El Cochinito
Nov 12, 03, 7:36 pm
My seven-year-old son Kevin has caught my love for travel; he already has a list of places he wants to visit (Statue of Liberty, Washington DC, Egypt, Las Vegas, Paris). A short time back, United had a low fare sale between San Jose and New York City, so needing some 4,500 miles to secure my Premier Executive status for 2004 and wanting to give my son a chance to see one of the things on his list, I booked a pair of tickets SJC-JFK for $297 in total. We were going on a father/son weekend in the Big City!
Friday (7-Nov-2003) – Sacramento to San Jose by car
After dinner Kevin and I headed out for the two hour drive to San Jose. Based on info I found here ( http://www.parkingaccess.com ) I made reservations at the Ramada Limited motel in Santa Clara. $79 buys a room for two people, airport transportation, and parking for up to 14 days. At check-in, the receptionist asked what time we wanted to be at the airport (5 a.m.); he said he’d have a taxi waiting for us at 4:45 a.m. He then gave me round trip vouchers for the taxi and instructions to call the cab company when we returned to San Jose’s airport for the trip back to the hotel.
Our ground floor room was clean, though the furniture was threadbare in places. The room included a noisy refrigerator and small microwave oven along with a surprisingly comfortable bed. My son found Nickelodeon, Animal Planet, Discovery Channel, and Cartoon Network on the cable TV, so he was content.
Saturday (8-Nov-2003) – United Express/Skywest 6993 SJC to LAX
Regional Jet
The alarm clock went off at the ungodly hour of 4:00 a.m. Kevin slept well, but for some reason I didn’t nod off until 1 in the morning. After a quick shower, we were packed and ready to go. We tossed our dirty clothes into the car’s trunk (why haul them all the way to NY and back?) and wheeled our suitcases to the motel’s office. Sure enough, a taxi was waiting for us as promised. We arrived at the United terminal shortly before 5 a.m.
There were a handful of passengers in the regular check-in line and nobody in the Star Gold – First Class line. After a short wait, a friendly United agent waved us over to the First Class check-in desk. Kevin inquired, as only a seven year old can, if we were riding in first. He also asked the agent if his special kid’s meal had been put on the airplane for him.
I asked the agent to check to see if there was upgrade inventory available for LAX-JFK. Sure enough, we could have 9E and 9F in the Business cabin. Well, it was a special father/son trip after all, so I burned all my 500-miler certificates and another 15,000 miles to move us. During the upgrade process, the agent maintained a friendly banter with Kevin about his airplane breakfast – they decided pancakes would make the best meal of all.
We wrapped things up at the counter by 5:15 a.m. and headed into the terminal. Kevin went over to the children’s play structure to burn off some energy while we waited for Burger King to open at 5:30. After a power breakfast of French Toast Sticks and hash browns, it was time to queue up for the TSA gauntlet.
There was a line going into security but moved fast as it split into multiple stations after the ubiquitous ticket verification. The last time I used SJC a few years ago the terminal in the morning was a madhouse. Today it was kind of empty, maybe fewer people are traveling to/from San Jose since the collapse of the dot-com industry? Walking up to the inspection station, the TSA agent asked me what kind of shoes I was wearing (answer, Mephisto without shanks), took a look for himself, and said walk on through. Wow, no de-shoeing today! Kevin had already gone through and was waiting patiently for our carry-on bags to be spit out by the x-ray machine.
We had a short time to wait before boarding, so we checked out the In-Vision movie rental kiosk and watched clips from Finding Nemo and SpongeBob Squarepants. Finally our flight was called. ID checks are still done at the gate, after which you then walk out on the tarmac to your aircraft. We settled in to our 1A/1B seats on the Regional Jet, ready for our 6:30 a.m. departure to LAX.
Flying time was announced at 42 minutes and we pushed back right on time. We had a long taxi as United’s terminal is located on the far south side of the airport and we were taking off from runway 30L. A beverage service and choice of snacks was offered in-flight and before too long we were on our descent into LAX. Landing on the north side of LAX meant a long taxi around to the Skywest remote terminal. After engine shutdown, we had to wait a few minutes for the ground crew to unload the large carry-on bags – during that time the first office invited Kevin up into the cockpit where they showed him all the cool switches, dials, alarms, and lights. A Skywest bus took us over to the main terminal, gate 71, where we found our flight to JFK was on time and departing from the same terminal.
Saturday (8-Nov-2003) – United 6 LAX to JFK
An old, tired 767-200
By the time we made our way to the gate, Business class was in the process of boarding. I took the window seat, giving Kevin the aisle as I knew he’d want to get up and use the bathroom at least 50 times during the flight. The purser came by our seats and introduced himself, then offered our choice of orange juice or water along with menus. I mentioned that there was probably a special meal for Kevin boarded in coach; the purser said he’d check to make sure it was there and then, if Kevin wanted, he’d give him that instead of the regular Business breakfast. Perfect!
The Business cabin was maybe half full on this Saturday morning trip. The passenger behind us in 10F said hi to Kevin, saying something about having a couple of daughters that were around Kevin’s age. He then asked me if Kevin would like to borrow his portable DVD player and watch a movie; wow, that would be very cool – thank you! We went through his selection of DVDs and Kevin chose Men in Black II. We decided we’d get it setup right after breakfast.
Plenty of others have already written about how crappy the 767-200 equipment is that United insists on flying on their “premium transcontinental” routes. Let me just add that those assessments are correct – there is no comparison between this plane and the 767-300 much less the 777. But hey, Business class is still Business class!
Prior to pushback our Captain came on the speakers. Besides the usual info about destination weather (cold) and flying time (fast – he expected 4-1/2 hours due to very advantageous tail winds), he talked about how serious United was about security. He said that this aircraft was equipped with an “armored door, made with Kevlar” that would “stop a bullet” and could not be opened from the outside after departure due to a “secure combination lock”. He then said that channel 9 would be available during departure and arrival, but he preferred to turn it off en route and let passengers listen to music. Welcome aboard and enjoy your flight.
Well alrighty then.
With that, we pushed back on time and taxied the short distance to our departure runway on the south side of LAX. After a short hold for traffic, we took off to the west over the Pacific Ocean then made a left U-turn back to the east for our cross-country flight. We were on our way to New York!
After reaching a “safe and comfortable cruising altitude”, our flight attendant started taking drink and breakfast orders. After taking my order, he turned to Kevin and asked, “And Sr. Cochinito, what would you like to drink?” Kevin leaned over to me and whispered, “Does he mean me or you, Dad?” I said that the F/A was talking to him and to order whatever he wanted. Tablecloths were placed; a Pepsi was then procured for Sr.Cochinito and some fortified tomato juice for Dad.
I chose the egg breakfast, which came without eggs. The F/A apologized and said there was some kind of mix up in catering and they forgot to board the main dish. It wasn’t really a problem for me since we had eaten at Burger King earlier in the morning so I wasn’t that hungry.
With great fanfare, the F/A then produced Kevin’s special meal from coach. He got some fluffy pancakes with maple syrup, a couple of sausages, some kind of orange-flavored bread, and a banana. Kevin pronounced everything as yummy and ate most of his breakfast. I have to say his breakfast did look pretty good.
After the breakfast trays were cleared, the passenger behind us set up the DVD player for Kevin. I used Kevin’s movie time as an opportunity to take a nap. Kevin contentedly watched the movie, waking me up during the end credits to ask how to turn off the machine. He took the DVD player back to its owner, who offered another movie, but Kevin decided he wanted to play Gameboy for a while. The F/As working our cabin checked periodically to see if we needed anything – after a couple more Pepsi’s I had to cut the boy off otherwise he’d have drank the plane dry.
Prior to arrival the deli-sandwich trays were delivered – I think because of the quickness of the flight most people were still full from breakfast. Kevin didn’t care for the deli-tray, but I enjoyed it. A few minutes later a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie from the front cabin magically appeared on Kevin’s tray. That brought a big smile to his face. A hot towel service took place after our trays were cleared.
As we approached New York, channel 9 was switched back over to ATC as promised by our captain. Our arrival route took us over mid-town Manhattan and out of our window we could see downtown and the Statue of Liberty. After a few short vectors due to our early arrival we landed at JFK and pulled up to the terminal. Kevin was beaming from ear-to-ear – we had arrived in New York! Our Captain was waiting by the door during deplaning, thanking everybody for flying United and giving the kids a set of wings.
There was a short wait for our luggage then we headed outside to look for our sedan service. Man, it was COLD out (well, at least for these two Californians!). I had a reservation through Elite Limousines for a sedan; their rate was $47 + tax + toll + tip for JFK to midtown Manhattan. Waiting at the curb was a clean black Lincoln town car with our name on it. Our driver loaded up our luggage and we headed into the late afternoon traffic towards the Hilton New York Hotel on Avenue of the Americas.
Saturday (8-Nov-2003) – Hilton New York Hotel
The drive in from JFK took a little over an hour, not too bad considering the very heavy traffic. I had reservations through the Hilton website for an executive floor room at the AAA rate ($251/night); based on what other Flyertalkers have posted I knew to head right for the 44th floor to check in. Much easier said than done though. The hotel was absolutely mobbed with people and there was a line to use the bank of elevators serving floors 34-44. Apparently one of the three elevators was out of order. It took 15 minutes before we were able to cram ourselves into an elevator, which stopped at every floor from 34 to 44. But at least we could watch CNN on the TV inside the elevator!
Checking-in is done inside the 44th floor’s Executive Lounge. The lounge was packed with people taking advantage of the Happy Hour from 5 to 7 p.m. We were checked-in by a pleasant receptionist who asked for my AAA card along with my ID (as specified on Hilton’s website). It was the first time I’ve ever been asked to show my AAA card though. She said that as an Hhonors Gold member I would be on a Gold/Diamond floor in room 3502.
Kevin and I headed back to wait, and wait, and wait for the elevator. Finally we reached our room. 3502 is next to the emergency stairwell; opening the door reveals a long narrow hall to probably the smallest Hilton room I’ve ever been in. Kevin’s first reaction was that it was smaller than his bedroom (not true but almost). The nicely decorated room held a queen size bed, an armoire with 19” TV, the mini-bar and coffee service, complimentary bottled water, a work desk with a comfortable office chair, and a small occasional chair. There was not much available floor space left over. The bathroom was a bit smaller than a typical hotel bathroom but made good use of space. In the closet were robes and a safe. The north facing view was of the building across the street, but by leaning left you could spot the Hudson River in the distance. The vitally important (when you are traveling with a seven year old) Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon were on the cable TV, plus they have the Lodge Net Nintendo service (you get 1 hour of play in the evening if you behave yourself all day).
After unpacking, Kevin and I bundled up with our hats and gloves to head outside. The weather during our stay was beautifully clear, but it was cold (at least to us). We walked over to Times Square (about 12 blocks away) to see the lights at night. Being Saturday evening, it was crowded but it was still a lot of fun to walk around looking at the stores, the lights, and all of the people. We wanted to go inside the world’s biggest Toys R Us store, but there was a line of people waiting to get in. Kevin decided he didn’t want to wait in line (or “on line” as they say in NY) in the cold. After wandering around Times Square we headed over to 5th Avenue. A tourist schlock shop caught Kevin’s eye. The one thing he wanted as a souvenir was a Statue of Liberty so we went inside to find just the perfect one and warm up a bit. After this important purchase, we found a pizza place and had some NY pizza for dinner. We spotted the NBA Store and St. Patrick’s Cathedral, deciding to come back to explore those in the morning. Walking a bit further, we found Rockefeller Plaza where we watched the ice skaters for a while then we went inside the NBC Experience store. Kevin was intrigued with the idea of going on the studio tour, so we decided to come back first thing in the morning (Sunday tours start at 9:30). A couple of short walking blocks later we were back in our hotel and calling it a night.
Sunday (9-Nov-2003) New York City
Both Kevin and I don’t seem to be bothered much by jet lag, so we had no problem waking up early. The broken elevator from the night before was fixed; in fact there were no more crowded elevators for the rest of our stay. The Executive Lounge was crowded and we had to wait a few minutes for a table to open up. A hostess asks to see your key and directs you to a table. Assorted fruits, pastries, breads, muffins, and cereal are available.
Our first stop after breakfast was the NBC studio tour. The tour is a little over an hour in length. I give it two out of four stars but for Kevin it was one of his high points. Two NBC pages lead the tour. Photography is strictly not allowed except at one point in the tour. After passing through NBC security (metal detectors), we were taken upstairs. We peered through bulletproof glass to see the NBC control center, the secure nerve center that controls all of the program uplinks and downlinks for the network. We then watched a short movie about the history of the network, from its early radio days through its current conversion to digital HDTV broadcasting. Since it was NFL Sunday, we couldn’t see the Sports Center as it was being used. We went inside the studio used for NBC Dateline, which has multiple sets, then walked over to the set used by Tom Brokaw for the NBC Nightly News. Interestingly enough, the Nightly News studio is “HDTV ready”, meaning that the graphics, colors, and design are built to support the higher resolution of digital TV. We learned some trivia, such as the studio is cooled to near freezing by refrigerated air before turning on the lights (there are at least a couple of hundred used to light the Nightly News set) that raises the temperature 40 to 50 degrees. The control room scene that you can see in the background of the Nightly News set is actually an endless loop tape that repeats after 3 minutes. It was recorded at the CNBC studios in the middle of the night when it was relatively quiet – if you watch closely you can see somebody come in, shuffle some papers, then leave. Three minutes later he’s back. Does it over and over again.
We then headed up to the Saturday Night Live studio. Being that it was Sunday morning, crews were cleaning up the set. SNL is really taped in front of a live audience. This studio is the largest one NBC uses at this facility. It is also the one with the best acoustics – the NBC Philharmonic Orchestra used it for many years back in the “old days”.
Tickets to SNL are very difficult to get. Apparently NBC takes in e-mail requests only during the month of August for tapings during the next season. Requests are randomly selected by computer and winners notified. You don’t get a choice of dates. There are very limited standby seats available for no-shows; our guide said she’s heard of people lining up for these on Friday mornings.
At this point in the tour our guide asked for a volunteer for the next part of the tour. Kevin immediately stuck up his hand and was selected. He headed off with one of the pages and we followed our guide into a mock up of a news studio set, complete with a “control room”. Kevin was seated at the anchor desk – he was hired as an NBC weatherman and was going to show us how a green screen worked. Incidentally this was the point in the tour where guests can take pictures, so of course I had my camera out!
The two pages acted as director and control room operator. Kevin got up from the anchor desk and stood in front of a green screen. He was instructed to read the weather report from the teleprompter, pointing to the west coast, east coast, and Florida on the weather map behind him. Of course there is no weather map, the computer places it there and the weatherman has to look at a monitor to see what he is pointing at. To his credit Kevin did a pretty good job, standing in front of a crowd of 30 tourists, under the hot studio lights, reading some big words from the teleprompter, and playing weatherman. At the end he got a huge round of applause. To say he was thrilled is an understatement! And of course Dad was very proud!
Leaving the NBC facility we walked over to Fifth Avenue to visit the NBA Store. Kevin and I are big fans of the Sacramento Kings. Besides all of the NBA paraphernalia, there are a couple of neat things to see such as a display where you can compare your hand size to various NBA players and life size Lego models of players.
Kevin wanted to see the mummy display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art so we hopped in a taxi and headed uptown. The museum lobby was packed with people, probably because it was early Sunday afternoon. Visitor’s bags are inspected and large parcels are not permitted. The coat check line was long, but moved fairly quickly. We found the Egyptian Art room and looked a mummy cases, sarcophaguses, and such. Kevin was somewhat disappointed, “Where’s the live mummies, Dad?” He expected to see mummies along with the cases. We spent a couple of hours in the museum, checking out the fantastic displays of rooms decorated with period furniture and enjoying a late lunch in the basement cafeteria.
Leaving the museum, we started walking in the direction of the hotel. It was a beautiful day, clear and cold, and we wanted to see at least some of Central Park. We stopped and watched the model sailboats on the pond before hailing a cab to head back towards the hotel.
Our taxi driver said that the crosstown avenues were at gridlock, something about a street fair. Rather than fight the traffic, I had him stop along 5th Avenue where I spotted Takashimaya Department Store. Thanks to a Flyertalker’s advice, my wife picked up some Kanebo cosmetics when we visited Tokyo a few years ago. She loves this stuff, but it is next to impossible to find in Northern California. Well they certainly have it at this New York branch of the famous Tokyo department store. A very helpful saleswoman was more than glad to take my Diners Club card – but hey, I get points you know!
After taking care of mom’s presents, Kevin and I walked over to St. Patrick’s Cathedral and went inside. This is the largest Gothic style Catholic cathedral in the United States, seating over 2,000 people. We walked around admiring the stained glass, altars, and statues.
On just about every corner in the tourist areas of New York you’ll find pushcart vendors selling food and sodas. Just outside our hotel on the corner was a pushcart advertising Halal food (food prepared according to the tenets of the Islamic faith). Chicken and rice were on the menu, so Kevin asked the owner if his chicken was any good. Free samples were immediately offered. An enthusiastic “Excellent!” from Kevin resulted in a substantial to-go plate of chicken cooked on a grill before our eyes served on a bed of flavored rice, only $4. Nearby another pushcart sold Argentine style empanadas for a dollar each. With a couple of sodas dinner was served in our room. After dinner, we headed upstairs to the Executive Lounge to see what was being offered. Snacks are set out from 5 to 7; non-alcoholic beverages are complimentary. This night there were assorted cheeses with crackers, vegetable crudités with dips, fruits, egg rolls, mini-turnovers, etc.
This evening was our big night out to see The Lion King. The show started at 6:30, so we left the hotel in plenty of time to walk over to the New Amsterdam Theatre on 42nd Street. Several Flyertalkers recommended walking, which was a good choice since the traffic was terrible and it really isn’t that far to go. Kevin and I felt perfectly safe walking around at night in the midtown area.
Kevin and I both give The Lion King an enthusiastic thumbs up. The theatre itself is something to see on its own – it was restored especially for this production. Tickets to the show are definitely not cheap, but I can honestly say it was money well spent. This was a great way to introduce Kevin to the theatre and I’m sure it is something he will remember for a long time.
After the show, we walked back to Avenue of the Americas, stopping off at McDonald’s for a post-theatre snack (I am traveling with a seven year old, remember?).
Monday (10-Nov-2003) – New York City
After breakfast we hit the streets shortly after 8:30. It was another beautiful day, but cold. Our plan was to walk over to the Today Show studio to see the mob of people trying to be seen on national TV. Then we would walk down to 42nd Street and take the bus to the Circle Line Tour at the 42nd Street Pier.
Sure enough there was a gaggle of tourists outside the Today Show; there was some kind of special event going on and a segment was being filmed outside. We hung around for a few minutes, watching Willard Scott do the weather report from outside and talking to tourists. On the street, a mounted NYPD officer posed with Kevin for a picture.
Back on Avenue of the Americas, we peered in the window of the CNN morning news show and as we walked further along we saw a US Marine Corp band on the corner outside the Fox News Center. There were only a handful of tourists standing around watching the co-hosts of the TV show Fox and Friends, Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade cut a birthday cake honoring the Corps. Kevin and I watched for a while, took some pictures of the celebrities and band, then continued our walk down the avenue.
Turning west on 42nd Street, we walked over to Times Square to take some pictures. A lady was feeding seed to the pigeons, which of course attracted Kevin’s attention. She gave Kevin a half of a sack of birdseed, so I’ve got some photos of Kevin surrounded by hundreds of pigeons in the middle of Times Square.
Kids ride the bus for free in NY – all others must pay cash or have a metro card. What’s important to know is that cash means change. Paper money is not accepted. This caused at least one big argument between our bus driver and a tourist couple from Italy who were trying to pay with dollar bills.
We took the 2 hour Circle Line Tour, which heads out to the Statue of Liberty for that all important photo opportunity, then goes up the East River to nearly the United Nations complex before returning to the dock. As we headed down the Hudson River, our tour guide pointed out the site of Ground Zero, which was apparent even from our vantage point. (I had debated about taking Kevin to Ground Zero, but decided to wait a few more years). Kevin staked out a place in the bow of the boat, anxiously looking for what we came so far to see, the Statue of Liberty. When he first spotted it, he jumped up and down with excitement. He has been talking about seeing the statue for weeks, and finally here it was.
While on the boat, a tourist couple from Britain came up to me and offered us their NY City Pass ticket books – they were done with them as they were going home in the afternoon and they had heard Kevin talking about the American Museum of Natural History. Since they had unused tickets in the books for the museum, they said we could have them. Very nice!
Finishing up our tour, we jumped back on the bus and got off at 42nd Street and 8th Avenue. From here we took the subway uptown to the American Museum of Natural History. Figuring out the subway system is straightforward, but you have to pay attention to which train you are getting on as not all trains stop at all stations (there are express trains and local trains). The subway map is self-explanatory; at least I thought it was.
Kevin thought the subway was cool, but what really made his day was seeing a big fat rat and a tiny mouse scampering about on the train tracks. I was waiting for the rat to hit the electrified third rail with its tail – now that would have been some fireworks. Subway rides are $2 per person, including kids, and discounted day passes and multiple ride cards are available.
The American Museum of Natural History is huge. There is no way you can possibly see it all in a day. We decided we wanted to see the dinosaurs, the meteorites, the mineral exhibit, and the animal dioramas. That took up most of the afternoon. Definitely worth a visit.
After our museum visit, we took the subway back to Rockefeller Plaza. We missed the beginning of an ice skating session, so a disappointed Kevin perked up when I told him he could play an extra hour of Nintendo. On the way back to the hotel, Kevin spotted a New York Fire Department store so we stopped in. Turns out that the FDNY has opened up a shop to raise funds for families of the victims of the World Trade Center attack. Inside you can buy logo shirts, pins, and other collectable items. All of the money goes to the family fund. They also have a fire engine on display. Kids can climb in the cab, push the switches, turn on the pumps, etc. It’s located in Rockefeller Plaza near the Time Warner building. Both of us thought it well worth a stop.
This evening we were to meet my godparents for dinner; they live in Queens and were coming over on the subway. Since Kevin was with us, our dinner choices were somewhat limited. I spotted a Benihana’s restaurant the previous day, and knowing Kevin would like the cooking show and would probably eat chicken and rice, we headed over there. My godparents had never eaten at Benihana’s before, and had always wanted to try it, so I guess I made a good choice. As I anticipated, Kevin was fascinated by the chef and of course the chef and wait staff fussed over Kevin. He loved his teriyaki chicken and white rice, pronouncing Benihana’s as his new favorite restaurant. In fact we all enjoyed our meals.
Tuesday (11-Nov-2003) – United 21 JFK to LAX
Another old, tired 767-200
Elite Limosine showed up as promised at 9:15 a.m. for our drive out to JFK. Apparently 5th Avenue was closed due to the Veterans Day parade, so traffic was terrible. Our driver said it would be faster to head up to 124th Street and take the bridge over to Queens, so that’s what we did. On the way, the driver mentioned that he had a son about Kevin’s age back in Egypt. Another one of Kevin’s travel dreams is to see the Pyramids, so he started asking the driver all about Egypt. By the time our trip was over, we had seen pictures of the driver’s family in Alexandria and he gave Kevin a bookmark made out of Egyptian papyrus inscribed with hieroglyphics. We arrived at the United terminal shortly after 10:00, unloaded our suitcases, said shookran (thank you in Arabic) to our driver, and headed inside. There was only one passenger ahead of us in the Premier Executive line. On checking-in, we discovered that when we upgraded the outbound trip our PNR had been split into two. So Kevin lost his seat next to me. Fortunately it was still open so we got his seat reassigned. No upgrades this time – we were in 16F and 16G.
We quickly passed through the TSA checkpoint with our shoes on our feet. After stopping for lunch at McDonald’s, we poked around the toy store and the gift shop. Boarding for our 11:55 a.m. departure started right on time. On board we found our No-Economy-Plus seats. Flying time was announced at a butt-breaking 6 hours and change due to head winds.
15E was open, so Kevin moved there after reaching cruising altitude so he could see the movie better (Charlie’s Angels 2) and give me some room. This is one uncomfortable plane in coach. I will definitely avoid the 767-200 in the future where possible.
Kevin carefully looks at the emergency card in the seat pocket whenever we fly, asking questions about how to open the doors and where to go just in case something should force an emergency evacuation. Well this time he pulled out his card and found a instructions for a 737, not a 767. He called over one of the F/As and pointed out that he was flying on a 767 and that the card that was provided was wrong.
Lunch was served. I had lasagna while Kevin’s special kid’s lunch consisted of chicken fingers and French fries. He again pronounced his meal “yummy”.
Throughout the flight the F/As kept the passengers watered, plus there was another beverage service and pretzels offered before landing. We even got hot paper towels.
Tuesday (11-Nov-2003) – United Express/Skywest 6981 LAX to SJC
A brand new Regional Jet
We arrived at LAX at gate 75 and our departure was not at gate 71 as I expected but all the way over at gate 86. Well, we needed the exercise after being on that long flight!
Our Regional Jet flight was just getting ready to board when we walked up to the gate. Once again we were in row 1. Upon boarding, I remarked to the F/A that the plane smelled new. We checked its certificate on the bulkhead and it had just been delivered last month.
After gathering our luggage at SJC, I called the taxi company on my voucher for the trip back to the car at the hotel. The dispatcher said he didn’t have any cabs available for quite a while, so go ahead and take another company’s cab and give the hotel receptionist the receipt.
Our cab ride was $15 with the tip. I walked into the motel office and explained what happened. The receptionist took my receipt, gave me $15 from the till without question, and that was that.
After stopping for a slice of pizza for dinner, we pulled into our driveway at 8:30 p.m. Kevin had fallen asleep on the way home and didn’t wake up even after being put to bed by mom and dad. Our trip to the Big City had come to an end.
[This message has been edited by El Cochinito (edited Nov 12, 2003).]
Friday (7-Nov-2003) – Sacramento to San Jose by car
After dinner Kevin and I headed out for the two hour drive to San Jose. Based on info I found here ( http://www.parkingaccess.com ) I made reservations at the Ramada Limited motel in Santa Clara. $79 buys a room for two people, airport transportation, and parking for up to 14 days. At check-in, the receptionist asked what time we wanted to be at the airport (5 a.m.); he said he’d have a taxi waiting for us at 4:45 a.m. He then gave me round trip vouchers for the taxi and instructions to call the cab company when we returned to San Jose’s airport for the trip back to the hotel.
Our ground floor room was clean, though the furniture was threadbare in places. The room included a noisy refrigerator and small microwave oven along with a surprisingly comfortable bed. My son found Nickelodeon, Animal Planet, Discovery Channel, and Cartoon Network on the cable TV, so he was content.
Saturday (8-Nov-2003) – United Express/Skywest 6993 SJC to LAX
Regional Jet
The alarm clock went off at the ungodly hour of 4:00 a.m. Kevin slept well, but for some reason I didn’t nod off until 1 in the morning. After a quick shower, we were packed and ready to go. We tossed our dirty clothes into the car’s trunk (why haul them all the way to NY and back?) and wheeled our suitcases to the motel’s office. Sure enough, a taxi was waiting for us as promised. We arrived at the United terminal shortly before 5 a.m.
There were a handful of passengers in the regular check-in line and nobody in the Star Gold – First Class line. After a short wait, a friendly United agent waved us over to the First Class check-in desk. Kevin inquired, as only a seven year old can, if we were riding in first. He also asked the agent if his special kid’s meal had been put on the airplane for him.
I asked the agent to check to see if there was upgrade inventory available for LAX-JFK. Sure enough, we could have 9E and 9F in the Business cabin. Well, it was a special father/son trip after all, so I burned all my 500-miler certificates and another 15,000 miles to move us. During the upgrade process, the agent maintained a friendly banter with Kevin about his airplane breakfast – they decided pancakes would make the best meal of all.
We wrapped things up at the counter by 5:15 a.m. and headed into the terminal. Kevin went over to the children’s play structure to burn off some energy while we waited for Burger King to open at 5:30. After a power breakfast of French Toast Sticks and hash browns, it was time to queue up for the TSA gauntlet.
There was a line going into security but moved fast as it split into multiple stations after the ubiquitous ticket verification. The last time I used SJC a few years ago the terminal in the morning was a madhouse. Today it was kind of empty, maybe fewer people are traveling to/from San Jose since the collapse of the dot-com industry? Walking up to the inspection station, the TSA agent asked me what kind of shoes I was wearing (answer, Mephisto without shanks), took a look for himself, and said walk on through. Wow, no de-shoeing today! Kevin had already gone through and was waiting patiently for our carry-on bags to be spit out by the x-ray machine.
We had a short time to wait before boarding, so we checked out the In-Vision movie rental kiosk and watched clips from Finding Nemo and SpongeBob Squarepants. Finally our flight was called. ID checks are still done at the gate, after which you then walk out on the tarmac to your aircraft. We settled in to our 1A/1B seats on the Regional Jet, ready for our 6:30 a.m. departure to LAX.
Flying time was announced at 42 minutes and we pushed back right on time. We had a long taxi as United’s terminal is located on the far south side of the airport and we were taking off from runway 30L. A beverage service and choice of snacks was offered in-flight and before too long we were on our descent into LAX. Landing on the north side of LAX meant a long taxi around to the Skywest remote terminal. After engine shutdown, we had to wait a few minutes for the ground crew to unload the large carry-on bags – during that time the first office invited Kevin up into the cockpit where they showed him all the cool switches, dials, alarms, and lights. A Skywest bus took us over to the main terminal, gate 71, where we found our flight to JFK was on time and departing from the same terminal.
Saturday (8-Nov-2003) – United 6 LAX to JFK
An old, tired 767-200
By the time we made our way to the gate, Business class was in the process of boarding. I took the window seat, giving Kevin the aisle as I knew he’d want to get up and use the bathroom at least 50 times during the flight. The purser came by our seats and introduced himself, then offered our choice of orange juice or water along with menus. I mentioned that there was probably a special meal for Kevin boarded in coach; the purser said he’d check to make sure it was there and then, if Kevin wanted, he’d give him that instead of the regular Business breakfast. Perfect!
The Business cabin was maybe half full on this Saturday morning trip. The passenger behind us in 10F said hi to Kevin, saying something about having a couple of daughters that were around Kevin’s age. He then asked me if Kevin would like to borrow his portable DVD player and watch a movie; wow, that would be very cool – thank you! We went through his selection of DVDs and Kevin chose Men in Black II. We decided we’d get it setup right after breakfast.
Plenty of others have already written about how crappy the 767-200 equipment is that United insists on flying on their “premium transcontinental” routes. Let me just add that those assessments are correct – there is no comparison between this plane and the 767-300 much less the 777. But hey, Business class is still Business class!
Prior to pushback our Captain came on the speakers. Besides the usual info about destination weather (cold) and flying time (fast – he expected 4-1/2 hours due to very advantageous tail winds), he talked about how serious United was about security. He said that this aircraft was equipped with an “armored door, made with Kevlar” that would “stop a bullet” and could not be opened from the outside after departure due to a “secure combination lock”. He then said that channel 9 would be available during departure and arrival, but he preferred to turn it off en route and let passengers listen to music. Welcome aboard and enjoy your flight.
Well alrighty then.
With that, we pushed back on time and taxied the short distance to our departure runway on the south side of LAX. After a short hold for traffic, we took off to the west over the Pacific Ocean then made a left U-turn back to the east for our cross-country flight. We were on our way to New York!
After reaching a “safe and comfortable cruising altitude”, our flight attendant started taking drink and breakfast orders. After taking my order, he turned to Kevin and asked, “And Sr. Cochinito, what would you like to drink?” Kevin leaned over to me and whispered, “Does he mean me or you, Dad?” I said that the F/A was talking to him and to order whatever he wanted. Tablecloths were placed; a Pepsi was then procured for Sr.Cochinito and some fortified tomato juice for Dad.
I chose the egg breakfast, which came without eggs. The F/A apologized and said there was some kind of mix up in catering and they forgot to board the main dish. It wasn’t really a problem for me since we had eaten at Burger King earlier in the morning so I wasn’t that hungry.
With great fanfare, the F/A then produced Kevin’s special meal from coach. He got some fluffy pancakes with maple syrup, a couple of sausages, some kind of orange-flavored bread, and a banana. Kevin pronounced everything as yummy and ate most of his breakfast. I have to say his breakfast did look pretty good.
After the breakfast trays were cleared, the passenger behind us set up the DVD player for Kevin. I used Kevin’s movie time as an opportunity to take a nap. Kevin contentedly watched the movie, waking me up during the end credits to ask how to turn off the machine. He took the DVD player back to its owner, who offered another movie, but Kevin decided he wanted to play Gameboy for a while. The F/As working our cabin checked periodically to see if we needed anything – after a couple more Pepsi’s I had to cut the boy off otherwise he’d have drank the plane dry.
Prior to arrival the deli-sandwich trays were delivered – I think because of the quickness of the flight most people were still full from breakfast. Kevin didn’t care for the deli-tray, but I enjoyed it. A few minutes later a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie from the front cabin magically appeared on Kevin’s tray. That brought a big smile to his face. A hot towel service took place after our trays were cleared.
As we approached New York, channel 9 was switched back over to ATC as promised by our captain. Our arrival route took us over mid-town Manhattan and out of our window we could see downtown and the Statue of Liberty. After a few short vectors due to our early arrival we landed at JFK and pulled up to the terminal. Kevin was beaming from ear-to-ear – we had arrived in New York! Our Captain was waiting by the door during deplaning, thanking everybody for flying United and giving the kids a set of wings.
There was a short wait for our luggage then we headed outside to look for our sedan service. Man, it was COLD out (well, at least for these two Californians!). I had a reservation through Elite Limousines for a sedan; their rate was $47 + tax + toll + tip for JFK to midtown Manhattan. Waiting at the curb was a clean black Lincoln town car with our name on it. Our driver loaded up our luggage and we headed into the late afternoon traffic towards the Hilton New York Hotel on Avenue of the Americas.
Saturday (8-Nov-2003) – Hilton New York Hotel
The drive in from JFK took a little over an hour, not too bad considering the very heavy traffic. I had reservations through the Hilton website for an executive floor room at the AAA rate ($251/night); based on what other Flyertalkers have posted I knew to head right for the 44th floor to check in. Much easier said than done though. The hotel was absolutely mobbed with people and there was a line to use the bank of elevators serving floors 34-44. Apparently one of the three elevators was out of order. It took 15 minutes before we were able to cram ourselves into an elevator, which stopped at every floor from 34 to 44. But at least we could watch CNN on the TV inside the elevator!
Checking-in is done inside the 44th floor’s Executive Lounge. The lounge was packed with people taking advantage of the Happy Hour from 5 to 7 p.m. We were checked-in by a pleasant receptionist who asked for my AAA card along with my ID (as specified on Hilton’s website). It was the first time I’ve ever been asked to show my AAA card though. She said that as an Hhonors Gold member I would be on a Gold/Diamond floor in room 3502.
Kevin and I headed back to wait, and wait, and wait for the elevator. Finally we reached our room. 3502 is next to the emergency stairwell; opening the door reveals a long narrow hall to probably the smallest Hilton room I’ve ever been in. Kevin’s first reaction was that it was smaller than his bedroom (not true but almost). The nicely decorated room held a queen size bed, an armoire with 19” TV, the mini-bar and coffee service, complimentary bottled water, a work desk with a comfortable office chair, and a small occasional chair. There was not much available floor space left over. The bathroom was a bit smaller than a typical hotel bathroom but made good use of space. In the closet were robes and a safe. The north facing view was of the building across the street, but by leaning left you could spot the Hudson River in the distance. The vitally important (when you are traveling with a seven year old) Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon were on the cable TV, plus they have the Lodge Net Nintendo service (you get 1 hour of play in the evening if you behave yourself all day).
After unpacking, Kevin and I bundled up with our hats and gloves to head outside. The weather during our stay was beautifully clear, but it was cold (at least to us). We walked over to Times Square (about 12 blocks away) to see the lights at night. Being Saturday evening, it was crowded but it was still a lot of fun to walk around looking at the stores, the lights, and all of the people. We wanted to go inside the world’s biggest Toys R Us store, but there was a line of people waiting to get in. Kevin decided he didn’t want to wait in line (or “on line” as they say in NY) in the cold. After wandering around Times Square we headed over to 5th Avenue. A tourist schlock shop caught Kevin’s eye. The one thing he wanted as a souvenir was a Statue of Liberty so we went inside to find just the perfect one and warm up a bit. After this important purchase, we found a pizza place and had some NY pizza for dinner. We spotted the NBA Store and St. Patrick’s Cathedral, deciding to come back to explore those in the morning. Walking a bit further, we found Rockefeller Plaza where we watched the ice skaters for a while then we went inside the NBC Experience store. Kevin was intrigued with the idea of going on the studio tour, so we decided to come back first thing in the morning (Sunday tours start at 9:30). A couple of short walking blocks later we were back in our hotel and calling it a night.
Sunday (9-Nov-2003) New York City
Both Kevin and I don’t seem to be bothered much by jet lag, so we had no problem waking up early. The broken elevator from the night before was fixed; in fact there were no more crowded elevators for the rest of our stay. The Executive Lounge was crowded and we had to wait a few minutes for a table to open up. A hostess asks to see your key and directs you to a table. Assorted fruits, pastries, breads, muffins, and cereal are available.
Our first stop after breakfast was the NBC studio tour. The tour is a little over an hour in length. I give it two out of four stars but for Kevin it was one of his high points. Two NBC pages lead the tour. Photography is strictly not allowed except at one point in the tour. After passing through NBC security (metal detectors), we were taken upstairs. We peered through bulletproof glass to see the NBC control center, the secure nerve center that controls all of the program uplinks and downlinks for the network. We then watched a short movie about the history of the network, from its early radio days through its current conversion to digital HDTV broadcasting. Since it was NFL Sunday, we couldn’t see the Sports Center as it was being used. We went inside the studio used for NBC Dateline, which has multiple sets, then walked over to the set used by Tom Brokaw for the NBC Nightly News. Interestingly enough, the Nightly News studio is “HDTV ready”, meaning that the graphics, colors, and design are built to support the higher resolution of digital TV. We learned some trivia, such as the studio is cooled to near freezing by refrigerated air before turning on the lights (there are at least a couple of hundred used to light the Nightly News set) that raises the temperature 40 to 50 degrees. The control room scene that you can see in the background of the Nightly News set is actually an endless loop tape that repeats after 3 minutes. It was recorded at the CNBC studios in the middle of the night when it was relatively quiet – if you watch closely you can see somebody come in, shuffle some papers, then leave. Three minutes later he’s back. Does it over and over again.
We then headed up to the Saturday Night Live studio. Being that it was Sunday morning, crews were cleaning up the set. SNL is really taped in front of a live audience. This studio is the largest one NBC uses at this facility. It is also the one with the best acoustics – the NBC Philharmonic Orchestra used it for many years back in the “old days”.
Tickets to SNL are very difficult to get. Apparently NBC takes in e-mail requests only during the month of August for tapings during the next season. Requests are randomly selected by computer and winners notified. You don’t get a choice of dates. There are very limited standby seats available for no-shows; our guide said she’s heard of people lining up for these on Friday mornings.
At this point in the tour our guide asked for a volunteer for the next part of the tour. Kevin immediately stuck up his hand and was selected. He headed off with one of the pages and we followed our guide into a mock up of a news studio set, complete with a “control room”. Kevin was seated at the anchor desk – he was hired as an NBC weatherman and was going to show us how a green screen worked. Incidentally this was the point in the tour where guests can take pictures, so of course I had my camera out!
The two pages acted as director and control room operator. Kevin got up from the anchor desk and stood in front of a green screen. He was instructed to read the weather report from the teleprompter, pointing to the west coast, east coast, and Florida on the weather map behind him. Of course there is no weather map, the computer places it there and the weatherman has to look at a monitor to see what he is pointing at. To his credit Kevin did a pretty good job, standing in front of a crowd of 30 tourists, under the hot studio lights, reading some big words from the teleprompter, and playing weatherman. At the end he got a huge round of applause. To say he was thrilled is an understatement! And of course Dad was very proud!
Leaving the NBC facility we walked over to Fifth Avenue to visit the NBA Store. Kevin and I are big fans of the Sacramento Kings. Besides all of the NBA paraphernalia, there are a couple of neat things to see such as a display where you can compare your hand size to various NBA players and life size Lego models of players.
Kevin wanted to see the mummy display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art so we hopped in a taxi and headed uptown. The museum lobby was packed with people, probably because it was early Sunday afternoon. Visitor’s bags are inspected and large parcels are not permitted. The coat check line was long, but moved fairly quickly. We found the Egyptian Art room and looked a mummy cases, sarcophaguses, and such. Kevin was somewhat disappointed, “Where’s the live mummies, Dad?” He expected to see mummies along with the cases. We spent a couple of hours in the museum, checking out the fantastic displays of rooms decorated with period furniture and enjoying a late lunch in the basement cafeteria.
Leaving the museum, we started walking in the direction of the hotel. It was a beautiful day, clear and cold, and we wanted to see at least some of Central Park. We stopped and watched the model sailboats on the pond before hailing a cab to head back towards the hotel.
Our taxi driver said that the crosstown avenues were at gridlock, something about a street fair. Rather than fight the traffic, I had him stop along 5th Avenue where I spotted Takashimaya Department Store. Thanks to a Flyertalker’s advice, my wife picked up some Kanebo cosmetics when we visited Tokyo a few years ago. She loves this stuff, but it is next to impossible to find in Northern California. Well they certainly have it at this New York branch of the famous Tokyo department store. A very helpful saleswoman was more than glad to take my Diners Club card – but hey, I get points you know!
After taking care of mom’s presents, Kevin and I walked over to St. Patrick’s Cathedral and went inside. This is the largest Gothic style Catholic cathedral in the United States, seating over 2,000 people. We walked around admiring the stained glass, altars, and statues.
On just about every corner in the tourist areas of New York you’ll find pushcart vendors selling food and sodas. Just outside our hotel on the corner was a pushcart advertising Halal food (food prepared according to the tenets of the Islamic faith). Chicken and rice were on the menu, so Kevin asked the owner if his chicken was any good. Free samples were immediately offered. An enthusiastic “Excellent!” from Kevin resulted in a substantial to-go plate of chicken cooked on a grill before our eyes served on a bed of flavored rice, only $4. Nearby another pushcart sold Argentine style empanadas for a dollar each. With a couple of sodas dinner was served in our room. After dinner, we headed upstairs to the Executive Lounge to see what was being offered. Snacks are set out from 5 to 7; non-alcoholic beverages are complimentary. This night there were assorted cheeses with crackers, vegetable crudités with dips, fruits, egg rolls, mini-turnovers, etc.
This evening was our big night out to see The Lion King. The show started at 6:30, so we left the hotel in plenty of time to walk over to the New Amsterdam Theatre on 42nd Street. Several Flyertalkers recommended walking, which was a good choice since the traffic was terrible and it really isn’t that far to go. Kevin and I felt perfectly safe walking around at night in the midtown area.
Kevin and I both give The Lion King an enthusiastic thumbs up. The theatre itself is something to see on its own – it was restored especially for this production. Tickets to the show are definitely not cheap, but I can honestly say it was money well spent. This was a great way to introduce Kevin to the theatre and I’m sure it is something he will remember for a long time.
After the show, we walked back to Avenue of the Americas, stopping off at McDonald’s for a post-theatre snack (I am traveling with a seven year old, remember?).
Monday (10-Nov-2003) – New York City
After breakfast we hit the streets shortly after 8:30. It was another beautiful day, but cold. Our plan was to walk over to the Today Show studio to see the mob of people trying to be seen on national TV. Then we would walk down to 42nd Street and take the bus to the Circle Line Tour at the 42nd Street Pier.
Sure enough there was a gaggle of tourists outside the Today Show; there was some kind of special event going on and a segment was being filmed outside. We hung around for a few minutes, watching Willard Scott do the weather report from outside and talking to tourists. On the street, a mounted NYPD officer posed with Kevin for a picture.
Back on Avenue of the Americas, we peered in the window of the CNN morning news show and as we walked further along we saw a US Marine Corp band on the corner outside the Fox News Center. There were only a handful of tourists standing around watching the co-hosts of the TV show Fox and Friends, Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade cut a birthday cake honoring the Corps. Kevin and I watched for a while, took some pictures of the celebrities and band, then continued our walk down the avenue.
Turning west on 42nd Street, we walked over to Times Square to take some pictures. A lady was feeding seed to the pigeons, which of course attracted Kevin’s attention. She gave Kevin a half of a sack of birdseed, so I’ve got some photos of Kevin surrounded by hundreds of pigeons in the middle of Times Square.
Kids ride the bus for free in NY – all others must pay cash or have a metro card. What’s important to know is that cash means change. Paper money is not accepted. This caused at least one big argument between our bus driver and a tourist couple from Italy who were trying to pay with dollar bills.
We took the 2 hour Circle Line Tour, which heads out to the Statue of Liberty for that all important photo opportunity, then goes up the East River to nearly the United Nations complex before returning to the dock. As we headed down the Hudson River, our tour guide pointed out the site of Ground Zero, which was apparent even from our vantage point. (I had debated about taking Kevin to Ground Zero, but decided to wait a few more years). Kevin staked out a place in the bow of the boat, anxiously looking for what we came so far to see, the Statue of Liberty. When he first spotted it, he jumped up and down with excitement. He has been talking about seeing the statue for weeks, and finally here it was.
While on the boat, a tourist couple from Britain came up to me and offered us their NY City Pass ticket books – they were done with them as they were going home in the afternoon and they had heard Kevin talking about the American Museum of Natural History. Since they had unused tickets in the books for the museum, they said we could have them. Very nice!
Finishing up our tour, we jumped back on the bus and got off at 42nd Street and 8th Avenue. From here we took the subway uptown to the American Museum of Natural History. Figuring out the subway system is straightforward, but you have to pay attention to which train you are getting on as not all trains stop at all stations (there are express trains and local trains). The subway map is self-explanatory; at least I thought it was.
Kevin thought the subway was cool, but what really made his day was seeing a big fat rat and a tiny mouse scampering about on the train tracks. I was waiting for the rat to hit the electrified third rail with its tail – now that would have been some fireworks. Subway rides are $2 per person, including kids, and discounted day passes and multiple ride cards are available.
The American Museum of Natural History is huge. There is no way you can possibly see it all in a day. We decided we wanted to see the dinosaurs, the meteorites, the mineral exhibit, and the animal dioramas. That took up most of the afternoon. Definitely worth a visit.
After our museum visit, we took the subway back to Rockefeller Plaza. We missed the beginning of an ice skating session, so a disappointed Kevin perked up when I told him he could play an extra hour of Nintendo. On the way back to the hotel, Kevin spotted a New York Fire Department store so we stopped in. Turns out that the FDNY has opened up a shop to raise funds for families of the victims of the World Trade Center attack. Inside you can buy logo shirts, pins, and other collectable items. All of the money goes to the family fund. They also have a fire engine on display. Kids can climb in the cab, push the switches, turn on the pumps, etc. It’s located in Rockefeller Plaza near the Time Warner building. Both of us thought it well worth a stop.
This evening we were to meet my godparents for dinner; they live in Queens and were coming over on the subway. Since Kevin was with us, our dinner choices were somewhat limited. I spotted a Benihana’s restaurant the previous day, and knowing Kevin would like the cooking show and would probably eat chicken and rice, we headed over there. My godparents had never eaten at Benihana’s before, and had always wanted to try it, so I guess I made a good choice. As I anticipated, Kevin was fascinated by the chef and of course the chef and wait staff fussed over Kevin. He loved his teriyaki chicken and white rice, pronouncing Benihana’s as his new favorite restaurant. In fact we all enjoyed our meals.
Tuesday (11-Nov-2003) – United 21 JFK to LAX
Another old, tired 767-200
Elite Limosine showed up as promised at 9:15 a.m. for our drive out to JFK. Apparently 5th Avenue was closed due to the Veterans Day parade, so traffic was terrible. Our driver said it would be faster to head up to 124th Street and take the bridge over to Queens, so that’s what we did. On the way, the driver mentioned that he had a son about Kevin’s age back in Egypt. Another one of Kevin’s travel dreams is to see the Pyramids, so he started asking the driver all about Egypt. By the time our trip was over, we had seen pictures of the driver’s family in Alexandria and he gave Kevin a bookmark made out of Egyptian papyrus inscribed with hieroglyphics. We arrived at the United terminal shortly after 10:00, unloaded our suitcases, said shookran (thank you in Arabic) to our driver, and headed inside. There was only one passenger ahead of us in the Premier Executive line. On checking-in, we discovered that when we upgraded the outbound trip our PNR had been split into two. So Kevin lost his seat next to me. Fortunately it was still open so we got his seat reassigned. No upgrades this time – we were in 16F and 16G.
We quickly passed through the TSA checkpoint with our shoes on our feet. After stopping for lunch at McDonald’s, we poked around the toy store and the gift shop. Boarding for our 11:55 a.m. departure started right on time. On board we found our No-Economy-Plus seats. Flying time was announced at a butt-breaking 6 hours and change due to head winds.
15E was open, so Kevin moved there after reaching cruising altitude so he could see the movie better (Charlie’s Angels 2) and give me some room. This is one uncomfortable plane in coach. I will definitely avoid the 767-200 in the future where possible.
Kevin carefully looks at the emergency card in the seat pocket whenever we fly, asking questions about how to open the doors and where to go just in case something should force an emergency evacuation. Well this time he pulled out his card and found a instructions for a 737, not a 767. He called over one of the F/As and pointed out that he was flying on a 767 and that the card that was provided was wrong.
Lunch was served. I had lasagna while Kevin’s special kid’s lunch consisted of chicken fingers and French fries. He again pronounced his meal “yummy”.
Throughout the flight the F/As kept the passengers watered, plus there was another beverage service and pretzels offered before landing. We even got hot paper towels.
Tuesday (11-Nov-2003) – United Express/Skywest 6981 LAX to SJC
A brand new Regional Jet
We arrived at LAX at gate 75 and our departure was not at gate 71 as I expected but all the way over at gate 86. Well, we needed the exercise after being on that long flight!
Our Regional Jet flight was just getting ready to board when we walked up to the gate. Once again we were in row 1. Upon boarding, I remarked to the F/A that the plane smelled new. We checked its certificate on the bulkhead and it had just been delivered last month.
After gathering our luggage at SJC, I called the taxi company on my voucher for the trip back to the car at the hotel. The dispatcher said he didn’t have any cabs available for quite a while, so go ahead and take another company’s cab and give the hotel receptionist the receipt.
Our cab ride was $15 with the tip. I walked into the motel office and explained what happened. The receptionist took my receipt, gave me $15 from the till without question, and that was that.
After stopping for a slice of pizza for dinner, we pulled into our driveway at 8:30 p.m. Kevin had fallen asleep on the way home and didn’t wake up even after being put to bed by mom and dad. Our trip to the Big City had come to an end.
[This message has been edited by El Cochinito (edited Nov 12, 2003).]