The Wandering Aramean

Playing arbitrage with points

2009-07-21T18:45:00.001-04:00

Would you be willing to pay about $1000 for a restricted inventory seat in business class between North America and wither Europe or Asia (Japan, China, Korea)? Many folks would leap at that opportunity – the price is phenomenal. Heck, it isn’t always even possible to find coach tickets that that price point. Well, if you’re willing to take a bit of a risk with US Airways right now, such a ticket could be yours.

When the airlines start offering great deals to buy miles outright it always raises a red flag. They are desperate for cash and aren’t particularly afraid to show it. So US Air’s current 2 for 1 promo on buying miles is certainly both tempting and a bit scary. Scary because there is always the risk that you won’t be able to redeem the miles and they go bankrupt and the tickets aren’t honored (a small risk, but a risk nonetheless). And ridiculously tempting because the redemption rates they offer with their partners in Star Alliance are really quite reasonable.

For 80-90,000 miles it is possible to issue a reward for business class between North America and either Asia or Europe. And you can fly on their partners. The likes of Swiss or Austrian to Europe or ANA to Asia come into play in a hurry. Lufthansa or United are options, too. Lots of fun to be had, and all for the low, low price of about $1,000. Oh, and you have to find available seats on those flights. The promo is limited to the first 50,000 miles you buy so don’t plan too many trips, but getting one for that price is really not a bad deal at all.

Sometimes the points game isn’t all that much fun. But right now it has a lot of potential if you’re willing to make a bit of an investment.

Paddling the fjords of Norway (Part 3)

2009-07-20T20:01:00.001-04:00

(Part One | Part Two)

The waterfalls got larger the more we headed inland

The last two days of the trip brought us deeper into the fjordlands. Sure, we had been in fjords of some sort all along, but the last two days were where we made it all the way to the end of the line at Geiranger. The last two days were also where we saw the most waterfalls and the most ships – many of them large cruise ships that seemed ambivalent about running us over on the water. And the last night also brought us to the absolutely most fantastic camp site I’ve ever seen.

The paddling was relatively easy and neither of the last two days required too much exertion on our part. We were rather fortunate to be able to focus on the beauty of the surroundings. Shortly before lunch time we turned the corner into Geirangerfjord. That was the last major navigational point on the trip. We set up for lunch at the dock of a house out on the point with an orchard of sorts. We also made the acquaintance of the guy living there at the time. It still isn’t entirely clear to me whether we were trespassing or not but everyone seemed to be all smiles throughout the meal, though the guy did sit down on the dock and stare at us for the hour that we sat there eating. Maybe it was because he was waiting for his friends who showed up a bit later or maybe it was because we were just that strange. Or maybe both.

The Seven Sisters on the left and Suitor Falls on the right

After lunch we made our way deeper into the fjord and to the base of two of the more impressive sets of waterfalls I’ve ever seen. The Seven Sisters falls (on the left in the picture) are fed from a single stream that splits into seven thin, tall falls. They are about 1000 feet above the fjord and all of them flowing together is pretty amazing. Just across the fjord from the Seven Sisters is Suitor Falls. Legend holds that Suitor is constantly proposing to the seven sisters (though no one is quite sure which of the seven) and he is constantly being rejected. Perhaps it is because he is short and fat (Suitor falls is rather lower and wider) and that doesn’t go over well in a country where they mostly seem to be tall and fit. Or perhaps it is because he seems to just be asking for any of the seven and not wooing a specific one. Or perhaps we spent way too much time drinking and thinking up fun stories about the falls on our last night in camp, though the aquavit was quite refreshing.

We were able to kayak right up to the base of Suitor Falls. Literally. We actually crashed our kayak head-on into the rock at the base. It was pretty cool to be in the center of the fall with water flowing down on both sides, staring up as the rush of water surrounded us. And we didn’t actually cause any damage to the kayak when we ran into the rocks which was an added bonus.

Our campsite the last night of the trip we camped at Blomberg Farm, just inside the fjord from the Seven Sisters falls. The hike up to the farm was somewhat taxing – about 30-45 minutes and rather steep going up. But the exertion was extremely well rewarded. The farm is the highest one in Geirangerfjord and also has the benefit of being literally at the edge of the top of the Seven Sisters falls. A short 10 minute scramble across a few slippery rocks and we were standing at the edge of the water, several hundred meters above the fjord. The roar of the water passing by was incredible, as were the views back down into the fjord and across to Suitor Falls on the other side.

Looking down from the upper falls

Suitor Falls, as seen from Blomberg Farm

Another cruise ship entering the fjord, being watched by the Viking mask rock formation in the wall

There was plenty of drama with getting up to Blomberg Farm. They had a winch/lift system in place that we attempted to use to get our camping supplies up to the site. It was a rather strenuous hike and not carrying our gear would have made it way better. Sadly, the winch broke. We managed to get one load of stuff up on it but no more. The good news is that nothing was lost but the bad news is that there was no way I was going to repeat that hike unless absolutely necessary. Fortunately I had packed most of our stuff into a backpack myself and carried it up so we were OK for bedding and whatnot but we did need dinner still. The guides and a couple others made a second trip (and finished another bottle of Jack Daniels, I believe) and we managed to get everything up to the camp. They called in reinforcements for the hike down – more employees from the company came out to help – and we managed to enjoy our last night with some great food, beautiful views, a few bottles of wine and booze and got a great story out of it as a bonus.

The last morning we hiked back down to the dock, loaded up and began the last segment of the journey – the paddle into Geiranger. I’m not really much of a fan of Geiranger. It exists essentially because the cruise ships like to come in there to show off the fjord. And the ships anchor and tender their passengers over to shore and the people get out and shop in the tchotchke shops along the main drag. But there is nothing particularly redeeming about the town. The good news is that we didn’t have to spend too much time there. We ducked into the grocery to pick up some lunch (and a beer for me) and hopped in the van for the drive back to Ålesund.

The trip could not have been better if we tried. There was some exhaustion and some frustration at points but that just made the other bits better. The weather was wonderfully cooperative and the people we met and shared the trip with were great. Most of all, the scenery was unparalleled. I shot over 1000 photos and probably would have taken a ton more if I hadn’t been paddling and worried about dropping my camera into the fjord. Plus even with some extras purchased just for the trip I didn’t have a ton of memory cards with me. Still, it was unparalleled beauty out there, an experience that I cannot recommend highly enough. The rest of the published photos are here. If you haven’t seen them yet you really should.

Paddling the fjords of Norway (Part 2)

2009-07-17T18:31:00.002-04:00

(Part one | Part Three)

The farm buildings. Yes, that is grass on the roof for insulation.

After a relaxing 24 hours at the Ytste Skotet farm it was time to head back out on to the water. It was good to be paddling again, working up an appetite for our next meal and otherwise enjoying the beautiful weather that Norway was providing us.

The paddling on day three was not particularly strenuous. We only had to go an hour or so, just across the fjord and around the corner to find our way to the next stopping point. That meant lots more time to explore and – for a few of the folks on the trip – a chance to go fishing. The fishing was rather unlike anything I’ve ever seen previously. The lines weren’t baited. They were simply unwound off the back of the kayak and then the folks fishing would paddle a few hundred yards through the fjord and reel it in to see what was hooked. Oh, and they managed to drink a bottle of Jack Daniels, too.

One of the two fishing pairs was more successful than the other. In a big way. At the end of the efforts the score was 8-0 in terms of fish caught, with a single line pulling in 5 fish at one point. That was much more luck than anything else, it turns out. Three of those five were not hooked through the mouth. Either way, they were definitely delicious, filleted right there on the rocks and then grilled over an open fire. It was among the freshest fish I’ve ever had and it was wonderful.

Jeromy shows off his eight-fingered fish gloves.

The other effect of filleting the fish on the shore near the campsite was that we were treated to a show from the many seagulls that came along to help clean up. Watching them swoop in and fight over the scraps was quite entertaining.

Fighting over fish guts

Taking time out to relax and reflect

This kid was having fun playing on the dock in Stranda

After yet another beautiful night of camping it was on to the town of Stranda to reload our supplies. We were up early – too early as it turns out. Stranda is a quiet little town with a few houses and a ferry terminal and not much else. Well, it does have a couple grocery stores, a post office and a liquor store. Maybe it isn’t so bad after all. We stocked up at the grocery (the guides on fresh fruits and veggies, me on chocolates and candy) and then wandered next door to stock up on the more critical bottled supplies. It was just before 10am and the liquor store didn’t open until 11am. Fortunately we had a contingency plan for this scenario – wait. Having exhausted the entirety of our supply of booze (the bottle of vodka during dinner at the farm and the Jack Daniels during the fishing) it was declared that waiting to get more booze was more important than getting back out on the water. Shortly after 11am we collectively had about a case of hooch (red & white wine, scotch, vodka, aquavit and probably some more, too) loaded up in the kayaks and we were back out on the water and headed on.

Day four also happened to be the longest paddle day of the trip. Maybe it was because we kept believing Brian when he said that the campsite was just past the next point or maybe it is because it was the first day where we had to deal with rain (just a tiny bit of drizzle) or maybe it was simply because we were getting tired. But that was a long day of paddling. The good news is that we had plenty of booze to celebrate with when we made it to camp.

The clouds rolled in, but that just made the mountain views more impressive

Sure, it was cloudy, but our campsite still had spectacular views

Like the previous nights, the views from camp were simply outstanding. The fjords make for great backdrops and the failed to disappoint at any moment during the trip.

Looking down from our campsite on night 4

That’s all for part two of the trip. Part three should be online shortly. In the meantime, there are a ton more pictures here to keep you busy.

Paddling the fjords of Norway (Part 1)

2009-07-16T19:55:00.004-04:00

The grand plans for our summer vacation this year had one main focus: kayaking on the fjords of Norway. A good friend of ours had done a similar trip a few years back and both the photos and stories she’s shared were unbelievably amazing. I say unbelievable because they really seemed that way. And then we went over to Norway and did it ourselves. Now I absolutely believe her and know that she wasn’t exaggerating even the tiniest bit in describing just how amazing the trip was. I believe, and I now get to try to make others believers, too.

The trip we booked was a 6 day, 5 night kayaking and camping adventure. We covered about 100 kilometers across the 6 days – some days as many as 25 and some days as few as 5 – setting up camp along the way on some pretty amazing patches of grass in what certainly qualifies as Top 5 in the most beautiful surroundings I’ve spent time. Even better, we got to do it with 10 other folks with whom we quickly became friends. It was an amazing journey and not without a bit of extra sweat and exertion to make it so.

Out into the water on day 1

The western fjords of Norway run pretty much the entire coast. Our trip with Coastal Odyssey focused on the Geiranger fjord and the Sunnmøre Alps. The trip began in Ålesund – quite a nice town, really; more on that in a future post – with a bit of drama. Sure, we had read the packing list. We planned, purchased and planned some more. And then we packed everything into a bag and schlepped it through Denmark on the way to Ålesund. And then we met Brian and Jimmy, our guides for the trip. They handed us each two dry bags and simply said, “Make it fit.” Easier said than done, to be certain. We rather quickly determined which items absolutely needed to be dry through the trip and which we could risk a bit of splashing with. And we learned that with two people squeezing and pushing a dry bag can be made smaller than it seemed possible. We left things behind at the starting point and otherwise manipulated our packing but we eventually managed to make it all fit. We even managed to jam it all into the kayak somehow, along with some of the food and other “common” supplies that we’d be using through the week. And with a shove from behind we were off onto the water. Yippeeee!

The skies were blue and the water was crystal clear. The wind was at our back. Everything was simply great. Being out on the water with nothing but the sound of the paddle pulling through the water was incredibly calming and wonderful.

One of the goats we met on the island where we lunched day one.

Day one was a pretty long paddle – about 20 kilometers – and we spent a long time out on the water. It felt good to be out moving and we made great time on the water, no doubt thanks to the wind. Before we knew it we had made it to our lunch stop and then, after a few more hours of paddling, to our campsite for the first night.

The meals were certainly camping food but the veggies were fresh (hard not to be on the first day) and the we settled in to share some stories and otherwise chat as the evening rolled on. And then the bad news came. Brian had been reviewing the weather forecast and the tide charts and our routing for day two. There is one stretch of water where the currents get tricky and if we don’t time it right we’d never make the pass. Unfortunately, to time it right meant leaving the campground no later than 5:30am. That put us up for a 3:30am wake-up call. On vacation. Ouch.

The good news about the 3:30am wake-up was that it was bright daylinght out when we woke up so I didn't really notice just how early it was and we were pretty much done paddling by noon. We had arrived at our day two campsite and had a ton of time to spare, exploring the grounds of Ytste Skotet, an historic farmhouse that is now operated as a museum. The site has been inhabited since the turn of the last milennium (yup – over 1000 years) and the oldest current building dates back to the 1700s. They do real farming there (though they also have to import some goods because of the number of folks passing through) and they have kids come out to play and live on the farm as part of a summer camp experience. The kids learn all about life on the farm, from chopping wood (yes, they give 7-year olds axes to play with) to where their meat comes from (at the end of the summer the kids are around when the pigs are slaughtered for the following year’s meat supplies). They also cook up some pretty delicious local foods and were incredibly hospitable to us. There was a small stream running through the farm and a pool just off the edge of the farm house where we were able to rinse off in fresh water. The water was cold but certainly refreshing.

One of the kids hanging out at the farmhouse the night we were there

The farmland surrounding the house covers about 750 acres, with fields and trails to go along with the historical buildings. We certainly had no trouble finding ways to spend our time. And we had plenty of time. Thanks once again to the tides we weren’t actually leaving until the following afternoon. We had a full 24 hours off from paddling to explore.

One of many fields of flowers on the farm

This is about as close as it got to sunset while we were in Norway. It was light out non-stop!

The view from the outhouse. Not too shabby.

Looking back down at the fjord across the field of flowers

That’s all for the first couple days of the trip. There are a ton more pictures here, part 2 of the tale is here, and part 3 is here.

Around town in Copenhagen

2009-07-15T11:47:00.001-04:00

Of the 72 hours we spent “in” Copenhagen a surprisingly large amount was actually spent in the surrounding towns, not the city itself. That is certainly a shame in many ways as the city has a ton to offer for visitors. Plus, it is reasonably compact, easy to navigate and ridiculously well served by mass transit options, making exploration both simple and rewarding. Among the highlights that we got to experience...

Climbing to the top of Vor Freslers Kirke: The spire extending up from the top of the church has an external staircase wrapping around it. Walking up on the outside that high above the ground was certainly exhilarating. And the views of Copenhagen were hard to beat; the top of the spire is the second highest point in town. It is a lot of stairs, some inside and some out, with low overheads and generally an all around “exciting” climb. But absolutely worth it. They also play music from the church bells on the hour through most of the day so you can try to time your climb to match that if you want.
Drink on the Nyhavn: The Nyhavn is the new canal, built in the 1670s to provide access to the central part of town for ships. Then it was a red-light district, complete with rundown bars, tattoo parlors, flop houses and brothels. Now it has been gentrified and is filled with overpriced restaurants and bars as well as a few hotels. So while I wouldn’t recommend spending a ton of time there, the people watching does make for an enjoyable couple hours. Head to the Magasin du Nord around the corner and take a BYOB approach to save a few bucks on the drinking part of the afternoon.
Wander Tivoli Gardens: This one is somewhat hard to recommend because the admission price (DKK120, ~USD$25) is rather high. Still, the gardens are quite amazing to meander through. Apparently the climate in Scandinavia is perfect for growing roses – they were pretty much everywhere we turned – and Tivoli Gardens is no exception. They had huge displays throughout the park, mixed in between rides and restaurants. I have no idea if the restaurants were any good. A few were recommended but the price point was above my comfort zone. And I'm pretty sure you had to pay for admission to the park first to even get to the restaurants which adds to the crazy costs. But wandering the grounds and enjoying the gardens is definitely a beautiful way to spend some time.

There are plenty of other things to do in Copenhagen, too. There are a ton of museums and enough to see that one could easily spend a full 3-4 days and not cover it all. Pretty much any direction you wander you're bound to run into something beautiful (and I'm not just talking about the locals).

Gogo expands pricing options

2009-07-14T21:48:00.001-04:00

While I love the concept of Aircell’s gogo in-flight internet service, I never really felt that the pricing made much sense. It is too expensive on the shorter flights and since the vast majority of passengers are connecting the costs could really get out of hand in a hurry. Aircell appears to have seen the light a bit and has announced a couple different alternate pricing options since the initial $13/$10 launch point.

The latest pricing option seems to be a change for the $13 version. Previously it was offered for flights greater than three hours in duration. It is now being reported that as of July 15th the $13 option will be a 24-hour day pass. That is great for folks with connections, day-trips or other similar schedules who will have multiple flights in a single day. There is also the $50 monthly option that is available on either Delta or Virgin America. Not sure why they can’t make the monthly good on all their systems regardless of the carrier but I’m willing to bet it has something to do with who gets paid how much for the subscription.

Both of these options, along with the $8 mobile device option are moving very much in the right direction of reasonable pricing for the service. Hopefully the downward pressure on the pricing will continue and it will become a more reasonable opportunity. Or I’ll just continue to read books on my Kindle (which I love) while listening to music that I bring on-board. I do like the down time quite a bit.

Hot nights on the Nyhavn - A review of the 71 Nyhavn Hotel

2009-07-14T09:22:00.001-04:00

Finding a hotel in Copenhagen was a challenge that I was not particularly excited by. The rooms were generally a bit more expensive than not and that was exacerbated by the fact that the US dollar still carries a rather poor exchange rate with most of western Europe. Still, when I stumbled across the Hotel 71 Nyhavn I was quite enamored with it. The hotel is situated right at the end of the the “new canal” that was built in the 1670s and is housed in two converted warehouses. The reviews online were somewhat mixed – typical complaints of small, hot rooms that one generally finds when reading reviews of European hotels from Americans not used to that style. Plus, the weather forecast that I had seen for Copenhagen had high temperatures in the 70s so the warmth wouldn’t be a problem. The rate was within our budget (for a basic room without breakfast included) so I booked away and hoped for the best.

The view of the canal from the back patio of the 71 Nyhavn Hotel (along with some supplies picked up from the Magasin du Nord around the corner)

The location was truly wonderful. It is a quick 5 minute walk over to the Magasin du Nord department store (one of the largest in Scandinavia) and the associated metro and bus stations that can easily get you to anywhere in town rather quickly. The proximity to Magasin also gave us easy access to alternate dining options that saved us quite a bit of cash on breakfasts and one dinner. In the other direction we found ourselves right on the canal, with easy access to the ferries that ran up and down the main canal.

We even managed to score an upgrade to a Junior Suite, either thanks to dumb luck or that I noted we were celebrating our anniversary in the comments field of the reservation. The room was located up on the 5th floor and looked out onto a side street and the Nyhavn. As a converted warehouse and in keeping with the Scandinavian design aesthetic the rooms were somewhat sparse, with exposed wood beams. Being near the top of the hotel we even had the pleasure of a slight angle in the ceiling of our room near the couch. I was quite impressed with the room and the hotel and convinced that all the negative reviews were just plain wrong. And then night set in.

Unfortunately, because of the design of the hotel, there is very little air flow in the rooms. There is no central ventilation so the only real option is the window. And thanks to the very well sealed entry door there is no reasonable means to create a draft in the room to get the air circulating. Combining this with a bit of a heat wave that saw high temperatures spike into the upper 80s and our window facing westerly into the sun at its hottest time of day and our room became a bit of a sauna in a hurry. We had kept the window open but closed the blackout curtains and those seemed to also block the air flow while letting the noise from the Nyhavn drift up and into the room. Not good. I actually crawled over to the window and slept on the floor for a couple hours because it was a touch cooler there but not really enough to quell the sweating and general lack of comfort in the room.

The view of the Nyhavn canal from our room on the 5th floor

We got a small fan from the front desk and left the blackout curtains open the following two nights, opting to use our own eye masks and earplugs instead. That definitely got around the heat and noise issues and I was able to sleep in the bed and actually enjoy the room quite a bit. But that first night was rather brutal.

Otherwise the hotel was really quite wonderful. The style and decor were right up my alley in the “boutique” genre and the location was absolutely top notch unless you are doing business near Tivoli Gardens and really want to be right there. But even if that is the case it is only about a 20 minute walk to the gardens and I think that the Nyhavn neighborhood is much more pleasant to spend any reasonable amount of time in. As long as you’re able to secure a fan from the front desk or Copenhagen isn’t in the middle of a heat wave the Hotel Nyhavn 71 is definitely worth considering as a base for exploring the city.

Dining in Copenhagen: The good, the bad and the best alternative for a summer dinner

2009-07-13T09:05:00.000-04:00

I have no problems with paying a sizable sum of cash for a truly delicious meal. At the same time, however, I’m not particularly into paying $400-500/person for dinner, nor am I a fan of paying $100/person for blah food. Unfortunately, much of the dining in Copenhagen fits into one of these two categories – outrageously expensive or mediocre (at best) food. That proved challenging to deal with during our three nights in town, but we managed to get by while experiencing a broad spectrum of the options available and not going broke in the process.

A kid enjoying an ice cream cone one afternoon in Copenhagen

First off, the bad. Our hotel was on the Nyhavn, a truly tourist district just across from the opera house. The quarter-mile long strip used to house Copenhagen’s red light district, with brothels and tattoo parlors along the sides of the canal. The storefronts have now converted to a couple dozen restaurants, bars and ice cream shops along the uneven, paving stone drag. And I suppose a few of them might have offered up good food or a reasonable value but we didn’t manage to find that. We did find a $5 scoop of ice cream that was OK and plenty of $12 beers. And we found a place that had a reasonable seafood salad and hamburger, but there is no way that the meal was worth the $85 that it cost. The food wasn’t particularly bad but the value certainly was. So dining on the Nyhavn was pretty much off the list for us, though hundreds of others didn’t seem to mind the mediocrity that it offered based on the crowds we saw. Indeed, I think that having it revert to its previous use might actually be a better use of the space, though that is a different story. And it seemed that dining around Tivoli Gardens was simply asking for more of the same so we were forced to search farther afield for a reasonable meal.

That search led to the Internet (of course) and then to an interesting concept restaurant called Madklubben (translated version here). The restaurant is a couple years old and takes after the typical Danish style of a menu offering a prix fixe menu rather than a la carte dining. But unlike most of the other good restaurants in town the price points on the Madklubben menu were very much in the $50-75/person range rather than the $300/person range. Toss in a bottle of wine from the rather broad wine list and the meal came out to about $200 for the two of us but I was much happier paying that price for the food we got than the Nyhavn meal the previous night. The menu seems to change roughly monthly so there is always something different to try should you go back again.

Our meal at Madklubben was a three course affair meaning that we tasted six different items between the two of us. The smoked herring appetizer was delicious and typically Danish. The broiled bone marrow was plentiful and served with a nice pesto sauce spread that was quite tasty. For main courses we had a pork belly and a brine-cooked beef. Both were quite delicious, with the beef approaching corned beef in flavor and the pork juicy and savory. And then we had the cheese plate and the ice cream with summer berries. It is hard for me to say definitively that any one of the items served was particularly a huge stand out winner and the meal wasn’t the best of my life by any stretch, but the food was all very well prepared and at the end of the night I didn’t feel any disdain or annoyance when the bill came. Oh, and the restaurant had a full-size plastic moose with a lamp sticking out of the head in the entryway which was quite entertaining.

And then there is the best alternative we could come up with for dining – DIY! We were fortunate that our hotel was very close to the Magasin du Nord, the largest department store in Copenhagen. And inside the store, on the bottom floor, there is a grocery, a deli, a coffee shop and a bakery. The bakery and coffee shop served as a great alternative to the $30/person breakfast in the hotel and we managed to put together a quite respectable dinner on our last night in Copenhagen with a quick tour through the aisles of the grocery. A block of cheese, a baguette, some sliced meats, some smoked herring, some grapes and a bottle of wine were more than enough to sate us and it was incredibly affordable. We borrowed some flatware from the hotel restaurant, took our food out to the waterfront at the end of the canal and had a fantastic picnic while watching the traffic pass by on the water and the people pass by on land. All in all, a great alternative to the high priced options of dining in Copenhagen.

And, if you dare, there are always the hotdogs.

Continental “enhances” their elite upgrade policies. Again.

2009-07-12T13:45:00.001-04:00

Continental is rather well know for announcing “enhancements” to their OnePass program that are nothing of the sort. This most recent change that they announced doesn’t quite hit that level but it certainly leaves a lot of unanswered questions out there with respect to just how they are able to manage their upgrade inventory and the yields that they are seeing on ticket sales. Sadly for them the answer doesn’t seem good for either of those categories. And sadly for the very frequent flyers in the OnePass program this has translated into what I see as a downgrade for the vast majority of the customers, in the guise of an “enhancement” to the system.

This most recent change follow on a change made in January. Back then Continental expanded their “instant upgrade” program to cover not only the Y fares (the most expensive coach fares) but also the B fares (the second most expensive bucket). These upgrades were available as long as there was a seat in the forward cabin available for sale so access to them was not too difficult except for very close to the date of departure on a couple specific routes (namely EWR-SFO and EWR-LAX). And since the B fares were most commonly the lowest refundable fares available many customers were suddenly getting first class seats for buying their refundable fares where they previously were in coach on those same fares, at least until the other upgrade routines kicked in closer to the date of travel.

So this program reduced the amount of F seats Continental had available to sell and that was a problem. Clearly the solution is to scale back the free instant upgrades on the B fares – an easy enough thing to do – but Continental also doesn’t want to annoy any customers at this point since they are not really making all that money anyways and losing customers would make things even worse. So how to proceed? They’ve increased the availability of instant upgrades for their top-tier elites while reducing them for all elites. That’s right. They’ve both increased and decreased the availability of instant upgrade seats at the same time, even for the same customers in some cases.

Instant upgrades are now available for Platinum elites (top tier) who purchase M fares (third highest fare bucket), in addition to the Y and B fares. That is a net increase. But for all elites the upgrades for B and M fares now come from a much more limited fare bucket. So instead of being available as long as any revenue seat in the front cabin is for sale the instant upgrades now track on one of the reward inventory buckets. It is hard to know just how much this new limitation will actually limit access to seats up front but on its face it seems to be a net negative across the board for folks who are buying the cheapest refundable fare and ho have previously been upgraded immediately at that point.

It is almost certainly better for Continental as they can limit access to the instant upgrade bucket on the routes where they really want to be selling more first class seats, such as the transcon routes noted above. And in many cases those transcons feed into trans-Atlantic routes where the premiums paid to sit up front are even higher except that when there are no front cabin seats available to sell Continental loses that business to competitors.

But is it really better for the customer? At first blush the answer seems to be a bit mixed. Sure, another fare bucket that gets the instant upgrades is a great thing, but the overall reduction of instant upgrade inventory seems to work against that benefit, especially for the Silver and Gold elites who don’t even get the extra upgrades on the M fares.

There is also the issue of their implementation. The change was made in their systems on Friday, the same day that it was announced. Except that instead of only implementing it for the domestic routes where the instant upgrades are typically available they managed to make instant upgrades an option for ALL flights booked in the M bucket, even the longest of the long-haul flights. Want to fly to Hong Kong up front? The M fares are in the $1,500-2,000 range depending on where you are starting from and they indicate that there are instant upgrades available. Of course, these flights are not actually eligible for such upgrades but Continental made a similar mistake when they made the change for B fare upgrades back in January and ended up honoring at least some of those upgrades for free so this has the potential to cost them a bit of money. It is particularly strange that they managed to make the same mistake twice in a row; you’d think that they would learn from prior mistakes. Apparently they didn’t. At least they’ve finally recognized that they did make an error and fixed the website. Now to clean up the mess…

Cruising on the slow boat to Oslo

2009-07-08T08:10:00.000-04:00

It should hardly be surprising that travel between the Scandinavian countries is very much a nautical affair. The coastlines are enormous and water is truly integrated into the daily life of the vast majority of folks in the region. And so getting between Copenhagen and Oslo can be done either by hopping on one of the many daily flights between the two capital cities or by cruising with DFDS Seaways on one of their ships plying the waters between the two countries. There is a daily sailing in each direction that takes about 16.5 hours. It is certainly not the fastest way to get between Copenhagen and Oslo, nor is it necessarily the cheapest or the most luxurious. But it is probably the most relaxing and certainly it is an enjoyable way to cover the distance.

The amenities on board the ship are typical of most cruise liners, albeit not quite as involved as the mega-ships of the Caribbean. Yes, there is a sun deck, duty-free shopping, a night club, a discotheque and a few restaurants. But there are no swimming pools, ice skating rinks, rock climbing walls or midnight buffets. The ship carries cars in addition to people which limits the number of passengers a bit but there are still about a thousand folks on board enjoying the crossing. And they seem to be a typical distribution that you’d find on any cruise (at least the few I’ve been on). There are families, a slightly higher percentage of older folks and the random collection of guys that seem to be straight out of central casting as “Jersey Guidos” though I’m not entirely sure where they find those guys in Denmark. There was even the random guy who just walked by at 8am with one open beer and about four more rolled up in his shirt; I hope he realizes that they won’t go bad if he doesn’t drink them all this morning.

The ship sets off at 5pm from the ferry terminal in Copenhagen, plenty late that you get a full day for your last day in Denmark. And it arrives in Oslo at 9:30am, just after the morning rush. In between the coastlines of Denmark, Sweden and Norway are the views off the deck of the ship, scrolling by at about 20 miles/hour. Yes, it is a much slower means of transportation than flying, but it is worth it to take a bit of pause in a hurried life of travel.

The arrival onto the coast of Norway is a rather stark change from the Danish coastline. Sure, most of Denmark that you see is part of the capital city area while the Norwegian coast is decidedly unpopulated a a similar distance from Oslo. And that is also part of the allure of this region of the country. Shrouded in a morning fog there are small islands and towns with a few dozen homes carved into the wooded hills of the coast. Truly rather beautiful.

We’ll arrive in port in another hour or so, back to the hustle and bustle of city life for a few hours before heading back out of town and off to the west coast of Norway and the centerpiece of this trip – the fjords.

A decidedly craptacular photo of the moon and its reflection on the sea.

Hmmm…interesting juxtaposition.

Note: This post is showing up a couple days later than it actually happened because I’m off in the middle of nowhere enjoying the fjords but didn’t want to leave the blog empty all week.

The love of the hotdog in Copenhagen

2009-07-07T10:30:00.001-04:00

One of the bits of advice I received in my planning for the trip to Copenhagen was to “try the hotdogs.” I was assured that they were a great way to get a relatively inexpensive meal (though it truly is relative – they are $5-8 each on the street). And it was suggested that they were really quite delicious. Well, I’ve had the hotdog, and it was definitely less expensive than most every other meal option. But I’m not entirely sure that “delicious” is the word I’d use to describe them. Maybe it is my fault because I ordered the wrong one. But at that price I wasn’t going to try the full range of choices they had. Or maybe it is just that the hotdogs are strange there and I had no business ordering one in the first place. Perhaps I’ll never know.

The hot dog carts are scattered about in the touristy areas of town but not on every street corner or even in most of the squares that we passed through. Perhaps that should have been a hint that it wasn’t meant to be. In fact, I had to eat an extra meal that day and go out of my way to find a hotdog cart because there weren’t any around each time we went to eat. Or, perhaps I should have taken the closure of one of the more written about hotdog options – the Grill at Nimb in Tivoli Gardens – as a hint; even the relatively expensive $10 versions there weren’t enough to keep them in business using quality ingredients so how good could the cheap ones be?

Still, when I showed up at the kiosk near Nyhavn I was reasonably impressed with the selections available on the grill and forged ahead with my plans to dine on these delicacies.

The guy in front of me in line ordered and was served and then it was my turn. I certainly could say the name of the version I wanted in Danish – it was “Frankfurter.” The woman working the cart asked what I wanted on it and I went with the “everything” approach. Perhaps a mistake there, but I was trying to experience the true Copenhagen hotdog and toppings didn’t seem like a place to skimp. I handed over my 30 Kronor and I received back this behemoth, virtually impossible to eat without making a complete mess of myself, especially since I was trying to do so while walking.

I found a quiet place to stop and try to eat this thing. That only helped a tiny bit in the mess department. The dog was twice as long as the bun and the bun did nothing to contain the toppings on the sides. The skin was a bit crunchy – I actually like that in general as it shows the grilled nature of the dog rather than boiled like one gets in New York City – but that also made it harder to eat because it “bounced back” each time I bit in, shaking a few of the toppings loose.

I made it through about half the dog before finally giving up, licking my wounds (and fingers, hands and forearms) and making my way back to the hotel to grab our bags and head to the ferry terminal for the ride to Oslo. I had most certainly been defeated by the hotdogs of Copenhagen and there was nothing I could do about it.

Hanging out with Hamlet in Helsingor

2009-07-06T05:00:00.000-04:00

One thing that Europe doesn’t struggle with is castles to tour. From the heart of Prague to the chateaux in France to the ridiculous number of fortified structures in the Irish countryside, there seems to always be a castle available when you’re looking for something historical to see. Denmark is no different with well preserved castles all over the country. There are a few right in and around Copenhagen that make for great visits when in the area. One of these is Kronborg Castle at Helsingør, home of the King, Queen and – in Shakespeare’s mind – Hamlet.

The courtyard of Kronborg Castle

Hamlet does not really exist in history so claiming that the castle is his home is rather off. But there definitely is a royal castle there and it setting works quite well for telling the tale. Plus, it makes for good business with drawing tourists to the site. The Danes have readily adopted Hamlet into their lore and are happy to tell his tale in Helsingør as long as you’re willing to show up.

Helsingør is about 40 kilometers north of Copenhagen, an easy ride of about 55 minutes on the train from one city center to the other. The castle Kronborg is just a short walk outside of downtown Helsingør and is easily accessible to take a tour or simply to wander around the grounds and bask in the glow of royalty. In fact, large parts of the castle grounds do not have any access controls or admission charges. There were a large number of folks simply taking advantage of the well groomed lawns as a site for their picnics and other summer fun. Certainly it is possible to get a good feel for the castle this way, but to truly experience it takes buying in for at least one of the three tours that they offer.

Of the three tours offered the most enjoyable and focused on the history of the castle is that of the Royal Apartments. As it would seem, the tour covers the residential areas of the castle including the royal chambers, guest facilities and the great hall that is still used even today for some royal events. It is also available to rent if you’re throwing a party, though I have no idea just how ridiculous the rates are. There are occasional guided tours of the Royal Apartments and we were fortunate enough to stumble onto one. Having explanations of the history certainly was better than simply walking through the rooms and seeing old furniture and whatnot.

There are plenty of placards around if a guided tour doesn’t seem to be in the cards, but the guided tour is definitely recommended. Taking the guided tour exposes you to such details as the fact that King Christian IV had “seven children by his first wife, eleven by his second wife and five on the loose.” So maybe half the fun of the guided tour is the translations but it was still rather useful information about the history of the castle.

A close-up of one of the tapestries. The level of detail is truly amazing.

The highlight for me of the Royal Apartments tour was the tapestries. They are incredibly detailed and ridiculously large. Some took four years to produce while others were made with threads of silk, silver and gold (that one is rather smaller). The fact that 500 years later they still show much of the same vibrancy and color is truly impressive.

Another impressive bit from the Royal Apartments was the globes they had on display. There are a couple that are about 500 years old and are not completely accurate but certainly give a great insight into how the sailors of that era navigated. Even with the less that perfect maps they seemed to do a pretty good job.

One of the 500 year old globes that they had on display. Truly amazing!


Looking down on the courtyard from the tower in the Maritime Museum.	Looking out through one of the leaded glass windows in the tower stairs.

In addition to the Royal Apartments there are two other sections of the castle that require a paid admission. One is the maritime museum. There is a bit of older history there but most of that museum seems to be a display of random models of ships. They are pretty neat but not all that compelling, particularly as many of them are from the modern shipping era. But the Maritime Museum tour does include access to one of the towers of Kronborg. I’m actually convinced that the only reason to pay for admission to the Maritime Museum is to gain access to that tower – the views from up top are pretty amazing. That, or you’re a big fan of Maersk and their history as a shipping company.

The statue of Holger, the basis of the Casements tour.

The other – and most strange – tour available at the castle is of the Casements. The Casements are essentially the damp, dank, dark basement of the castle. The folks running the show have purposefully kept the casements dark. As in black-out level. I actually used the flash on my camera to light up various areas along the way or I don’t think I would have been able to make it through. Of course they are happy to sell you a flashlight/torch as you enter the basement but it is very, very dark without a light. More than just dark, it is really rather strange. The entire area is set up as a tribute to the legend of Holger the Dane. The walls contain messages written in silver paint that tell the story of Holger, a great defender of Danish life and tradition. Still, without a light it is almost impossible to figure out what the hell is going on or otherwise enjoy the exhibit. Even with a light it still seems a rather strange way to experience the Casements, an area that has housed hundreds of soldiers at various times throughout history.

Beyond the Kronborg Castle there is really little else to recommend Helsingør. There is the church and a few other shops. And there is their single largest industry – selling booze to Swedes who come across to save money on the taxes. But otherwise Helsingør is pretty much just the town that holds Kronborg. Not a bad thing by any stretch, but don’t plan on seeing a lot of other things during the visit unless you head over to Sweden, too.

Note: This post is showing up a couple days later than it actually happened because I’m off in the middle of nowhere enjoying the fjords but didn’t want to leave the blog empty all week.

Random bonus country time – Sweden!

2009-07-03T03:44:00.001-04:00

Our trip to Scandinavia was supposed to only really cover two countries – Denmark and Norway. Still, when I learned that we were going to be visiting a friend of my wife’s up in Helsingør, Denmark – just a 20 minute ferry ride across the way from Helsingbor, Sweden – I became somewhat hopeful of adding that to the trip. That hope was realized yesterday as we headed over to Sweden on the ferry for lunch and to wander around for a couple hours.

One of the many ferries serving the Helsingborg/Helsingor route.

The ferry ride between Helsingør and Helsingbor is quick, cheap and easy, with three different companies plying the route and ferries running several times per hour. And at less than $10 for a return ticket the ferry is actually one of the more affordable things in Denmark. We hopped on Scandlines’s ship Hamlet (cute, right?) and cruised across the sunny calm waters and docked in Sweden about 20 minutes later.

Entry into Sweden consisted of just walking off the boat. No immigration checks. No customs. Nothing. Even if we had wanted someone to check out our passports or if we had taxable items on which we needed to pay duty that would not have been possible as those desks were not manned at the terminal. So we successfully invaded Sweden. We then set off to wander about downtown Helsingborg and grab some lunch.

Locals enjoying the beach near the ferry terminal in Helsingborg, Sweden.

Helsingborg, Sweden is a much prettier town than Helsingør, Denmark so wandering around was rather more enjoyable. The shopping areas seemed to be a bit more upscale rather than focusing entirely on selling alcohol to Swedes who cross over to Denmark to avoid taxes on their booze (truly the backbone of Helsingr’s economy). There are also the typical tourist sites, including the 500 year old church and remnants from an old castle. Both are quite well done, actually, and worth wandering over to see.


The only remaining bit from the castle at Helsingborg.	A rose out in front of the medieval church. Lots of roses all over the region.

One of the many shops in the shopping area of Helsingborg

We also dropped in to the local Italian restaurant for a surprisingly good lunch. My preferred choice was not available and so I ended up with a curried shrimp over pasta, decidedly un-Italian but still rather delicious. And the carbonara was pretty delicious. As an added bonus, I also got to sample the local beer, a lager by the name of Spendrups. Nothing to write home about, but it certainly qualified as cold, wet and beer, three things that I needed at that point.

Overall I must say that Helsingborg is definitely worth the visit. It is a fun, quaint town and has more to offer than Helsingør, assuming that you’re not looking for Hamlet’s castle. Plus it meant that I got another new country on this trip which is always a good thing!

Another failed effort to grow my passport

2009-07-02T04:12:00.001-04:00

With my rather increased international travel schedule (10+ countries
so far this year) my passport has filled up quickly. I'm down to only
one fully blank page now and only about 10 total blank squares. But
that shouldn't be too much of a problem to resolve since getting extra
pages is a simple process. At least that's what folks would have you
believe. I'm now on my 4th different US embassy and have still not
managed to grow my passport, with the latest setback coming this
morning.

It used to be that having pages added while in the USA cost money
while doing it at an embassy abroad was free. The fees no longer exist
for doing it in the USA but it still requires that the passport be
mailed off the Philly, processed and mailed back. And if you want it
handled quickly there is an expedite fee involved. Otherwise there is
the potential to be without passport for weeks rather than just a week
with the expedited service. Getting it done at an embassy makes a ton
of sense since it usually is completed in about 30 minutes and has
always been free.

And so I've tried to get additional pages at the embassy. How hard
could it be? Fill out the form from the State Department website and
just head over to the embassy first thing in the morning to get it
done. Sadly, it just hasn't worked out that way for me. A number of my
international trips this year have been over weekends so those were
immediately disqualified from contention, but I've had plenty of
eligible trips that have simply ended in disappointment.

First was the trip to Panama back in March. I contacted the embassy in
advance, got all the details and paperwork and then realized that I
had no chance. They require a full day for processing according to
their email and I only had about 3 hours on Monday morning to deal
with it. I suppose I could have just shown up and asked but it didn't
seem likely so I didn't bother. Plus, we were busy seeing Casco Viejo
that morning anyways.

Next up I tried for Bermuda. I had plenty of time on the island - two
full weekdays. And still no love. Their policy is even worse than that
of Panama, with all requests taking a full week to process. Apparently
they mail them back to the USA for processing rather than doing it
locally. Plus, they don't have any parking at the consulate there and
it isn't exactly in the middle of town. So that one was out, too.

I had a glimmer of hope for this visit to Copenhagen. The consular
services office would be open one of the days I was here and there was
no reason I could think of why they wouldn't be able to quickly add
the pages for me this morning. Well, they managed to invent one. I was
in the door at 9am, right when it opened for citizen services. I
presented my paperwork and passport and was told that it would be
ready on Monday. Since I'll be on a kayak in a fjord on Monday that
wasn't going to work so well. I asked for immediate processing
instead. The guy wandered off for about 5 minutes and came back with
an offer for maybe having it done at 3pm today. Only maybe and no
promises at all. Since we're headed to Helsingor now and won't be back
until late this afternoon that just won't work. I explained my
situation again and pretty much begged him to process it immediately
as I know can be done. I received a very polite "no" in return. And so
it was that I finished the visit to the embassy in 10 minutes, just
like everyone says it takes, but I managed to do so without my extra
pages.

We won't be near the embassy in Oslo while it is open so that is out
as an option. I might have to actually give in and mail my passport
off to be processed. I hate the idea of not having it available just
in case a great fare pops up and I definitely need it back by
mid-August with more international travel planned. But thus far the
embassies haven't been able to help me so I may have to give in on
this one.

--
Where am I going today?
www.wanderingaramean.com

Playing Viking for a day at the Vikingeskibsmuseet in Roskilde

2009-07-01T11:22:00.001-04:00

That really long word is simply Danish for Viking Museum and a visit to the Vikingeskibsmuseet is the cornerstone of a visit to Roskilde, just 20 minutes west of Copenhagen. The museum serves as both a research facility and as a display for some of the artifacts that have been recovered over the past several decades. And they even let you play “Viking” if you want!

This boat is over 1500 years old and surprisingly well preserved.

The ships that they have recovered are nothing short of amazing. There are at least seven that we saw, ranging from a sixty-person warship that was originally built around 1022 to an eight-seater built around 450. Yup, a 1500+ year old specimen. The ship from 450 is actually so well preserved that we looked at it several ties and assumed it to be a replica before finally being convinced that it is the original thing.

The reconstructed pieces of one of the five ships recovered in the 1960s.

There was a major find in 1962 of five ships at the bottom of the channel leading from Roskilde to the sea. The five were intentionally sunk by loading them with rocks. They were scuttled as part of a defensive effort to blockade the channel, allowing the Danes to control access to their port and slow any advancing navies that might attack. A rather impressive amount of those ships was recovered and they have been reassembled and placed on display in the museum.

One of the recovered ships was actually recreated by the museum starting in 2004. The Sea Stallion of Glendalough was built using tools and methods of the Viking style and era and using similar woods that the Vikings had available. This 30 meter long reconstruction was completed in 2007 and sailed from Denmark to Dublin, Ireland as part of their research. The exhibit and movie that they have on the reconstruction and the journey to Ireland is quite impressive.

There are also a number of workshops and other research facilities that are open to the public. Almost all of their reconstruction efforts are performed using only the tools and methods of 1000 years ago meaning that the progress is slow but quite amazing to watch.

In addition to the many ships that they have on display there are a few that are kept in use, allowing visitors to experience life as a Viking. We were able to take a ship out for about a half hour and experience a bit of the life on the water. We got to row the boat out from the docks and then help raise the sail and cruise under wind power for a bit before heading back to the docks. Unfortunately the winds weren’t particularly strong today but it was still quite an enjoyable experience.

Beyond the Viking Museum there isn’t much to recommend Roskilde. The town was actually somewhat overrun today with folks settling in for the annual music festival which meant huge crowds. And the main streets were mostly full of vendors selling what would politely be called “junk” in most other places. There is a small city museum various other excavations around town. But overall not a ton to see there. Still, at only about 20 minutes out of town on the local trains a trip to Roskilde is definitely a great opportunity if you’re in Copenhagen.

Half price from Gogo

2009-06-30T06:31:00.001-04:00

As part of a promo with Delta Gogo has introduced a promo code good for the next three weeks to provide a single half-price session on their in-flight internet service.

Save 50% on a single Gogo session (except segment pass and 24hr pass) until 7/19/2009. Use code 156FLYDA.
To Use your discount on a wi-fi session:
1) Select 'gogoinflight' as the wireless network and launch you browser
2) Sign in or click 'Buy' to create a new account
3) On 'Payment Info' page, enter promo code in space provide (code is case sensitive)
4) Click 'Update Total'
Thank you! And Happy Travels,
Gogo Inflight Internet

This almost makes the cost of the service reasonable.

The glory of lie-flat coach seating

2009-06-30T06:30:00.001-04:00

As airlines invest heavily in improving their business-class product, updating the seats to be fully flat for the most comfortable sleep possible, there is an often overlooked segment of the market that has great potential for both the customer and the customer’s pocket – lie-flat coach seating. Of course, this is rather difficult to come by, but having just awakened from a solid 6 hours of sleep on my flight from Newark to Paris I have to say that lie-flat coach seating is quite underrated.

When we boarded the flight as some of the first passenger in coach we were already in pretty good shape seating-wise. We’d booked the aisle and window seats in the reclining exit row of the Continental 757-200. These are some of the best coach seats available in the fleet, with full recline, extra legroom and no one reclining into you. There was no one booked into the middle seat between us. Score! I made one last check of the seat map to ensure that we still had the middle seat available and noticed a phenomenal sight – all three seats in the row in front of us were empty. So we split up, each taking a set of three.

Defending the full three seats is not as easy as it would seem. One gentleman across the aisle tried to take mine while I went to the lav and another guy tried to take the window seat that was clearly not his. Fortunately we were able to fend them off and maintain our beds in the sky.

Setting up a lie-flat coach bed requires a bit of work. You have to manipulate the pillows and blankets just so to avoid the metal of the arm rests digging into your side or back and also to properly support your head against the wall of the plane. And having a seat belt extender works wonders for making the sleeping position much more comfortable.

I’d still prefer true lie-flat beds in coach like this one:

But since that seems highly unlikely I guess I’ll have to just hope for more empty coach rows.

Celebrating Continental’s 75th Birthday

2009-06-26T19:22:00.003-04:00

Happy Birthday, CO!

Celebrating a birthday is always cause for a party, and when it is a major milestone birthday – such as number 75 – the party is generally bigger than not. This held true for Continental Airlines as they have been partying up a storm over the past couple days to celebrate their 75th year of operations. The main focus of the party has been the delivery of their 75th birthday plane – a brand new Boeing 737-900ER – painted in the style of the 1947 birds Continental was flying. The plane was delivered from the Boeing factory on Thursday and promptly flew to Houston where it did a fly-by of the Continental headquarters downtown and then was the centerpiece of a party at the airport there. The plane then came up to Newark for a celebration with the employees here.

I should repeat here that the celebration was intended for the Continental employees here in Newark. But that didn’t stop me and a few friends from heading out to Newark to see the new plane and trying to crash the party. It turns out that we were quite successful in this effort. Showing up early and asking a guy in a suit if we could take some pictures was enough to get us “inside the ropes.” Of course, we did take some pictures at that point, but we also just happened to still be there when the event actually got started and at that point it would have been rude to walk out, so we just stuck around and enjoyed the event.

The new 737-900ER in the 1947 livery

Two Flight Attendants, in uniforms of the style of 1947 hanging out on stage during the event

The party was mostly a few speeches from various folks within the organization plus a woman from the Port Authority and a guy from the office of the Mayor of Newark who declared that there will now be a “Continental Airlines Day” in Newark each year. There was also cake. Mmmmm…cake. That part of the event was great for photo ops, and the one local employee they had speak was actually wonderfully excited and happy to be part of the Continental family so that was really quite nice to see. But for me the real fun was hanging out among the various employees, chatting with them and getting a feel for their impressions of the company.

And there were plenty of opportunities to chat it up, even as the interlopers without an employee badge. Sure, we got a lot of strange looks and questions from people, but it was well worth it. I spoke with both Larry Kellner, the CEO, and with Jeff Smisek, the President. They actually sortof remembered me from the various other events I’ve been to so that was quite an ego boost. Those conversations went about as I expected from the guys who run the company. A couple little bits of data were gleaned but no crazy insider knowledge there.

I also got to talk to a 757 First Officer who is currently on furlough and (rather reasonably) less than ecstatic about the situation. It was a very interesting conversation, particularly in light of the interaction I had with some folks from ALPA back in February after the last big Continental event down in Houston. The good news is that we were actually able to have a civil conversation in public and share our views on the airline in a civil way rather than the “discussions” that generally take place on the Internet. And that did include reliving some of my less classy moments, like swigging from the champagne bottle while in the exit row on the charter flight we took. But I think we do understand each other quite a bit better now.

Truly a classy look; I’m a big fan!

I had a very entertaining, albeit brief, chat with a random customer service agent. We saw one of the ramp guys run up to Kellner and grab a photo with him. I joked that having a photo with the boss is always a good thing and we got to talking about Kellner, Bethune (the previous CEO) and many of the other management folks from the past many years. It was clear that he enjoyed the job and that he had been there long enough to know the history and have a reasonable outlook for the future, though he did apparently like the previous boss better.

I spoke with a 777 captain who has been flying with Continental since the era of the Golden Tail - over 30 years of service. He was rather dumbfounded that we were there but appreciative of the business and the excitement that we had for travel in general and Continental specifically. He was also somewhat amazed that he represented 40% of the life of the company with his service; I am too!

There were several other conversations throughout the morning and all were enjoyable. Getting to see the company from the inside – particularly when most of the folks didn’t realize that I was an outsider – was quite refreshing and insightful.

There were a couple slightly juicy bits that came up in terms of the fleet and what is going on with the in-flight internet service options on Continental. They are still sitting back and watching to see how the industry will shake out on this. They see that there are lots of planes being deployed with the service but are waiting to see if there will be a critical mass of adoption before considering investing in something like Aircell’s gogo or the Row44 service. They are still planning on putting a trial of the LiveTV Kiteline service into play once it is available, hopefully with 30 planes in service for the tests by the end of Q1 2010. This pseudo-internet service offers access to email and a few other limited services but not a full experience. On the plus side, they do expect to offer it for free. Oh, and the new retro-jet is going to be headed to Orlando once the party wraps up in Cleveland so that it can have the LiveTV3 system installed. It should be entering commercial service sometime early next week.

One last shot of the plane as it headed out to the runway and Cleveland

Morons refuse to board a plane in Majorca

2009-06-24T20:48:00.001-04:00

There are plenty of reasons to not get on a plane. Being told that you have to sit at the back to help deal with balance issues is quite certainly not one of them. But that is just what a bunch of British tourists did this past Sunday, refusing to board a Thomas Cook flight from Majorca back home to Newcastle. And they’ve taken their story public, desperately trying to make it seem like the airline is at fault and not them.

Many passengers chose to pay $200 or more each to fly home on different airlines rather than board the plane, all because they were asked to sit at the rear of the plane rather than in the front. The rear baggage compartment door was stuck closed so no baggage could be loaded there. That changed the center of gravity of the plane enough that the airline tried to move seats around. And instead of canceling the flight the carrier actually put the laws of physics into action, reassigning seats to keep the plane safe to fly.

But several of the passengers, apparently well versed in the nuance of aeronautics and flight planning refused to board. They some choice quotes, including:

It was like they were being asked to fly in something that was being balanced out like a see-saw.

and

We just wanted a plane that would stay level without us being used as ballast.

Here’s a hint folks: EVERY TIME you get on a plane you’re being used as ballast and to balance the ~~see-saw~~, err, plane. It is part of the pre-flight checklist and one of the reasons the flight attendants count the passengers on the plane. The pilots are going to make sure that when they pull back on the control stick the plane actually gets airborne. And that means getting the balance right. I cannot count the number of times I’ve moved around for weight and balance reasons; it is just part of the travel experience. Oh, and when the pilot – someone who actually does know how the crazy hunk of metal is able to hurtle through the skies at 500 miles per hour - is willing to get on the plane and go maybe that should be a hint that things are fine. After all, most pilots I know don’t routinely hop on a plane to kill themselves and all their passengers.

And instead the news is about kids crying and people kissing the ground as they deplaned because the didn’t crash. They even got a great photo of a forlorn 17 year old “reunited” with her mother after spending the night sleeping on the floor in the airport. Stay classy, media. You’re doing a great job.

Enjoying the High Line – New York’s newest city park

2009-06-24T09:06:00.001-04:00

The cool logo along with the NYC Parks logo

One of the amazing things about a city as big as New York is that there are always people around to take up a cause, not matter how small it might seem. So when an elevated freight railroad line, built in the 1930s and in service until the 1980s fell into disrepair there were actually people around who recognized the potential value that it could offer as a green space and, more importantly, who were willing to invest the time and energy to see the project through. The end result is the High Line Park, the latest addition to NYC’s ever growing collection of park space and, quite frankly, one of the nicer parks in the city.

After serving as an active freight line for forty something years, connecting from the rail tunnel to New Jersey at 34th street to the Nabisco factory and the Meatpacking district (back when they actually did process meat there) the rail tracks became abandoned in the 80s. During the 90s the area became something of a natural park, with wildflowers and other flora growing on it but access was generally prohibited and it was not “user-friendly” at all. What a difference 20 years makes. Over the past 10 years a couple local guys – Robert Hammond and Joshua David – have worked with the city and private donors to raise the necessary funds and secure the future of the space. CSX, the owner of the rail lines at the time, donated the facilities and the renovations began in earnest, culminating in the opening of the first section of the park a couple weeks ago.

It has been an overwhelming success, so much so that the city has actually had to limit access on certain days allowing entry only from the Gansevoort Street entrance to control the crowds. But on a weekday there may not be a better place to get above the din of the streets in the meatpacking district and relax. I even managed to pick up a signal from an unsecured wireless access point around 15th street and did some work for a couple hours on Tuesday, just to see if it was possible. The signal wasn’t great, but it was open, so that was nice.

There are plenty of seats and benches available through the park including some that are full length for laying down. There are even a few that are on the rail tracks with wheels, though they only roll a few inches.

Lounging on the rolling chairs

More than just the benches, the rail theme is tightly woven into the design of the park. The original rails were removed as part of the renovations and many were worked back into the layout of the park. There are rails running everywhere. Some, like in the seating areas, are in areas where visitors are allowed to tread. Many of the others are mixed into the flower planters, a nod to the history of the High Line and its previous overgrown wildlife nature.

Just a couple of the places where the rails are integrated into the design of the landscape.

More than just a park, the developers have managed to work in some art installations on the High Line, too. The most interesting one to me is The River That Flows Both Ways, a series of 700 glass panels installed in the old windows of one of the Nabisco buildings (the one on the west side of 10 Avenue). The installation is quite pretty and changes throughout the day as the levels of light change. I’m not a huge fan of modern art but this one works for me.

The River That Flows Both Ways

The amphitheatre and the sloping ramp integrated into the benches

One of the other really cool features of the park is the mini amphitheatre that they have built at 17th street. It has a half dozen rows of benches looking north over 10th Avenue through great big windows. But in addition to that they have designed it to be ADA compliant all the way down to the bottom and the windows. The ramps are built into the rows of the benches. It really is quite cool.

Finally, the flowers planted on the High Line have already begun to attract residents, mostly in the form of bees thus far. Watching the bees flit from flower to flower certainly kept me entertained with my camera for a while.

One of the many shots I got of the bees

The next phase of the park – from 20th Street up to 30th Street – is still under construction and the ETA for its opening is a bit fuzzy right now, but it will happen eventually. Having that will certainly make the walk up to Penn Station much more pleasant, if not a bit longer, once it opens.

A few more pictures – mostly of the bees - are available here.

Dreamliner first flight postponed. Again.

2009-06-23T10:22:00.001-04:00

Just when it seemed like Boeing was finally really making progress in getting the 787 Dreamliner into the air they’ve hit another snag. This time it seems that there are structural deficiencies in the “side-of-body” section of the plane, requiring that area to be reengineered to provide additional support. This was discovered during the testing of one of the planes on the full-scale static test rig and was announced this morning.

First flight and first delivery will be rescheduled following the final determination of the required modification and testing plan. It will be several weeks before the new schedule is available. The 787 team will continue with other aspects of testing on Airplane #1, including final gauntlet testing and low-speed taxiing. Work will also continue on the other five flight test aircraft and the subsequent aircraft in the production system.

Scott Carson, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes said a team of experts has already identified several potential solutions.

"Consideration was given to a temporary solution that would allow us to fly as scheduled, but we ultimately concluded that the right thing was to develop, design, test and incorporate a permanent modification to the localized area requiring reinforcement. Structural modifications like these are not uncommon in the development of new airplanes, and this is not an issue related to our choice of materials or the assembly and installation work of our team," Carson said.

The good news is that they are continuing with the other testing needed to get the plane ready to fly, but they are still looking at a delay of “several weeks” before the new schedule is even announced, so figure that the entire delivery schedule will push a couple months now. Not good news for the manufacturer or the airlines who have been waiting for years to receive their new planes. Then again, the airlines don’t have to pay for the planes until they are delivered so the delay here – in the midst of one of the most significant industry downturns in history – might not be such a bad thing for the carriers.

I like that Boeing is going to just wait to get the plane actually into its final configuration before putting it up in the air but the additional delay certainly is frustrating – and I’m not even financially vested in the success of the program.

CLEAR lanes closed effective immediately

2009-06-23T08:32:00.001-04:00

Verified Identity Pass, the company behind the “CLEAR” security lanes program at many airports across the United States, has ceased operations effective as of 11pm Pacific time June 22. That was last night. Their security lanes – which used to be available at a few dozen airports – are closed effective immediately. Here’s the notification that they sent to their customers:

Dear xxxxx
At 11:00 p.m. PST today, Clear will cease operations. Clear's parent company, Verified Identity Pass, Inc. has been unable to negotiate an agreement with its senior creditor to continue operations.
After today, Clear lanes will be unavailable.
Sincerely,
Clear Customer Support
Verified Identity Pass
600 Third Avenue
10th Floor
New York, NY 10016

Short and sweet as far as notifications go, though they only gave about 3 hours notice to their customers which pretty much sucks.

The company and the associated program had a rocky life. The TSA used to perform background checks on the folks applying for the cards, making it seem somewhat reasonable that they’d move to the front of the security lines. Then that went away and the customers still went to the front of the lines. At the same time, however, those customers were still subject to ridiculous TSA policies, like still needing to show a photo ID after using their CLEAR pass and its integrated biometric features to verify that they were the person who signed up for the program.

In the end, the program only really was helpful at a handful of airports and it cost way too much – over $100/year – to really make much sense for most people. Considering that elite customers with the airline frequent flyer programs often received similar benefits at many airports the target market wasn’t really there for them. And it got even smaller when the economy tanked and the number of folks traveling by air dropped significantly.

I’d like to pretend that I’m sad to see another small business fail but in this case I’m actually really quite ambivalent. Sure, it sucks that a bunch of people are out of work, but the program was silly. They provided very few real benefits and created a tiered system of access to public services. I’m not really a fan of that, particularly when the actual benefits were so minimal. Had it meant a reduced screening or other real benefit maybe there would have been value, but that just didn’t happen based on the idiocy of the TSA.

Wet and wild at the Mermaid Parade 2009

2009-06-22T09:25:00.001-04:00

The Coney Island Mermaid Parade is always a great celebration, welcoming the summer to New York City in a way that only Coney Island can – crazy and fun. Revelers of all ages gather to either march or just watch the show, and what a show it is. This year the weather forecast called for rain which posed an interesting question – would the mermaids still show up even if it were as wet on land as under the sea? The answer was an overwhelming yes. The participants were there, as were the spectators. And the rain actually wrapped up shortly before the actual parade started so the umbrellas disappeared and the fun truly came out.

The parasols were much more useful for looking pretty than keeping the rain away

Hula hoops are always fun!

It helps to know people who know people in life. In my case I happen to have a friend in the family that runs the Mermaid Parade (and the side show in Coney Island). That means that I get to walk inside the barricades on the parade route some of the time and work as a volunteer, in addition to taking photos and otherwise enjoying the day. I even managed to sell a few t-shirts to the fans in the crowd, fulfilling my volunteer duties with great success.

More of the parasols

Fish eyes!

Depending on how you’re counting, it has been reported that the Mermaid Parade is the 2nd largest parade event in New York City. I’m not really sure which metric they are using there, but it is quite a spectacle.

King of the parade, Harvey Keitel

Sea horses lining up for a race on the parade route

The Mermaid Parade is definitely one of the more enjoyable ways to welcome summer to New York City, even when summer arrives a bit cold and damp as it did this year. But the hundreds of participants and thousands of spectators lining the parade route didn’t seem to mind the weather at all. In fact, it is quite possible that the rain brought out the crazy side of some in the crowd a bit more than usual. Good times!

More photos from this year’s Coney Island Mermaid Parade can be found here. Photos from last year’s festivities are located here and here, too.

Terminal hopping at JFK

2009-06-15T10:21:00.001-04:00

What to do on a lazy Sunday morning when there isn’t much else going on in New York City? Why not head out to JFK Airport and check out a few airline lounges and watch the planes flying? That’s exactly what I did with a couple friends, getting to talk about travel and schemes to maximize benefits as well as just hanging out and enjoying the lounges.

Our first stop was the Flagship Lounge operated by American Airlines. The lounge is reserved for their first class passengers traveling Internationally or on the Flagship transcon service and is much more similar to the lounges operated by international carriers than a typical Admirals Club. It was really quite nice inside – bright and wide open with nice windows looking down on the terminal and taxiways below. There were about as many employees in the lounge as there were passengers – 6 or so of each – so there were always folks around to help out if we needed anything. They had some food and drink options that were not particularly inspiring but they were better than nothing, I suppose. The Flagship Lounge also had some workstations available for use and free WiFi via TMobile if desired, both of which were nice. Apparently the bandwidth was sufficient for one of the other guys in the lounge to be streaming porn on his laptop so that is a good metric for the speed performance, I suppose. With the less than impressive “lunch” service out and not so nourishing we decided to head out of that lounge and make our way to the next stop, jetBlue’s T5 facility.

This was the first visit for either of my friends to the jetBlue terminal (but not mine) so it was quite enjoyable to see their reactions in person as we entered the facility. The walk over from the AirTrain station didn’t seem so bad this time and we very quickly found ourselves with boarding passes in hand and passing quickly through the TSA checkpoint. Once inside we were treated to the pleasure that is the bright and open terminal. They were quite impressed and we we wandered around a bit before making our way to the end of the center pier to watch planes for a while. They still have the issues of overlapping announcements from adjacent gates but that is something that I don’t think is going away. And they still have one of the best plane-spotting locations available. Sadly, the runway under construction at JFK is one of the two that crosses in front of the jetBlue terminal so the spotting was not as good as it was last time I visited, but there were still some good photo opportunities to be had. Oh, and the Asian food place is still really good.

One of three different *A liveried planes at the field on Sunday

Lining up to head in to the gates

A Delta jet on climb-out

All in all it was a great way to spend a few hours on a Sunday. Definitely better than being stuck in the chaos surrounding the Puerto Rico Day parade.

Cute kids on the Cayes in Belize

2009-06-12T09:18:00.001-04:00

It turns out that it isn’t possible to spend every waking moment of every day underwater enjoying the marine life of Belize. Sad, but true. The good news is that there was enough to do on land that it made the time between dives pass pretty quickly. We didn’t even have to bother with the inland jungle excursions and we still found ways to fill our time. Much of that was spent wandering around through the streets of San Pedro on Ambergris Caye or around Caye Caulker, watching the locals go about their daily business. You can learn a lot about a place by just watching folks doing their thing.

Whether it was headed to or from school or hanging out on the waterfront and performing some rather acrobatic leaps off the docks into the water, everyone seemed to be having a pretty good time.

I think that the most significant thing I learned about the Belizeans is that they have learned to relax and enjoy life, even while taking important things seriously. Definitely a good balance to strike.