I headed to Farnborough, England for the biennial Airshow on 19 July 2010.  I had one goal in mind; see the all new Boeing 787-8 that had arrived the previous morning.  It was its first time across the Atlantic Ocean and it was the star of the show.  If only I could get to see it on the inside.  I had seen mock ups a few years earlier, but there is nothing like the real thing.

Desperate to get a ticket I made my way to the Boeing Chalet but was denied, as seeing the 787′s interior that morning was relegated to only invitees only.  I was told though that I should get on queue about noon as they were accepting random people.

So at 11:45a I got on the already long queue and made it in as the first set of 30!

As we got into the holding area, we were handed a souvenir business card holder with the words Boeing 787 emblazoned on it.  How nice!

Enjoy the photos and please leave a comment.

Inside the Boeing 787-8 at Farnborough Airshow 2010 Slideshow

The seats of the Boeing 787-8 at the Farnborough Airshow 2010

The cockpit plate of the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner at the Farnborough Airshow 2010

The cockpit jumpseat of the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner at the Farnborough Airshow 2010

The cockpit hatch of the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner at the Farnborough Airshow 2010

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The inside of the door on the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner at the Farnborough Airshow 2010

Closed windows on the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner at the Farnborough Airshow 2010

Flight test of the window near the second door of the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner at the Farnborough Airshow 2010

The First class interior of the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner at the Farnborough Airshow 2010

The interior of the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner at the Farnborough Airshow 2010

The seats of the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner at the Farnborough Airshow 2010

The seats of the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner at the Farnborough Airshow 2010

The interior of the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner at the Farnborough Airshow 2010

The window of the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner at the Farnborough Airshow 2010

The window of the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner at the Farnborough Airshow 2010

The seat legroom of the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner at the Farnborough Airshow 2010

The closed window of the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner at the Farnborough Airshow 2010

The flight attendant crew rest on the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner at the Farnborough Airshow 2010

The flight attendant crew rest on the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner at the Farnborough Airshow 2010

The flight attendant crew rest on the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner at the Farnborough Airshow 2010

The flight attendant crew rest on the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner at the Farnborough Airshow 2010

The interior on the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner at the Farnborough Airshow 2010

The open overhead bin on the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner at the Farnborough Airshow 2010

The seats on the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner at the Farnborough Airshow 2010

The windows of the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner at the Farnborough Airshow 2010

The overhead bins of the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner at the Farnborough Airshow 2010

The interior of the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner at the Farnborough Airshow 2010

The interior of the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner at the Farnborough Airshow 2010

The seats of the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner at the Farnborough Airshow 2010

Boeing 787 business card holder

Boeing 787 business card holder

The cockpit of the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner at the Farnborough Airshow 2010

The flight is recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records as being 2 minutes. After the flight you get an official certificate and in true Scottish style, a small bottle of Scottish Whiskey with which to celebrate the event. It is even of the right size to fit in your carry on baggage.

The world’s shortest scheduled flight is operated by Soctland’s Loganair on a single piloted twin-engined Briton Norman Islander. The flight starts in Kirkwall, Orkney Islands Scotland (KOI) as LOG377 departing at 15:00 (3p for the Americans). It then heads for Papa Westray, then to Westray and back to Kirkwall for a total scheduled time of 0:44.  Here is the complete itinerary:

1. Kirkwall to Papa Westray        15:00 15:16
2. Papa Westray to Westray     15:21 15:23
3. Westray to Kirkwall                   15:28 15:44

Of all the small airlines I’ve flown, this one impressed me the most. Simplicity is its name. I e-mail them and got an immediate reply, well in a few hours as it was late at night their time when I e-mailed. The guy who responded was courteous and explained the whole process. As it turns out, when I arrived in Kirkwall from Aberdeen, Scotland (ABZ) he was at the counter.  You see he is the reservations agent, the e-mail response guy, the check-in clerk and the lone ground handling personnel.  He is one of four he tells me in a fantastic Scottish accent.  It was fun to watch him at work.

When I e-mailed, he advised that the price is 39 GBP and hat I needed to call on the day of travel once they open the office so I can book.  You see if the weather is bad then the flight won’t operate. Once I got to Kirkwall, I introduced myself and he booked me on the flight and told me to pay the next day when I arrived as I was rushing to get the 1.20 GBP bus to the city. You can check this page at http://www.loganair.co.uk/reservations/ for reservations information including the schedules.  The schedule I used is located at http://www.loganair.co.uk/xtra_files/OrkneyTimetable_31oct10.pdf in PDf format.

The next day I arrived early as I wanted to check out the operations and the bus from the city was ill timed for that flight so I had to take the 12:45p bus; the journey is about 15 minutes. No worries it was fun to watch the airport operations.

There were four of us booked on the flight. Two locals, a guy from Italy and myself. Check-in, well, there was no check-in, we just followed the agent to the plane and boarded.  How simple was that.  I sat behind the right seat, the Italian dude next to me and the couple behind us.  The lone pilot gave us the safety briefing and we were off.

As we approached Papa Westray, the Captain pointed it out.  We then flew over Westray made a right turn and landed on the grass runway at Papa Westray, a two-room single building terminal. One room for passengers and staff, the other housed the “fire truck,” which actually had the license plate with the letters “LHR” in it.  Go figure.  Do you think that was on purpose? I say fire truck as it is really an SUV with fire stuff behind it.

We picked up two ladies who sat behind the couple, got some cargo (a little box) and we were off down the gravel runway this time.  We then made a right hand turn, then a left hand turn and landed about 2 minutes later on the grass runway in Westray as it had started to rain.  We then taxied up to a similar building as at Papa Westray, except it said Westray on it; yes a SUV in the garage as well.

The couple disembarked and a lone male passenger boarded.  There was a “welcoming” committee at the terminal waiving and taking pictures.  I felt like I did when I flew in the Micronesian Islands, it was so cool. Some pleasantries were exchanged by the ground crew and the Captain and we were off as it started to rain heavier.  We made it down the gravel runway turned around and took off in no time.

We initially flew back at about 5,000 feet as it was raining above, then later climbed back up to our original cruisin’ altitude of 7,000′ until we descended into Kirkwall about 5 minutes early ending the journey of the world’s shortest scheduled commercial flight. I was elated and extremely happy.  Once inside the terminal, myself and the Italian guy were presented our certificates with our names on it and signed by the Captain plus our little bottle of Scotch whiskey.

Well, enough of that here are the pictures.  Enjoy them and please leave a comment.  Have you taken this flight before?

Papa Westray to Westray in the Orkney Islands

• The perspective of where the Orkney Islands are located

   

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• The route flown from Papa Westray to Westray on 18 July 2010

   

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• Kirkwall Airport in Kirkwall, Orkney Islands Scotland (KOI)

   

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• Loganair ticket counter and departure gate in Kirkwall, Orkney Islands (KOI)

   

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• The star if the day, the 10-seater Briton Norman Islander (BN1)

   

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• Walking out to the plane in Kirkwall, Orkney Islands (KOI)

   

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• The tail and registration of my Norman Islander in Kirkwall, Orkney Islands

   

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• Oh Captain, my Captain of my Norman Islander in Kirkwall, Orkney Islands

   

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• Kirkwall Bay in Kirkwall, Orkney Islands

   

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• A Lighthouse in the Orkney Islands

   

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• The tip of one of the many islands in the Orkney Islands

   

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• A House on one of the many Orkney Islands

   

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• Another House on one of the many Orkney Islands

   

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• The Coastline on one of the many Orkney Islands

   

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• A tiny Orkney Island

   

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• Westray airport with Papa Westray in the distance

   

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• Papa Westray from the air

   

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• The island between Papa Westray and West Ray (Middle Island) in the Orkney Islands

   

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• Flying overhead West Ray in the Orkney Islands

   

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• The Coastline of Papa Westray in the Orkney Islands

   

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• Landing in Papa Westray in the Orkney Islands

   

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• The terminal at Papa Westray, Orkney Islands (PPW)

   

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• The terminal at Westray, Orkney Islands (WRY)

   

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• Taking off from West Ray in the Orkney Islands

   

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• A House on West Ray in the Orkney Islands

   

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• A House on West Ray in the Orkney Islands

   

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• A House on West Ray in the Orkney Islands

   

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• Houses on West Ray in the Orkney Islands

   

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• A Silo on West Ray in the Orkney Islands

   

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• A Port on the coast of West Ray in the Orkney Islands

   

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• Another View of the Lighthouse in West Ray in the Orkney Islands

   

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• A Lighthouse in West Ray in the Orkney Islands

   

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• A Cliff off the coast of West Ray in the Orkney Islands

   

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• A house on the island of West Ray in the Orkney Islands

   

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• Landing on runway 27 in Kirkwall, Orkney Islands (KOI)

   

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• The Norman Islander in Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands

   

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• The Norman Islander in Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands

   

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• The control tower at Kirkwall, Orkney Islands (KOI)

   

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• Back in Kirkwall

   

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• The Arrival FIDS and we got in early to boot

   

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Video of the flight

Click here to view the embedded video.

Video of the landing in Kirkwall

Click here to view the embedded video.

Now the fun begins to make the first delivery by the end of 2010 to ANA of Japan.

You can find some pictures I took at the roll our ceremony in July of 2007

Boeing 787-8 Rollout pictures

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

 Pictures from the rollout ceremony in July 2007.

There was someone sitting in my seat when I got there, so I offered a trade.  It was funny as the ladies were really very friendly and I told her that I would not get up all night so she said I could sit in the window.  I would not have minded sitting in the aisle, but they insisted as she said she may get up during the night.  They were perhaps the best seatmates I’ve had in ages.

We soon pushed back and headed out in the cool night skies.  My best thing about Las Vegas is taking off at night and seeing all the lights below.  There is really nothing like it.  We took off with the Strip on the right and then making a right turn so we could see the Strip from the other end as we gained altitude on this wingleted Boeing 757-300.  I had noticed the winglets until we pushed back.  This is the first Boeing 757-300 in revenue service with winglets.

I was way tired so sleep came really quickly as I covered up with the plastic wrapped provided blanket.  A pretzel and beverage service passed through, but I was full from the barbecue at the Hilton so I declined anything.  Landing seemed to come quickly on this 4:15 flight touching down at 5:22a.  I don’t think I will make the connection flight I thought.

As I was in the back of the plane and we got to the gate at 5:30a, I missed the 5:45a which was in the other finger of Terminal C at rainy Newark airport.  The agents moved me over to the next flight, a Boeing 777-200ER at 7:45a.  I then went to find a place to take a photo of the wingleted bird which was now heading for Orlando, FL (MCO) at 7:00a.  I could not find a place though due to its gate assignment at 102.

I did however find a spot in the Presidents Club that would give me great pictures.  And so at 7:00a when it pushed back, I got a few pictures in the rainy dawn.  I also had some breakfast of cereal and mini muffins.  I left almost right after the pushback as I did not want to lose my place on this flight.

At the gate I collected my middle seat boarding pass and headed onboard.  It was freezing in the jetway, I thought these things had heat.  As I waited onboard, a guy came for the aisle seat, but no one showed for the window.  Once the doors were closed, the guy asked if he could take the window as I was about to move over.  He said he wanted to sleep; I guess I did not look sleepy.  I obliged him anyway and he was thankful.  I was psyched about having that empty seat as I believe it was the only one on the plane.

We pushed back a few minutes late and made the long trek to the runway and took off  into the rainy morning skies.  I reclined my seat and the guy behind me protested that he was tall, annoyed I un-reclined and tried to fall asleep.  Maybe I should have complained about the noise his little girl was making…The flight attendants did come by with a breakfast offering of cereal and bananas; At this point, I kind of wished the offering was a bit different, oh well.

This airplane has power at the seats which I utilized and audio/video on demand which I did not use as I could hardly keep my eyes open.  I did hear the Captain come on and say that due to the winds we would have to fly past the airport and then come back which would cause us to arrive at the gate a few minutes late.

As we descended, the guy’s daughter kept kicking my seat back and tapping it with her hands.  Her father never once told her to stop it or apologize for her behavior and I never said anything to him.  Some people can be really selfish it seems.

We landed without incident and headed to the gate arriving about five minutes behind schedule.  I then called Metro and was advised the next bus was at 10:51a, good deal I had enough time.  This was a pretty good trip.

How are you spending your weekend?

Houston, TX 17 Oct. 2009

The flight was quite full and I was only able to get an aisle seat, but I was happy.  I always prefer a window seat going out there as the American topography is spectacular.  It changes from flat lands, to snow capped mountains to green pastures to desert and lakes, just fantastic.

This pleasure was bestowed upon a Brazilian guy and his friend who were in the U.S. for ten days for a conference in Las Vegas.  They had just arrived on the red eye flight from Sao Paulo, Brazil so were pretty exhausted.  We chatted for quite a bit before takeoff and during the flight though.

We pushed back ontime and then had a clear path to the runway so we were off in no time.  It is a 2:45 flight this morning and we would arrive ontime the crew advised.  Soon after takeoff, we were served cereal with a banana and non-alcoholic complimentary beverage of choice.  Alcoholic beverages were 6 USD which can be paid with cash or debit/credit cards.  Headsets were 1 USD for the animated Disney movie UP, being shown.

I had a chance to get some zees as did other passengers including the Brazilians.  These early flights are brutal!  As we flew along, the Captain did come on and pointed out cool stuff. I love it when they do that.   It was soon time for landing so we all prepared for it.  You could see the mountains and brown desert floor outside as we descended into “Sin City.”  It was 8:31a when we pulled up to the gate a few minutes late on this Boeing 737-800.

I headed for the Presidents Club which is fun to find if you’ve never visited it, where a similar breakfast as the Club in Houston and the airplane was being served.  I got online and finished registering for the event, contact @sseagraves as he was attending and then headed out taking the train into the main terminal as Continental is in Terminal D at Las Vegas-McCarran.  Sadly, I would miss the keynote address scheduled for 9:30a.

I found a waiting shuttle for 6 USD, paid and waited.  Shuttles also cost 6.50 USD or 36.00 USD for a limousine and I assumed about 20 USD for a cab.  At about 9:55a, we left for the Hilton from where I would walk over to the Las Vegas Convention Center South Hall.  I arrived there at 10:45a after dropping passengers off at Koval Resort, the Venetian, the Mirage, Treasure Island and the Riviera.  It was a good tour but I was annoyed.  I should have taken a cab.

1. Iguasu Falls, Argentina (IGR)
2. Las Vegas, NV (LAS) for Blogworld
3. London, England (LHR)

I got to the airport with plenty of time to spare as I needed to get some tickets for the journey.  Just before doing that I went up to the roof of the parking and off in the distance I saw Air Force One; yup, the President of the United States, Barack Obama was in town for a benefit.  I think this was my first time taking a photo of this majestic Boeing 747 derivative.

I entered the airport without any incident, got my tickets and then headed to the Presidents Club for eats and a drink or two. I did notice that the airplane was not at the gate and thought that was strange.  Anyway, at about 8:00p, it was disclosed that the airplane would show in about twenty minutes so we should stay seated.  Well, this soon changed to a 9:30p departure, then a the airplane should be at the gate at 9:30p and finally to a set departure time of 12:30a.

This new time meant I could not make the journey as I would not be able to connect with the intended flights from Buenos Aires’ downtown airport to Iguasu.  With that I closed the door on heading south tonight.

Option 3 was no longer available as the London flight had departed at 6:25p, so Las Vegas it is.  Except that the last flight was at 9:30p.  No worries, I’ll take the 7:35a tomorrow.  See you then.

I did achieve my goal of the nine new airports, you can take a look at them below.

I had a friend of mine interview me about the trip so you can listen to it below:

[podcast]http://www.cruisinaltitude.com/audio/aycjinterview.mp3[/podcast]
Right click here to download this audio file

Trip Statistics

Please feel free to comment.

You can always follow me on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/mskonfa1990 as I continue to fly the world one weekend at a time.  Also, you read what others are saying about All you can jet on twitter at http://twitter.com/#search?q=aycj.

Related Articles/Posts:

• All you can jet – heading to Aguadilla, PR and back today
• All you can jet – the next weekend’s routing is booked albeit boring
• All you can jet – Rochester to Orlando and back up to Newburgh, NY all in a day
• All you can jet – Flying from Puerta Plata to Rochester, NY via New York’s JFK
• All you can jet – Journeying from Santiago to Puerta Plata Dominican Republic
• All you can jet – next stop is the Dominican Republic
• All you can jet – heading north to Syracuse then to JFK
• All you can jet – an early departure from Buffalo to Orlando
• All you can jet – visiting Virgina quickly
• All you can jet – taking the first flight
• All you can jet – transportation secured
• Meet Blake, the composing flyer
• All you can jet – the first weekend is booked
• Benét Wilson’s column on some of the AYCJ travelers
• All You Can Jet Pass – I’m in
• http://thestrategyblog.com/index.php/archives/281/how-to-book-an-awesome-travel-itinerary
• Two guys with 12 hours in each city visited – http://www.twelvehoursinacity.com
• http://www.wherewejet.com
• 30 Days on JetBlue
• MCCALLYOUCANJET
• Seth Miller’s Journey

I checked twitter and e-mail and then got dressed via the noise of airplane engines climbing out of Orlando Airport right on cue at 6:00a.  This hotel needs soundproof walls.  I enjoy the noise, but I’m sure others do not.  So no “10″ rating for you La Quinta.  Another point deduction is for false advertising.  You said, you have Hi-speed Wireless Internet, but you neglected to say it was only in the Lobby.  You need a cable for the rooms.  The devil is in the details.  Other than that, it was a great stay.

I checked out and had a quick complimentary breakfast of a bagel, a muffin and grabbed a small tub of yogurt.  It was time to go to the airport via the 6:30a shuttle.  We pulled out making our first stop five minutes later at Alaska Airlines.  A couple was heading to Idaho on Alaska, the lady mentioned via Washington D.C.  Cheap fare I guess.  There is no easy way to get to Idaho really.

I chose to check-in via a person and was ushered to the much shorter Bag Drop line.  The agent, Robert greeted me, asked my destination, checked my driver’s license and then produced a boarding pass.  I told him that I did not get the return (as you remember, this happened in Austin last weekend as well).  I guess something is amuck with jetBlue’s system as the agents have to do something extra for connecting flights to be checked in in one entry.

He took back the boarding pass, checked it for the confirmation number and a few seconds later produced the two other passes for the return journey as well as the Orlando to Buffalo portion.  I then went off happily to the gate.

Security was not too bad and I breezed through it without incident then taking the waiting train to the 100s gates where I plugged in and connected and to the Internet.  It is time to start blogging.

As I waited at the airport for my flight, the David Letterman news is all over the TV.  How many different aspects can there be?  There is even a twitter reference, geez.

Boarding started about 7:42a.  I was almost the last to board and as I did, the gate agent noticed my #AYCJ button and gave me a woohoo!  Onboard, I said hello to Joe the flight attendant at the door.  It took a while to get to my seat as people were getting their acts together.  Just a note, don’t put your seatbelt on if the window seat is empty and boarding is not yet complete.  More than likely someone is coming for that seat.  This was the case in a few rows including mine.

We soon pushed back early at 8:06a and headed out to runway 17R-35L.  We were #3 for takeoff behind a jetBlue Embraer 190 and a Southwest Boeing 737-700.  A8:16a, we were off for Aguadilla, PR (BQN).

The folks next to me never said a word to me the entire flight, they just watched TV the whole time.  As a matter of fact, they never said anything to each other and they were traveling together.

Speaking of TV, they showed three free movies, well two Ice Age was shown in Spanish and English plus Year One.  Breakfast came soon after takeoff; the usual animal crackers, potato chips, cashew, etc. and drink of choice.  There were also offerings for a pillow and a blanket for  7 USD and headsets for those who did not get them outside for 2 USD.

I was checking out the flap positions on the wings and took some pictures.  Yes, that kind of stuff is fascinating.  It was interesting to see all the positions and imagine the pilots initiating the command in the cockpit.

It was great to see the first sight of Aguadilla, PR (BQN) perched atop the cliff off in the distance.  We negotiated our way in and landed nice and sweet at 10:45a.  I did notice the jetBlue Airbus A320 that came in from New York-JFK waiting for take off at the threshold to the runway.  I think it was a little delayed leaving.

Aguadilla, PR 03Oct., 2009.  We pulled up to the jetway-less terminal building which is basically just a hangar at 10:46a; but a beautiful hangar though that is 212′ above sea level.  I deplaned and asked permission to take pictures from the Officer nearby.  It was granted happily.  I thought I could just go to the gate, but alas the two areas were separate.  So I went outside.  I figured since I was already outside of security I should just say hello to the ticket counter agents.  They were very pleasant and even agreed to take the picture you see here.

They printed my boarding pass after which I ran outside to take a picture of the airport.  This airport is really small. Actually, it is an old hangar which is 212′ above sea level.  I then came back inside and cleared security which was a breeze since I was the last person to come through.  After the TSA, I went through Immigration who asked me where I’m from.  I told him and he said go ahead.  Puerto Rico is kind of odd with that.  You don’t need a proof of citizenship to travel there, but they ensure that when you are going to the U.S. mainland you have the legal rights to do so.

I then went and sat in the departure gate area which is just this huge room.  Off to one side is a tax free shop serving mostly alcohol; another odd thing about traveling to Puerto Rico.

In front of me are the gates for Spirit Airlines, jetBlue and Continental.  I did see that headsets were free, similar to Puerta Plata, Dominican Republic; they were the old headsets.

Boarding started in a few minutes and was split between the front and the rear stairs.  I had a chance to take the rear stairs, which was really cool.  As I walked out I saw the jetBlue Airbus A320 that was heading to New York-JFK take off.  I’m not sure why it was waiting so long for takeoff clearance as I had seen it on landing.

I boarded through the rear stairs and the two flight attendants there recognized me from before and asked if I had a good time and where was I headed next.  I said yes and advised I was heading to Buffalo, NY.  I made my way to my seat as the cold air condensed throughout the aircraft.  People were really fascinated by all that and took lots of pictures.

The door closed at 11:27a and we pushed back at 11:30a.  Hector, Luis and Joe took care of the safety demonstrations as we took a short taxi out to runway 8 then taking off at 11:38a.  It was beautiful you could clearly see that the airport was at the top of a cliff with the beautiful beaches below.

After takeoff, the flight attendants announced that headsets were 2.00 USD and pillow and blankets was 7.00 USD.  The movies were again free since we were out of range of the entertainment satellite.  The movies today were Ice Age – Dawn of the Dinosaurs, State of Play with Ben Afleck and Year One with Michael Cera and Jack Black.  I chose to watch Year One.

Our service was a bit delayed due to some turbulence, but once it started I was ready for the animal cookies and cashew nuts, my all time favorite.

The descent started a while later and I could get a good view of the airport and downtown Orlando on the way in.  The Orlando area is like Houston is goes forever and a day.

N505JB, “Blue Skies” landed at 2:07p and taxied into our gate by 2:11p.  Fantastic.  I guess I could have caught the other flights I was thinking of such as the 2:40p to Newark, NJ (EWR).  But I did not want any anxiety today so I just took the easy way out, Buffalo, NY (BUF) for wings.

How have your Saturday been going?  Did I mention how much I loved the Aguadilla, PR area?  I have to go back and soon.

You can always follow me on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/mskonfa1990 as I continue to fly the world one weekend at a time.  Also, you read what others are saying about All you can jet on twitter at http://twitter.com/#search?q=aycj.

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I got a ride from a colleague who is heading to Seattle, WA (SEA). Once at the airport, I made it through security (seemed like forever).  They did not even have the bins available.  It was really annoying to watch one of the TSA agents gab with his colleague while we waited for the bins.

Once that was over, I headed to the Presidents Club that is close to my gate.  While I waited, I booked my hotel for the night in Orlando, FL.  I was happy, but surprised at how reasonable the hotels were.  I guess it must be the off season.  After some wine complemented with some cheese and crackers, it was time to head to the gate.

There, I got my window seat on this Boeing 757-300.  When it was time to board this full flight, I did.  Soon, everyone was onboard and it was time to go.  I did think that the Lead Flight Attendant looked familiar, but thought nothing of it.

The door closed at 7:00p and we pushed back at 7:06p as the emergency demo played on the overhead monitors.  The Lead Flight Attendant did add that all window shades should be open; fantastic I thought, never heard that before on a Continental flight.

We headed out to runway 33R-15L and took to the dusk skies at 7:06p.  Soon after takeoff, we were served pretzels and drinks the flight is not a mealtime flight as defined by Continental.

On the overhead screens “30 Rock,” “Everybody Hates Chris,” “Samantha Who” and “Parks and Recreation” were shown.  Headsets were 1 USD, alcoholic drinks are 5 USD and you can pay with cash or credit/debit cards.

Flying time was short at 1:46 as the co-pilot said we had a 100mph tailwind.  We soon started our descent into the Orlando area.  It was really nice to see the towns below; lights everywhere.

It was 10:02p when we touched and 10:10p when we made it to the gate.  The flight attendant ended his speech with “All Rise” and it was then that I realized that he was the same one I had on my Houston to Austin flight last weekend.

I deplaned and headed for the trains which showed up right away and whizzed me to the airport center.  I then walked down to the hotel shuttle stop, called the hotel and waited.  The signs in Orlando are horrible, so it took me a while to find the stop. Only doing so after calling the hotel and they told me where to stand.  Come on Orlando!

As I walked around, I did see the following buses that serve the airport: 11, 41, 42 and 111.  They go to various areas around the airport including the Florida Mall which is nearby.  I thought it was interesting that they were running so late at night.

Soon, my shuttle bus showed up and I headed for the airport having a great conversation with the driver who is originally from Venezuela, lived in Miami, FL for a bit and wants to be a pilot.

Checking in was smooth after which I went to the nearby TGI Friday’s for dinner.  Not such a good experience as the bartender did not ask me to join some Club of theirs and by the writing on my receipt I was due an appetizer up to 8.00 USD.

What are your plans for the weekend?

I disembarked and located the Presidents Club which is next door to the American Airlines Admirals Club across from gate 13. I stopped in to check it out as well as check e-mail.  Having a membership is killer as I save so much on airport food and in the case where I need a shower after a redeye, I’m sometimes lucky to have a Club at that airport with a shower.

I decided to head into town, so I caught the #100 for 0.75 USD from the arrivals area.  It left at 10:40a and takes 30 minutes to get downtown; you can’t beat that?  While on the bus I noticed that a day pass was 1.50 USD, so I just bought that, since  I do have to return to the airport and in case I need to grab the bus again while downtown.

I sent out a tweet about suggestions and got the following back:

• ssegraves@mskonfa1990 the Bob Bullock Museum is interesting. Don’t forget that ACL [Austin City Limits] is this weekend so downtown will be crazy
• jonberrydesign@mskonfa1990if time permits – amazing bbq at Salt Lick, but go to original location 30 mins S of Austin in Driftwood

I did see the Bob Bullock Museum, but did not get a chance to stop in.  Did not see Salt Lick either, a reasons to head back and see more of Austin, TX.

Austin is really lively today with a street fair blocking 6th street around San Jacinto St. (similar street names as Houston).  Say, random thought: how come Houston or Dallas is not the capital of Texas?  The street fair made for the bus detouring.  In addition there is a college football game at the University of Texas and the Austin City Limits music festival so all this made for a crazy day in the city.

People were everywhere mostly in orange t-shirts with the Texas Longhorn on it.  Quelle jour.  I walked around a bit after exiting the bus at the UT campus.  It is a very nice campus, I want to go back to college, umm…  I then checked out the state Capitol (taller than the one in Washington D.C. I’m told) which is really cool and then headed to the street fair at 6th street.

By now I was tired and sweaty and wanted air conditioning.  So I headed back to the bus stop.  This was not as easy to find due to the detour so I missed it, but did see the one going in the opposite direction.  As fate would have it, it is the guy who I had initially.  So I rode with him all the way back to UT.

The temperature had risen by at least 15 degrees and now there are so many cars and people on the streets.  What a mess. Get me out of Austin please.  After many detours and twists and turns we were out of there and on US 183 heading for the Austin-Bergstrom airport.

It was a great time in the city albeit quite short.  Another visit is due and soon.

Have you been to Austin?  Did you like it?  What did you do?  Let me know please by commenting here.

Follow me on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/mskonfa1990 for constant updates.

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