HNL DO on UA
 

0125 2V 67 BOS NWK 2145 0320 coach

After my concert let out, I traded my instrument for a
rollaboard, and one of my colleagues gave me a ride to
the subway, saving me an hour. I planned on dining at
one of the establishments so kindly listed as open on
Mileage Plus Dining ... so I got off downtown and took
a tour, and guess what, they were all closed. So I had
two hours and an empty stomach. Decided to chance the
train station food court (tried to look on line for a
Burger King so I could try the Angry Whopper, but the
site froze on me several times running), where the choices
were some pseudo-Cajun place, Mickey's, and the Master Wok.

It's an awful mistake to make eye contact with workers at
the food court. And so I was compelled to have the combo
of spicy chicken and char siu with noodles, $6.39. This
might have been okay some time in the distant past: the char
siu was as hard edged as a Reno hooker, the spicy chicken
appropropriately spicy but inappropriately yesterday. The
lo mein, as with all steam table lo mein, was gummy. And
the styro container leaked, so a substantial amount of hot
oil leaked onto my clothes, the table I sat at, and the
otherwise no doubt spotless floor of South Station. Well,
I ate the stuff, but there was another hour and half to
waste (the station bar was closed when I got there at 7
something). I'm glad this new laptop has pretty good battery
life, and I noodled around on it for much of that.

This was the first time I'd railed in coach in quite some
while, and the seat, though not so uncomfortable was Economy
Minus, was more uncomfortable than Economy Plus. I didn't
get any sleep, and I think that contributed to the cold that
I now enjoy here in wonderful 70F Hawaii.

The train actually left and arrived on time. There's an hour
cushion at NYP that we didn't need. Newark Penn Station
seemed populated about half and half with cops and lowlifes.

The regular entrance to the bus lanes was closed, and one
has to go around back and past the loading docks to get
there. Why they do this for just a couple hours in the
middle of the night I can't figure.

The 62 bus came right on time at 0330, and I checked in at
Mr. Easy just before 4. Blue boarding passes.

0126 UA1133 EWR DEN 0659 0936 752 2C Ch 9:td: Empower^

hot towels

At 0430, security took literally one minute, counting about
30 seconds of walking. Camped out in front of the RCC until
opening. Some guy tried to horn into the RCC at 4:40-ish
and was rebuffed, not altogether politely. He kept trying
every five or so, each time retreating back outside. Of
course, the place didn't open right at 5, and the guy got
all bent out of shape, not realizing that it was an obvious
retaliation for his pushiness.

It's a nice club, but for reasons unknown I'm more familiar
with the NWA lounge in Terminal B, so I kept losing my
bearings. I think it may have something to do with pre- vs.
post-surgery.

Anyhow. Good wireless Internet, good coffee, lots of juice,
bagels both mini and regular, and cheese Danish. The
chocolate snacks I recall weren't out, probably as it was
breakfasttime.

Boarded up right on time, took off on time, landed on time.

Service, by very senior FAs, was matronly but good.

I was beginning to feel rocky so asked for a hot toddy.
Described it to the FA as hot water, lemon, sugar, and the
cheapest booze available. I said I didn't care which booze
it was, as I couldn't taste anything anyway. She came back
with the news that the other FA had been a bartender and
said that it MUST be made with whiskey. And so it was.

The breakfast choices were the spinach artichoke cheese
omelet or a fruit plate. I passed and slept through the
service and in fact we'd started our descent.

Some delay getting a marshal in the snow, so we didn't
deplane until around 10.

Even though delays were minimal, the RCC was jam-packed,
and all the snacks appeared to have been vulched.

UA 43 DEN HNL 1135 1616 763 2J Ch9^ Empower^

hot towels, warm nuts

Got to the gate just at scheduled boarding, so I could claim
my overhead bin (the 67s having crappy bin space). Boarding
actually didn't start for another 15, so I watched the gate
dances with amusement. There were the red carpet guardians,
including one woman who obviously wanted to be first on the
plane but who wouldn't step onto the red carpet, the
relatively polite lice, clustering a discreet distance away,
hoping that their proximity to the door would expedite their
arrival in Hawaii (I can understand this - at times the
visibility was getting perilously close to zero), and the
Zone 1s, including one guy who went to the head of the
nonred line and gave the evil eye to everyone who went past
on his left.

We left in a blizzard, so a lengthy deicing put departure
back a fair length of time.

Full flight; very good service; decent though bland food;
excellent quality on the Ch9, in contrast to the usual 767
nasty hum. Some very sweet eye candy on this flight,
including a lovely Asian FA whom I've flown with before.

I asked for a hot toddy, which came with sugar on the side
so I could adjust the seasoning. It helped a lot. I had
another.

Warm nuts and warm towels.

My lunch was chicken in brown sauce, a large brined breast
half, fairly tender and juicy, in gravy that tasted like
what comes out of a pot pie. Potato cubes, carrots, and
green beans, all respectable. A salad was very ordinary but
had a handful of pistachios in the bottom.

The other choice was stuffed pasta shells in tomato sauce -
an enormous serving; my seatmate had this and pronounced it
good.

An unannounced but obvious Eli's Black Forest cake. Well, it
should have been obvious, but my seatmate, a librarian from
Manoa, asked me in all innocence if there was going to be an
ice cream service: I had to point the cake out to him, which
made him a little sad.

A glass of Courvoisier helped me sleep across the ocean.

Before landing, a fruit and cheese plate - the fruit red
grapes, the cheese sliced white and yellow soap. I had
a couple glasses of Red Tree Chardonnay 06 (rather bubble
gummy, no oak, but respectable) instead.

We landed half an hour late, taking a westward approach
past Diamond Head, quite lovely, to 26L I think it is, then
taxiing about a week to the gate.

It was beginning to rain when we deplaned.

Thanks for the report. Two questions:

Were mai tais offered?

Were you given a menu? (IIRC, single-sheet menus were re-introduced last year that served as an advertisement for Trader Vic's)

No mai tai or menu either to or from HNL. On the return,
Brut d'Argent was offered, but I wasn't interested so didn't
investigate further.

Not a great premium product (does the 767 F seat offer less
legroom as well as less width?), but I found the service to be
more than satisfactory on all legs.

The Aqua Equus, 1696 Ala Moana Blvd, bills itself as a
boutique hotel. That's overstating things a little, but the
place is actually kind of nice, aside from the door lock
being a little wonky, and I thought it good value.

Two double beds (comfy), ten pillows, a good bathroom;
fairly spiffy wet bar right next to my bed with a fridge
and a separate freezer compartment that actually froze.

The water jets of the pool down on the ground floor are on
all night and are audible; one gets used to it.

No chest of drawers - I used the TV cabinet for that purpose
as it was empty (the TV being replaced by a 28" flatscreen).

I was a little flummoxed by the lack of wireless signal;
turns out the hotel uses a proprietary Motorola system
called Clearwire, and I had to get a modem from the front
desk. No big problem, and it seems to work okay.

As promised on the thread, I went to Snapper's at 7, to
find that it was in the midst of an identity transformation.
The old name is evident only on the dot-matrixed old menu
in the case out front, and most things are being rebranded
with the name Margaritas, which is just a tiny bit more
genteel, don't you know.

The ownership and staff are unchanged, and the dubious
quality of the free wi-fi as well.

lili came by shortly after I arrived; we had a good visit
accompanied by juicy burgers done a bit rare in the middle
- almost as good as I remembered, which was about the best
I've had outside the continental US. Longboard Ale was fine.

Truly, not a late night was a good idea, and we toddled
back to our respective hotels (across the street from each
other); I slept well until one of my committee chairs woke
me at 5 with a phone call for some request or other.

Continental breakfast here was perfectly satisfactory:
orange or guava juice, cut fruit with coconut haupia, and
sweet rolls made with ube.

I was slouching through Ala Moana Center, wondering whether
the roast pork made by Chinatown Express would compare to
that I had recently had elsewhere, when the phone weakly
announced a voicemail from lili to the effect of we're at
the Aquarium, where are you. Hightailed it out there, but
by the time I arrived, she and KLC were done; but it was
just about time for lunch, which we had at Teddy's Bigger
Burgers. The meat here isn't as good as I recall, and even
at its best last year it didn't compare with Snappers,
though the sauce is interesting and the buns are excellent.

We left KLC to deal with her airplane fatigue and took the
bus to Lyon Arboretum, up at the end of the Manoa line.

The arboretum is a quarter mile uphill, and on the way we
were waylaid by a sign for Manoa Falls, so we decided to try
for that. It's a lovely trail that goes from 4-wheel road to
trail to billy goat material. We proceeded on to this last
stage, but as it was sort of raining, and lili was wearing
flip-flops, we found it the better part of valor to abandon
the last short stage and return to the arboretum, which is
lovely even in the rain. We did get our waterfall, though:
Aihualama Falls is at the end of the track that forms the
backbone to the preserve. It's only about 25-30 ft high, but
- as with so much on this trip - it was very atmospheric.

Back again on the bus, and lili had time for a freshen up,
and I hit my hotel's manager's reception, where the
signature boozle was the kai leo (or lio kai?),
indistinguishable from a very weak mojito. I was flattered
to be cornered by a rather intense youngish brunette, who
turned out to be the general manager. We talked mild hotel
vs. tourist talk for a few minutes, and then it was time to
rush to the Hula Grill for sunset and dinner. lili and I
bussed it, and we were there just a few minutes after
sunset, if there had been a sunset.

Table 1
karenkay
sjl
InsidethePlane
halothane
KenfromDE +1
(someone else? sorry if I forgot you)

Table 2
lili
KLC
BondAir007
bk3day
Ripper3785
tednugent (no relation) (arrived late)
violist

I'd promised or threatened karenkay on the forum that I'd
toast her with a Singapore sling while she had the
obligatory blue Hawaii; and so I did, though I think she
chickened on the blue umbrella drink; the sling was stronger,
tastier, and cheaper than at the Raffles.

For dinner I started with island ceviche, fish trimmings of
unknown origin ceviched with lime juice and coconut. It was
pretty good, some of the trimmings being ahi, others being
some kind of white fish. Instead of a proper main, I got a
pu pu platter - spring rolls with ahi poke, very nice poke
wrapped in dough and insufficiently fried, so I ate the
insides clean but left much of the roll part; decent crab
cakes made with some shreddy meat but from a real crab; and
four ribs that were indeed falling-off-the-bone tender but
tarted up with this sweet sweet sauce, so I could eat only
two of them. I think people were on the whole pleased with
their suppers, but there was more drinking time ahead, so,
on the advice of tednugent (no relation), we went downstairs
to Duke's, where I had another sling, which was notable for
being truer in appearance and taste to the Raffles version
and costing a buck more than upstairs.

Afterward, we sorted out our next day. InsidethePlane, who
was originally scheduled for lili's around-the-island car
tour, said that he was going to halothane's parents' wedding
or something like that, so there was room in the car for
BondAir007. Later upon reading the thread we found that
we all could have been welcome crashers of the party, but
by the time we figured that out, we'd planned to be
elsewhere.

lili and I tried to find a bus, but none of the right kinds
were appearing, and about the time we decided that it would
have been easier to walk, a taxi came by, so we flagged it.
A quick ride home.
=
Next day, lili, KLC, bk3day, BondAir007, and I met at the
Hertz desk at the Outrigger Reef and picked up a Subaru
something for our day trip. I had two early requests,
Leonard's and the Nuuanu Pali outlook, both of which high on
the list of any sensible person.

Leonard's is the home of the malasada, a kind of doughnut
made out of sweet bread dough and served either with sugar
or filled with goo. I got one of each for each of us:
original, chocolate-filled, and haupia-filled. Better than
anything Krispy Kreme ever came up with, let me tell you.

We ate our first ones in the tiny parking lot of the bakery
and then some more at Nuuanu Pali outlook. I ended up with
three left over, which I tried nuking at the hotel next day
for breakfast: they don't work. The pastry had gotten all
stringy and tough, and the haupia filling had gone sour!

Malasadas
cat: Hawaii, doughnut
yield: 24

2 ts dry active yeast
1/4 c warm water
1 Tb sugar plus 1/3 c sugar
2/3 c milk
1 ts vanilla extract
4 eggs, well beaten
1/2 c unsalted butter, melted
4 c all-purpose flour
1/2 ts salt
2 ts freshly grated nutmeg
Vegetable oil, for frying
h - Cinnamon-sugar for coating
1/4 c sugar
cinnamon to taste

Directions

In a medium bowl, combine the yeast with 1/4 c lukewarm
water and 1 Tb sugar. Mix until the yeast dissolves, then
set aside for 5 min. Stir in the milk, vanilla, eggs, and
butter and reserve.

In a large bowl, mix the flour with 1/3 c sugar, salt, and
nutmeg. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients.
Pour the yeast and milk mixture into the well. Mix the wet
ingredients into the dry, forming a soft, smooth dough.
Cover the dough with a clean towel and set aside to rise
in a warm place until dough doubles in size, about 1 hr.

Punch the dough down, then with oiled fingers, pinch off
pieces about the size golf balls. Place the dough balls on
greased baking sheets. Cover the malasadas with a clean
towel and set aside to rise in a warm place for 15 min.

In a heavy, high-sided pot, heat 2" of oil on medium-high
until the oil reaches 325F. Working in small batches, fry
the malasadas until they are uniformly golden brown, 7 - 10
min per batch. Drain the malasadas on a plate lined with
paper towels just until they are cool enough to handle then
roll them in cinnamon sugar and serve.

This recipe was provided by professional chefs and has been
scaled down from a bulk recipe provided by a restaurant. The
FN chefs have not tested this recipe, in the proportions
indicated, and therefore, we cannot make any representation
as to the results.

Recipe courtesy Chef Leonard Rego, Leonard's Bakery - Hawaii
Food Network Show: Follow That Food

Our first stop was Nuuanu Pali, one of the most spectacular
spots I know of within a city bus ride of a downtown; this
is, among other things, the site of the battle that
solidified Kamehameha I's rule over Oahu, during which the
defenders of the island were pushed over a cliff to their
deaths. It is also an incredibly beautiful place. Most of
the tourists stay within a hundred feet of the built-up
outlook, but I enticed our explorers a quarter mile down the
overgrown road for even better views and an experience of
solitude way beyond what one would expect from being so
close to civilization (and directly above a highway).

Then on to the north shore, where, as it was kind of cloudy
and the surf wasn't particularly up, we didn't do much.
The Polynesian Cultural Center was vetoed as too Disneylike,
and Waimea Falls was vetoed as expensive and unpromising, so
we just hung out at a couple beaches and drove around a bit.

At lunchtime we found ourselves at Macky's shrimp truck,
said to be the best on the island. The shrimp were very
fresh, and the tastes were very good, and the portions
sizable. Best? I don't know. My garlic and butter shrimp
plate came as 9 jumbos (about 250g) in a very nice sauce
with two scoops of good rice, a salad of fresh greens in
vinaigrette, and a slice of pineapple. I also had a pina
colada smoothie, $3, which was okay except not very
smooth, the result being that my straw kept getting
stuck up with fiber. lili, who doesn't eat fishy things,
had the $5 fruit salad, which was a huge quantity of
ripe pineapple, melon, and papaya.

Check out the Website! It's great.

Then into Haleiwa town and the Matsumoto General Store for
probably the most famous shave ice on the planet, known
for the smooth texture of the ice and the quality of the
syrups, supposedly made here. I had a half-and-half of
blueberry and coconut cream, the lurid blue and lurid pink
syrups merging in a zone of lurid purple and confusing
flavors. The smalls are pretty big, and bk3day couldn't
finish her Matsumoto combo, so she gave me some; it tasted
to me mostly of pineapple, perhaps artificial.

We never found the burger place that lili had talked about
eating at, but then none of us had remembered to take note
of the name or location.

As we seemed to have exhausted the neighborhood, we decided
to continue on; decided not to visit the Dole Plantation -
a real tourist trap - and headed back through town. There
was the issue of our having another half day on the car, so
we went off to the east part of the island, where we looked
at the sea cliffs and blowholes and stuff, finding ourselves
up on the north shore again.

I'd been to Kailua Beach Park twice before - once with my
friends James and Kim and once with TNNR; but it seemed
like a good idea to try for a third, especially as the sun
was finally coming out (just before sunset!). Took a good
long walk on the beach, regrouped, and went in search of
dinner. The choices that I could think of: Buzz's, Pinky's,
and the Italian place TNNR had taken me to. I called Ted to
get directions but couldn't get hold of him, so we ended up
at Pinky's, which I just remembered as "that place that
serves pupus," and which it took a couple passes through
town before we found it.

An active bar scene and Happy Hour drinks specials (Bud
Light or Coors Light, $5 a pitcher; Long Board Ale for $3
for an 18-oz "schooner") made this place hop; we got a
big round table in the somewhat quieter restaurant side.
Things I tasted: kalua pork was quite well done, nicer
than I remembered it being; had a bite of a grilled top
sirloin that belonged to lili - quite good; my kalbi ribs
were tasty but both a little chewy and !boneless!, which is
kind of strange. I had three schooners as well.

P.S. I got an e-mail today from iDine. Pinky's gives miles!

Back in the dark along the Likelike Highway, stopping at
the Sheraton and then the rental car return at the extremely
lurid Hilton Hawaiian Village. A stroll back westward and
a couple drinks at the rather divey Harbor Pub and then we
said our goodnights.

Packed up, checked out, put my bag up at the hotel.
Discovered that my good black slacks, which were to be my
traveling attire, seem to have been left behind in Denver
when I changed into khakis before the DEN-HNL flight! So
wore jeans today and on the plane, the same mud-encrusted
things that I'd hiked through the arboretum in.

The plan was for people to meet at the Bishop Museum at 11,
so I hustled my bustle to check out, store my luggage, and
bus it out there; showed up right on time and met KLC, who
had gotten there quite a bit earlier (she had been smart
and taken the B City Express bus, which costs the same as
the regular city bus but takes half as long). No sign of
lili, so we called; she was in a bit of a tizzy, as the
regular city bus, the one right after mine, was doing its
slow zigzag through town, and she thought she must be on
the wrong one and had been at the point of giving up ...
just a couple miles and 15 minutes away. Eventually her
bus got there (it lets you off a few blocks north of the
museum, which nobody tells you, and the sign is down).

The museum is undergoing major renovations, and it was quite
a different place from when I'd seen it in '04. There's a
lot of stuff missing, from the Hawaiian Hall to the hula
demonstration that used to be held there (and that moved to
the front lawn before disappearing altogether). We saw a
couple of presentations that were aimed at an audience
perhaps four or five decades younger than ourselves (fair
enough, it was a weekday morning) and meandered about
somewhat disappointedly; the planetarium in particular could
use a bit of renovation itself, both in seating and content.

The Polynesian exhibits are intact, though, and the art
room, which had been closed for renovation my other visit,
was open: these and a rather charming one-man storytelling
session made the $14 ($16 less a $2 coupon in the tourist
brochure that KLC conveniently found in the front entrance)
seem almost worthwhile. After a couple hours, we took a
peek at the canteen to see what was what: no plate lunches,
no sandwiches, no burgers, nothing cooked, the attendant
apologetically told us. Just chips, candy bars, ice cream.
We asked her where was the nearest place to eat. She said
that there were plenty of lunch spots a few blocks away in
the Kam Shopping Center. So we ended up at Kenny's, which
I've eaten at before. It looks like a Denny's and has much
the same kind of menu, only there are 8 fish of the day
(down from 17 when I ate here before) ranging from various
scads and mackerels for $15 to moi, once eaten by royals
only, for $32. Oh, plus the food is good. KLC had the Cobb
salad, which had fresh ingredients and was very big. lili's
roast beef panini was decent (but had too much bread and
too little substance) and a glass of Woodbridge Cabernet.

I was flummoxed by the varieties of fish, and the waitress,
who spoke little English, brought over the manager, who
couldn't help much either but took me out front, where
in the cashier's box there was a poster of Hawaiian reef
fish. I picked the manini (convict surgeonfish), because I
had swum with them before and because they're pretty, in
soy, ginger, and scallion. Miso soup and a little salad
come with the big plates; both were good.

In anticipation of libating with Fters later, I stuck with
iced tea, nursing it and nursing it as my fish didn't come
and didn't come. Finally the waitress came out and announced
that my lunch had in fact been cooked, but it was too well
done, so they were making another one. After I had been
munching on lili's French fries for a while, a big plate
came with two whole fish - one slightly overcooked, one very
overcooked. I ate the former with the good rice served on
the side; it's quite a strong-flavored fish though not oily;
the flesh is on the firm side (hard, said the waitress when
describing the overdone one); it's very bony as well - in
addition to the ones you expect on a skeleton, there are the
transverse ones like in some of the carp. It seemed a pity
for the other fish to have died completely in vain, so I
took the good parts of it, too; they'd acquired a rubbery
texture as that of overcooked scallops, partially remedied
by a dunk in the soy cooking liquid.

As we left, we saw the B bus go past and decided to wait
for the next one instead of taking the local. Good choice -
sometime before Chinatown we caught up to it. A nice walk
back to Ala Moana along the canal; I went to the hotel to
try for the wireless, which wasn't working, and then back
to Snapper's, er Margaritas, for a beer, which worked for
me, and the wireless, which also did.

Dinner at Keo's.

Present: Traveloguy, studio76, lili, KLC, SeeYa, moi.

SeeYa's flight had been late, and she had had some kind of
issue with the taxi driver, so we were ready for our second
round of drinks and were on just getting ready to order
starters when she arrived.

A typical assortment. Spring rolls and summer rolls were
good, the usual, good ingredients, expertly done. I always
lobby for mee krob when I see it - it's puffed noodles in a
sweetish sauce with or without ground meat, commonly eaten
in lettuce wraps. I enjoyed the dish but didn't see too many
others partaking. Stuffed chicken wings were not so good -
they're pretty labor intensive, and clearly these must be
made in big batches and frozen. There was the distinctive
taste of old chicken, sort of reminding you of the Banquet
fried chicken you had as a poverty-stricken kid. The
stuffing was okay if underseasoned - glass noodles and
pork, mostly, not enough spice and not enough fish sauce.
The technique is a bit of a tour de force, as you can see.

The appies were filling: it's good we got only four main
dishes, all of which were tasty but of very mild heat; our
end of the table got some chile flakes to spice things up.

Beef masaman was browner and more stewlike than I'm
accustomed to - I guess the kitchen must have been out of
turmeric or something. Otherwise it was fine.

Evil jungle prince with chicken was a winner, which is only
right, as Keo invented this name for the dish if not the
dish itself. I thought it a bit light on the basil and on
the heat, but it was a very good version.

I forget what the beef and mushrooms in coconut curry was
called on the menu. It tasted good, garlicky as heck, but
the beef was quite tough.

Turns out Traveloguy and I really enjoy eggplant, so that
was our request: it comes with fish, beef, or chicken, but
we asked for it to come with none of the above, as there was
plenty of animal protein already. It was plain but very nice.

Rice, more umbrella drinks for the ladies, beers for the
other guys, and Bourbon for me rounded out the meal.

Said my goodbyes, envying the plans of the others for the
following days; a taxi to the airport was not an impossible
indulgence, and the extra half hour of conversation and
friendship was worth the price.

Check-in and security took a minimal amount of time, and
I was to the gate half an hour before boarding. It was
pretty crowded, so I made my way to the already quite long
red lane line. The guy behind me marveled at the even longer
regular line and said to the guy next to him, this is why
we're 1K. They preboarded some wheelchairs and a couple
families with small children. And then off to the races.
No surprise when I got to my seat that row 1 had taken my
overhead bin, so I glommed the one over 2 center, which
disappointed the guy in the seat belonging to that spot
(directly after me, being Mr. why we're 1K). I wasn't so
kind as to move my bag for him but did point out that
there was still just enough space for his bag above 4
window, if he hustled. Of course, much of the bin space
was eaten up with purses and briefcases ... but on this
aircraft, one fights for as much legroom as possible, so
then one fights for bin space. Not too great first class
product, eh.

The guy in 1B got the person in 1A to switch with his wife,
who was in the hated 6H or J. As 1A walked back, someone
told her she had been nice to trade. "Too nice," she
muttered. I said that it would have been more sensible to
make 1B to move back to row 6. This was the first of 3
iniquitous trades I saw on this return trip.

Very nice report and I have to admit, I got a little homesick reading it, even though I was there a few days before you were.

Glad you made it over to Leonards; I've taken a few FTers there and they all seemed to have enjoyed the malasadas as well. Alas, they do not travel well and must be eaten fresh.

I think the hamburger stand in Haleiwa that you were trying to find was Kua `Aina; it is somewhat nondescript.

I now have the jingle for "Kenny's, in the Kam Shopping Center in Kalihi" in my mind; thanks.

The malasadas were great, as is this trip report. Very enjoyable report, violist. (It's almost as good as being there!)

-33-
 

UA 42 HNL DEN 2315 0903 763 2H Ch9^ Empower^

I'd changed from 2J to 2H (the last open seat) at check-in,
because I had picked up a bit of a cold and wanted to stay
hydrated (for a change - I almost never do this). Good
choice - the guy who showed up for 2J was very space-filling
and I'd have had a hard time climbing over or around him.

hot towels, warm nuts

A very nice, very senior crew that kept us well tucked in
and our glasses filled for the whole flight. I recognized
two of these HNL-based FAs (Momi and, no, seriously, Ilsa)
from years past and, and the other, Glenn, might have been
on the famous luau flight in 2002, but I'm not sure.

Snack: fruit and cheese plate or chicken katsu (cold) with
potato salad; Love and Quiches cookies 'n cream brownie.

The katsu was okay if ice-cold (why serve it this way?).
Love and Quiches makes a decent product. It was also cold.

Snoozed.

Continental breakfast: fruit appetizer and a jam Danish.

The fruit were hard and unripe, rather offputting for
something that had supposedly been catered in paradise.
The Danish was weird, and I scraped the unidentifiable
(perhaps "mixed fruit") jam off.

There was a sparkling wine of some kind - "Brut d'Argent" -
I didn't bother. Courvoisier instead.

Landed more or less on time.

UA 422 DEN EWR 1050 1635 752 2A Ch9:td: Empower:td:

Two misaligned couples, both requesting (and getting)
trades to better seats: 1C, a little old lady, wife of 1A,
switched with 1B, a tall gent, result being little old
lady with the extra legroom, tall gent scrunched awkwardly.

The other couple was in rows 4 and 6, equity requiring that
they both get 6, but reality intervening and giving them 4,
so the good Samaritan got the non-recline seat. These two at
least were thankful and polite.

hot towels, warm nuts

Another perfectly good flight; pokerfaced FAs who did their
job politely, without attitude. One weirdness. No corkscrew
on this flight. The white was a screwtop; the red was not.
The FAs kept going to the back galley for handfuls of
single-serve Kingfish Shiraz, which wasn't substantially
worse than the regular wine, Canyon Road Cabernet. It was
sort of spicy, sort of raisiny, sort of stemmy, not too
sweet. Be that as it may, I switched to Courvoisier after
one experimental hit of the wine.

Meal choice was a chicken salad or a roast beef sandwich
with tomato bisque. I said I didn't care, and, surprising
on a flight from Denver, everyone in earshot (orders were
taken by status) asked for chicken, and this ran out early.

I saw 1B's sandwich - nice pink roast beef! 2B's sandwich -
nice pink roast beef! My sandwich came. The FA must have
thought I really, really didn't care, as I was met with
a blob of dark brown resiliency with a bit of fat and
gristle on the side. 's ok, I don't mind fat and gristle.
Too much bread, which my seatmate solved by making an
open-faced sandwich and covering it with mayonnaise in the
I think Scandinavian style (he spoke with some kind of
East European accent), and I solved by not eating the bread
at all. The soup was fairly good, though it had shards of
not-quite-cooked onion in it, making for an odd texture.

Warm chocolate-chip cookie.

Flight landed about on time. I went off to the club only
to find that my 2h 40 layover had turned into a 3h 40 one
and eventually into a 4 hr one. For those who doubt the
value of club membership, here's a strong case in favor.
All kinds of chocolate snacks, fresh fruit, free wi-fi,
and a quiet place to hang one's hat. It did close at 2000,
though, so I prowled the tiny concourse for nearly an hour.
Got my exercise walking in circles. Loaded up around 2100,
with a vast number of impatient flyers lining up at and
then getting booted off the red carpet. I just put myself
in the regular line, as few were using it. What was that
all about, I thought to myself.

UX7972 EWR IAD 1915 2043 ER4 12C

12C with 12B open is the best seat on the plane, better
than 12A (but you take your chances for a full flight).

A very pretty though altogether too serious FA who was a
stickler for all the little rules. Not a big deal: it's
probably better to have someone who cares about safety
than one who can't give a flyer. Snoozed some more.

We finally arrived, after a most bumpy flight, an hour and
half late. I hustled out of there as fast as my little legs
would take me, just made the mobile lounge, and exited the
exit right opposite the bus stop only to find the bus making
leaving noises and a fence between me and it. Threw my bags
over, crawled through the railings, and made the bus, yay.

-33-