gets a kickback surely I get one

Hope you enjoy Chicago

 

[kevrosmith]

Very smooth flight from CNS-BNE this morning. Maintained a spare seat next to me in row 4 (the front 8 rows mostly had a spare middle seat, but the rest of the aircraft was full). During boarding, I had a chat with a former CNS-based crew member who was travelling south for a few day's work roster... such a shame that QF closed the CNS crew base, though there's a few that are commuting to their new southern bases for work.

Boarding was quite lengthy and was glad that it wasn't a typical tropical day in CNS, as we were held up in the walkways leading to the aerobridge for quite some time (I think the delay was due to getting an elderly wheelchair pax on board). It was overcast skies, cool and wet in CNS, and the same when we landed into BNE.

Priority baggage worked a treat: after disembarking, I first dropped into the J Lounge to use the facilities and make some phone calls, and then headed down to collect my bags. The luggage had just started coming out and mine were first and third. Considering I haven't checked baggage for such a long time, I'm was pleasantly surprised.

VH-OEJ seems to be heading toward BNE as QF16 and will most likely be our aircraft tomorrow morning. It already has a delayed arrival, but hopefully that won't affect our departure too much, if at all. I've managed to grab one of the solo seats (5J) on this aircraft config, though it looks like I won't get to try out the B747 F seats due to a late aircraft-swap.

 

[kevrosmith]

Just checked it out - looks a big trip. Jealous about all the sports!!

I am definitely looking forward to the sporting events. Hopefully a few of the people sitting around me won't mind helping to explain some of the finer points of the rules, for NFL, though particularly for baseball.

We have a little book-city walks,New York.So you can DIY your walks and know what you are seeing.Available in most bookstores there and ours was picked up in the Info centre.
NY is a very walkable city.

Great tip. Thanks. I'll have to look out for this in a bookstore.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

On a previous trip to Boston we were staying at the Hol Inn Exp 280 Friend St which is across the road from TD Garden where the Boston Celtics home games are held.

A block or two away was a sports bar called 'Fours' which has stacks of sporting memorabilia on the walls.

The bar snacks like buffalo wings etc are filling enough for a meal. It's a great meeting place for pre/post game drinks.

 

[Goodonya]

Success: HHonors have approved me for a Diamond fast-track challenge - 21 nights stay in 90 days will give me Diamond until March 31, 2016. In the meantime, they have upgraded my account to Gold, which is what I was aiming for.

Just realised that I'm booked into same hotel, NY Hilton Midtown Sep 1-6. Perhaps a mini AFF gathering is in order here with Orca here as well? Could meet in the Exec Lounge as a start?

 

[BarnyNQ]

How was the NFL pre-season game? What was the crowd like? Baseball today I guess...sure beats work!

 

[kevrosmith]

Well, things have been so busy with my travel that I have just not had any time to update the trip report... looks like it'll be a post-trip trip report after all.

Chicago was great and I got to meet up with some local FlyerTalkers for dinner.

The NFL was pretty good, though being a pre-season game, the stadium filled up for the start, and emptied out pretty quickly from the 3rd quarter onwards. The season-ticket holders around me where kind enough to help explain some finer points of the game. Unfortunately, the Colts lost against the New Orleans Saints.

I met some local FlyerTalkers in DC as well, and it's been great to meet locals and have dinner with them.

The baseball last night was great: a great rivalry between the Yankees and Boston Red Sox. Unfortunately again, the Yankees didn't do so great against the bottom-placed Red Sox, so many of the fans emptied out by the 8th innings. Great atmosphere otherwise.

Now for some sight-seeing in NYC and then the tennis this weekend.

I haven't been checking into AFF much lately sorry, as I've been too busy with the travel and sight-seeing.

 

[kevrosmith]

So it’s holidays now, so some extra time to follow up with some more details on the trip report.

I got to BNE airport with plenty of time. Fairly easy through check-in, security and immigration. Made my way to the BNE F Lounge. Nothing spectacular but a fairly quiet place to wait for the flight. Only a Coffee machine available in this Lounge, but one of the staff grabbed me a Barista coffee from the J Lounge, though I had to wait a bit as it seemed the J Lounge was quite busy.



Made my way down to the plane and took some shots of other planes waiting at aerobridges.



Finally my plane came into view.



Seems that it was the aircraft that took the Socceroos to the World Cup as it was painted out with the soccer livery (the tail Roo was carrying footy boots).

Had a slight delay getting onto the plane. I'd noticed that there were extra codes on my boarding pass; something like "SSSS". Seems that it indicated that I'd be chosen for secondary security screening at the boarding gate. Had to take shoes off, have my bags, boots, belt wiped down etc. and wait for the machine to analyse the results. No problem there so on-board I went.

Travelling solo, I had preselected 5J. Plenty of leg room. Sitting across from me was the former CEO of the Brisbane Broncos, also heading to the States for a vacation. I thought I'd recognised his face from somewhere, though initially thought it was from back home in Cairns. Had a brief chat and then celebrated the start of the holiday with some sparkling.



I can highly recommend this seat for solo travellers. The extra bin space is great, the locker above doesn't need to be shared with anyone, and there is so much room to stand up and have a stretch without getting in anyone's way.

 

[kevrosmith]

Lunch service commenced not long after. I’d already pre-ordered my meals online.



Duck something (I think) with noodles for starters, and beef with couscous. The beef was a bit dry.



Dessert (Yes please! Hmm.. think I'll try both if that's okay.)

I don't travel long haul much, and have been fortunate not to have to do it in Y so far. But just in case you're wondering what it's like down there: (it seemed rather full!)



I watched a few movies and managed to get about 4 or 5 hours sleep. Soon enough, it was time for breakfast and morning sunrise into LAX.

 

[kevrosmith]

This was the first time I'd arrived into USA via LAX, and I'd heard plenty of stories of how long it can take to get through Immigration, so I made a bee-line straight for the queue as soon as I got off the plane. Already a bit of a line was starting to form, but I think I was fortunate only waiting about 30 minutes, as I could see the hordes of people arriving behind me and the queuing area soon filled up.

Waited not too long for bags to arrive and headed straight out. Never having been to LAX before, it took me a while to orient myself. With my upcoming Status Run starting at midnight that night, I'd already planned to spend most of the day sleeping to prepare myself for the next 48 hours of travel. I decided book a day-use room at the Hilton LAX (US$103) rather than the Travelodge (US$60), seeing I may as well make use of my recently gained Gold HHonors status.

It took me a while to get my head around how to get to the Hotel via the Courtesy shuttle bus, and I'd wandered back and forth between TBIT, Terminal 4 and Terminal 3 trying to work things out (though was happy enough to stretch my legs). It hindsight it makes sense now, but you make your way across the first couple lanes of traffic to the next curb, and wait in the Red zone for the Hotel Shuttles. The Shuttles for various hotels have their names on the front of the bus, and when yours appears you wave it down.



Red Zones are Hotel Shuttle pick-up areas.

I got to the Hotel a little earlier than the designated check-in time, but fortunately a room was available. I didn't bother with asking about upgrades etc. as I was only here to sleep and have a shower.



I'd booked a hire car for the afternoon/evening as I had a few things to do:

1. Get a local SIM for my iPhone and iPad
2. In'n'Out Burger run
3. Visit a nearby beach
4. Drop my luggage off at a luggage storage place for the duration of my Status Run

Hertz had a pick-up location at Hilton LAX, which was very handy, rather than having to try to get around to one of the other lots via the Shuttle or walk etc. Ended up with a large Ford Escape SUV which was very nice to drive on the freeway and roads even if it was just for the afternoon.

The first time I visited USA (2 years ago), I didn't properly understand the complexities of the USA mobile-network market, and ended up with a SIM from T-Mobile which only gave me 2G data, which was terrible for doing anything. Having learnt from this experience, I was adamant that I did not want to go without the usual mobile and data services that I am accustomed to, and so did a bit more research. While T-Mobile have changed their network somewhat since then, and upgraded to 4G/LTE services, I was still a bit nervous about using them again. I found a T-Mobile and ATT store nearby to each other, so planned to drive there to get the low down on what was going to work best. Knowing I wouldn't have cellular data services until then, I pre-planned the route to the stores, which were about 3 miles away.

This points to the T-Mobile store, while the ATT store is across the road in the Ladera Center.



I dropped into the T-Mobile store first, but still wasn't comfortable with what I was hearing from the sales staff, so went over to the ATT store. Picked up a $60 pre-paid Sim for my iPhone (Unlimited talk and messaging, and 2.5 GB data) and $50 pre-paid plan for my iPad mini giving my another 5GB. Both came up as "4G", and while I was never quite sure if that was true LTE or the USA 4G ("3G+") service, the speeds were more than adequate throughout my trip and I never had any problems with coverage anywhere I went.

So off to In'n'Out to see what the fuss is all about. Not too bad for fast food: freshly made and, needless to say being the States, large portions. After this I made my way to Venice Beach, and finally found a parking lot to park in a couple blocks from the waterfront. Unfortunately, I got there just on dusk with the sun already set, so it got dark fairly quickly and, while I went for a bit of a walk, probably didn't get to appreciate the area as much as I'd hoped.

Headed back and dropped my luggage off to the Luggage service, dropped the car back to the Hotel and then caught the shuttle to the airport ready to commence my Status Run on AA.



Can highly recommend this luggage storage option. They will pick up and drop off from the Terminals (a few extra dollars for this), but it cost me $32 for 1 piece for 2 nights. I figured this was worth the investment rather than having my luggage go missing on me somewhere on the 8 sectors of my status run.

 

[kevrosmith]

I was looking forward to this Status Run. I'd completed my first AA Status run two years ago when I was first in States. That time, I'd flown LAS-ORD-MIA-SJU and earned 600 SCs for about $800 (AUD). Thanks to the 'Fairer and Simpler' enhancements, some of the previous routings available were not as economical. My aim for this Status Run was to maximise SC earn opportunity within the time I had while not necessarily aiming for the most efficient SC/$ ratio. I managed to find LAX-DFW-ORD-MIA-SJU for around $1800 USD, which under the new rules, earns 660 SCs. Previously, this would've earned 780, so I guess QF's changes to the AA earn table had its desired effect.

Last time I did my Status Run AA staff (pilots and crew) were undertaking industrial action via go-slows and no-shows. I think this caused my ORD-MIA flight to be cancelled and I was moved onto a direct ORD-SJU flight. It turned out fine as I was able to do an ORC with QF. I also had some subsequent delays on the return sectors, and suspect this was due to the industrial dispute as well. It reminded me why HLO was so important for undertaking such a Status Run.

This time, with these things in mind, I had a friend back in Australia check me in for my outbound flights as soon as it opened (24 hours prior to first flight). I wanted to ensure that my check-in was registered as soon as possible to avoid any possible re-routings, and I was on the flight from BNE-LAX when check-in opened.

Once I arrived at Terminal 4, I re-printed my boarding passes at a kiosk and made my way through security. No Priority Line, only TSA Pre-Check, which I didn't receive. Not too long to wait in the normal line, though I do find it a bit of a pain having to take shoes and belts and everything else off to go through USA security, and it's painful watching others go back and forth until they properly comply with instructions from the screening staff. I try to make as little fuss as possible, be as polite as possible, yes sir, yes ma'am to everything and get out of there as quickly and smoothly as possible.

Straight into the AC entry foyer, and showing my boarding pass and QF WP membership card, was given an access card to the Flagship Lounge. Up the escalators, past the service desk and entered the Lounge to the left. I think I almost had the Flagship Lounge to myself at this point. I had some time to spare, so caught up on emails, calls back to family and grabbed some drinks and snacks from the self-service bar.



With AA lounges being silent (no announcements), I always leave plenty of time to head down to the gate before the posted boarding time. Overhead locker space is always a at premium on USA flights, even in First, so I make sure I'm on board early to get my stuff stowed near to me.



So off we went to LAX-DFW
Aircraft: B757
Seat: 1F
ETD: 00:05
ETA: 5:00
Flight time: 2:55



The domestic-fit out 757 aircraft really are tired and old. I'm not a fan of these seats. If you were looking to get some sleep, I'd recommend not picking row 1. As it was for me, seeing it was day time back in Australia, and I didn't want to bother sleeping, and wanted row 1 to easily get out and talk with the crew. It really is a true red-eye flight, and with only a 3 hour flight time, but jumping ahead 2 time zones, half the night really does disappear.

 

[JMFK]

Following. Looking forward to hearing more about your AA Status run!

 

[kevrosmith]

I enjoy interacting with crew on most of my flights and often like to go have a chat, and even more so when I'm in the States on a Status Run. For this trip, I'd bought over a bunch of Australian-themed key rings to present to the crew as a gift. Nearly all the crew on my flights thought this was a nice gesture. They lovvvve our Aussie accent and all say how they would one day love to visit Australia, but think (and possibly rightly-so) it is soooo far away.



While the food itself on AA is pretty undesirable (it's edible though), I enjoy the service they provide. The service routine they perform reminds me of Qantas' domestic Business Class from a couple years ago. Hot towel service, followed by drink service served with a bowl of warmed nuts (and it's a full bowl of a variety of nuts, not just a bag of pretzel and cashew... yes, that's singular!). Followed by tray meal service.

For those who haven't travelled AA, they are well known for their freshly baked cookies. They really are a treat and I think I consumed a few too many during the trip. The aroma that comes out from the galley as they pull them out of the oven is so tempting.

I'd pre-ordered my meals online (as mentioned above), and the FA confirmed this order each time while taking other people's orders.

My previous post tells me that I'd ordered the fruit and yoghurt on this sector, though I can't really remember it. On this flight, the crew gifted me a whole box of left-over nuts, which I managed to snack on later.

 

[kevrosmith]

Being a few months ago now, I don't remember the exact order of things, but pretty sure we arrived at Terminal C at DFW. I headed to the nearest AC lounge, and they must've directed me to Terminal A, recommending the shower facilities there over the ones in the Terminal A AC. And they were certainly right. If you happen to end up in DFW for a layover, I would definitely recommend making your way around to the Terminal C AC.


Full rainforest shower head above, in addition to the handheld and side jets. After the flight over, it was nice to have a long hot shower. Growing up in regional Australia and having been taught to use water wisely, I felt slightly guilty about how much water I was using, but figured they must have plenty of it over here.



There's even some gym equipment in the lounge (which I think is a great idea). Shame I didn't bring my runners with my on the Status Run, otherwise I would've made use of the facilities.

 

[docjames]

Looks like the TR has been abandoned. Shame. Was enjoying, awaiting the Tennis!

 

[kevrosmith]

Looks like the TR has been abandoned. Shame. Was enjoying, awaiting the Tennis!

Yeah very sorry... It always comes down to time... Which is often occupied with other more important things... Maybe one day...