SkyGourmet From Germany, joined Jun 2006, 109 posts, RR: 0 Posted (1 year 8 months 1 week 1 day 22 hours ago) and read 4273 times:
Hi everyone! I hope you'll enjoy reading my first trip report about my trip to the USA in August/September of 2006. I booked the flights over opodo.de nine months ahead of time in order to get a good price.
I started my trip taking the car from my crappy hometown in south-western Germany to the airport in Stuttgart, which usually takes about 1 ½ to 2 hours. The flight was supposed to leave at 11:25 am, so we got an early start. I'll let the pictures speak.
Sunrise
The terminal at STR
View over the apron
Didn't have much breakfast, so I bought a donut with coconut topping from Burger King
The waiting area after security
STR-LHR
Saturday, 26 August 2006
BA 919
Airbus A319-131
G-EUPR
scheduled departure time: 1125
scheduled arrival time: 1215
It was too late for breakfast, thus only a snack was served
Funny looking cloud
Some suburb of London, I guess.
LHR-SFO
Saturday, 26 August 2006
BA 287
Boeing 747-436
couldn't really see the registration, might have been G-BNLE
scheduled departure time: 1350
scheduled arrival time: 16:35
A snack was served shortly after take-off. Those salt & vinegar pretzel nuggets should be sold in stores, they're delicious.
Food!
I chose the fish, it was salmon with peas and mashed potatoes, very tasty. The peas could have been cooked a little longer and the Banoffee cake tasted ..er.. interesting.
The salad was good, too.
Greenland!
The Hudson Bay
The flight map. The inflight-entertainment in the BA 747s might not be on demand, but it's certainly better than LH's. Some fairly decent movies were showing.
Ice on the window
Some river
Afternoon snack consisting of a sandwich, fruits and a Walkers raisin cake. Not bad!
Round fields
Downtown San Francisco
Which airport is this?
Berkeley
Yosemite -- a must-see!
A squirrel looking down into the abyss
A tree
Somewhere on the way back to San Francisco
Highway No 1
San Francisco as seen from Telegraph Hill
Time to say good bye to California!
SFO-DEN
Sunday, 03 September 2006
F9 650
Airbus A319-111
N939FR
scheduled departure time: 0615
scheduled arrival time: 0950
Since the flight was scheduled to leave at 0615 and hotels are expensive, we decided to spent the night at the airport. I couldn't sleep on those hard benches, so I drove back and forth on the air train all night.
The SFO terminal
Not much going on!
Some lonely baggage carts on top of a parking garage
Finally it's time for boarding!
Those penguins are cute!
The sun is rising
Time for breakfast. Donut and coffee.
Ginger Ale
I didn't pay the 9$ to be able to watch TV.
The Rocky Mountains!
DEN-PHL
Sunday, 03 September 2006
F9 448
Airbus A319-111
N913FR
scheduled departure time: 1030
scheduled arrival time: 1600
That's more and better food than one would get on a legacy carrier it's even warm. Pizza sticks and tomato sauce, and yes, you get the whole can.
This picture shows an abandoned airfield in Southern New Jersey. Check out Paul Freeman's great website for further information: www.airfields-freeman.com
Washington D.C. We took the Amtrak from Wilmington, DE. Yes, of course I visited the National Air & Space Museum!
I really liked this sculpture in the Hirschhorn Museum's sculpture garden.
Time to return home!
Philadelphia
PHL-LHR
Friday, 15 September 2006
BA 068
Boeing 767-336/ER
G-BNWD
scheduled departure time: 2055
scheduled arrival time: 0920
This was the only flight I didn't get a window seat, so I couldn't take any pictures, and the lady next to me was sleeping and didn't open her window shade until shortly before landing . At least I could stretch out my legs due to the great 2-3-2 layout of the 767s.
Some more Ginger Ale.
Dinner:
Chicken with rice and vegetables. The cake was a lot better this time. Everybody also got two small bottles of red or white whine.
The breakfast consisted of a Muffin, orange juice and yogurt. Tasted good, could've been a bit more, though.
LHR-STR
Saturday, 16 September 2006
BA 920
Airbus A319-131
G-EUOB
scheduled departure time: 1515
scheduled arrival time: 1755
Again it was the wrong time for breakfast, resulting in a bag of munchies.
That's all, I hope you enjoyed it. BA is great choice for transatlantic flights. The food is good, the crew friendly and they fly to almost everywhere. F9's level of service really surprised me, considering they're a low-fare carrier. AA et al should be ashamed of themselves.
I also hope all these pictures won't exceed the bandwidth limit of my photobucket account.
Meine dispatcher says there's something wrong mit deine Kabel?
Air380 From United States, joined Jul 2005, 179 posts, RR: 0 Reply 1, posted (1 year 8 months 1 week 1 day 22 hours ago) and read 4204 times:
Very nice trip report, thank you!
Did you go by yourself? What was your favorite flight/place you visited? And how come you speak ill of your home town?
It can't be that bad!
Oznznut From United States, joined Dec 2003, 153 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (1 year 8 months 1 week 1 day 22 hours ago) and read 4199 times:
That airport you saw on approach to SF is the abandoned Naval Air Station in Alameda. If you get the tv series "Myth Busters", you may have seen it. They conduct many of their "experiments" there. Spent many years there while in the US Navy.
Dave
CV990 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 3, posted (1 year 8 months 1 week 1 day 22 hours ago) and read 4192 times:
Hi!
Very nice report....first time ever but you're already doing great!!! Congratulations! I was in STR a few days ago and I really enjoyed that airport, nice and clean! Also your sights in USA were very familiar to me, I lived in San Joaquin Valley for 1 year so I had the chance to visit San Francisco, Yosemite and other places that you shared. That picture of Yosemite with El Capitan on the left side must have been taken after that tunnel right??? That's a very nice and classic picture that all of us that have been there should take! And regarding the BA 767-300 I agree with you, that 2-3-2 layout is fantastic!
Anyway, great work!
Regards
Ndebele From Germany, joined Apr 2001, 2863 posts, RR: 25 Reply 5, posted (1 year 8 months 1 week 1 day 16 hours ago) and read 3988 times:
A very nice first trip report, thanks for posting all those pics. BA has always been one of my favourite carriers, the meal photos look very good. I didn't know that BA uses the B767 to PHL. And I didn't know that BA SFO flights leave from LHR T1. Interesting.
Regards, Alex.
Quoting Air380 (Reply 1): What was your favorite flight/place you visited?
I enjoyed all flights and places, but especially the rock in Yosemite where I took the picture of that tree. That ledge was surrounded by a gaping abyss on three sides, it was very impressive and also not too many people were there.
MSNYX From United States, joined Dec 2006, 119 posts, RR: 0 Reply 8, posted (1 year 8 months 1 week 1 day 4 hours ago) and read 3540 times:
Quoting SkyGourmet (Thread starter): Didn't have much breakfast, so I bought a donut with coconut topping from Burger King
This I don't get. I love going to Europe because of all the wonderful bread and pastries, so when Europeans get Buger King crap over some delicious pastry, it baffles me. I guess what is different tastes good.
Anyway, a very good report, and I hope to see more in the future.
But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar on wings like eagles. Isaiah 40:31
SQNo1 From United Kingdom (England), joined Sep 2004, 674 posts, RR: 1 Reply 10, posted (1 year 8 months 1 week 23 hours ago) and read 3356 times:
A very good report there SkyGourmet, for your information if you keep a record of the aircrafts that you have travelled on, your BA 287 LHR-SFO on 26/08/06 was in fact G-BNLS, according to the website www.lhr-lgw.co.uk
Gjunnar From Germany, joined Sep 2001, 88 posts, RR: 0 Reply 12, posted (1 year 8 months 1 week 10 hours ago) and read 3093 times:
Great TR - thank you.
STR is really a big player in this TR forum, with Flieger67, Ndebele, Contact Air and all the other cool guys posting a lot.
Your report makes me even more exhilarated about my BA-flight to SFO in May, I will sure add one more STR trip report then.
Quoting MSNYX (Reply 8):
This I don't get. I love going to Europe because of all the wonderful bread and pastries, so when Europeans get Buger King crap over some delicious pastry, it baffles me. I guess what is different tastes good.
I sure can understand your point of view. Unfortunately, it's the same with me - I definitely miss the great variety of burger places in the USA compared to here where we usually don't have much else than McDonald's. So yeah - I'm going for the donut, too =)
WhiteBirdFlyer From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 13, posted (1 year 8 months 5 days 16 hours ago) and read 2662 times:
Thanks for the great report and pictures. I live near San Francisco and fly Frontier a fair amount - very good service every time I've flown.
But, I have to tell you, the picture that made me love this report was the squirrel "meditating" on the abyss in Yosemite! Wonderful! And yes, for anyone else, Yosemite is a must-see if you come to this area.
AirplaneBoy From United States, joined May 2004, 501 posts, RR: 16 Reply 16, posted (1 year 7 months 3 weeks 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 1816 times:
SkyGourmet-
Great trip report. Thanks so much for the kind words regarding Frontier. Our employees really do work hard to please our customers. Believe it or not, the our snacks/meals are actually a step down from what they used to be. However, there's no extra charge for food at Frontier.
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From Germany, joined Jun 2006, 109 posts, 
. At least I could stretch out my legs due to the great 2-3-2 layout of the 767s.
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