Posted by Seth on March 16, 2010 under frequent flyer, points | 
You never know when frequent flyer miles are going to take center stage in a conversation. I’m sure that it is more often than it should when I’m around, though I have been better lately about trying not to always talk about travel. Still, when I sat down at the dentist a few months back and started chatting with my new hygienist the conversation turned to travel. She mentioned her recent engagement and honeymoon planning and my brain went into overdrive. I couldn’t resist.
We started talking about all the options available, which programs made sense (she was already pretty tied to Continental’s OnePass program and Hilton’s HHonors program) and which destinations offered the best bang for the spend. I don’t actually remember the cleaning that day so much or even if it happened (though I have the bill to suggest that it did). We talked about sign-up bonuses for credit cards and bank accounts. We talked about buying points through the US Mint dollar coin program. So much fun for me because she actually wanted to hear it all as opposed to my of my victims.
Six or so months later and I’m back in the office for another cleaning. The first thing out of her mouth was a huge thanks for all the help I provided. We spent the next ten minutes or so going through the itinerary (Hawaii and Fiji) and discussing how they got to use all the points that they earned from the last round of promotions (upgrades all the way through the trip). We chatted about hotels on Waikiki beach (Hyatt being MUCH better than the Hilton Hawaiian Village), a few of my favorite off-the-beach restaurants and things to do other than sitting on the fake beach there.
Finally, when scheduling my next appointment the receptionist mentioned that it will be just after the hygienist returns from the honeymoon, meaning I’ll get the follow-up report, too. It is always fun to have the conversation when the other person in them actually is interested in the information being shared, and hearing about the successful bookings makes it even better. I’m looking forward to hearing about the trip in a few months.
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Posted by Seth on February 9, 2010 under Mileage Run, Trip Reports |
Indeed, I owe the islands of Hawaii an apology. For years now I’ve been telling anyone willing to listen (and quite a few who couldn’t care less) just how much I disliked Hawaii. That hasn’t stopped me from visiting 5 times in the past three years – when it comes to miles on the cheap I’m easy – but I never really enjoyed the trips.
Until this past weekend.
The reason? I got the hell out of Waikiki. I even made it off Oahu and out to another island (the Big Island). And that made all the difference in the world. It was incredibly refreshing to discover normal people hanging out and enjoying the island life rather than catering to package tourists in high-rise hotel towers on a fake beach. I got to hang out with locals who actually enjoyed living there and leading relatively normal lives, not just running tourist trap tours and pretending that they actually serve decent food.
At the encouragement of my friend Vince, a longtime resident of the Big Island, I paid him a visit. Immediately after arriving in Honolulu I found myself making the long trek over to the commuter/interisland terminal for the short flight to Hilo. Sure, Vince lives near Kona on the other side of the island, but I figured why not get an extra airport in my collection and see some more of the island by driving across.
I booked a bed at the Hilo Bay Hostel, knowing that I’d be in late, out early and not have too much need of a full service establishment. It was clean (enough) and the others staying there were quite friendly. It also is right in the middle of town which meant easy access to a few bars at night and to decent breakfast in the morning at Bear’s Coffee. The breakfast was fine but the conversations there were absolutely phenomenal. I happened to sit amongst a few folks at the counter who were recounting their days running the local pot growing operations and private security shops, regaling each other with tales of who was doing what and reminiscing about how they “had to get out when the cocaine came in.” I also was up early enough to catch a sunrise over the shoals that sit just off the edge of downtown. Not too shabby.
After breakfast I hopped in the rental car (pretty cheap via these guys) and set out along the Saddle Road across the middle of the island to meet up with Vince. The drive to Kona has gotten significantly better in recent months due to the repaving of that road. There is only one section now that is in terrible disrepair. I don’t really know how bad it used to be but I made the drive much more quickly than I expected to (about 2 hours versus the 3 I was led to believe it would take) and it was fresh asphalt for the vast majority of the trip. No complaints at all.
Our destination that morning was Hapuna Beach State Park, a bit north of town and adjacent to the Hapuna Beach Prince hotel. The beach was crowded but not so much so that we couldn’t find space to lay out some towels and catch some sun (too much, in my case). Plus the waves were pretty good there and Vince provided boogie boards. It had been about 17 years since I last rode on one but, much like riding a bicycle it all came rushing back to me, including the sensation of being slammed into the sandy bottom by a wave as I wiped out during one ride. No lingering effects but definitely a bit woozy for a few seconds there.
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| Relaxing between sets a Hapuna Beach State Park |
We also did a bit of cultural tourism, paying a visit to the Pu’ukohola Heiau National Historic Site. The site was the long standing seat of power for the Hawaiian islands. It was 200 years ago when King Kamehameha finally completed his unification of the islands as a single kingdom, the completion of a 19 year effort that started with the construction of a war temple at the Pu’ukohola Heiau site. Among other things I learned during the visit, apparently the opposing leader sacrificed at the temple knew that the meeting was a setup that would involve his death but he went anyways, knowing that it was his fate to be the death that would provide the power to unify the peoples of Hawaii. That’s pretty impressive.
The temple itself is not open for tourists (it is still used by native Hawaiians performing religious rituals) but the site is and there is a well labeled trail, some videos explaining the history at the ranger station and another local beach at the base of the cliffs. The other beach – Spencer State Park – is even more of a locals hangout than Hapuna Beach. They permit camping and there is a small, well protected beach that was quite pleasant. Again we came across many families out enjoying the Saturday afternoon. There were more grills running than I could count and my mouth was watering at the sight of all the different foods being prepared. Alas, no time to try to crash one of the many parties; we had a plane to catch.
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| The beach at Spencer State Park on the Big Island |
Yes, we had a plane to catch. That’s because during the afternoon I had convinced Vince to make the hop over to Oahu with me that evening to meet up with a half dozen other guys for dinner. The fact that he had no running water at home that night probably helped in the convincing, though I still like to think that I really was that motivating. Anyways, off to the airport and on to the plane.
It was a whirlwind 18 hours on the Big Island but infinitely better than any of my previous trips to Oahu. Next time one of the $250 fares to Hawaii comes up I know what I’ll be doing when I arrive in Honolulu: leaving!
Posted by Seth on February 5, 2010 under Trip Reports |
Fly enough and strange things are bound to happen. I haven’t had to evacuate a plane or deal with oxygen mask deployment yet but I’ve had my share of aborted take-offs and “go around” missed landings. Those are unsettling but I actually understand what is going on in those cases and it doesn’t really seem all that bad when it is happening. Flying from San Francisco to Los Angeles today on my way to Hawaii I got to experience a final approach that was unlike any other. And I got a bit spooked by it.
The pilot had the Channel 9 audio feed on so I was able to listen to the cockpit communications throughout the flight. I heard the discussions of the weather with the controllers and our pilots’ requests to deviate around the worst of it. That was all good stuff. But having access to that audio also probably contributed to me freaking out a bit when we made a strange left turn about 30 seconds before touchdown. What I heard was something to the effect of:
Tower, this is United 817. We’re seeing wide variations on the localizer for runway 6R. It is all over the place.
The localizer is the radio beacon that broadcasts out the location of the runway so that the plane’s autopilot functionality can glide it it to a safe landing. If the plane is off course the autopilot will hone in on the localizer and correct the course. But if the localizer goes wobbly bonkers then the plane will change course to “correct” even if that means actually heading away from the runway.
And that’s exactly what our plane did this morning. The good news is that the pilots reacted quickly and professionally. They disengaged the autopilot, corrected the course of the plane and brought us in for a completely normal landing. Except the part where we briefly were headed in the wrong direction.
The pilot and ATC folks had a brief conversation about the incident while we were still flying. They checked with the plane behind us on the approach path to see if they saw the same issues with the localizer (they did) and then things continued on normally. Once we were finally on the ground the pilot gave the tower another tongue lashing about the localizer and clarified that it was the runway localizer and not the glide slope indicator (another piece of the autopilot system) that was having problems. And that was pretty much the end of it.
As we were deplaning I mentioned the event to the pilot and we chatted briefly about it. It was only after that conversation that I fully grasped the severity of what had happened. Probably a good thing as we were safely on the ground at that point and freaking out a bit wasn’t as significant an issue. But I was definitely feeling spooked by the event.
No real reason to freak out, I know. The pilots knew exactly what they were doing the whole time and they fixed the issue quickly and perfectly. In fact, had I not been listening to Channel 9 I’m not entirely certain I would have even known something went amiss during the approach. But it was still a bit freaky. Certainly not enough to prevent me from getting on the next flight, but a bit freaky.
Sadly the LiveATC.net feed of KLAX is offline right now so I don’t have access to the actual tower communications to get the verbatim conversation that happened with our pilot, the pilot behind us and ATC. I may have to dig a bit more to see if I can find it.
Posted by Seth on February 5, 2010 under Trip Reports, points |
For a guy who doesn’t really love Hawai’i I seem to go there an awful lot. It is hard to complain too much when the airlines offer up a $250ish fare from the New York City area as it is a trip worth a bunch of miles, but I generally don’t really enjoy being there. Of course, I blame that on having stayed in Oahu, specifically in Waikiki Beach, when I get there. I know that there are supposed to be better bits to see and this time around I’m finally going to give that a try. I’m headed to the Big Island.
Today’s trip is a four flight affair, starting with a departure from Newark at 6am and finishing with a puddle-jumper flight from Honolulu to Hilo scheduled to arrive at 8:30pm tonight. Just enough time at each connection to hop into a lounge or two for a snack and then on to the next flight. Assuming everything connects OK (which seems pretty likely so far) I shouldn’t have any troubles other than the fact that it is about 20 hours in transit from my apartment to the bed at the other end.
Map from the totaly awesome Great Circle Mapper tool
Perhaps the best part about the first flight today (EWR-SFO) is that the plane is mostly empty. Normally when flying on United Airlines I’d perform some sort of “upgrade flirt” at the counter or in the lounge to try to get a seat in the Economy Plus section for free (I know it is coming soon enough with Continental OnePass reciprocity but I’m impatient) but this morning I didn’t even bother. The First Class cabin may be booked full on this A319 but the back is wide open. There are at least 10 half rows that have one or zero customers seated there. I traded my seat up near the exit row for 22E, a middle seat in the back.
Just after takeoff I was happily asleep in my lie-flat coach seat, trying to imagine if it would really work with a second passenger cuddled up next to me as Air New Zealand thinks they’ll be able to sell with their new SkyCouch seats. And I still don’t see it working, at least not for customers over 5’ 6” tall.
I awoke from my 3+ hour snooze to one of the more disgusting views I’ve seen on a plane. This:
Seriously, it isn’t your house. I know that it isn’t particularly crowded on board this morning but keep your feet down. Yuck!
Only 15 hours yet to go on this trip. Plenty more nap time and writing time to come.
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Posted by Seth on January 15, 2010 under News |
Continental loves their hubs. They have historically had an incredibly intense focus on offering only hub-and-spoke service, to the point that non-hub routes could be counted on your fingers, sometimes only requiring one hand. Things are changing, however, and the non-hub route map is growing.
Late last year Continental announced several non-hub routes serving Hawaii from Los Angeles and Orange County. Today they’ve announced service between Portland, Oregon and Anchorage. The service will be seasonal for the peak summer months and not particularly well timed for connections from Newark but it will serve the local market and other west-coast feed (from United , I suppose) reasonably well. From the release:
The flight from Portland International Airport (PDX) will depart at 6:10 p.m. and arrive at Ted Stevens International Airport (ANC) in Anchorage at 8:55 p.m. The return flight will depart Anchorage at 1:25 a.m. and arrive in Portland at 6:15 a.m. Continental will operate the flight with a Boeing 737-800 with 160 seats.
I might need to start using my toes to count the non-hub routes soon. Nice to see some growth in the industry.
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Posted by Seth on January 5, 2010 under News |
Airline bankruptcies are never a good thing and it is certainly a terrible way to start the new year. But such a filing was made by Mesa Air Group this morning with the carrier seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Dan over at Things in the Sky has a pretty good review of the filing and potential impact it may have. Most notable is that the regional carrier seems to think that this will help them receive legal relief (or at least resolution) more quickly in cases they have pending against Delta and United Airlines regarding the larger carriers terminating regional services. But even if Mesa wins those lawsuits I’m not sure the cash is enough to help them deal with the large number of regional jets they’ve got lying around now with no customers.
The Mesa operation in Hawaii, go! Airlines, is excepted from the filing so that operation is running as normal right now. That seems strange but I’m sure there is a legal reason to do it that way.
Posted by Seth on October 26, 2009 under Dining, Trip Reports |
Coming off another 48 hours in Waikiki I’m finally getting to the point where I don’t hate the place. When the sales come up the flights are a great price for the number of miles earned so it is really hard to resist them. But I’m generally not all that happy in Waikiki. The beach is fake and not particularly soft. Plus it is incredibly crowded and loud. The shopping is the same as many places on the mainland (though more expensive) and the food is mostly chain restaurants that are overpriced and not particularly good. The ones that aren’t chains are just overpriced for the most part. It certainly takes away from my enjoyment of a quick weekend away.
But since I’ve actually done this trip a couple times now I’m starting to find some of the less touristy dining choices. Delicious food at reasonable prices and all right in Waikiki Beach (or very close by). All of them are located towards the Diamond Head end of the beach, a bit out of the fray but not too much so.
- Me B-B-Q
808.926.9717
Great Korean BBQ shop with breakfast, lunch and dinner every day but Sunday. Meat, rice and a side range from $6-12 and is way more than enough food even after a long day of surfing or diving.
- Morio’s Sushi
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| Mmmm…brains. Enjoying sweet shrimp at Morio’s. |
808.741.5121
Housed in a natural foods market, at night Morio’s transforms into one of the better sushi shops along Waikiki Beach. Morio works the sushi bar himself while a couple of waiters scurry around the small kitchen to help serve guests at the 5 tables on the adjoining patio. There are only about 8 seats at the counter and getting one can be tough – especially on a Saturday night. Morio’s regulars are loyal and keep coming back, with good reason. When in doubt, ask Morio for a recommendation. It is sure to please.
Morio’s is also a BYOB shop and there are at least three convenience stores on the block. More than one guest headed back out mid-meal for more as the drinks kept flowing. Some of the regulars were even sharing their stash with the staff. Watching a guy move his hands that quickly with such sharp knives is one thing. Watching him do it after he chugs a beer is whole different level of amazing.
- Rainbow Drive-In
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| Eggs over a giant mound of fried rice for breakfast at Rainbow. Huge portions at great prices. |
808.737.0177
I certainly didn’t discover this place – it has been around for over 40 years – but it is top notch. Located just far enough off the beach (about a mile) to keep the casual observers away, the grub is top notch. Breakfast is served until 10:30am and lunch/dinner after that. Huge plate lunch helpings for around $7 each. Hard to go wrong at that point.
View Local Waikiki Dining in a larger map
Posted by Seth on October 7, 2009 under Uncategorized |
Maybe demand for travel to the islands is picking up ahead of other domestic destinations. Continental certainly seems to think so. They’re adding three flights to the islands from the Los Angeles area (starting in March ‘10):
- Daily service LAX – Maui (OGG)
- A second daily flight LAX – Honolulu (HNL)
- 4x weekly service Orange County (SNA) – Honolulu
Sure, all the service is on 737 variants but that’s fine by me. Those flights are short enough and are eligible for free elite upgrades.
This isn’t the first time Continental has offered service to Maui but it is the first time they’ve gone to Hawaii from Orange County. And they are going to be the only carrier offering service on that route.
My next two trips to Hawaii are on United – hard to complain about a $260 fare from NYC, regardless of the carrier – but the additional service from Continental will certainly be worth keeping an eye on.
Posted by Seth on April 21, 2009 under Uncategorized |
Look for big changes in service this summer with Continental and their 737-900ER aircraft. The 737-900ER is the newest addition to the Continental fleet and it is also the first to be equipped with the LiveTV system that they are having installed on their domestic fleet. More notable, however, are the new routes that Continental is looking to open up with the aircraft later this summer.
Most significant is a scheduled August 1, 2009 return to Maui for the carrier with the return of the LAX-OGG route, operated by the 737-900ER. At the same time LAX-HNL, currently operated by a 757-200 with the BusinessFirst seat configuration in the forward cabin, will also switch over to a 737-900ER operation. These flights will be staffed for pilots out of the Cleveland base. Continental will also take advantage of the over-water certification necessary for the Hawaii operations to add Newark-based trans-Atlantic service on the 737-900ERs, though this service will be limited to military charters, at least for now. Those aircraft can easily reach Iceland as well as the three destinations that Continental currently serves in Ireland and Northern Ireland, so there is always a chance for some crossover there.
This opens up a huge can of worms on the Hawaii front. For many years now all service to and from Hawaii has been marketed as BusinessFirst and, more recently, BusinessFirst Light. This has allowed Continental to limit upgrades and demand a premium fare structure in most cases for the flights. With the introduction of a “normal” premium cabin the primary excuse for no free elite upgrades seems to have disappeared. That could induce a major change in the flow of customers through Continental’s system headed to Hawaii as folks angle for the free (or cheaper) upgrade to the islands.
Interesting times indeed…
Posted by Seth on September 28, 2008 under Uncategorized |
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| View of sunset from my room at the Park Shore Waikiki |
I’ve had issues with trying to stay in cheap hotels in the past. I was surprised actually just how bad a $40 hotel room in Turkey could be. So when I went to Hawaii last week and needed something cheap and functional, but certainly better than what I got in Turkey. I ended up on Priceline and paid too much there for a 2.5 star room in the Waikiki Beach area (I thought I bid on a 3* but apparently not).
I ended up at the Park Shore Waikiki. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting. The room was clean, the air conditioning worked, a few channels of cable TV worked and there was free WiFi in the lobby and in the pool area (nice to be able to do some work pool-side, if work is necessary in Hawaii). And even the non-Ocean View rooms had a bit of a view, though not a great one.
Perhaps my favorite thing about the hotel is that it was all the way at the Diamond Head end of the Waikiki strip. That means that if one wants to avoid the strip completely – and I did – the option is there. Yeah, I walked a couple blocks on the beach to find some food one night, but as much as possible I avoided it. There’s a park and the zoo on the other side of the hotel, and plenty of not too crowded Waikiki beach. And there is a bus stop at the front door to the hotel, allowing you to get there for just $2 (and about an hour ride) on the Route 19 or 20 buses from the airport.
And, best of all, I had no use for any of the products on this list.
I’m still not a fan on Honolulu nor Waikiki Beach, but at least I was able to stay in a pretty cheap and pretty decent hotel this time.
Posted by Seth on September 24, 2008 under Uncategorized |
I’ve now been in Hawaii for just about 50 hours, and am in the airport getting ready to head over to the gate and get my flight back home. This was a much longer visit than the 3.5 hours from last week, and I have to say it was really pushing my upper limits for a visit to Oahu. I still didn’t manage to see the Arizona memorial, which is something I’ll probably stop by for at some point. And if the $260 fares come up again I’ll almost certainly book one because the mileage value is great, but I have very little desire to come back to Oahu.
I spent the vast majority of my one full day here underwater. The diving was OK, but not great. But at least it was something to do. Beyond that and sitting on a manufactured beach that so many people seem to love for no discernable reasons, I can’t figure out why people like to visit this island. The beach isn’t that great. At all. Then again, the number of folks I saw on the planes for whom this was a “once in a lifetime” type of trip was pretty high. Too bad, as those folks could benefit from seeing better (and closer) islands if that’s really what they are looking for in a vacation.
Anyways, enough of my ranting about Oahu. There actually were some good things from the trip, including a decent, cheap hotel I got through Priceline, the aforementioned diving and my learning to use the local bus system. More to come on all that in future posts. In the meantime, enjoy some pictures from my diving and from folks out on the beach.
A flurry of hair, water and body board on the waves
A sea turtle leaving the cleaning station, with fish in tow
A local fisherman at sunset
Yeah, he blends. Actually, he did blend in pretty well before I spooked him and he settled in this location for his photo shoot.
Riding the waves
Headed out to sea, and right past me.
