Doubling Down 5 Continent RTW Marathon (EY/SQ/NH/LH F, LA/RJ/LO/OU/SW/SA J +Others)
#167
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: BOS
Programs: UA MM
Posts: 1,582
ShortHairFrancis this is just a stunning TR, you are one awesome flyer dude!
#168
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: HKG/YVR/NYC
Programs: AC 75K, A3*G, AS MVPG, AA LT Gold 1MM, JL/JGC (OWS) , Marriott Titanium, Hertz 5*, Avis PC
Posts: 3,697
It's definitely not planned as Albany as the main attraction
Thank you, been flying the last couple day, will try to get the next part later in the day
#169
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: HKG/YVR/NYC
Programs: AC 75K, A3*G, AS MVPG, AA LT Gold 1MM, JL/JGC (OWS) , Marriott Titanium, Hertz 5*, Avis PC
Posts: 3,697
Part 17 7 States Road-Trip in 3.5 Days, Upstate NY and Burlington, VT
As I still had one outstanding RJ Y JFK AMM BKK RGN remaining due to expire by Jun 21; this was to be used on June 16 as my way to get home, so what should I do in the meanwhile between Thursday the 13th until Sunday the 16th then, I coordinated with jfkeze, he took the Friday off and we drafted up a 3.5 day road trip spanning 7 States NY, VT, NH, ME, MA, RI, CT.
Luckily jfkeze was waiting at arrivals for me, time to pick up that rental car at LGA.
Back at Hertz, my pre-assigned car reeked of cigarette smell, so decided to give the hertz gold choice lot a try.
Apparently Hertz Gold Choice cars now come with Fools Gold aka. bird $hit on them, really
Photo courtesy of jfkeze
With practically no choice and I mean no choice at all, we settled on a Dodge Avenger, by this time it was 6:15pm and the t-storm front was coming in soon, better start heading up to Albany.
Im going to outright copy eightblack here and lets call this car Pepi, and man was Pepi brutal on this trip.
2 Minutes out from the Hertz lot and we already saw New Yorks Boldest
Was a miracle of a thursday night since It took just about 50 Minutes to get out of New York City and considering I had to traverse down Queens Blvd, over the Williamsburg Bridge or whatever they named it now, FDR drive, Cross Bronx Expressway, and finally over the George Washington Bridge.
Well maybe I was also trying to pass New York Cabbies on New York City streets might have something to do with it as well.
Sadly things all changed once I got on the Garden State Parkway, there is offensive driving and defensive driving, thankfully Canadian winters teach a good valuable lesson on defensive side.
As you might have guess, the cold front was finally coming through while I was finally gaining some speed once we crossed the NY/NJ state border near Sloatsberg on Interstate 87, below were the weather warning for the area.
Ya that offensive driving I wrote earlier, currently disabled. Now, its driving like you are in a snow storm mode which meant going 45 mp/h in a 65 mp/h zone with high beams and flashing hazards on, that took place for the next hour or so.
By 8:30pm, SHF finally takes a break at the Plattekill travel plaza, well I aint driving without food and caffeine, Happy Stomach means Happy SHF
Sadly the stores including the info desk were starting to close for the night, and it was a sad list to start with Roy Rogers, Nathan's, Starbucks, Brioche Doree, a Travel Mart
Nathans were done and Starbucks was close to it, ugh, guess a travel mart sandwich and eggs would suffice for dinner here and there
Sorry to New York info desk, we kinda reached over the fence to grab a NY State map off the desk lol
Back on the road by 9pm and we finally got to our hotel around 10:30pm, Courtyard Marriott Albany Thruway, not a moment too soon though, I was starting to fall asleep on the wheel with construction work on I-90 through Albany, think of 2 narrow lanes switched over to the opposite side of the road with Jersey barriers, ouch
Courtyard Marriott Albany Thruway
With no snacks or drinks, we decided to pick up supplies for the road trip ahead.
Jfkeze commented Welcome home SHF, Niagara vs. Upstate New York, close enough
*Wasnt me, I wasnt the handicapped who decided he wanted 3 parking spots at 11pm in Albany, welcome home indeed
A quick pick up of supplies then back to room for some needed sleep, well until we found a nice guest
*Apparently its an improper cleaned downs blanket and not bed bugs
With a long long day for me anyway, we decided on an 8:30am wake up time for tomorrow
A wake up at 8:30am, and with no breakfast, we were gone from the Courtyard by 9:10am.
Stormy weather cleared out and it brought in a cool low 70s sunny weather.
SUNY Albany as it was directly across from the hotel
New York State Capitol
Part 17 Continues Below
As I still had one outstanding RJ Y JFK AMM BKK RGN remaining due to expire by Jun 21; this was to be used on June 16 as my way to get home, so what should I do in the meanwhile between Thursday the 13th until Sunday the 16th then, I coordinated with jfkeze, he took the Friday off and we drafted up a 3.5 day road trip spanning 7 States NY, VT, NH, ME, MA, RI, CT.
Luckily jfkeze was waiting at arrivals for me, time to pick up that rental car at LGA.
Back at Hertz, my pre-assigned car reeked of cigarette smell, so decided to give the hertz gold choice lot a try.
Apparently Hertz Gold Choice cars now come with Fools Gold aka. bird $hit on them, really
Photo courtesy of jfkeze
With practically no choice and I mean no choice at all, we settled on a Dodge Avenger, by this time it was 6:15pm and the t-storm front was coming in soon, better start heading up to Albany.
Im going to outright copy eightblack here and lets call this car Pepi, and man was Pepi brutal on this trip.
2 Minutes out from the Hertz lot and we already saw New Yorks Boldest
Was a miracle of a thursday night since It took just about 50 Minutes to get out of New York City and considering I had to traverse down Queens Blvd, over the Williamsburg Bridge or whatever they named it now, FDR drive, Cross Bronx Expressway, and finally over the George Washington Bridge.
Well maybe I was also trying to pass New York Cabbies on New York City streets might have something to do with it as well.
Sadly things all changed once I got on the Garden State Parkway, there is offensive driving and defensive driving, thankfully Canadian winters teach a good valuable lesson on defensive side.
As you might have guess, the cold front was finally coming through while I was finally gaining some speed once we crossed the NY/NJ state border near Sloatsberg on Interstate 87, below were the weather warning for the area.
Originally Posted by National Weather Service
The National Weather Service issued a flood watch for much of upstate New York, saying the region was in for two days of rain starting Thursday. The watch is in effect for areas across the state at or below the east-west line of the Thruway.
The forecast calls for 1 to 4 inches of rain in the eastern part of the state, with the most in the southeast Catskills and mid-Hudson Valley
The forecast calls for 1 to 4 inches of rain in the eastern part of the state, with the most in the southeast Catskills and mid-Hudson Valley
By 8:30pm, SHF finally takes a break at the Plattekill travel plaza, well I aint driving without food and caffeine, Happy Stomach means Happy SHF
Sadly the stores including the info desk were starting to close for the night, and it was a sad list to start with Roy Rogers, Nathan's, Starbucks, Brioche Doree, a Travel Mart
Nathans were done and Starbucks was close to it, ugh, guess a travel mart sandwich and eggs would suffice for dinner here and there
Sorry to New York info desk, we kinda reached over the fence to grab a NY State map off the desk lol
Back on the road by 9pm and we finally got to our hotel around 10:30pm, Courtyard Marriott Albany Thruway, not a moment too soon though, I was starting to fall asleep on the wheel with construction work on I-90 through Albany, think of 2 narrow lanes switched over to the opposite side of the road with Jersey barriers, ouch
Courtyard Marriott Albany Thruway
With no snacks or drinks, we decided to pick up supplies for the road trip ahead.
Jfkeze commented Welcome home SHF, Niagara vs. Upstate New York, close enough
*Wasnt me, I wasnt the handicapped who decided he wanted 3 parking spots at 11pm in Albany, welcome home indeed
A quick pick up of supplies then back to room for some needed sleep, well until we found a nice guest
*Apparently its an improper cleaned downs blanket and not bed bugs
With a long long day for me anyway, we decided on an 8:30am wake up time for tomorrow
A wake up at 8:30am, and with no breakfast, we were gone from the Courtyard by 9:10am.
Stormy weather cleared out and it brought in a cool low 70s sunny weather.
SUNY Albany as it was directly across from the hotel
New York State Capitol
Part 17 Continues Below
#171
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: HKG/YVR/NYC
Programs: AC 75K, A3*G, AS MVPG, AA LT Gold 1MM, JL/JGC (OWS) , Marriott Titanium, Hertz 5*, Avis PC
Posts: 3,697
Please dont chuck me off the building
And as jfkeze would love to say again, welcome home buddy to Upstate New York
And after 2 hours of touring Albany, we made our way back toward Interstate 87 and up towards Lake Placid. But first a burger and coffee is needed to start our sluggish morning.
And by noon, we made our way inside Adirondack park after Pepis continual struggle in climbing hills, yes Im originally from the West Coast, we call these hills
*And lets just say Pepi was drinking like she just turned 19 in Canada or 21 in the US, good god
Jfkeze made a recommendation to take the cut-off into Lake George Village
Lake George
Seems the village want to copy the Bronx here lol
I wished I had an ice cream right now
And after another 1 hour or so, we made the cut-off from Interstate 87 to US Route 9, and I want to choke this car even more, Pepi is now drinking like a sailor the day prior to Pearl Harbor and can barely make 60 mp/h up the hills
By 2pm, we finally made it but were a ways behind our schedule so all we did we was quick 1 hour tour of Lake Placid
Lake Placid
Part 17 Continues Below
#172
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: HKG/YVR/NYC
Programs: AC 75K, A3*G, AS MVPG, AA LT Gold 1MM, JL/JGC (OWS) , Marriott Titanium, Hertz 5*, Avis PC
Posts: 3,697
And finally the actual Lake Placid
By now, its 3:10pm, and we had to run to catch the 4pm sailing of the Charlotte-Essex ferries 44 miles away, sailing were every 30 minutes.
44 miles in 50 minutes isnt a problem only except when they are in hilly 2 lane mountain roads, and add on top a single lane dual direction for 2 mile stretch due to construction, time to really push Pepi to overdrive. And that meant driving anywhere between 75-95 mp/h on these road, anything except driving off the mountain basically.
And well sometime miracle does come through, made it to the Charlotte-Essex ferry at 3:54pm to cross Lake Champlain, not a minute too soon.
Part 17 Continues Below
#173
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: HKG/YVR/NYC
Programs: AC 75K, A3*G, AS MVPG, AA LT Gold 1MM, JL/JGC (OWS) , Marriott Titanium, Hertz 5*, Avis PC
Posts: 3,697
Ugh Pepi, can you please not go through 80 dollar a tank in like half a day please
The boat takes about 20 minutes to cross and optimal break time for the driver.
Last Car in
Charlotte-Essex Ferry
It was now 4:30pm as we got off the ferry and we had to make 1 try to Waterbury for the tour, sadly we didnt make the tour at 5pm. Let said Vermont didnt invent a word called passing lanes for its country road, over 30+ miles of nothing but double yellow, ugh
With that set, we went back to Burlington where jfkeze wanted to visit a microbrewery, the Magic Hat.
Who knew Vermont had horrible traffic problems
Magic Hat Brewery
Part 17 Continues Below
The boat takes about 20 minutes to cross and optimal break time for the driver.
Last Car in
Charlotte-Essex Ferry
It was now 4:30pm as we got off the ferry and we had to make 1 try to Waterbury for the tour, sadly we didnt make the tour at 5pm. Let said Vermont didnt invent a word called passing lanes for its country road, over 30+ miles of nothing but double yellow, ugh
With that set, we went back to Burlington where jfkeze wanted to visit a microbrewery, the Magic Hat.
Who knew Vermont had horrible traffic problems
Magic Hat Brewery
Part 17 Continues Below
#174
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: HKG/YVR/NYC
Programs: AC 75K, A3*G, AS MVPG, AA LT Gold 1MM, JL/JGC (OWS) , Marriott Titanium, Hertz 5*, Avis PC
Posts: 3,697
Man, Im starting to get old, my age is barely on that paper
And as of my day couldnt get any worse, horrible car, no passing lane, missing out on Ben & Jerry, now Ive broken a case of 12 jfkeze paid for, Eek.. may this day end already.
Finally we made our way to Burlington for some much needed dinner.
Burlington, Vermont
Part 17 Continues Below
#175
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: HKG/YVR/NYC
Programs: AC 75K, A3*G, AS MVPG, AA LT Gold 1MM, JL/JGC (OWS) , Marriott Titanium, Hertz 5*, Avis PC
Posts: 3,697
I understand why Ben & Jerry is here but Lululemon?
We finally settled on Kens Pizza for dinner, line were a bit weird and all but not horrible
I went with the Lasagna and jfkeze with the chicken parm, drinks, I think that is a given who is having what
And by 9:10pm, we were done dinner and ready to go to the hotel for the night in Stowe, Vermont, where is that?
Got to love travelling around the summer solstice
The final drive took around a hour, great its 10pm and we are going from Stowe, Vermont via New Hampshire, Maine to Boston, MA, starting bright and early tomorrow.
The Northern Lights Lodge, not bad for 99 bucks
Part 17 Continues Below
#177
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Portland, OR
Programs: NW Plat (now they call it DL Diamond) 1MM, soon to be DL Plat, Hilton Diamond, SPG Gold, Dusit Gold
Posts: 2,706
Driving
You took the bus in Chile when driving is really easy. Sort of like between Buffalo and Rochester with polite non-death wish drivers. The road to the top of the Andes is one of best driving roads around and much better than one will find in Ecuador or Bolivia. The thrill is dealing with the trucks crawling up and down the very serious curves and snow shed/tunnels on the smooth pavment.
Why did you put up with "Pepi" when it is very simple to drive to the nearest Hertz and state what a piece of crap it was? One only needs to demand a replacement for a gas guzzling untuned vehicle and they will give you a replacement after filling out a new contract appended to the old. I'm glald that you did get rid of the odorous first car.
Why did you put up with "Pepi" when it is very simple to drive to the nearest Hertz and state what a piece of crap it was? One only needs to demand a replacement for a gas guzzling untuned vehicle and they will give you a replacement after filling out a new contract appended to the old. I'm glald that you did get rid of the odorous first car.
#178
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: HKG/YVR/NYC
Programs: AC 75K, A3*G, AS MVPG, AA LT Gold 1MM, JL/JGC (OWS) , Marriott Titanium, Hertz 5*, Avis PC
Posts: 3,697
You took the bus in Chile when driving is really easy. Sort of like between Buffalo and Rochester with polite non-death wish drivers. The road to the top of the Andes is one of best driving roads around and much better than one will find in Ecuador or Bolivia. The thrill is dealing with the trucks crawling up and down the very serious curves and snow shed/tunnels on the smooth pavment.
Why did you put up with "Pepi" when it is very simple to drive to the nearest Hertz and state what a piece of crap it was? One only needs to demand a replacement for a gas guzzling untuned vehicle and they will give you a replacement after filling out a new contract appended to the old. I'm glald that you did get rid of the odorous first car.
Why did you put up with "Pepi" when it is very simple to drive to the nearest Hertz and state what a piece of crap it was? One only needs to demand a replacement for a gas guzzling untuned vehicle and they will give you a replacement after filling out a new contract appended to the old. I'm glald that you did get rid of the odorous first car.
Problem about "Pepi" was we were doing 13 hrs driving for 3 straight day, we didn't have any time to replace the car even if we wanted to.
#179
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: HKG/YVR/NYC
Programs: AC 75K, A3*G, AS MVPG, AA LT Gold 1MM, JL/JGC (OWS) , Marriott Titanium, Hertz 5*, Avis PC
Posts: 3,697
Part 18 We Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Freedom and Ice Cream
With our laissez-faire style of travel leading to huge screw-ups yesterday, I didnt name them all in the last part. Jfkeze and I decided to buckle down and travel like how we always do, timing, attraction, and precision with a drafted-up gameplan.
To enable our travel today, we were going from Stowe, VT to Boston, MA with stops at the Waterbury, VT, Montpelier, VT, Hanover, NH, Concord, NH, and Kennebunkport, MA. And with that, we started our day with a 7am wake-up, with 8am departure.
99 dollar includes breakfast, wasnt a horrible one either
As the Ben & Jerry plant in Waterbury didnt start its 1st tour until 10am, we decided to go to the smallest US capitol first, Montpelier.
But with a stop for some fresh cider donuts 1st thing in the morning
Hey, someone copied my keychain, Id rather be flying
What the, Pardon, Est-ce que tu parles francais???
Montpelier, Vermont
Had enough time to squeeze in a weekend market
And on the way back, seeing how the entire state was saying Green Mountain Coffee, we also gave that a try prior to the Ice Cream factory.
And not a moment too soon, were back in Waterbury for the Ben & Jerry Factory
Part 18 Continues Below
With our laissez-faire style of travel leading to huge screw-ups yesterday, I didnt name them all in the last part. Jfkeze and I decided to buckle down and travel like how we always do, timing, attraction, and precision with a drafted-up gameplan.
To enable our travel today, we were going from Stowe, VT to Boston, MA with stops at the Waterbury, VT, Montpelier, VT, Hanover, NH, Concord, NH, and Kennebunkport, MA. And with that, we started our day with a 7am wake-up, with 8am departure.
99 dollar includes breakfast, wasnt a horrible one either
As the Ben & Jerry plant in Waterbury didnt start its 1st tour until 10am, we decided to go to the smallest US capitol first, Montpelier.
But with a stop for some fresh cider donuts 1st thing in the morning
Hey, someone copied my keychain, Id rather be flying
What the, Pardon, Est-ce que tu parles francais???
Montpelier, Vermont
Had enough time to squeeze in a weekend market
And on the way back, seeing how the entire state was saying Green Mountain Coffee, we also gave that a try prior to the Ice Cream factory.
And not a moment too soon, were back in Waterbury for the Ben & Jerry Factory
Part 18 Continues Below
#180
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: HKG/YVR/NYC
Programs: AC 75K, A3*G, AS MVPG, AA LT Gold 1MM, JL/JGC (OWS) , Marriott Titanium, Hertz 5*, Avis PC
Posts: 3,697
Tour first started off with a 4 minute history video, follow by a visit at the plant (factory psychically not running on weekends) and a tasting room totaling 25 minutes
Flavor Room
They werent kidding about trying new flavors, lucky we didnt make yesterdays tour
Part 18 Continues Below