Thanks to my buddy chexfan for allowing me to steal the title! Immitation is the most sincere form of flattery.

Friday, July 26.

I never actually went to bed Thursday night, so I logged off of chat about 4am, and finished packing and drove up to the airport. Parked at my favorite offsite place, and took their shuttle, which dropped me off right in front of the US Airways Elite checkin in Terminal C. There was no one in line, so I walked right up to an agent and checked in all the way to Toronto. I asked if the flight was oversold, and she said no, so I got my boarding passes and cleared security without any hassles. By this time it was only 5:30, so I decided to try and get on the 6am flight to PIT. (I was booked on the 7am.) When I got to gate B11, I remembered that this was a 767, so I not only got onto the empty flight, I burned an upgrade coupon to sit in the Envoy cabin.

US421 PHL-PIT First Class
I was one of two revenue passengers in first class on this early flight, one of about 30 overall. I sat down in my Envoy seat and was offered my choice of pre-departure beverages. We promptly took off, and the FA came around for drink orders and passed around the snack basket. By that time, it was time to land in PIT, where we taxied almost back to Harrisburg and parked in the B terminal.

I deplaned and walked over to the end of the A terminal where the Express flights leave from. I asked the agent if the flight was oversold (it had been showing all 0's for a week), but she said no. I booted up my laptop and fired up my cell phone and soon was connected to the internet at a speedy 19200bps. I checked, and sure enough, the flight was now Y4 M4 B4. Go figure. I played around online for an hour or so online before they called my flight. I filled out my customs card and a gate-check tag for my rollaboard in the gate area before boarding. We boarded the ERJ for the short hop up to YYZ.

US5762 PIT-YYZ Single Class
I had pre-booked the exit row aisle on the 2-side. The whole row was empty but at the last second a gentleman and his wife boarded. I slid over to the window so that they could sit "next" to each other. We had a really great FA on this flight. He was very enthusiastic, turning his safety lecture into a comedy routine, with all the favorites: choose which kid you love more, smoking is allowed on the wings, etc. The flight was filled with lots of kids headed to World Youth Day, so they got a huge kick out of it, and he got a round of applause. Once up in the air, he started a drink service, but by the time he got to row 5 or 6, we got the "20 minutes left"
ding from the cockpit, so he finished with lightning speed. He even had time for a pretzel service before we landed. We arrived at YYZ about 10 minutes early and had a quick taxi to terminal 3.

We all deplaned and grabbed our carryons for the long trek to customs, up and down escalators, and across terminal 3. When we finally got there, every line was packed 50 people deep. The lines, which were full of kids, moved slowly, since few of them had the proper documents ready. Once I finally got up to the counter, I was stamped into the country without even a second glance. I bought a bottle of water to change my C$20 from last trip into smaller coins for bus fare,and made my way to post 30 for the TTC "rocket" shuttle. Rocket my ..., it took 45 minutes to arrive. Boarded the bus, which was VERY crowded, and sat down for the 25 minute ride to Kipling, where I picked up the subway to downtown. Transferred at Spadina to the other line, and got off at Osgoode, where it was a 1-block walk to the Sheraton Centre Toronto. I walked into the lobby, and was directed towards the SPG/Club Floor check-in. This is a separate room off the the left of the main check-in, staffed by two friendly agents. I was checked in quickly, and upgraded to club room corner room as a SPG Gold. The agent explained all the benefits of club level (club lounge hours, hors d'oeuvres, breakfast, free pool access, and such) and sent me on my way. The room was adequate, not huge, but fine for my needs. I unloaded my bags and called flyerwife to see what she and Sean were up to. They were at the Hockey Hall of Fame, so I decided to take a nap until they arrived for lunch. I set up the DataValet high-speed internet ($10CDN/day) and checked email and IM for a bit, then dozed off until they called me to meet in 10 minutes downstairs. I ambled downstairs to greet flyerwife, B747-437B, kluau88, and Darren & Mary. We walked downstairs to the PATH and the closest food court, where Sean and I had gyros, and various other people had asian food and McDonalds. We talked for a bit, and then I went upstairs for some more sleep and arranged to meet before dinner. I couldn't sleep, so I walked through the PATH to the Eaton Centre Mall, but it was mobbed with kids, so i quickly left, and hit 2 or 3 Starbucks in search of a mug for a friend. I got back to the hotel just in time for hors d'oeuvres in the club lounge. I had a few plates of munchies (vegetables, cheese and crackers, and various hot items) and was getting ready to exit when kluau88 shows up. I had a few more plates of food with him, and we got on FT chat for a few minutes from the club lounge computer. As we're getting ready to leave, Darren & Mary show up and we have a drink with them before we all go down to meet Lauri and Sean to head to dinner. We grabbed a few cabs since it was raining, and made our way through traffic and closed streets towards the Old Spaghetti Factory. We arrived and were greeted by SanDiego1K, Guy Betsy, and Shareholder who were in the bar area. We were quickly seated, and the rest of the group joined us for a lovely and very inexpensive dinner. Since I ate quite a few snacks and filled up on the delicious sourdough bread, I barely touched my vegetable lasagna and had most of it wrapped up. After dinner, a few of us headed over to Hy's Steakhouse for cigars and drinks. Catman had a Montecristo and Black Russians, while Sean and I had a delicious Godiva white chocolate cordial. We parted ways when they kicked us out at midnight, and the Westin group headed south while the Sheraton group headed north. We arrived at the Sheraton to see people milling around and a host of fire trucks and ambulances, but everything was ok, and we were let right back in. I wanted to grab a nightcap, but the bar was packed, so I just went upstairs and watched TV for a bit before turning in.

Exhibit 1.1: Photos to compliment the trip report

C'mon. Out with it. WHERE ARE THOSE PHOTOS Mark?

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~ Glen ~

Boy, 10.32pm was a busy typing minute on FT.

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~ Glen ~

Wait until us United flkiers get our hands on the US Air upgrade inventory pal. No more of these lone US Elites and a pilot being the only ones up in first.

http://www.lug.udel.edu/~mark/gallery/yyz/yyz03

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~ Glen ~

Quality photos!

I was on the 767 envoy domestic hop on Monday, and I was thinking about how much I'd like to snap some photos of that Envoy cabin, especially if they'll be gone soon. But, alas, I didn't bring a camera.

I see you've taken care of that for me.

Let's make a deal: You take photos inside your US Airways planes, I'll view them and be happy.

And to think that they just released 2.4Mbps cellphone connection in Korea...

mark-- how did you realize you were one of only 2 revenue pax?

It was me and one other passenger, and a dead-heading pilot.

Dude--I hate to tell you (and please don't take it badly), but that first picture looks like Chevy Chase in the rocket orbitor simulator in "Spies Like Us".

Toronto's a great city--glad you all had a good visit!

JP

sorry for the long delay between sections....here's part ii...

Saturday, July 27.

I had set my wake-up call for 10:00am, which was WAY too soon, but I rolled out of bed reluctantly and hopped into the shower, which woke me up. There's nothing like the smell of rosemary mint in the morning to invigorate you. (Incidentally, you know you're a hotel snob when the first thing you do is replace the standard toiletries with your personal upgraded amenities from Aveda, MB, or Origins). I got dressed and discovered I was too late for breakfast in the club lounge, so I headed out in search of a few more Starbucks to look for the mug. Still no luck, so I headed back to the Sheraton to meet Catman for his tour. We had a decent turnout for the tour: Catman, Shareholder, SanDiego1K, UAX@SFO, nj_flyer, and myself. We headed down to Tim Hortons, where we sampled their offerings. They're no Krispy Kreme, but it was better than Dunkin' Stalenuts. The rest of the group was headed elsewhere, but I really wanted to catch the CBC tour, which I had missed last time I was in Toronto. I hustled over to their offices to catch the 12:30 tour, and the place was deserted, so I figured I had missed it, but it turned out I was it, except for another American couple that walked up a few seconds later. I would have preferred to have Tayna, the cute Canadian tour guide to myself, but such is life. Tayna gave a great tour, and we got to see some bonus areas, like the newsroom from Canada's nightly news. After the tour, I called Catman, and they were only a few blocks away, finishing up the tour of the Steamwhistle Brewery. I went over there to meet them, and heard the results of the Pepsi Challenge. We were all hungry, so we walked over to the Queens Quay terminal and selected the Boathouse for lunch. They seated us outside and we had a great lunch. During lunch, Ling arrived. Except for David and Carol, we all decided to go to Eaton Centre for some shopping, so nj_flyer got his car out of hock and we headed up there. Ling got some lunch while nj_flyer and UAX@SFO shopped at Eatons. Then we all headed to the bookstore and drugstore before I bid them farewell since my hotel was only 2 blocks away. I got back and changed into my swimsuit for a relaxing soak in the hot tub and a cold beer at the poolside bar. It started to drizzle so I went back upstairs for a shower and change of clothes. kluau88 called me and we walked over to the Hilton to meet the group for dinner. Sean arrived with the radiant flyerwife, and picked up the girls, while the guys followed them in a cab. We had a fantastic dinner at Palucci, and decedent desserts. Then, mdtony, avek00, B747-437B, AnnaS, flyerwife, and I went out to a club until last call. Tony met someone in the club, but the rest of us went out for a late night snack of Timmy Ho's. We could not find the 24/7 donut shop, so we pulled over next to an idling police car to ask for directions. Lo and behold, the police car was in front of (and blocking the sign for) Tim Hortons. Nothing tastes like fresh maple sugar at 2:30am. Sean dropped me off at the Sheraton and I promptly fell asleep.

Sunday, July 28

I woke up about 9:30, and showered, dressed, and packed my things. The video checkout was broken, so I checked out in the SPG room and then met Kevin and the Hilton crew over there for a cab to brunch. We ended up getting a van cab. We all arrived, and after backtracking several times, we found the restaurant. Pearl Habourfront has excellent dim sum, at a very reasonable price. Our table worked out to only $15 CDN per person, including tax and tip. We bid farewell to everyone, and then Catman, nj_flyer and I headed back to the Westin for them to check out and me to bum a ride to the airport. We wanted to get there early, to beat the World Youth Day rush, and we succeeded. There was barely any traffic on the Gardiner, QEW, or the 427. We stopped to fill up with gas, and then dropped Catman off at Terminal 2, before heading to Terminal 3 to drop off the rental. Hertz tried to charge nj_flyer for a full tank of gas, but he produced his receipt and argued the charge off the bill. We entered the terminal and he checked in at American, while I went down to US Airways. I was checked in within a matter of seconds and handed my immigration card to fill out. I skipped duty-free, as there was nothing I needed, and headed straight to immigration, where there were about 7 lines open, and about a 15 minute wait. I was cleared back into the USA and passed my customs inspection as well. With nothing to check, I headed straight to security, where nj_flyer turned up right behind me, having stopped for a smoke and duty-free, and then breezing through INSpass. We cleared security, the agent more concerned about the walkman of the girl behind me than my laptop, cell, palm, camera, minidisc player, etc. We walked down the US gates so that I could get on the volunteer list, but there was a CO agent closing out a flight at that gate, so we just sat and watched for a bit. She did a good job in spite of some very rude and very tardy passengers. Next we headed back to the American gates, so nj_flyer could check on his standby status. He found a smoking room, so we went in there for a bit, then received a call from AnnaS, who was in the Admirals Club, a quick 100 feet away. She let us in as guests, and we talked for a bit. I had to go catch my flight, so I walked out, and saw avek00 trying to get entry with his assorted elite cards. I told him he could replace me as Anna's guest. I got to the gate, just as they were calling for pre-boarding.

US389 YYZ-PIT First Class
I hopped onboard and settled into 3D and ordered a Vodka and cranberry juice. My seatmate was a Canadian businessman who usually flies AC, but some DL and US as well, depending on where he's headed. He has no status with US, but was op-upgraded since the flight was full and he showed kindness to the gate agents. I had a nice conversation with him throughout the flight, and recommended that he take a look at Flyertalk. There was some bad weather over the lake, so our departure was delayed about 15 minutes, so we got to sit on the tarmac and watch the Air Canada and KLM heavies land. We finally took off and headed south to Pittsburgh. I had another double vodka tonic once we were airborne, and raided the snack basket for Milanos and cashews. The snack basket is one of the great things about flying US Airways shorthaul first class. We landed in PIT about 20 minutes late and then taxiied back to State College before parking midway through the B terminal.

I only had a 50 minute connection, so I had to OJ it over to the A concourse, where my flight to Philly was waiting and in the middle of coach boarding.

US1119 PIT-PHL First Class
I settled into 1D and ordered a vodka and cranberry juice, but they didn't load the liquor kit, so I waited about 10 minutes, while the FA kept apologizing. We had a long taxi and then a short takeoff and turned towards PHL. Once we were airborne, the snack basket was once again offered, and another drink order was taken. Since I needed to drive home from PHL, I switched to coke for the rest of the flight. The plane was continuing on to PBI, and the lady across from me was concerned what kind of food would be on the next segment. The FA was unsure, but I assured her that she would at least receive a sandwich or the cold chicken on a 3 hour flight in F. We landed in Philly about 10 minutes early, but as is typical to Philly, sat in traffic for 25 minutes. I commented to the FA "Welcome to Philadelphia: where 10 minute early means 15 minutes late." She got a big kick out of that one. We finally pulled up to the most remote gate in the B concourse and we deplaned.

I grabbed my bags from the overhead and headed out to baggage claim to call the shuttle to the parking lot. They arrived promptly and dropped me off right at my car. 95 was empty, so I made it home in 28 minutes. The end.

Excellent report, thanks!