Friday, March 6, 2015

Wednesday, January 28, 2015 – San Francisco, CA –Sunny – 65 F

The Star Princess has successfully completed its Transpacific – Hawaiian Island Voyage.  There were no delays in docking this morning as the weather in the Bay Area is beautiful.

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Pre and Post Sunrise – Bay Bridge

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The City by the Bay

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Coit Tower – Clear Visibility

Debarkation Breakfast was in the Horizon Court and the menu was pretty complete – I had some eggs, a waffle, some oatmeal, and, of course, the biscuits.  The HC wasn’t crowded so we had a nice relaxing breakfast.

We are on the Princess Airport Shuttle at 9:15 AM – our wait in the Dining Room was brief and soon we were off the ship and on our way through immigration.  That was also pretty quick and we found our bus easily.  Our bus driver gave us a mini tour on the way to the airport.  There have been some incredible changes to the waterfront area of San Francisco since we lived here and even since we were here last year.

The ride to the airport took about 30 minutes or so.  We had TSA Pre-Check on this flight, as well.  That made our journey through security uneventful.  We are flying United Airlines today so we went to the United Club for some snacks and comfortable seating.  The place was pretty full but we did manage to find a couple of seats.  There are plugs at every seat for charging your electronics.  The food was changing over from breakfast to lunch items but the attendant was kind enough to get us some bagels from the kitchen.  The snacks and coffee are very good as well.  Our flight doesn’t board until 12:15 PM so we have a little over an hour to spend here.

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Lounging in the United Club

Our gate was very close to the United Club and when we got there, our plane was already there.  UA698 – a B737-800 – was scheduled to depart at 1:00 PM and with conditions this good, an on time departure was most likely.

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UA698 Loading Up

One of the last times we were at SFO, I spotted a “throwback” American Airlines jet.  This time, a retro look United Airlines jet taxied by.  I was just barely able to get a picture before the plane moved behind the terminal.

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“Vintage” UAL Jet

The flight took off on time and was pretty smooth all the way.  I had downloaded the United Airlines app so I tried to watch one of their streaming movies.  The service was pretty spotty and I couldn’t any of the movies I wanted.  So I basically used the app to track the flight.  The in-flight movie-app thing needs some work.

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One Hour Into the Flight

The weather in Chicago cooperated and we arrived pretty much on time.  Our bags made it too.

A very nice cruise that got us away during a cold period in Chicago and a very successful lecture series. 

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