Tag: Business Class

Western USA 2023 – Day 1 – St. George

Posted in TravelTagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Today my father and I embarked on one of our near-annual adventures together. This time we will be visiting some of our favourite states of Nevada, Utah, and Arizona. The day started off with a mid-afternoon flight from Calgary to Las Vegas on a WestJet Boeing 737-700. Dad upgraded us to business class, which was nice. The flight was an hour delayed, but it didn’t affect anything that we had planned. On the flight I had the chicken dish, since my Dad had the last ravioli dish. It was pretty good, however I thought the cold asparagus and feta cheese that was served with it was rather weird.

After arriving in Las Vegas we took an Uber in a Tesla 3 to Dollar Car Rental to pickup our car. The Uber ride was about $15 USD, which seemed fair. After signing the paperwork we hopped into the Ford Edge that we were given and drove two hours towards St. George, Utah, where we would be staying for the night.

When we were close to St. George we both noticed the beautiful snow covered mountains overlooking St. George below so we turned off the highway to take a picture. This is where we accidentally stumbled upon a trail called Aspiration Trail with beautiful painted rocks along the entire length of it. The painted rocks are a range of inspirational quotes, funny quotes, and beautiful artwork, however there were some advertisements strewn about it. The trail was a project that was created by Kevin and Anne Hanson. Their inspiration came from their desire to help parents find activities to do with their children and bring families closer together. At the summit of the hike is a wooden sign surrounded by hundreds of painted rocks that reads “”Congratulations! You have reached the summit. Please leave a rock on our monument signifying your achievement”. The project was started on March 20th 2021.

After exploring the beautifully painted rocks we drove the remaining ten minutes towards our hotel; The Hamptons Inn in St. George. After checking into our hotel and getting settled in we drove to Georges Corner Restaurant to have dinner. I had a Reuben, and my father had a grilled cheese sandwich. After dinner we ended up hanging out at the hotel for the remainder of the evening.

The Last Day – Bali, Indonesia

Posted in Aviation, Photography, TravelTagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Today was our last day of our trip. We started the day off by taking a GRAB (Think Uber) to Biku, our favourite restaurant in the area. I had a breakfast sandwich, and some chai tea. It was absolutely delicious!

The morning was spent relaxing by the pool. During that time I phoned Air Canada and purchased us some upgrades to Business Class for $2650/pp. I didn’t want to deal with economy class for 27 hours. We ended up having lunch at Riva Bar & Restaurant again, since it was convenient. We both had some chicken wings. The afternoon was spent in our private plunge pool, and then we tried to nap for a few hours, since we had 27 hours of travel ahead of us.

After our attempt at napping we went to the Jamie Oliver restaurant that was nearby for dinner. Julie had a burger and fries, while I had a lasagna. The food was pretty good. There was a family at a table next to us celebrating the second birthday of their son Oliver. Oliver had a very beautiful Disney cake which I commented on, and before we know it we were both offered a slice of cake. It was pretty good!

It was then time to walk back to the hotel, finish packing, and head to the airport. On our way walking back to the hotel there was an middle aged Indonesia man hiding in the dark on the corner who “offered” us some Cocaine… I’ve been proposed drug deals in my past travels, but never as casually as this guy. Haha. Once we got back to the hotel we packed our bags, and booked a GRAB to take us to the airport. The ride, while only 3 kilometres, took us nearly an hour. We had a really good conversation with our driver.

Our first of three flights was on a Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800 to Sydney. The flight lasted about 6 hours. While masks are still a government mandate by essentially every country in the world, I noticed that about 30% of the flight didn’t seem to care, and the flight attendants didn’t seem to make a fuss over it. It appears Australians might be fed-up with the rules.

The second flight was on an Air Canada Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner to Vancouver. On this flight we had our upgraded Air Canada Signature business class seats. For dinner I had blackened smoked trout for an appetizer, followed by a delicious red wine braised beef cheek. I may have also had three servings of cheese and crackers for desert… I did manage to nap on and off for about half of the 16 hour flight, although I was still fairly tired by the time we arrived in Vancouver. On the way into Vancouver there was a beautiful clear view of Mount St. Helens. Wow!!!

Customs in Vancouver was a total breeze, taking a total of 3 minutes. Following customs we endured a 15 minute walk to the Air Canada lounge, where we spent the next few hours relaxing before our final flight back to Calgary on an Air Canada Airbus A319. Wait a minute… didn’t Air Canada retire those a few years ago at the start of the pandemic? Well yes… but they’ve since taken this very select one (C-FYKC) out of storage for whatever reason.

Julie’s Parents were waiting for us in Calgary, and drove us home, which I greatly appreciated.

What’s next for travel? Dad and I are off to Colorado in a just over a week, and then Julie and I are off to Palm Springs the following week.

Travelling to Singapore

Posted in Architecture, Aviation, Photography, TravelTagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Today Julie and I set off on a 17 day trip to Singapore and Bali, Indonesia. We booked Premium Economy seats through Air Canada for just under $1200 return. Some of the cost was covered by Air Canada Aeroplan points.

We had to take a bit of a milk run approach to get to Singapore, travelling from Calgary to Vancouver on an Air Canada Boeing 737-8 MAX, then from Vancouver to Tokyo on an Air Canada Boeing 787-9. We were upgraded to Business Class (Air Canada Signature Class) for only $200/pp on the Vancouver to Tokyo portion of the trip because of my Aeroplan status. We had a six hour layover in Tokyo and used it as an opportunity to take a shower ($10), and relax in the lounge. COVID is currently having a major impact on Japan at the moment, and foreigners are not allowed to visit, unless it’s for business purposes, therefore the airport was ominously quiet. In fact, our flight was the only one that evening, as you can see by the flight billboard. Originally we were only supposed to have a four hour layover, but our next flight was delayed due to a late arriving inbound flight.

The next leg of our journey was on a Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-300ER to Singapore in Premium Economy. The seats were fairly comfortable, however the food wasn’t as good as on Air Canada.

We finally arrived at 3:45am and checked into our hotel; Yotel Singapore Changi, a pod style hotel which is located inside The Jewel at the airport. I have previously stayed at a Yotel hotel in Amsterdam in 2018 when I went to Kenya. You can checkout my blog on that adventure here. The Jewel is a nature-themed entertainment and retail complex inside of Changi Airport. The Jewel, which cost $1.7 billion to build, was opened in mid-2019. It features the world’s tallest indoor waterfall, the Rain Vortex, and is surrounded by a luscious terraced forest setting. I’ll check it out more tomorrow morning.

The Rain Vortex was designed by WET Design, which has created some of the world’s most famous fountains including The Dubai Fountain, Fountains of Bellagio in Las Vegas, 1988 Lisbon Expo Fountains, Fountain of Nations at EPCOT in Florida, etc. I’ve seen all the above forementioned fountains, with the exception to the Dubai Fountain, as I’ve yet to visit Dubai. WET (Water Entertainment Technologies) was founded by Mark Fuller, Melanie Simon and Alan Robinson in 1983. All three worked as Imagineers at Disney. Their original creation was the Leapfrog foundation at EPCOT.

Having been awake for over 30 hours it was time to get some sleep. We opted to not set an alarm, as we wanted to catch up on some much-needed sleep. It was about 4am by the time we went to sleep.

Eastern Europe Trip – Day 20 – Flying Home

Posted in Aviation, TravelTagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Today was the final day of my trip. It was time to start the long journey home. First flight was on a Lufthansa Airbus A320NEO from Helsinki to Frankfurt. The flight was an hour late leaving Helsinki, which left me very little time for my connecting flight. I had to run through Frankfurt airport, clear customs, and clear security before boarding my second flight, a Lufthansa Airbus A320NEO to London. Both of those flights were in business class, which is essentially just economy class seats, with the middle row blocked, and meal service.

When I arrived in London it was much more relaxed, however still a fairly tight connection. I just had to clear customs, and walk quite the distance to my final flight back to Calgary on an Air Canada Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. This flight was also taken in business class. I’m always impressed by the level of service provided by Air Canada in their Signature Class. My favorite food I always look forward to is the cheese board and port for desert.

After arriving in Calgary, I cleared customs, and my dad picked me up and dropped me off at my apartment.

Where will I go to next? With COVID-19 still fairly prominent, and the latest Omicron variant causing havoc, I don’t currently have anything planned. I spent the Christmas holidays in Victoria with my family. I will do some skiing, and hiking during the winter. It may be a while until you see another post from me.

If you like the content that I produce and want to donate money towards the upkeep of my site, or buy me a cup of coffee please feel free to contribute towards it. I really appreciate it.

Coffee Fund