Tag Archives: LAX

Reno, NV – Week 1

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Monday, February 13, 2012
Flight #1401
Depart LOS ANGELES INTL (LAX) at 07:10 AM
Arrive in RENO TAHOE NV (RNO) at 08:35 AM

Friday, February 17, 2012
Flight #1575
Depart RENO TAHOE NV (RNO) at 5:50 PM
Arrive in SAN JOSE CA (SJC) at 6:50 PM

Flight #2904
Change planes in SAN JOSE CA (SJC) at 7:45 PM
Arrive in LOS ANGELES INTL (LAX) at 8:55 PM

Week 1 in Reno, Nevada is just about in the books. I’m at Reno International Airport now awaiting my first of two flights on my way back to Los Angeles. Overall, there isn’t much to Reno other than the fact that gambling is allowed and it’s relatively close to Lake Tahoe. I was surprised to find out that Reno is almost 4,500′ above see level, right at the base of the Sierra Nevada’s.

We stayed at Harrah’s Hotel and Casino in downtown Reno. Last summer I had one of my best gambling experiences at the Harrah’s in Las Vegas. The Reno version didn’t disappoint. I decided to change things up this go-round, instead of hitting the black jack table I played Craps for the first time. My knowledge of Craps is pretty limited, but the “dealers” helped get me started. My bets were limited to the Pass and Come lines. My terminology is probably a bit off too, I’m sure the people are not called dealers. Starting with just $50, which I was willing to lose once they were exchanged for chips, I left the table an hour later with $110. At one point I rolled the dice for at least 10 minutes, winning money left and right. Half the time I wasn’t sure why they were giving me money, but I didn’t turn it away. It was pretty exciting.

As for the travel portion of the trip, I can really get used to being an A-List member with Southwest Airlines. The early morning flight on Monday turned out to be not so bad. I woke up just 2 hours before the departure time, left the house a half our later, and still made it through security with time to spare. Being an A-List member had no affect at the Reno airport as it’s pretty quiet here. I made it through security in less than 10 minutes after arriving at the airport and didn’t need to cut any lines.

The rental car of choice was a Jeep Liberty. I like being able to rent a car knowing where all the controls are. It was also nice to have access to four-wheel drive as we got some snow during the week. It got me thinking back to my Colorado days.

Week 2 in Reno begins on Monday morning. I’ll tempt fate by taking my winnings to the Craps table once again.

Southwest Flight #1028 and #854

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November 7, 2011
Flight #1028
Depart LOS ANGELES INTL (LAX) at 09:20 AM
Arrive in OAKLAND CA (OAK) at 10:35 AM

November 11, 2011
Flight #854
Depart OAKLAND CA (OAK) at 5:25 PM
Arrive in LOS ANGELES INTL (LAX) at 6:40 PM

If all goes according to plan (or as I hope) this past week will be the last time I fly until early January. That leaves a whole 7 weeks to enjoy waking up in the same bed every day. It’s hard to explain if you’ve never had to deal with extensive business or personal travel before, but it’s takes it’s toll on the mind/body.

There isn’t much about the airports and flights to discuss from this past week. Both LAX and OAK airports were relatively quiet, resulting in relatively quick dealings with baggage check and security. If you are an internet hound, Oakland is a good airport to fly out of as they have free wifi in the terminals. It’s a nice bonus if you have time to spare or your flight is delayed. The flights to and from Oakland were also quick, at just over an hour, resulting in a less tired feeling after the flight than after cross country flights.

As for Oakland, I’m not sure if it was just these past 2 weeks or normal everyday occurrences, but there seemed to be a lot of violence during the past 2 weeks. During the first week, on Wednesday, November 2, the Occupy Oakland movement caused the clients building to be locked down at around 2 PM. The violence didn’t occur until later that night and very early morning the following morning, but we still left the client prior to 2 PM. Then this past week, I believe it was on Wednesday again, my boss called as we were leaving downtown a little after 5 PM to notify us there was a shooting near the Occupy Oakland site, which was only about 4 blocks from the client’s building. From what I understand the shooting had nothing to do with the Occupy movement. Either way, we were already in the car on our way back to the hotel. There were no plans to hang around downtown Oakland for dinner, but we would have changed those plans if we did.

Here’s hoping this is the last travel post for the year.

Southwest Airlines #251 and #247

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October 31, 2011
Flight #251
Depart LOS ANGELES INTL (LAX) at 08:15 AM
Arrive in OAKLAND CA (OAK) at 09:30 AM

November 4, 2011
Flight #247
Depart OAKLAND CA (OAK) at 5:30 PM
Arrive in LOS ANGELES INTL (LAX) at 6:50 PM

Week 1 of 2 in Oakland has come and gone. Getting an update to the blog is a little tougher when the flight lasts less than an hour. Taking out the first 15 and last 15 minutes when electronics are not supposed to be used, there’s less than 30 minutes available during the flight to get anything done. As a result of that and a little nap I took on the plane, I missed the usual travel update on Monday, but am getting an early start today from the terminal here in Oakland.

I’ll start with an update from the first flight from LA to Oakland on Monday morning. Expecting the usual hectic Monday morning at Terminal 1, I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of any lines. I was in the terminal and through security within 15 minutes. The whole process, along with such a short flight, made for a relatively productive day.

It felt somewhat surreal this week in Oakland. So many of my trips require long flights and crossing time zones. There was none of that this week. No adjusting sleep times to get on track and, best of all, no problems sleeping. It was a pleasure and makes the thought of next week’s travel less mentally draining.

Oakland airport today was very much like my experience on Monday morning. The line to check bags and security were short, to the point I got to the gate with over an hour and a half time to putz around.

Overall, it’s been a pleasant week. Assuming the flight home is on time and smooth, this might be the first trip in a relatively long time with no hiccups. No complaints… and let’s hope I didn’t just speak too soon. Hope everyone has an enjoyable weekend. :-)

Continental Airlines 1281

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Depart CLE @ 4:45 EDT
Arrive LAX @ 6:48 PM EDT

It’s been a long couple of weeks in Canton, OH. The weather was cold and often rainy, but am finally on my way back home to the sun and beach of California.

Construction around the airport, specifically the roads to drop off the rental car, were backed up. This caused a bit of a delay in getting to the airport. Also, the security line was quite hectic, or, as my coworker noted, intense. We didn’t actually get to the gate until it was time to board the plane. Overall, the Cleveland airport could use a redesign. Everything was cramped and out of place. There was something brought up by the commish in the fantasy football league which I had to deal with today, the bathroom stalls. Why do they make the doors swing inward on bathroom stalls? It was quite an adventure attempting to get my luggage into the stall in order to get changed Into some more comfortable clothes for the flight. The worst part was when I walked out of the bathroom and my coworker was standing there having already changed. He used the family changing room just outside the men’s room to get changed… and said there was plenty of room to maneuver. I might have to take note of that option for future reference.

I’m now about 2.5 hours into the flight, which is just about the half way point of the flight. The seats on this flight seem to have more width to them, making it a bit more comfortable then the flight to Cleveland, but my but is getting numb nonetheless. The seats also have individual TV’s, so I paid the $8 to have a wide variety of shows available. This means I’m going to have to watch X-Men: First Class, the movie I rented on iTunes, some other time during the next couple of weeks.

The rental car picked at National this week was a Dodge Avenger. The controls were familiar, that might have something to do with Dodge having the same parent company as Jeep. Overall though, the car seemed cheaply built. I can’t pinpoint why it felt that way, but it just did.

The hotel was a Fairfield Inn by Marriott. I usually prefer to stay at a hotel with a kitchen when traveling for multiple weeks at a time, something the Fairfield did not have. As a result dinner was at local watering holes the whole stay. Other than that, the rooms were nice and clean, so no complaints. Ok, back to the TV, hope everyone enjoys the weekend.

Continental Airlines 1291

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Depart LAX @ 10:30 AM PDT
Arrive CLE @ 5:59 PM EDT

At some point in the future I’m going to research previous travel experiences with airports and airlines to see what’s working and what’s not. Way back in May I travelled with Continental and, although I may have enjoyed the in flight entertainment, the seats did not provide much space between the armrests. If not for the empty middle seat right now, I would be going through that same feeling on my current flight. In a mild surprise though, the check-in and baggage check lines were short. The security line was nonexistent at about 8:45 this morning, to the point I wasn’t even ready with my license and boarding pass.

We’re now going through what the stewardess termed as “moderate to severe turbulence.” Typing is very difficult, going to take a small respite from typing this post. Still a good amount of turbulence about 20 minutes later. Turbulence has finally subsided after about 30 minutes. That was pretty rough. Anyway, back to the business at hand.

Although I’m flying to Cleveland, my final destination is Canton, OH, about 60 miles south of Cleveland. On the way to Canton I should pass through the small city of Akron, known for being the hometown of Lebron “I’m taking my talents (quitting) to South Beach” James. I wouldn’t be surprised if, deep down, he hopes there’s no basketball this season. Anyway, having the option to either fly on Sunday, return on Friday night, then fly back on Sunday, I decided to cut down on the travel and stay next weekend. This will also allow me to check out the Football Hall of Fame on Saturday, which is only open during normal business hours during the week. Outside of the Hall of Fame and some work, not really sure what is in the cards for next weekend. Maybe a lot of rest.

I’m renting a car through National Car Rental and will be staying at a Fairfield Inn by Marriott these next 2 weeks. I’m trying, as much as reasonably possible, to pick up travel points with the same airline, car rental, and hotel chain. However, I’m having trouble finding an airline that meets my needs, but may stick to United/Continental and Southwest as the go-to airlines until future reference. United/Continental will be for longer direct flights, if available, and Southwest for shorter flights. Other than that, we’ll have to see.

Southwest 689

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Depart Denver (DEN) at 03:15 PM
Arrive in Los Angeles (LAX) at 04:40 PM

It’s becoming a common occurrence that I’m on the same flight multiple weeks in a row. Not much to discuss about the airport or security this go round, everything was smooth. Sometimes I surprise even myself at how calm I am dealing with the many aspects of airports, when it seems everyone around me is all stressed out. What I wasn’t prepared for on this trip was the person sitting next to me in the middle seat. I’m hoping he doesn’t look over to my side long enough to be able to read this, but there is a bad stench emanating from his body. Is it that hard to take a shower and put on deodorant before going into a place where you’re going to be packed like a sardine?! Don’t get me wrong, what people do on their own time is their own business. If you’re a hermit and only get out of the home for emergencies, then don’t ever take a shower for all I care. But if you’re going out in public and plan on going into a confined space, do the rest of us a favor, take a shower and put deodorant on, maybe even splash some aftershave if you have known stench issues. I can’t tell you how happy I was when the stewardess passed out the little peanut bags so I could open one up and have the aroma of peanuts take over, even if just for a small period of time.

For a brief summary of the SpringHill Suites by Marriott check out the travel post from last Friday. There’s nothing new to report on that subject.

The rental car of choice this week was a Jeep Patriot. For those of you that are not familiar with National, they have rows of cars based on your club level. I’m in the Emerald Club level. It’s the lowest level, so don’t let the name fool you. All you have to do is pick a car from the row and drive off, stopping to show them your license on the way out. When I arrived at the National Emerald Club row of cars there was a Ford Flex available. I’ve had my eye on this car ever since last summer when I was in the market for a new car. I was thinking this would be a great opportunity to see what I’m missing. But apparently I wasn’t the only one with my eye on it. An old lady made a bee line for the Flex that I’m sure I couldn’t have stopped with two good knees. So with the Flex no longer an option I went with the Patriot. Overall, I wasn’t impressed. I thought the Patriot was supposed to be the smaller and smoother SUV made for the masses by Jeep. It was a loud and rough ride. Not sure if it was anomaly or the usual ride, but my Wrangler rides smoother than the Patriot did, and that’s saying a lot.

My next trip and subsequent travel post will be on October 10th when I will travel to a city known for being the home of the National Football League Hall of Fame. First one to guess where will win… nothing.

Hope everyone has a good weekend.

Southwest 605

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Depart Los Angeles (LAX) at 08:30 AM
Arrive in Denver (DEN) at 11:45 AM

Another trip to Denver this week. This doesn’t happen often, but after the alarm went off this morning I mumbled a few curse words for having to get up to travel again. That’s not a good sign. I’m hoping this week goes fast as I can use a break from traveling. I’m also hoping to catch up with a few friends this time around, something I didn’t do last week.

For the amount of times I take United Taxi to get to the airport, it got me to wondering if taxi companies ever thought of having a rewards program. Maybe there are some out there that do, who knows. Either way I think my rewards points would be overflowing with free rides.

Nothing new at LAX Terminal 1 today. The check-in / baggage check line was light and the security line was a little better than the usual Monday morning madness. I arrived at the airport about 1:45 before departure time, was through security and at the gate about 25 minutes later.

That’s all I’ve got for this flight. Next travel update is scheduled for Friday afternoon.

Southwest 689

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Depart Denver (DEN) at 03:15 PM
Arrive in Los Angeles (LAX) at 04:40 PM

The past couple of weeks the idea of moving back to Colorado has been making the rounds in my thoughts. Don’t get me wrong, my happy quotient (read: my ever increasing gut) says California has been a very fun place to live. I take part in the work hard, play hard concept here more then ever before. When I lived in Colorado, work got done, but there always seemed to be more than enough time to stop and smell the roses during off hours. That doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. Days seem to melt together, when the week is over I don’t remember where it all went. That may just be a function of getting older too, I don’t know. But moving back to Colorado is definitely an option that is open during the next few years, if only to get back to exercising more.

Denver International (DIA) is one of my favorite airports. The check-in / baggage check and security lines were very reasonable. The longest part of getting to the gate was the train to Terminal C. It’s the only reason to give yourself extra time at the airport. And the food options are plentiful. I’m pretty sure these same comments were made back in March after my last trip to Denver.

The hotel, SpringHill Suites (Marriott) Denver North/Westminster, seemed relatively new and was clean. There was a good connection to the wireless internet in the room. The connection was fast enough to do what I wanted and, best of all, it didn’t require an extra fee on top of the room fee. There was a good selection of places to eat around the hotel, including a Buffalo Wild Wings, Hacienda Colorado, Panera, and Qdoba. There was even a Dave and Busters about a half mile away. The only issue might have been the lack of people around. I’m not sure if the economy has hit that part of town hard or if the development of housing is in its infancy and things just haven’t picked up yet. Or, It might be a combination of both.

The rental car of choice this week was a Ford Fusion from National. I’ve heard and read some good things about Ford during the past year or two, so I thought it was worth taking it for a test drive. My biggest surprise was it’s ability to get up the mountains hills with relative ease on the way to Keystone last weekend. If I were in the market for a smaller car, I’d give it a serious look next to one of my favorites, the Honda Civic. Alas, I’ve only owned the Jeep Wrangler Unlimited for a little over a year now, so there will be no car shopping in the near future.

Let’s do this again sometime, maybe next week on the back end of this two week trip to/from Denver.

Southwest Flight 154

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Depart Los Angeles (LAX) at 10:55 AM
Arrive in Denver (DEN) at 02:10 PM

Having too much too drink the night before a flight makes for a rough morning. Luckily, flying Southwest out of LAX on a Saturday morning is quite different then a Monday morning, making things a lot less stressful. The area outside of the terminal was not overflowing with cars dropping off travelers, the baggage check line was short, and the security line didn’t even flow off the second level. The best part though is the flight is not full and, as a result, I have free access to spread my legs a little bit into the unmanned middle seat.

This trip to Colorado has multiple purposes, work and play. Today I’m going to check-in at Dakota Lodge at Keystone Resort, where my condo has been stranded without me for over 2 years. I may have to do some research to figure out the last time I stayed there. I’ll add that info later. I’m hoping to relax tonight after I arrive, then get some outdoor time on the mountain tomorrow before stopping to enjoy Sunday night football (featuring the NY Jets). I’m thinking the outdoor time tomorrow will be in the form of a hike, but we’ll see, maybe I’ll rent a bike or get a round of golf in. All options are open for discussion after I wake up and get some coffee at Starbucks. However, the discussion will be one sided as only I’ll be the only one involved in the discussion.

The remaining part of the trip starting Monday morning will be spent working in Broomfield, CO. This is the first of 2 consecutive trips to Colorado, with the second trip occurring next week. Rumor has it I might find myself here again in January. Ah, the life and time of a business traveller, finding time to fit in a pseudo get-a-way in between trips.

Hope everyone has an enjoyable weekend.

UPDATE: Turns out I was close, the last time I made it to Keystone was August 2009.

Southwest 1596

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Depart SACRAMENTO CA (SMF) at 5:40 PM
Arrive in LOS ANGELES INTL (LAX) at 7:00 PM

I get confused with all the different rules that apply to flying. Sometimes I don’t think the airlines know what the actual rules are. A few months back I was able to board an earlier flight with Southwest to return home, no questions asked at the gate, only to find out my luggage didn’t join me on the flight. Earlier today I arrived at the airport about 4 hrs. before the scheduled departure time. Since I packed a smaller carry-on bag, I figured I’d try to get on the 2:45 PM flight back to Los Angeles. When I arrived at the gate the attendant noted I’d have to pay an upgrade fee to go standby. The reason being the flight was purchased using the Wanna Get Away price, the most discounted fare. This happens to be the same fare I always buy. So what was the real difference between the flight last month and the flight today? So now I’m waiting to board the original scheduled flight at 5:40.

The rental car this week was through National again, with a little upgrade. There was a Jeep Liberty available in the Emerald Club section, so I figured why not give a current version of a car I used to own a try. Other than a rattle on the left side of the steering wheel due to something being loose, it was a nice ride. Still like the Liberty, but definitely prefer the Wrangler Unlimited waiting for me at home.

This week really was a duplicate from last week, same airline and flight times, same car rental agency, and same hotel. There is one comment about the Fairfield Inn that I didn’t write about last week. I’m not sure why hotels do this, but they frequently advertise having widescreen TV’s in the rooms. What they conveniently leave out is there is no HD connection attached to the tv, so you wind up watching people that look awkwardly wide on the screen, due to stretching the picture to use the full screen. Not all hotels do this, but I have noticed it a lot. You would think in a place that looks relatively new the HD connection would have been set up right from the start. It’s not a big complaint, just something I’ve noticed.

It just about time to start heading to the gate. Hope everyone has an enjoyable weekend! And to those of you on the east coast, stay safe.