North to Alaska

[Justinf]

So I just returned from a two week trip to Alaska.
My sister and I during a drunken dinner in Hong Kong, decided we would do Alaska in the year of her 40th which happened to be 2017.
This has been five years in the making.
My itinerary was MEL-LAX in J, got upgraded to F with points.
Then I was to spend two days in Denver while my sister (who I will call SIS for the duration of this TR) was to spend two days in LA, where she lived for four years.
We were to meet up in Seattle for two nights before going to Anchorage and then the Aurora Winter train to Fairbanks. Plenty of stuff organised for Fairbanks, including dog sledding, reindeer walking, aurora viewing (hopefully) and a light-plane trip up to Coldfoot (96km above the Acrtic Circle - hopefully I can download the video I took of us landing on the ice airstrip).
We were then to fly to Seattle where I would spend the night while SIS went to Portland to meet up with friends.
Then SEA to LA for me in J with an F upgrade requested. Then a five hour layover and hopefully an In-and-Out run and then back to MEL and then straight from the airport to play cricket.
Stay tuned. There are lots of pics and some of them are unbelievable. I just hope I am able to download the video of us landing on the ice airstrip.
Will start it all off tomorrow after a good sleep. This TR will be very 'photo heavy' and not that many selfies. I hope I can do Alaska justice. What a place!
Looking forward to sharing it with you all.

 

[stoneman]

Look forward to it, I'm in!

 

[mmchow]

Oh my. Looking forward to more!!

 

[Ric]

Going along for the ride!

 

[VPS]

If it's half as good as your last one it will still be great - looking forward to it

 

[LadyC]

Looking forward to the selfies

 

[snabbu]

Another JustinF trip report cant wait!

 

[love_the_life]

Buckled in and waiting patiently for take off

 

[Justinf]

We'd literally been counting down the days for this trip and with an 11.15am departure from MEL-LAX, I left home at 6.30am and as it was a Saturday, had a good run into A1 Airport Parking where I always park.
Quick shuttle to the check in desk but there was no first check in line, at least as far as I could tell. Never mind, the business line was nonexistent so I just went to that. After a quick check in, I had seat 5K which I also had for my previous two F trips. My upgrade came at around T47 so I was pretty lucky.
I received a call the previous day to book my massage for 9.30am.
I wasn't hungry so decided to imbibe in some chardonnay. My sister was running late and she was flying in Y, but I was still able to guest her in. I left her name at the front desk and sat and waited.
I was getting pretty excited by now. Massage was great, but only 20 minutes and it always leaves you yearning for more.
My sister arrived and immediately had eggs benedict at the restaurant but I still wasn't hungry so just settled for more chardy.

An Emirates bird.




Our ride just pulling in on time.


Ready for the big trip.

 

[JohnM]

BP scanned.

 

[Justinf]

After a nice massage and feeling no pain after some very nice chardonnay, it was time for boarding.
I already knew what to expect in F and with SIS in Y, I asked her to send me a pic in her seat.

Sad face in Y.



Happy face in F.


Flying out at 11.15am is a strange timeslot. You can't win really. Your body doesn't want to sleep, but you know you should.
Fortunately I got up at 4am this morning, went for a run and was feeling quite tired and also quite hungry.
Started off with a pre-departure drink and some olives and nuts.


And some nice legroom.


The hard product for QF F is pretty good. I do like the suite (sweet?) feel.


We took off on time and coming up next, I'll post the F menus as I know how much you all love seeing these.

 

[kermatu]

Love the shirt!

 

[GarrettM]

Love the shirt!

Bloody Spurs shirts. Consistently the only thing wrong with JustinF's otherwise brilliant trip reports.

 

[love_the_life]

Gosh you and your sister don't half look related
I can feel her pain in the back of the plane - did you offer to swap with her?

 

[Justinf]

Gosh you and your sister don't half look related
I can feel her pain in the back of the plane - did you offer to swap with her?

Bwaaaahahahahahahahaha! She's a big girl and has more FF points than I do. She could easily have upgraded to Y+ if she wanted, but is saving them for a European trip. We love each other lots, but she's an adult who can make her own decisions.
However in the next couple of posts I make, I will reveal that I wasn't 100% mean to her. All will be revealed.

 

[Justinf]

Onboard now and feeling like I am going to enjoy the next 14 hours.
Started with a glass of chardy and some canapes.
Now for the F menu which I know you FFers really want to see.

 

[Justinf]

So many choices and only 14 hours to get through as much as I can.
I settled for a glass of Champagne. Now for those who have not read my TRs (shame on you!) you will know that I not a fan of bubbles. It;s not that I don't like it, it's just that I prefer other drinks. I like a cold beer as much as any bloke, but I really love my wines. I just thought that in the spirit of a trip report on this wonderful forum, that I at least had to imbibe in one. Sadly, I can't tell you what it was.


Take off was smooth. I love the A380. It's so big, but she retains her grace in such a dignified way by throttling through the skies so quietly. As soon as the seatbelt sign went off, I swivelled my seat around to the true F position and checked out which movie I would watch.
Of course there was the obligatory person who felt that feet on anything was acceptable.

 

[drron]

Love your style Justin-both travelling and writing.

 

[Justinf]

After the seatbelt sign went off, PJs were handed around. I didn't change into mine for some reason. I just put on a pair of running shorts and kept my football top on.
My table was set and I chose to watch Deepwater Horizon, which I really enjoyed.
I was also enjoying the Leuwin Estate Art Series chardonnay. Who can resist this fine drop? Australia's best chardy? Personally I think so.

I chose the meze plate to start with and it was delicious and paired it with the Leogate Estate The Basin shiraz, a 2014 version.


By now I was very comfy.

For the main meal I couldn't go past the Moroccan roasted lamb with steamed rice. It was superb. I was finding the catering in F very much to my liking so far.



I couldn't fit anything else in, so being the expert F flyer that I now am (cough, splutter!), I thought I'd wait for the signature steak sandwich mid-flight.
I decided on a beer while watching the end of the movie before getting some shuteye.


All snuggled in. Cabin temp was quite hot. I didn't put the PJs on. In fact I woke up several times and eventually took my shirt off. I know that's probably completely unacceptable, but I was sweltering and I figured I was in a private suite. I'm pretty certain nobody saw me (I hope not, it's not a pretty sight).

 

[yld200]

Looking forward to this one Justin