Trip Reports - YYG-YHZ-YOW-YVR-SFO-YVR-YOW-YUL-YHZ-YYG

Part 1: YYG-YHZ, AC8844

I do have to admit that now that I'm forced to fly on AC between YYG and YHZ, I remember why I like the Dash 8-100 plane that AC uses on this route. CP used to use them also, but then, between equipment changes and regional airline partner changes, we went through J-41 Jetstreas, ATR Turboprops, and finally Beech 1900-C's.

Service was so-so. This is a short-hop, so it's a snack service. Choice of breakfast bars, cookies, or pretzels; despite the fact that it was a noon flight, I hadn't had breakfast so I chose the breakfast bar. It tasted like a condensed muffin. Next came beverage service: cold drinks only, your choice of a 4-oz sealed tumbler of orange or apple juice or cranberry cocktail.

I'm now in the CP Empress Lounge, waiting for my connection to YOW. The Lounge is dead; since CP lost all its flights to just about everywhere from here, there are only four flights in the morning and four in the afternoon/evening. On the other hand, I didn't have to wait to use the computer to log onto FT. More later.

. . . at least there's a silver lining (no waiting for computers) in the cloud (many less CP flights).

Ah, if only...

Part 2:

While in YHZ I tried to change hotels, as I decided I wanted more pampering. Unfortunately, the Carriage Inn in SFO could manage every night *except* Saturday. I decided to leave my res. where it was; I'll console myself with dinner at La Folie or the Chinese restaurant at the Embarcadero where a plate of drunken shrimp cost $40 or something.

YHZ-YOW CP1715, yesterday

The flight was comfortable. J was half full (upgrade was no problem), yet for some reason they seated everybody next to somebody else where possible. Changed seats, enjoyed the flight, had the current lunch (the F-28's galley is cold, so it was roast beef, German potato salad, roasted yellow and red peppers, English cucumber, a roll, and pecan pie). The flight was on time.

Arrived at my friend's house at 5:55pm expecting him to be there shortly as he said he normally gets home by 6pm. Waited 20 minutes in freezing cold weather as he was very late. Oh, well, couldn't be helped; I should've called to see if he was home first. In any case, we went to the Rock Bottom Grill [Dalhousie St., between the Vintages wine store and Le Palais Impérial] for supper. He had the apple and parsnip soup and the filet mignon; I opted for the goat cheese fondue and the blackened red snapper. Pretty good food, although a touch bland (Ottawa *sigh*). A 1/2L of good Aussie shiraz made up for it. Then we went shopping, because I am giving icewine as gifts to friends Stateside.

Today: YOW-YVR CP903

Upgraded again, but this time J was full. Sat next to a newspaper sports writer who was on an all-expenses paid trip to Taiwan as a travel writer. Flight was comfortable; movie was good (that Meryl Streep movie where she's a violin teacher). Breakfast was cold fruit plate with hot scones or biscuits and then choice of mushroom omelette, scrambled eggs, sausage, hash browns, cereal, yogourt. I ate lightly, as I was to meet a friend at YVR for sushi or some such. The flight was half an hour late, though, first because some woman suddenly ran off the plane 5 minutes before departure saying something incomprehensible to the FA's and came back late with her coat and such, and then we had to get de-iced. Consequently, I was late to the airport and missed my friend. I paged him, but I figure he thought I forgot and went home. I'll get him for that; he works for an airline and should know how to read the arrivals monitors. Waited a good 20 minutes to claim my luggage at US departures. Oh, well, could be worse (like, say, YUL).

Looked through duty-free but nothing I wanted; I was already near my limit for alcohol, I'm trying to quit smoking, and the smoked salmon was more expensive than at home. Came to the trans-border lounge, found out I'm first on the waiting list for upgrade. Of the two computer terminals, only one was operational; waited for the person in the other one to finish so I could get my rapidly developing FT fix. I'd forgotten how small this lounge was compared to the domestic one.

Next stop, SFO! I figure that my luggage will be even slower (once I waited more than an hour) but on the other hand, I'll miss rush hour).

[This message has been edited by islandcub (edited 02-26-2000).]

Get used to the crowded aircraft, seems to be happening on most routes. Might be a good time to buy AC shares. They should make a killing this quarter.

They already have gone up 50%. I sold my remaining AC shares to them at $16 -- they took 40% of them -- the stock fell to $8 range and I bought back in with more two weeks ago. They're up to $15. Figure, if I can't get upgrades, at least I can get dividends!

Part 3:

(BTW, if you ignore the duty-free store in YVR US departures and continue on past INS/Customs, you can find the exact same brand of smoked salmon in the bookstore for much cheaper - $25 as opposed to $40 - *and* since you've already passed US Customs, you won't pay any taxes.)

2000/02/17 YVR-SFO CP515

Upgrade came through, and the flight was full again. I had a nice chat with a businessman from Japan seated next to me. An old 737; no TV screens, no headsets (and I had been hoping to catch the rest of the classical music channel; after the movie was over on the previous flight I switched back and was exactly where I started listening to it *before* the movie!).

Meal in J class was a cold roast beef plate, but quite nice. The flight left on time and, surprise, surprise, arrived almost 1/2 hour *early*! *And* the luggage only took about 20 minutes, a new record for SFO. Unfortunately, I had been counting on being late and waiting for bags since I was arriving at rush hour; instead I got out and hopped into a shuttle and got driven straight into the parking lot known as Highway 101.

The Hotel Britton was much nicer than I expected; SF defines "boutique" hotel as small, cheap, and no amenities. Since it was on the corner of 7th and Mission I was expecting a youth hostel only not as fancy, but it actually turned out to be quite nice and clean. $82, small rooms, decorated a bit too busily (as if Martha Stewart had thrown up all over the place), and the elevator was straight out of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, only weirder. Thursday night I met up with friends at the Ramada Plaza on Market ($132), bigger but more boring rooms, bathrooms like a 1920's train station hotel) and we went out to the SoMa bars. Lots of fun, drank too much bourbon, wee hah!

More later.

[This message has been edited by islandcub (edited 02-23-2000).]

Part 4: San Francisco, the Rice-A-Roni treat!

Wait, I think I got that one wrong. Anyway, Feb 18: woke up and wandered over to my friend's hotel. Got him vertical and dragged him off to breakfast around noon (stopping at the Starbucks in the lobby on the way to pump him full of caffeine. The restaurant across the street from the Ramada Plaza Civic Centre on Market St. is called Andrew's or something like that. The food was good and cheap. We went shopping in SoMa (South of Market St.), including at my favouritest store in SF, the Bed, Bath and Beyond Store. Purchases included a cotton-ball/Q-Tip holder that has little plastic dolphins suspended in aqua oil in the base. They have a whole line of this stuff ("Here, little Billy, I got you a dolphin toilet brush for your birthday"). I am *not* kidding about the toilet brush.

[Insert an 80 minute nap here. Sleeping for 4 hours a night is *so* difficult.]

Supper was at the Market St. Grill restaurant at the Rama-dama-ding-dong Plaza. The food was good, even if the waiter did (1) offer us all a choice between baked potato and garlic mashed potato, and then bring us all the baked potato no matter what we ordered, (2) not know that the daily special included a 20 oz draft, and (3) after we asked for them, bring us 12 oz bottles of beer instead.

After dinner we headed to some more of my favourite bars in San Francisco. Ah, pub crawls. I'd say more, but the rest of the evening is a blur.

Saturday Feb 19: Woke up, brushed the wet furry dirty-footed mouse taste off my tongue, went to lunch somewhere forgettable, went to a brew pub (The Twenty-Tank Brewery, 316-11th street between Folsom and Harrison), went back to my hotel room, napped until I was sober again, went to a party, danced until my clothes were soaking wet with sweat ("Oh. My. God. It's an extended dance remix of the theme from Love Boat!"), went to hotel room, lay down, died.

Sunday February 20: Woke up early, never made it to the chuch service I'd said I woulld try to make it to. Friends and I were going to dim sum. We decided against the Canton Restaurant (655 Folsom St. at 4th), having hated the food there in the past. Instead we went to the Yank Sing (there are three of them in San Francisco, but the best of the three was booked solid, so we went to the middle one. Ate way too much ($37/person including tax and tip). Mmmm. , fried turnip cake. Mmmm, asparagus in rice pastry. Mmmm, mango ice cream cake A couple who said they would be out of town the weekend showed up at dim sum, as they were unablle to fly to Chicago due to weather. They were bitter, but we stuffed them to the gills until they were unable to continue whining. Waddled back to the Muni Metro station, headed back to the hotel, sat in the lobby digesting for several hours.

Went shopping in the Castro. For some reason, half the places we stopped were selling ice cream, chocolates, cookies, etc.

After my usual nap (yeesh, I feel old; I console myself by referring to them as "disco naps") we went to a charity function at the GiftCenter on Brannan. The food was predictable but good. Unfortunately, the wine was basic (one Cabernet Sauvignon one Chardonnay, and no you cannot bring wine even if you are willing to pay a corkage fee; looks like next year we'll be smuggling champagne in and drinking them in the bathroom). The entertainment was really, *really* bad. Carol Metcalf is the worst comedienne I've ever heard who wasn't on the Gong Show.

Monday February 21: went to brunch and a charity auction. The food was good. I was doing my usual "give to charity with other people's money" thing, bidding things up. Mostly I got away with it, except when I wound up with two bottles of wine from Beach Blanket Babylon, which put me over my alcohol duty limit, and a 34x34x34" teddy bear (how the heck was I gonna get this thing home?). Then we went to a beer bust at a bar that was packed. I mean, the smoking patio was filled with non-smokers because the bar inside had no room. This is a bar that rents Port-O-Johns and sticks them outside on the sidewalk to deal with, ,the excessive demands on the facilities. Needless to say, this was not exactly a brass-and-fern bar.

Poured myself out of the bar, called a friend whose birthday was that weekend, and went to my hotel to get ready to take her out to dinner. She came by and we went to the Bistro Clovis (1596 Market St.). Her boyfriend also came along a bit later, directly from the office. The food was excellent (I had the onion soup, cassoulet, and couple glacee). The wine was excellent (a tasting flight of a Pouilly-Fuissé, a Chablis, and a St-Veran; a bottle of bourgogne recommended by the propriertor that actually worked with my cassoulet, my friend's bouillabaisse, and her bf's beef dish); and a lovely Vouvray moelleux. And dinner for the three of us cost less than dinner for one at La Folie, which had been my favourite restaurant in SF until now.

Waddled back to the hotel again. *urp*.

Tuesday Feb 22. One last day of shopping. Breakfast at the Welcome Home (464 Castro St. between Market and 18th). The Chicken Fried Steak with Sausage Gravy was very good, but always get the home fries, not the grits. Can we say *runny*? They tasted like gritty wallpaper paste.

Supper at SoMa Pizza (corner of 7th and Mission)(vegetarian calzone). Then off to sit in on a wind band rehearsal, at the standing invitation of the director. Gosh, I love sight-reading music that everybody else has been working on for two months. This was followed by a pork tostada with black beans at a restaurant near the corner of Church and Market with several band members and then a mad dash back to the hotel to pack.

More later.

[This message has been edited by islandcub (edited 02-26-2000).]

Hmm, did I mention the bad piano lounge I went to after dinner on Monday the 21st? Martuni's (4 Valencia St. at Market). 'Nuff said. I also added addresses where possible for the good restaurants, in case anybody thinks my recommendations are worth checking out.

So anyway.

Part 5

Wednesday February 23

Up much too early, checked out of the hotel just as the cab pulled up (I do *not* do SuperShuttle at 7 am). No traffic, woo hoo! Checked in for my flight (the airlines staff were very amused when I checked that huge teddy bear). Went to the AA Admiral's Lounge for some badly needed caffeine.

CP510 SFO-YVR

J class was half empty. Standard hot breakfast. Once again, one of the old 737's without TV screens or headphones.

At Vancouver I was met by my friend who had abandoned me to the wolves the previous Thursday. Apparently he had the dates wrong, showed up a day early, and when I didn't show, didn't think of calling or e-mailing me. *sigh*. We hopped in his car and headed to Daimo Noodle Express (8185 Granville St.). I had the duck congee and turnip cakes; he had a pork noodle dish and spring rolls. Everything was good, except the turnip cakes, which were fairly bland.

We went back to the airport and said our goodbyes. I hope that WestJet expands to Charlottetown; my friend works for them and can send me $25 buddy passes.

CP910 YVR-YOW

Airbus 320, comfy plane, for some reason there were three empty J seats but instead of spreading people out they stuck uss all together. The menu by design (possibly the last one they'll ever do?) was walnut-crusted goat cheese with grilled pears (and a raspberry coulis), crab cake with cranberry chutney. Mmmmm. The biryani rice was okay, if a touch non-spicy, and the oven roasted vegetables were good, except the parsnips were tough. For once I had the chocolate ice cream instead of the sorbet. Ignored the headset, because (1) somebody on the plane was using a CD player that was leaking electrons, and I couldn't deal with hearing fusion jazz in the background while watching Mumford and (2) they never played any music, so I never did get to listen to the rest of the classical channel.

Ottawa, my home away from home. Arrived late, headed to the Albert at Bay Suite Hotel (the corner of - surprise - Albert and Bay streets). Huge honking suite, three phones, but do you think they'd put one of them in the living room? Was still on West Coast time, so I went out and checked my e-mail at a cyber-bar.

Thursday February 24: slept late (woke up when housekeeping and conference services said they had to set up my suite for my meeting) did a little shopping, hosted a meeting (with pizza [1 for 1 Pizza on Bank St.; the all-dressed was good but way too many olives on the vegetarian] but no beer) in my suite. Got rid of other participants, stepped gingerly around bits of pepperoni and olive in the carpet. My internal clock was now somewhere about Calgary, so I went out anyway.

Yesterday: No breakfast. Dashed off to work. No muffins in the meeting room for a morning meeting? Quelled imminent revolt by quickly ordering a tray of fruit breads, which were inhaled within seconds of arriving. Lunch at the Southern Cross, (corner of Queen and Bay streets). Good food, lousy service, and why have they taken refried beans off the menu?

Had a date after work. Spent way too many hours at the bar where we met, relaxing after our respective days. Got back to the hotel at 10 pm, soaked our tired, drunk bones in the jacuzzi, ordered steaks sent up from the Bay St. Bistro attached to the hotel (great food at supper, awful food at lunch).

This morning: died getting up. Good thing I packed last night, because I was off to the airport, arriving at 8am for a 9am flight. Had forgotten that because of flight cancellations in Toronto all day yesterday (one of our meeting participants never did make it in because of it), there was a huge backlog of passengers. Managed to avoid the queue for Air Canada which stretched out to the restaurant area because AC is honouring CP elite status members in their own business/elite check-in lines. Security, however, is just as bad; the queue actually spiraled in on itself in two complete loops.
Checked out the Maple Leaf Lounge in Ottawa. Nice, very techno-trendy; I never did figure out how the cappucino machine worked (I would've needed caffeine in my system to start with).

AC8104 YOW-YUL

Beech 1900 plane. Fast but a little cramped.

Now in the Empress Lounge in Montreal waiting for my flight to Halifax. I love Montreal; it's nearly impossible to get decent croissants in Ottawa.

More later!


[This message has been edited by islandcub (edited 02-26-2000).]

Nice job.

Keep enjoying the CP flights while you can. Sadly, their days are numbered in the east.

Thanks, Traveller. I've already learned this the hard way; my next trip to YOW is all Air Canada; as of the end of this month, it looks like the flights from YHZ to St. John's NF, YOW, and YOW are gone, leaving only YYZ and possibly YYC.

Full flights? Ah, BB, if only; the few flights out of Halifax are gonna be deader and deader as all the connecting flights have already disappeared.

Part 6, today

CP1704 YUL-YHZ

Only 3 of ten seats in J were taken (Fokker F28). The flight was comfortable. The meal was better than usual, from my point of view. The regular cold beef plate was excellent; the beef on my plate was even rare! When given a choice on flights I enver take beef because it's almost always well-done.

In addition, the wine was excellent. A nice Côtes-de-Bourg, Chateau Haut-Guignard 1997, went excellently with the beef, although I should have saved the Lind Or chocolates (and the Oreo cookies!) for the Ivan Tamas Zinfandel that's always available in the Empress Lounge in Halifax.

Sitting now in the AC Maple Leaf Lounge, having a glass of whiskey and soda and waiting for my flight to Charlottetown on AC. It looks like the last may have been my last ever flight on Canadian as it is; by the time I next have a trip on a CP routing the airlines will likely have merged. MAybe I'll have a chance to use the remaining CP points in my account to add on a vacation to my next business trip to Ottawa; I've got another hankering to head to Vancouver sometime soon, and then there's always my planned trip to Chicago in May.

Oh, reports are that both the MLL and the Empress Lounge in YUL will continue in the future. The MLL there is rumoured to be due for an update. I keep hoping that perhaps one of the lounges will relocate to the old section of the terminal, where all the commuter flights come in and out, but alas, no, so the trudge downstairs, down the long tunnel (bouncing along the moving sidewalk) and back up will continue. On the other hand, you can still smoke [hanging head in shame] gateside down there, instead of paying $1.71 for the privilege of ignoring your coffee and smoking in the bar in the new section.

Part 7, yesterday

AC8865 YHZ-YYG

A Dash-8 flight, very full. Had a nice chat with the guy sitting next to me, who had managed to switch to it from a later flight. Service was snack mix, cookies, or breakfast bars (despite the fact that this was late afternoon) and those prepackaged juice thingies again. Turned down the snacks as I had been snacking all afternoon in the three lounges I had already seen. And I turned down the juice because too often when I open one while in the air the air pressure differential causes it to, well, explode in my lap.

Got to the airport, collected my baggage (at YYG it doesn't matter if your bags are marked with priority tags or not; baggage service is contracted out and the handlers couldn't give a flying leap who gets their bags when). Bliss; I'm home, home, home. Did three loads of laundry yesterday (one of the drawbacks of packing for a combined vacation/business trip), looked in the fridge and of course found nothing to eat, was too tired to go grocery shopping, and ordered in pizza.

And I miss my bed. How nice it was to know every inch of the mattress and the pillows once again!

[This message has been edited by islandcub (edited 02-28-2000).]

Great reporting!

Thanks, BB.

Oops, one last thing: the miles accumulated this trip:

Flight Class Description Basic Bonus Total
AC8844 H Coach YYG-YHZ 250
Loyalty Bonus 125 375
CP1715 R Upgrade YHZ-YOW 595
Loyalty Bonus 297 892
CP903 R Upgrade YOW-YVR 2214
Loyalty Bonus 1107 3321
CP515 Y Miscoded Standby
Upgrade YVR-SFO 800
Dbl points to US 800
Loyalty Bonus 400 2000
CP510 R Upgrade SFO-YVR 800
Dbl points to US 800
Loyalty Bonus 400 2000
CP910 R Upgrade YVR-YOW 2214
Loyalty Bonus 1107 3321
AC8104 L Coach YOW-YUL 250
Loyalty Bonus 125 375
AC8865 H Coach YHZ-YYG 250
Loyalty Bonus 125 375
CP1704 is not showing on the CP
website yet, but it should be this:
R Upgrade YUL-YHZ 501
Loyalty Bonus 251 752

Total basic (qualifying miles) 7874
Total all miles 13411

You should also get 1500 miles for each segment in business class and for full fare economy. See the promo on the CP web site.

Alas, no; each segment was cheaper than B class fare, and besides, I don't have a RB Canadian Plus Visa, having opted for a low-interest card instead.

I mentioned La Folie (2316 Polk St., 415-776-5577), my current second-favourite French restaurant in San Francisco, way earlier in this thread.

While doing some tidying up (which is the only way I can be sure I've packed all the files I need for a business trip (my regular YYG-YOW run, starting tomorrow), I came across the menu for a special menux fixe dinner at La Folie. I thought I'd bring back this thread and post the menu, so that you all can *see* why I like it.

Thursday August 7, 1997.

La Folie hors d'oeuvres

- I don't quite remember them, this having meeb 2.5 years ago, but I'm sure they were good. At this point, though, we (about 40 of us) were all busy table-hopping so that we could catch up on news and such.

lobster pistou

- coals to Newcastle, perhaps, since I live in lobsterland, Canada, but this was a delicious soup.

roast quail and foie gras with a simple salad and wild mushrooms
natural juice with roast garlic

- heaven! good Lord, the salad was even garnished with a whole fried quail's egg, and the foie gras was perfectly seared on the outside and rare on the inside. And the quail was delicious.

option: chateau d'Yquem 1989, $24/half glass
chateau raymon-laton sauternes 1987, $11.50/half glass

- I passed on this as there were already three bottles of decent (though unexceptional) white wine per table of 8 already provided, and I also knew what was coming up later.

roast veal chop, braised baby artichokes and wild mushrooms
madeira port sauce

or

sauteed arctic char with a summer salad of haricots verts, yellow wax beans, asparagus, toy box tomatoes, and verjus vinaigrette

- I had the veal, which was simply roasted but delicious. The artichokes were tender but not mushy, the mushrooms were flavourful, and I thought that madeira *and* port in one sauce would be too much, but it complemented everything else nicely. Others raved about the arctic char.

croquettes of Guanaja chocolat, orange coulis with candied zest, Grand Marnier ice cream

- somebody told them I love chocolate! And with orange sauce, and orange ice cream! *and* almonds in the croquettes! Impossible to improve on this, you say? Well...

Inniskillin Niagara Peninsula Icewine 1996
Inniskillin Okanagan Valley Icewine 1996

A friend had shown up with a bottle of each of these fabulous dessert wines. La Folie waved the corkage fee of $15/bottle, I presume because they had nothing comparable so it wasn't as if we were substituting our wines for theirs. The Okanagan Valley was a bit more of a heavyweight, but the Niagara Peninsula seemed to be a bit more floral and fruity.

Total cost of the meal was about $180 per person. *oof*! And then we had to pry ourselves out of our chairs and go our various ways. *double* *oof*!

Islandcub, fondly reminiscing