At the Airport: To Lounge or Not

 

We’ve visited airport lounges frequently over the past couple of decades of post-retirement flying.

Once we started flying regularly with United Airlines in the early 2000s, we bought a membership in what was then known as the Red Carpet Club, later imaginatively renamed the United Club. We were mainly flying out of Seattle, and often connecting to smaller airports with a change of plane along the way. It was not that uncommon for us to visit up to three lounges in one day of flying, and we made good use of our membership.

But what enticed us to pay? The single most useful feature for us was free internet connectivity. We had no smartphones, and ordinarily carried a small laptop for communication. Few if any airports provided free internet, so the lounge became the place where we could catch up on email and check flight status.

The second enticement was having a quiet place to sit. United Clubs offered little or no food and charged for alcohol. As United started to offer one-day lounge passes and their lounges became more crowded, that feature was less compelling. On top of that, some airports (but certainly not all) have undergone remodeling that, along with free internet, makes their gates more attractive places to hang out before a flight.

The third feature of United Clubs is the ability of employees, sometimes referred to as concierges, who can help with everything from seats to missed connections to possible upgrades. Alaska lounge employees are not allowed to provide the same level of assistance (it’s apparently a contractual matter), so if there’s a problem we still have to contact a telephone agent or the service desk within the airport.  

Our status levels, first on United and Star Alliance, and later on Alaska and OneWorld, afford us lounge access  for international itineraries, allowing us to enjoy a drink, to eat “real” food, or sometimes to dine restaurant-style on high-quality cuisine, and even to take a shower, a welcome treat between long flights.

“Free” access is of course a no-brainer, but whether it's worth paying the ever-increasing membership fees  is very much an individual decision. We paid for an Alaska Lounge membership for one year, and didn’t really feel we got our money’s worth out of it.

For the past couple of years, Alaska has allowed members who annually fly 100,000 miles (MVP Gold 100Ks) to choose a Lounge Plus membership from a list of options as a reward and we’ve done that. That gives us admittance to Alaska Lounges, and the “+” adds entry to American Airlines lounges when we’re flying either airline.

Alaska maintains three quite pleasant lounges at SEA, and the first thing that comes to mind about them is the ability to order a barista-made double-shot Cappuccino. That spoils us for coffee almost anywhere else. SEA in particular has been experiencing long security delays, and even with TSA PreCheck we plan to arrive at the airport well in advance of departure. A lounge is, at best, a kind of refuge, from SEA's ongoing and protracted "enhancements."

All of this came to mind when we read a recent article in Fodor’s Travel, Airline Lounges Are a Crowded Waste of Time. It’s hard to disagree with anything written there.

We’re leaving in a couple of days for our 19^th trip to Australia, 17 of which have been largely for the purpose of attending the FlyerTalk Oz Fest, a get-together or “Do” organized by local volunteer FT members for fellow frequent flyers. Many Australians have told us we've seen more of their large country than they have.

We’ll see what lounges we visit along the way.

 

Recalling a Peruvian ‘Peak Experience’ at Machu Picchu

Facebook reminded us it was April, 2016, almost exactly nine years ago, that we visited Machu Picchu, an amazing trip despite some mishaps along the way.

Machu Picchu itself, the “Lost City of the Incas,” was probably built for the royalty of the Inca empire. It dates from the 1400s to 1500s, and was overgrown by jungle until being rediscovered in the early 20^th century.

Brian first read about it in one of his favorite childhood books, Richard Halliburton’s Complete Book of Marvels, in a chapter the travel adventurer, author, and lecturer aptly titled “The Angel Architects.”

We were all set to visit there, until Kathy suffered a torn knee meniscus, which was misdiagnosed as a strained ligament in the hospital ER. 

Fitted with a leg brace and a cane, she gamely decided to make the trip three days later.

The wheelchair attendant in the Lima Airport managed to run Kathy’s leg, extended due to a brace, into the wall of the elevator, but she fortunately suffered no additional damage. We’d decided to spend a couple of days in Lima to get acclimated to the high altitude, not noticing when booking that Lima is an oceanfront city. It was a hilarious and just plain dumb mistake for “world travelers” to make. On the other hand, we really liked Lima, and have returned there twice in recent years.

From Lima we flew to Cuzco, a fascinating city of about 400,000, with an elevation of 11,200 feet. That’s where you acclimate! It was also in our hotel’s breakfast room that completely by chance we ran into Fiona and Russell, two Australian friends and their family, just returned from hiking the ambitious trail that affords an alternative way to reach Machu Picchu, one of several "small world" surprises we've experienced. 

After a one-day tour of the area with a friendly guide (albeit it with too many ups and downs for Kathy), we set off with a private driver for the two-hour drive from Cuzco to the Peru Rail train station at Ollantaytambo.  Disaster struck. We couldn’t find our passports and asked the driver to return us to the hotel.  The hotel couldn’t find our passports, and as we sat forlornly in the lobby Brian discovered them hidden away in a different location in his shoulder bag. (After our recent bag theft on a French train, Brian will carry his passport in one of those neck bags). We then hired the helpful driver to convey us to the train again. 

As we arrived at the train station, night was falling, but we were glad to finally be off. Peru Rail wouldn’t honor our first class tickets for our original train but demanded we buy new tickets for the next train. That’s the way it goes. 

A hotel employee was waiting for us at the train station in the little town of Aguas Calientes (we had called and told them we’d be delayed), and we finally could rest our weary heads after walking with him in a light rain for a couple of blocks. 

The following morning we took a bus up the switchbacks to the entrance to Machu Picchu, not knowing how far we could get with Kathy’s extremely sore leg. We hoped we could at least catch a glimpse of it.

Gilberto, a guide who used a cane himself, approached and said he could take us on easier paths and shortcuts to view the ruins. He accomplished that splendidly. 

Machu Picchu itself is 7,900 feet in elevation at the base, only about a thousand feet higher than Kathy’s home town of Durango, Colorado. Moving at our slow pace, we experienced no elevation sickness, nor even shortness of breath.

It was a rare sunny day, and after our mainly self-inflicted difficulties, it proved to be a peak experience, so to speak. 

We’ll let the photos speak for themselves. Search our blog in April 2016 for more posts with information about our trip.  

Note Kathy’s leg brace and cane. Aren’t we the decrepit couple!

Gilberto was a champion guide.

Llama lawnmowers…

A river far below…

Great memories!

Lunch in Canada at Banh Mi Très Bon

It was a good day to turn the task of mailing a letter to Canada into an international excursion. 

We could have mailed the letter from the U.S., but the international address can slow delivery down by as much as three weeks. Besides, we had no other plans, so we headed up through the Peace Arch border crossing that's about a 15-minute drive from our house. 

Kathy had applied online for a replacement NEXUS card from France after her purse was stolen on a train there (that story is a few posts back). Lo and behold, the new card was in the mail when we arrived home, and we proffered it without any problems.

Canada Post has a marvelous arrangement of full-service post offices within retail outlets like London Drugs and Shoppers Drug Mart, two major Canadian chains.

The closest one we can find is not much more than a 10-minute drive from the border in lovely White Rock, British Columbia. We'd checked out a couple of eateries with good Yelp reviews for a light lunch, and discovered that one of them, Bánh Mì Très Bon, is almost next door to the drug store / post office where we dropped off our letter. It was definitely going to be a Vietnamese lunch.

The restaurant is quite new and modern, located next to a plaza featuring a sculpture, The Meeting, by a Chinese sculptor. 

The property owners said in a 2021 press release, "Open to various interpretations, one wonders if they are in deep diplomatic negotiations, quietly medidating or simply enjoying a conversation amongst friends."

Inscrutable they appear as they crouch in that characteristic pose one sees throughout Asia.

Here's one of them up close.

Inside the restaurant is comfortable, light and airy, with whimsical touches like this boat-shaped napkin holder on the table.

We shared an appetizer serving of Signature Mini Shrimp Spring Rolls to start.

They were okay, but to be honest not all that exciting. We hit the jackpot with our main dishes though. Kathy chose the Spicy Beef Pho with a chicken Mini Banh Mi on the side.

The Pho was chock full of deliciousness.

Brian selected the Banh Mi Trio with three Mini Buns with various fillings. They were excellent and filling. Some light lunch!

The total bill for lunch was CAD $45.15, or a reasonable USD $38 for a tasty and filling dining experience. We will have to find an excuse to mail another letter up there soon. Maybe we don't even need an excuse!

The drive back revealed one of those rare occasions in which the NEXUS lane was slower than the regular lanes, three of which were open. We ended up waiting about 10 minutes which still isn't bad, and had time to admire the Peach Arch Monument itself from our southbound lanes.

Retirees often have the time and opportunity to turn a task, whether getting the oil changed, buying a shirt, or mailing a letter, into a pleasant little adventure, and this excursion provides a good example.

https://www.banhmitresbon.ca/

Yet Again! 'European Visa Waiver for Americans Delayed Until 2026'

 Give them a break! They've only been working on it since 2016.

ETIAS: European Visa Waiver for Americans Delayed Until 2026

USA Today

About Our Relaxing Trip Home? We’re Glad You Asked

The travel gods strike again.

No, it was nothing drastic. On our outbound quick trip to France, we flew from Seattle to Toronto to Dublin to Paris (SEA-YYZ-DUB-CDG) in one fell swoop. We’d been looking forward to a leisurely return trip, following the same routing but with hotel stops to break up the trip in Toronto and Seattle. We managed the trip but parts of it were not exactly leisurely.

Our Friday started at a civilized hour. We walked from the very pleasant Courtyard by Marriott to the CDG terminal in less than 10 minutes. We immediately encountered a problem at the Aer Lingus check-in counter. They were still checking in the previous flight and a rep told us to return later, vaguely pointing us toward a kiosk. 

We tried the kiosk without success and eventually got the attention of a wandering employee (perhaps a supervisor) who directed us back to the counter. This time we received boarding passes. 

This gave us a theoretical head start to the queue lining up to use the automatic exit immigration gates, a setup which we realized immediately was horrendous. We only learned later that there was some kind of technology meltdown that day. Two hours later we agreed with each other that we hope never to visit CDG again.

Employees in red vests were monitoring the queue, opening and closing lanes, with any pretense of first-come-first-served abandoned. We moved significantly ahead of people in the line next to us but significantly slower than some in other lines. It was obvious that people would be missing flights this morning.

After an eternity we made it through immigration, with the next stop being security. The line we were sent to us was short, but the setup looked exactly the same as the newest arrangement at London Heathrow.That's bad news for us. 

The first annoyance was that the screeners demanded Brian remove his cloth and plastic suspenders. Brian is incapable of attaching his suspenders to his pants with the pants on. Luckily Kathy was nearby to help him re-attach them.

A high percentage of bags get diverted for secondary inspection, including both of our shoulder bags. Two employees slowly pull bags off the rollers and screen them. Kathy’s bag was cleared after about 10 minutes, but other bags seemed to take precedent over Brian’s bag. 

After another 10 minutes of waiting it was time to play the Ugly American card. We both started to complain. Eventually, one of the employees got around to it and found nothing suspicious.

By this time, we only had time to buy wimpy Cappuccinos at a McDonald’s, our ironic final food purchase in France this trip, before reporting to the gate for boarding.

A large school group was ushered past us to board the flight, and almost immediately a rumor started to circulate that our gate had changed. Before long, passengers  and gate employees were trudging literally from one end of the terminal to the other, a distance we estimated to be close to half a mile.

We eventually boarded, and the pilot apologized, telling us that they’d landed an hour earlier and informing us for the first time that CDG was experiencing computer problems. 

At the lead flight attendant’s suggestion, Brian managed to reach an Aer Lingus “customer care” rep by phone, because it was obvious we were going to misconnect at Dublin. It took her a long time to understand our dilemma, asking several minutes into the conversation “Are you on the plane now?” She eventually offered to route us to Toronto via Chicago for an additional 600 Euros each, and we declined. 

When the lead flight attendant (she’d suggested we call) found this out, she was indignant on our behalf and said she would let our pilot know. Whether he had anything to do with it, when we arrived at the Aer Lingus transfer counter after the one-hour flight, they had new boarding passes awaiting us, business class to Philadelphia, and a small American Airlines Embraer (EMB 145) onward to YYZ. We were going to make our prepaid Toronto hotel and next-morning Alaska flight to SEA (on a separate itinerary) after all!

We had ample time to relax in a decent lounge located in the U.S. pre-clearance area (yes, we quickly cleared US Immigration).

Brian dined on board and added a cheese course instead of dessert. Kathy wisely chose to sleep. 

We landed at PHL, changed terminals, and spent awhile in an American Airlines Admirals Club Lounge before boarding our AA EMB145 for the short flight to YYZ.

We arrived at the Toronto Airport Hilton more than seven hours later than planned, but in time to get a decent night’s sleep, if not to fully appreciate our suite upgrade.  

We’ve subsequently applied for $600 reimbursement each under EU’s regulations. If we receive it, fine. If not, that’s fine too. 

The following day our late checkout let us relax before returning to the terminal  for our nonstop YYZ-SEA flight on Alaska. We were in first class for that flight and quite enjoyed it, other than 40 minutes or more of some of the bumpiest flying (pilots call it “moderate chop”) we’ve ever experienced. Although we spilled a little wine, we’d already finished our maple chicken so it didn't hit the ceiling.

A few hours later, the Cascade Mountains marked our arrival at SEA.

Having departed CDG Friday morning, we arrived at the SEA Hilton Garden Inn Saturday evening, only to learn that their computers were down, and we couldn’t check in. Ah, the symmetry of technology failures at both ends of our trip…

After nursing a beer at their bar, with no progress other than “the manager is on his way,” we bailed out about 45 minutes after arriving, walked literally around the corner  to the Doubletree (it helps to know the geography), and checked in. 

Sunday morning we found room on the 11:20 flight to Bellingham, and took advantage of our ability to make a same-day change for free. 

Kathy ended up in first, and Brian in Row 14, but we had the same foggy and drizzly view of the fields below as we circled around to land at BLI.

As dismal as it looked, it still looked like home.

A Tasty Three Days in Tours, France

We disembarked from the train, complete with our bags, at Saint-Pierre-des-Corps, and splurged on an Uber to the Tours Hilton Garden Inn, a newish property close to the Loire River, a 5-10 minute walk from Vieux Tours, the Old City.

The hotel itself was completely satisfactory for our three-night stay, especially after we prevailed on them to turn down the temperature slightly in our room.

It was too early in the season to sign up for a tour - palaces and wineries are featured destinations - but we managed nicely on our own.

The history of Tours is long and rich. Tours has been the capital of France once or twice and Joan of Arc supposedly had a suit of armor made here around 1500. As for us, we enjoyed just wandering around the old city and gawking at the half-timbered buildings.

A part of Place Plumereau, the large square where every evening people by the hundreds flock to outdoor restaurants to socialize…

One afternoon we crossed the street from our hotel and spent a pleasant hour strolling along the Loire River in the beautiful weather we encountered throughout our stay.

As to dining, we did fine. We enjoyed a first night’s dinner of tapas and wine at Chez Madie. The employees here and in every other restaurant were friendly and helpful, with a command of English fortunately superior to Brian’s French.

Their whimsical version of a Croque-Monsieur…

The bread in France is always marvelous.

Our second dinner was at La Deuvaliere, considered worth a mention, if not a star, in the Guide Michelin. The meal was terrific, starting with an amuse-bouche and a glass of sparkling Vouvray, the well-regarded Crémant or Bulles of the Loire Valley that some French prefer to Champagne.

We shared a large portion of foie gras.

At work in the kitchen…

Chicken for Kathy and cod for Brian…

We’d ordered a three-course meal and managed to find room for desserts, Kathy’s featuring mango and Brian’s Ganache…

Look what’s hidden under the chocolate wafer.

Yesterday we skipped the mediocre hotel breakfast (after all, breakfast here is le petit dejeuner or “little lunch”) and enjoyed dejeuner at The Old Mulberry Tree, a pub sort of place.

A lovely view of Place Plumereau from our table…

Kathy started with a mushroom velouté.

Brian’s choice was a salmon terrine.

Kathy’s “hamburger” consisted of chicken breast filet, goat cheese, and blueberry jam, a combination new to us.

Brian’s Chicken Cordon Bleu was equally unique.

Fun to try and plenty of food but not particularly memorable.

We unashamedly napped after lunch and enjoyed a light and late dinner at La Triptique, a tiny eatery with friendly employees, lovely Loire Cabernet Franc, and a shared platter of locally sourced rillettes, terrines, pork belly, and cheeses - delicious!

Their menu features QR codes with links to four different languages, including English, saving paper and confusion.

We never tire of the baguettes.

Or the wine…

Today, alas, we pack our rollaboards and wend our way by train to CDG, where we’re saying at the Courtyard by Marriott.

We’ll be holding our shoulder bags on our laps or squeezing them under our feet.

If you wonder why, you haven’t read our previous blog post.