YUL: Lost Luggage

Not my luggage at least...

Can you see the suitcase on the apron down there? Just fell off an Air Canada luggage cart train driving past the A gates here in Montreal. It actually laid there for quite a while, and was driven past by several AC vehicles before an ADM (the airport authority) van came and fixed it.

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YQB: Running Out Of Ti-

This was a short visit to Quebec City and it was fraught with running out of time.

The whole point of coming was to give a presentation. Well, the presentation was given yesterday as scheduled, but a large and important part of the expected audience was not there. They were still in another meeting that went long.

So we were asked to redo the presentation this morning, although I ended up being the only one of our 4-person team who was still here this morning. But meetings being meetings, this morning's meeting never got far enough along to reach our agenda item by the time I had to leave for the airport. So again, ran out of time.

Worse, because there was so much waiting around, I (along with Mr. Vice-Chair) only had a short walk around the city, and even then just close to the hotel. So I didn't get to see much of Quebec City during my first ever visit. My biggest regret is that I didn't get to see the Plains of Abraham, the one thing I actually wanted to see (thanks to Mr. Saunders and the Canadian War Museum for actually making that part of Canadian history interesting).

I shall return.
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YQB: Giant Wine for Dinner

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YOW: Aerial View

This is Ottawa from above. In the centre of the foreground is Parliament Hill. Downtown is to the right and the ByWard Market to the left. The Rideau Canal can also be seen in the photo as it comes through the city and connects at the locks with the Ottawa River.

A nice combination of the right flight path, the right altitude and the right sunlight. Would have looked nicer without the snow, but beggars can't be choosers.

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IAD/BWI: Nissan Rogue

Rented a Nissan Rogue this week. Meh.

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IAD: Idiot On Board

With reference to the parenthetic portion of the Jon Favreau post of earlier this morning, please disregard the advice. It turns out that I am indeed an idiot.

As you can see here, there is a Red Carpet Club in the D concourse. It's adjacent to Gate D8, the sign for which you may be able to see. The reason I noticed it beside D8 this time is because my flight is departing from D8.

So yes, that was a lot of unnecessary walking. My apologies the MWAA and/or United for giving out bad advice to your passengers.

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IAD: Possible Brush with Fame?

Would Jon Favreau fly commercial? If he did, would he have cause to fly to (actually from) Washington? If he did, would he fly United? If he did, would he be in the Red Carpet Club?

If you answered yes to all of these questions, and if you know who Jon Favreau is, maybe this is him. On the left.

(Note to flyers... If flying from D gates, take the shuttle to the C gates, as it is much closer to the RCC. Unless I'm an idiot and there is a RCC in the D gates too.)

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DCA: Washington Monument

As close as I could get in daylight. Need to come back sometime.

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BWI/IAD: HMSHost Megaplex

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YOW: Michael Moore's Younger Brother

For upwards of 30 seconds, I wrestled with myself as to whether or not I should post this pic. Not that a lot of people actually read this blog, but some who do read it live in Ottawa, and there's always a chance they'll recognize this guy and tell him what has been blogged about him. Or worse, they'll identify me and this guy will really take issue with my likening his likeness to Michael Moore. To that I say yes, I'm moderately concerned. But come on, he really does kinda look like Michael Moore doesn't he? Just younger, less dishevelled, and certainly less annoying. So if you read this, Mr. Moore's doppelganger, please just take it as an observation, not an insult.
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EWR: En Route Home

Good news: I'm going home tonight.

Bad news: last week when departing EWR for ARN/KUL, we were number 16 for departure. Tonight, this flight is number 27. Won't be in YOW til 1 AM or so. That's about 32 hours since waking up in KL. Should I have just waited until morning? Meh.

It's been a long day (all Thursday so far) eventually covering thousands of air miles, 4 cities in 4 countries, 3 customs/immigration checks, 4 airport security checks, a taxi ride, 2 train rides, 6 escalator trips, and a self drive home.
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ARN: First Class Passengers, Second Class Treatment

Here's a new one... As with the journey from Newark to KL, we have had to disembark in Stockholm. However, this is the first time I've ever witnessed the boarding process disallowing business class passengers until the very end. They started with children and people needing assistance, which is normal. Usually, the next step is back of the plane (which they did) and business class passengers at their leisure, which they did not do. So one of my fine colleagues assumed they just overlooked it and decided to board. Denied. Ouch. And so it went... Rows 48 and higher. Rows 31 and higher. All economy passengers. Then waiting... waiting... waiting... Business class passengers getting annoyed, but remaining good-humoured... Finally allowing us to board. Weird.
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KUL: A Few Unrelated Observations

It was five days in KL. The heat and humidity have been well documented. Forgotten in that is the lack of wind. It has been consistently calm every day. Flags at hotels hang limply; trees are motionless. Of course, this exacerbates the impact of the heat and humidity. I'm sure there must be times when it gets windy, but not this week. It did rain however. Every day at about the same time late in the afternoon, there would be a pretty heavy downpour. Sometimes with some intense thunder and lightning. There was almost no distinction in weather patterns for any of the days I was in KL.

Service is important here too. They have lots of staff everywhere. The hotel has people everywhere who are anxious to help. (I endorse the Traders Hotel... it's good. I also commend Stefan who worked this week in the Traders Lounge.) The KL Convention Centre had people all over the place. At any event where finger food was being served by staff there were always more than enough people... Sometimes they'd be bumping into one another, sometimes just standing waiting for someone to want something. The worst/best of all were the event organizers for the conference. In case you couldn't figure out how to get from one part of the convention centre to another, they would post staff every 3 feet or so to tell you that you were heading in the right direction.

I've been in a lot of big cities in a lot of countries. Although KL is a modern city with very ambitious aspirations, it does not exude a feeling of safeness. Maybe I'm biased because I'm aware of a couple of incidents this week where people attending our event were robbed and an alleged shootout near our hotel, but I felt uneasy at times. In a place like New York, tourist areas are crawling with police. In KL I saw far more private security personnel than police.

Overall, I was impressed with KL's infrastructure for a city its size (it's apparently not that big... not as big as I thought anyway). I was impressed with the friendliness and helpfulness of most of the locals, and their language skills -- everyone speaks English. And I like the way that the Petronas Towers seem to be transparent when they are lit up at night.

I'm glad I had the chance to get there and I'd like to visit again sometime, but the heat and humidity might mean I'm not in a big hurry to go back right away.
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KUL: Jalan Petaling

Jalan Petaling is in KL's Chinatown. Lots of good bargains here on items that have high end brand names on them. Of course, the fun is in the negotiations. I feel like I got a good deal, but who really knows?

Apparently, business really picks up at night. I doubt we'll get back tonight, but we'll see.

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KUL: National Palace

Stop number 10 on the Hop On Hop Off tour. Interesting fact: Malaysia's monarchy is not hereditary. It is elected.

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KUL: Correction

The KL Tower was previously mis-identified. This pic (in the background) shows the real one. It's kinda like the CN Tower junior.
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KUL: The Sweatiest City in the World

Great gala event, including a big award win by Hamilton Airport, but whose idea was it to hold it outside? This is my guess at how the event planning committee meeting went:

"OK, so where should we have the gala?"
"How bout the Mandarin Oriental?"
"Nah, that's boring. We need something different."
(Joking): "We could do it outside, ha ha."
"Yes!"
"Huh?"
"I like it! Let's do it."
"But it's Kuala Lumpur..."
"And?"
"Well, it's 32 degrees, 100% humidity, and it rains, every day. Seriously, every day... 365 days a year. Same weather."
"Well, I have a good feeling."
"Feeling? What kind of feeling?"
"I think it'll be cooler that day. Maybe low 20s."
"But it won't be. It'll be 32 and humid. Really humid. People will be very uncomfortable, and sweaty."
"No, I disagree. Let's do it. We're having the event outside and everyone will love it."
"But..."
"Oh! And let's make it smart business attire. Won't it be nice to see all the men in jackets?"
"But..."
"And we'll give the people scarves that night to keep them warm."
"But And so on...

It was hot, it was humid, and for some reason, it was outside. My shirt was drenched by the end of the night, as were the shirts of many others. But it was a nice taste (literally and figuratively) of Malaysia.

And now, since it's almost 1AM and I woke up at 4 AM, it's time for bed. Zzzzz...
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KUL: Keep Left

They drive on the left side of the road here. When a North American or European is walking (say through the convention centre) and approaches someone walking the other way, they will naturally keep right and successfully avoid walking into one another. Malaysians keep left, and also avoid collisions. However, when a Malaysian approaches a North American or European, they both start angling the same way. And each keeps trying to get out of the other's way, but they both keep going the same way.

I haven't noticed this as much in other places like the UK or HK.

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KUL: Petronas by Night

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KUL: KLCC

The view of the KL Convention Centre from the Petronas Towers. The Traders Hotel (where I am) is above KLCC on the left hand side.

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KUL: The View from the Skybridge

41 floors up, on the low level of the double decker Skybridge between the two Petronas Towers, here's the view of KL... Maybe the KL Tower?

It's quite a commercial for Petronas, Malaysia's national oil and gas company.

Still hot, still humid. Teresa, you were right about the weather. Even the guy from the High Commission says the weather is always the same, every day of the year. Also, the sun rises and sets at the same time, all year.

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KUL: Red Hot Chili Pipers

Yes, that's their name. The Red Hot Chili Pipers. This event was hosted by Scotland. They're currently playing Smoke on the Water... Now Thunderstruck.

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KUL: A Room with a View

Remember that time when I thought I had a good view at the Fairmont Waterfront in Vancouver?

Yeah, well, today's view wins.

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ARN: In-Transit

This system for transiting passengers ain't so great. And it's really hot in here.

Everyone has to get off the plane, and transiting passengers have to clear security before re-entering the holdroom. But then it's immediately time to leave the concourse (where there is some duty free shopping and cafes) and into the smaller, service free holdroom area. Where it's also hot. Even though it's quite cool outside in Stockholm.

The interesting thing about it from an airport perspective is that not many people spent much money while in-transit, and some didn't have a chance at all... They just did the off-the-plane-through-security-back-to-the-holding-pen circuit. So if in-transit flights are meant to stimulate retail and duty free purchases, this one is not a good example.

However, I have lots of good things to say about Malaysia Airlines onboard hospitality. The in-flight service is great, the flight attendants are friendly, efficient, and professional. the food has been OK so far... (I'd say it's nothing to write home about, but, well, here we are, right?)

We're back on board now, almost ready to go to KL. That has been my Friday.

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MH: 747-400

Well, now it's a bit anti-climactic. I'd been looking forward very much to my first ever flight on the top deck of a 747. Then, here in Newark, John, who has done this many times, tells me he prefers the lower deck. Why? Because the top deck is basically like a 737, not a 747. He has a point. It's narrower and the pilots are up here. It doesn't really feel like a wide-body, even if there are 400 people one deck lower.

Notwithstanding John's comment, I'll do my best to enjoy the ride. Leg 1, Newark to Stockholm, is about to begin.

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YOW: Not a Great Start

Due to air traffic control in Newark, departure from Ottawa is now delayed an additional hour. Unfortunately, we're already loaded and pushed back. So it's an uncomfortable, squishy extra hour on the ground in an E-145. Ugh.

On the bright side... Uh... Er... Where was I going with that one?
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YOW: Oh the ramps!

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YOW: New Duty Free

The bad news is that my flight to EWR is delayed. The good news is that the new post-security, post-pre-clearance duty free store looks great. And from all reports, sales are very good.

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