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Aloha Canada!
Nov. 7th, 2003 03:13 amOkay, I must be insane to be posting an entry at this hour, when I really should be sleeping... though I did manage to get probably about an hour or so of sleep on my flight.
But let's start from the beginning: yesterday (Thursday, 6 Nov) I flew from Honolulu to Vancouver for a weeklong vacation... used Aloha Airlines because it gave me the best rate, plus I'd been curious about their long-haul service to begin with. Adding to the perks was that I got to fly on one of Aloha's newest winglet-equipped Boeing 737-700 jets. Here's what the plane looked like (though I don't think the photo is that of the plane I actually flew): http://www.airliners.net/open.file/449848/M
The flight was hardly full... probably only about a third or so. Great for passengers, but I don't think it'll be much of a moneymaker for the airline. Still, that spoiled me quite nicely since I was able to stretch out across all 3 seats of the row (coach class seating is 6 across, 3 on each side of the center aisle). Service was excellent: the airline pretty much performed as advertised:
- Complimentary mai tai (if over 21), if you ask for it
- Inflight meal service (says a lot nowadays considering many airlines have been scaling back on meals)
- Cookies and milk served near the end of the flight
Got into Vancouver pretty much on schedule and got a rental car. Initially I was only planning to get a mid-size car, but got upgraded to an SUV because I'd been balking at whether or not to pay ~C$25 a day for vehicle loss/damage coverage. Normally I would decline this because my insurance and VISA would cover damage to rental cars... however, my insurance does NOT apply to a car I rent while in Canada. (If I had my own car in the U.S. and brought it over to Canada, then the insurance would apply.)
It's a bit chilly over here, temperatures hovering near freezing (literally, around 0C)... which would probably be sub-arctic to someone who never left Hawaii in their life. Actually, now that I think about it, being outdoors here now is/was like being on the top of Haleakala Crater, Maui. Yes, I've packed warm clothing... I got plenty of heads-up from folks who were living here.
But I'm here, I'm safe, and I'm pretty much about ready to zonk out. Will update the trip throughout the next week as time permits...
But let's start from the beginning: yesterday (Thursday, 6 Nov) I flew from Honolulu to Vancouver for a weeklong vacation... used Aloha Airlines because it gave me the best rate, plus I'd been curious about their long-haul service to begin with. Adding to the perks was that I got to fly on one of Aloha's newest winglet-equipped Boeing 737-700 jets. Here's what the plane looked like (though I don't think the photo is that of the plane I actually flew): http://www.airliners.net/open.file/449848/M
The flight was hardly full... probably only about a third or so. Great for passengers, but I don't think it'll be much of a moneymaker for the airline. Still, that spoiled me quite nicely since I was able to stretch out across all 3 seats of the row (coach class seating is 6 across, 3 on each side of the center aisle). Service was excellent: the airline pretty much performed as advertised:
- Complimentary mai tai (if over 21), if you ask for it
- Inflight meal service (says a lot nowadays considering many airlines have been scaling back on meals)
- Cookies and milk served near the end of the flight
Got into Vancouver pretty much on schedule and got a rental car. Initially I was only planning to get a mid-size car, but got upgraded to an SUV because I'd been balking at whether or not to pay ~C$25 a day for vehicle loss/damage coverage. Normally I would decline this because my insurance and VISA would cover damage to rental cars... however, my insurance does NOT apply to a car I rent while in Canada. (If I had my own car in the U.S. and brought it over to Canada, then the insurance would apply.)
It's a bit chilly over here, temperatures hovering near freezing (literally, around 0C)... which would probably be sub-arctic to someone who never left Hawaii in their life. Actually, now that I think about it, being outdoors here now is/was like being on the top of Haleakala Crater, Maui. Yes, I've packed warm clothing... I got plenty of heads-up from folks who were living here.
But I'm here, I'm safe, and I'm pretty much about ready to zonk out. Will update the trip throughout the next week as time permits...
