markbach
Mar 17, 02, 11:59 pm
My dad needed to go out to San Francisco for a meeting for some volunteer work he does, so I decided to tag along for the weekend...
Friday, March 15
Skipped out of work and afternoon classes about 11am, went home to pack and change clothes. Picked my father up at work at 2:00, then headed up to PHL. Made great time, found an excellent parking space at my favorite offsite parking place, and hopped on the shuttle to the airport. There was no one in the Terminal C Preferred line, so we breezed right through, only took about 5 minutes to reissue our tickets with the upgrades. Went upstairs to the terminal C security, where the preferred/first line was only about 10 people deep, and moved rapidly. I don't think very many people know about it yet. I went shopping for a new umbrella while my father stopped for a soda in the food court. I couldn't find an umbrella I liked, so we went down to find a quiet area near gate C-23. I had arranged to meet mileshound, who was on his way to LAX for the weekend from ALB. My father sat down to take care of some paperwork while I, always the shutterbug, wandered the A, B, and C terminals, taking pictures of planes. Finally, mileshound and his daughter arrived, and they spotted my bright yellow FT tags immediately. He is a member of the US Airways club, so he invited us up there for a little while. This is the first time I've ever been to the US club at PHL (I'm always O&D, so I don't bother wasting a club pass here), and it was quite spacious, but crowded on Friday afternoon. We had sodas and talked for about 30 minutes, then we had to catch our respective flights. We bid them safe travels, and walked over to gate B-5 for the flight to SFO.
US Airways Flight 197 - PHL-SFO - A321
dep. 5:50pm est, arrive 9:18 pm pst
actual: dep. 5:53pm est, arrive 9:46 pm pst
By the time we arrived at the gate, the plane was already being boarded. A quick ID check, and soon we were settled into seats 2D and F on this pen-mark-void Airbus 321. I glanced around the F cabin before takeoff, and saw 3 empty seats, and only 1 non-rev. Two rounds of pre-departure drinks were offered. We pushed a few minutes late, and had a quick (for PHL at rush hour) taxi and takeoff. Once we were airborne,the purser took drink and meal orders (front to back). The choices were steak, chicken, and shrimp and a choice of sour cream and herb or balsamic dressings for the salad. No menus were offered. The appetizer was the standard shrimp cocktail. The salad with the sour cream dressing was fairly tasty. Bread was offered. I chose the steak, which was the standard, with the good mashed potatoes and greasy pepper strips. My father had the chicken, which came with a honey mustard sauce, potatoes and squash. He said the chicken was decent. Dessert was the cheesecake. After the meal service, the FA's congregated in the gallery for the rest of the flight, but were attentive if you wandered up there to ask for anything. The movie was "Bandits," which looked bad, so I read some of my magazines from ValueMags. My father borrowed my laptop to work on some projects. The flight seemed to stretch on forever, but we finally landed after 6 hours, 50 minutes in the air.
Being in row 2, and having no checked baggage, a quick walk later, and we were waiting outside in the brisk California night. The shuttle for the Westin San Francisco Airport finally arrived and we loaded in. At the next stop, about 10 United crew boarded the already packed shuttle, so I was forced to share my seat with a gorgeous blonde United flight attendant. Got to the Westin, and checked in in short order; there were no upgrade rooms available (not even a runway view), so we settled for a room on the 5th floor with a city view. I logged online for a few minutes to check email and flyertalk, then went downstairs to look for some snacks and make a few phone calls. Came back upstairs and crashed in my heavenly bed about 12am pacific.
Saturday, March 16
I woke up about 8am, and took my time in the heavenly shower. I got dressed and took the shuttle to the airport, where I boarded a SamTrans KX express bus to downtown ($3). The KX bus does not allow any luggage except small items like purses, laptop bags, and briefcases. It took about 20 minutes to get to 5th and Mission, where I got off. I walked up 1 block to Market, and browsed around the San Francisco Shopping Center, with it's 5 story Nordstrom and circular
escalators. I didn't find a jacket I liked, so I was chilly the rest of the day. I bought a 3-day MUNI pass, and got in line for the cable cars. I boarded a Powell/Hyde car, and rode it the whole way up to the wharf. When I was a kid, I used to love the cable cars, but this time i found them too slow, crowded, and noisy. I guess that's part of growing up. I set off to complete my first mission of the afternoon. I walked 2 blocks up and found my destination: In-n-Out Burger. I'm not a huge fast-food or hamburger fan, but after hearing people rave about it on Flyertalk, I decided that I needed to experience it for myself. I ordered a double-double combo, and I was quite impressed. The freshness and quality of the vegetables and fries was very good, and I really liked the hamburger. I now under B747-437B's comments in his latest trip report regarding In-n-Out. My hunger satisfied, I walked up to Ghirardelli Square to complete mission number two: check out the St. Patrick's Day festival and procure large quantities of chocolate. The festival was nothing exciting, just some irish folk bands and kids dancing. The chocolate was plentiful, and I picked up about 20 bars for my mom and myself. I walked back towards the Wharf area, and was taken in by the sweet smell of another candy shop. They had some very interesting flavors of taffy, so I bought some, and also a gift box of chocolate for a friend who's birthday I was missing this weekend. As I continued to window shop, a gentleman in an electronics store commented on my camera and offered to show me some accessories for it. My dad was interested in some lenses for it, so I took him up on his offer, figuring I would see what they had and bring him back tomorrow. I resisted buying a lens extender and a UV filter, but every time I declined, the price went down, so I eventually caved,
and purchased them for a decent price. I went over to pier 39 to window shop some more. I took a bunch of pictures of the sea lions and the scenery, but I was getting cold from being on the water, so I took a streetcar back downtown. I looked in Old Navy, but they didn't have any fleeces this time of year, so I decided to find something indoors to do. I leafed through the "tourist" magazine that I had picked up, and found an ad for the Sony "Metrion" which was only a few blocks away. Being a sucker for technology, I had to check it out. The first floor is a Sony store, selling all their computer, video, television, camera, and other products. I browsed around for a while and fondled some of the 3.5 pound Vaio laptops, but then wandered upstairs where they had a video game room, and a digital lifestyles store. I went in the digital store and sent a few photo postcards from a PDA with a built-in camera. I found a few internet terminals, so I logged into Flyertalk for a few minutes. I still had two hours to kill before dinner, so I went over to the kiosk and bought a ticket for "Beauty and the Beast" in the Loews IMAX theater. The IMAX theater here is the largest in the country (80 x 100 feet), only paralleled by it's sister theater at Loews in New York City. Needless to say, it was quite an experience, and I look forward to see the extreme sports movie when they release it, and the Lion King next year. After the movie, I walked down to Basil (1175 Folsom St, SoMa), passing by several bums drinking in front of the adult movie store.
[This message has been edited by markbach (edited 03-17-2002).]
Friday, March 15
Skipped out of work and afternoon classes about 11am, went home to pack and change clothes. Picked my father up at work at 2:00, then headed up to PHL. Made great time, found an excellent parking space at my favorite offsite parking place, and hopped on the shuttle to the airport. There was no one in the Terminal C Preferred line, so we breezed right through, only took about 5 minutes to reissue our tickets with the upgrades. Went upstairs to the terminal C security, where the preferred/first line was only about 10 people deep, and moved rapidly. I don't think very many people know about it yet. I went shopping for a new umbrella while my father stopped for a soda in the food court. I couldn't find an umbrella I liked, so we went down to find a quiet area near gate C-23. I had arranged to meet mileshound, who was on his way to LAX for the weekend from ALB. My father sat down to take care of some paperwork while I, always the shutterbug, wandered the A, B, and C terminals, taking pictures of planes. Finally, mileshound and his daughter arrived, and they spotted my bright yellow FT tags immediately. He is a member of the US Airways club, so he invited us up there for a little while. This is the first time I've ever been to the US club at PHL (I'm always O&D, so I don't bother wasting a club pass here), and it was quite spacious, but crowded on Friday afternoon. We had sodas and talked for about 30 minutes, then we had to catch our respective flights. We bid them safe travels, and walked over to gate B-5 for the flight to SFO.
US Airways Flight 197 - PHL-SFO - A321
dep. 5:50pm est, arrive 9:18 pm pst
actual: dep. 5:53pm est, arrive 9:46 pm pst
By the time we arrived at the gate, the plane was already being boarded. A quick ID check, and soon we were settled into seats 2D and F on this pen-mark-void Airbus 321. I glanced around the F cabin before takeoff, and saw 3 empty seats, and only 1 non-rev. Two rounds of pre-departure drinks were offered. We pushed a few minutes late, and had a quick (for PHL at rush hour) taxi and takeoff. Once we were airborne,the purser took drink and meal orders (front to back). The choices were steak, chicken, and shrimp and a choice of sour cream and herb or balsamic dressings for the salad. No menus were offered. The appetizer was the standard shrimp cocktail. The salad with the sour cream dressing was fairly tasty. Bread was offered. I chose the steak, which was the standard, with the good mashed potatoes and greasy pepper strips. My father had the chicken, which came with a honey mustard sauce, potatoes and squash. He said the chicken was decent. Dessert was the cheesecake. After the meal service, the FA's congregated in the gallery for the rest of the flight, but were attentive if you wandered up there to ask for anything. The movie was "Bandits," which looked bad, so I read some of my magazines from ValueMags. My father borrowed my laptop to work on some projects. The flight seemed to stretch on forever, but we finally landed after 6 hours, 50 minutes in the air.
Being in row 2, and having no checked baggage, a quick walk later, and we were waiting outside in the brisk California night. The shuttle for the Westin San Francisco Airport finally arrived and we loaded in. At the next stop, about 10 United crew boarded the already packed shuttle, so I was forced to share my seat with a gorgeous blonde United flight attendant. Got to the Westin, and checked in in short order; there were no upgrade rooms available (not even a runway view), so we settled for a room on the 5th floor with a city view. I logged online for a few minutes to check email and flyertalk, then went downstairs to look for some snacks and make a few phone calls. Came back upstairs and crashed in my heavenly bed about 12am pacific.
Saturday, March 16
I woke up about 8am, and took my time in the heavenly shower. I got dressed and took the shuttle to the airport, where I boarded a SamTrans KX express bus to downtown ($3). The KX bus does not allow any luggage except small items like purses, laptop bags, and briefcases. It took about 20 minutes to get to 5th and Mission, where I got off. I walked up 1 block to Market, and browsed around the San Francisco Shopping Center, with it's 5 story Nordstrom and circular
escalators. I didn't find a jacket I liked, so I was chilly the rest of the day. I bought a 3-day MUNI pass, and got in line for the cable cars. I boarded a Powell/Hyde car, and rode it the whole way up to the wharf. When I was a kid, I used to love the cable cars, but this time i found them too slow, crowded, and noisy. I guess that's part of growing up. I set off to complete my first mission of the afternoon. I walked 2 blocks up and found my destination: In-n-Out Burger. I'm not a huge fast-food or hamburger fan, but after hearing people rave about it on Flyertalk, I decided that I needed to experience it for myself. I ordered a double-double combo, and I was quite impressed. The freshness and quality of the vegetables and fries was very good, and I really liked the hamburger. I now under B747-437B's comments in his latest trip report regarding In-n-Out. My hunger satisfied, I walked up to Ghirardelli Square to complete mission number two: check out the St. Patrick's Day festival and procure large quantities of chocolate. The festival was nothing exciting, just some irish folk bands and kids dancing. The chocolate was plentiful, and I picked up about 20 bars for my mom and myself. I walked back towards the Wharf area, and was taken in by the sweet smell of another candy shop. They had some very interesting flavors of taffy, so I bought some, and also a gift box of chocolate for a friend who's birthday I was missing this weekend. As I continued to window shop, a gentleman in an electronics store commented on my camera and offered to show me some accessories for it. My dad was interested in some lenses for it, so I took him up on his offer, figuring I would see what they had and bring him back tomorrow. I resisted buying a lens extender and a UV filter, but every time I declined, the price went down, so I eventually caved,
and purchased them for a decent price. I went over to pier 39 to window shop some more. I took a bunch of pictures of the sea lions and the scenery, but I was getting cold from being on the water, so I took a streetcar back downtown. I looked in Old Navy, but they didn't have any fleeces this time of year, so I decided to find something indoors to do. I leafed through the "tourist" magazine that I had picked up, and found an ad for the Sony "Metrion" which was only a few blocks away. Being a sucker for technology, I had to check it out. The first floor is a Sony store, selling all their computer, video, television, camera, and other products. I browsed around for a while and fondled some of the 3.5 pound Vaio laptops, but then wandered upstairs where they had a video game room, and a digital lifestyles store. I went in the digital store and sent a few photo postcards from a PDA with a built-in camera. I found a few internet terminals, so I logged into Flyertalk for a few minutes. I still had two hours to kill before dinner, so I went over to the kiosk and bought a ticket for "Beauty and the Beast" in the Loews IMAX theater. The IMAX theater here is the largest in the country (80 x 100 feet), only paralleled by it's sister theater at Loews in New York City. Needless to say, it was quite an experience, and I look forward to see the extreme sports movie when they release it, and the Lion King next year. After the movie, I walked down to Basil (1175 Folsom St, SoMa), passing by several bums drinking in front of the adult movie store.
[This message has been edited by markbach (edited 03-17-2002).]