Travel on John's Random Review

TripIt saved my butt!

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 17:58:15 +0000

I’d heard of TripIt from people at work, but hadn’t used it. We’re going to AZ for Spring Training, and i needed to be able to print out all the itineraries and confirmation numbers and all that, but can’t from work because gmail is blocked. So i was going to just forward all the emails to work, but instead decided to forward them to plans@TripIt.com instead and see how well it worked.

Two for two!

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 04:02:02 +0000

So earlier i stated that the goal for this trip was to get back to WA with one win in the two games we went to this weekend in ‘sconsin. Well, we went 2 for 2 on that goal! The brewer game (aside from the frigging parking fiasco) was awesome too. We got to see (future NL MVP!) Prince Fielder hit home run #48 on the year (he hit #49 and #50 tonight!), we got to see (future NL Rookie of the year!) Ryan Braun hit a home run, got to see lots of run production, lots of offense, some great defense, and a sausage race! We also saw some of the funniest signs i’ve seen at a sporting event, with the clear winner being a couple rows behind us, with the “I (HEART) E-5” ryan braun sign! It was very handy when he had an error later, and a home run to avenge himself after that..

Fun at the airport...

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 04:35:09 +0000

Traveling to the midwest can be a pain sometimes. Being from the midwest, we know that, so we planned for it. We’d been checking the weather reports, and were worried because the minneapolis area was due for thunderstorms right around the time we were supposed to arrive, so we split our stuff across our bags and carried one on. That way, even if we got stuck in MSP we’d be able to drive to green bay in time to make the wedding we had to be at on saturday and have our dress clothes. Then while boarding, a flight attendant started coming back up the jetway telling us that there’s no room for bags unless they fit under the seat. And this isn’t planeside check she’s doing, this is full on checking of our bags, we’re not getting them back until our final destination. After all our planning, we were about to be undone at the last minute. But our flight is boarding on time, so we’re not too worried. once we all get seated, the captain comes on and says “Well, folks..”, and at this point i know it isn’t good news, “..it looks like they are having high winds in minneapolis, so we’re looking at right now an hour and a half delay. So we’re going to let everyone back off the plane.” Then the flight attendant starts announcing flights that people are going to miss their connections, “If you’re on flights to amsterdam, blah blah blah, bring all of your baggage, as we’ll be rerouting you. Everyone else, leave your stuff so you can board faster later”. So we all get off the plane.

As soon as we’re all out, they come back on: “Sorry everyone, we have a new departure time, so we need to reboard right now. Nobody will miss their connections, everyone back on!”… so we all reboard. And we push back from the gate, taxi to the runway, then move off to the side. I turn to laura and say “Uh oh, this isn’t good”, as i see other planes passing us and taking off. The captain comes back on “Well, looks like we’ve got a new delay, we’re gonna be here until 4:15.”. We were supposed to leave at 3:21, it was about 10 to 4 at this point already. At 4:15 he told us it would be another 15 minutes, and it was. We made up some time in the air, but still ended up landing about an hour late.

Got a sunburn at Lambeau!

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 04:07:45 +0000

For our “paper” anniversary this year, the wife and i bought each other tickets to sporting events. We had to be in WI this weekend for a wedding in Green Bay, so i bought the Packer tickets for today, Laura bought Brewer tickets for tomorrow. I told people at work that I’d be happy getting one win over the weekend. Well, check that off the list! It was a beautiful day in green bay, 80+ and sunny at noon for the game. Sunny all game, so I got a little sunburned on my arms and my neck. Was an awesome game, back and forth with a great finish. Nick Barnett FTW! Favre got career TDs 418, 419, and 420, tying Marino’s all time record. After Barnett returned the INT to inside the 1 and the win seemed imminent, half of the crowd was chanting “Pass! Pass!” so favre could get #421. The Lambeau crowd can have a short memory, apparently, as no more than 5 minutes earlier the packers were right there trailing by 4 points on 4th and goal at the 1 and and incomplete pass ended a promising drive with 0 points.

Hawaii Vacation!

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 06:05:54 +0000

Back from our trip to Waikiki, so i have a few pics up on flickr. More to come. All of the Hawaii pics are geotagged too, so you can see almost exactly where we took them.

The pic here is of Makapu’u lighthouse, on the east coast of Oahu.

X-mas travel PAIN.

Wed, 03 Jan 2007 08:02:05 +0000

What we learned this Christmas vacation about airline travel:

Never travel multiple airlines in a single trip (at least in the continental US where you can avoid it)
keep everything they give you. boarding passes, luggage info, etc. even if someone tells you that you don't need it anymore.
If someone from one Airline X tells you to "take this to a Airline Y counter", don't go anywhere. That person can call the other airline's counter/desk directly and do it over the phone.
The airline that caused you to be late / miss a flight is responsible for helping you. If your Airline X flight was late, causing you to miss a Airline Y flight, Airline Y can't do anything for you, they didn't do anything wrong (yet!).
Travel protection insurance during the winter for midwest travel is probably worth the $100 extra (or whatever it costs for your trip)

For more details about our xmas travel fiasco, follow the jump. Its a looooooong story.

Monday Night Football! (or Seattle+Snow+Traffic=NIGHTMARE)

Mon, 04 Dec 2006 03:01:03 +0000

It started out so well. A beautiful sunset on the ship canal bridge coming into Seattle. We were on our way to the Monday Night Football game between the Green Bay Packers and the Seattle Seahawks. Oh how decieving a pretty sunset can be! The game was awesome (even as a Packer fan!), but the ride home was….not so good. We were at the game for 4 hours, 5:30-9:30 pm. We were in the car for 3 hours and 36 minutes to get home. And its only 23 miles… For more pics and more story, follow the jump!

Mt. St. Helens!

Tue, 07 Sep 2004 03:45:45 +0000

Went to mount st. helens this weekend. Took a buncha pics. Too bad it was cloudy (the norm!), so there were no “spectacular” pics. There were quite a few good ones with sun rays, though. Here’s a panorama, though. this is at 8%, its 8 pics wide. The full image is 10444x1471!

When i get some more time i’ll post up some more, though.