One Last Hurrah!

As summer comes to a close, Hunter and I decided we wanted to take one more trip. I personally wanted to visit Mexico and go snorkeling, which interested Hunter too, but we couldn't find a place with solid wifi as we both need it for work/school. We then looked at Asia, but the issues with Hong Kong made us reconsider that plan. We settled on Europe so we could try to get some new countries. So far we have 14 countries and I'd like to get 21 before I finish being 21 in April. Europe is tightly packed and provides a good opportunity to visit many countries in a short time. 

While we knew we wanted to head to Europe, we were not entirely sure where in Europe we wanted to go. We considered Zurich, Switzerland but came to the realization that we really don't have long - we have about 4 days and heading east really makes it 3 days! So while we were unsure where to go, we knew that our first stop would be London because there were wide open flights with business class available. 

When Hunter was done work Monday (August 12, 2019) afternoon, we headed to Vegas to catch a flight to San Francisco hoping to get Flagship First to JFK. We had a short wait in Vegas, so we went to one of the lounges and had some snacks. Hunter also started his class. He is taking a course to get a dispatcher license so he can become a system controller. I'm very proud of him for working so hard and so thankful I get to travel the world with him. I've been following along in his course with him a little bit, and it's interesting how much stuff I already know because Hunter loves aviation so much and tells me so many things that apparently just stick in my head! Today his course was playing a Jeopardy game to learn material which was fun to watch. Hunter was in the lead for most of it, but it got cut short when we had to leave for our flight to San Francisco. 

We took flight AS1909 to SFO. We were lucky as the plane upgraded, so there were tons of seats. We had a full row to ourselves in premium economy. The snack now in premium is beef jerky, which is an interesting choice, but was quite tasty. 

Taking off in Vegas

That the Vegas airport

A fire near Mono Lake, CA

A hazy view of SFO

Landed in SFO

When we arrived in San Francisco, we had about 3 hours until our flight. Everything thus far was holding up, and we were currently making Flagship First. Hunter and I found some comfy chairs and he joined back with his class as there still was about an hour left. I watched Netflix while he finished up and once he was done, we decided to get a snack as we were both pretty hungry. There was a burger place that looked good, so we decided to get some french fries. We didn't want to eat a big meal because we knew that we would be getting quite the meal in a bit. 

Soon it was time to board and Hunter and I were the last two in line to get First. We went up to the podium area and waited for them to clear us. As we waited, we listened and overheard there were some problems with business class seats. Two seats were not properly reclining. This was bad news for us as the passengers in those seats were upgraded to First. They called our names and asked if we wanted to stay together or split if we needed to, and we said we wanted to stay together. They further discussed the broken seats and then the one gate agent left to see if non-revs could sit in the broken seats. He returned and asked us if we wanted to sit in the seats that don't recline, and we said yes. Business class is still nice even if you can't lay flat. 

We got into our seats and found that Hunter's footrest could move, but the back couldn't recline, and mine was just completely stuck in the upright position. Thankfully, I am small and with the large pillow, made it work. Hunter and I were both pretty tired and it wasn't long before we were asleep. We didn't end up eating a meal this time, but we did have some snacks. Hunter had passionfruit mouse and I had a cheese plate. My nap on the 5-hour flight wasn't perfect in the upright seat, but it was definitely better than economy. I shouldn't complain too much as not many people my age get to fly business/first as much as I do. 

We arrived at JFK around 7:30. For breakfast, we went to the steakhouse we have access to on priority pass. Hunter and I both ordered the salmon eggs benedict and boy was it amazing. It really hit the spot. 

Our business class seats to JFK

The breakfast menu 

Hunter and I both ordered salmon eggs benedict and it was delicious

I ate every last bit!

After eating we went to our gate and waited to be called. We were second and third for 15 business class seats, so we had no worries we were not making it. Eventually, they called us up and we got given seats 7D and 7H together. We boarded flight AA142 and waited for departure. One neat thing we found out when we got on, was that the layout of this plane was different than that of all others we have taken. In the business class cabin, every other row was backwards! Thankfully 7D and H were forward facing, not that sitting backwards would have been troublesome, but I was glad to be facing the right way. Check out the seat map picture below.

Our plane to London

The meal service was the same as that to Brazil. Hunter and I both had the same things: Hunter had a shrimp dish and I had ravioli. It was just as good. For desert hunter had a cheese plate and I had icecream. The icecream this time was different and had chocolate ice cream cone chunks in it. It was the best ice cream I've had on a plane so far! I almost wanted to ask for a second but knew better.

Hunter and I tried to stay up, we watched a movie called hummingbird which was about the stock exchanges. It was pretty interesting. I became very sleepy as I didn't get much sleep on the previous flight and soon was ready for a nap. This time my seat recline and, as Hunter says, nested down and went to sleep. I woke up sometime later and there was about 2 hours till arrival. Hunter was already awake and watching some other movie, so I started a movie and we waited for the arrival meal service. We had choices of salad or pulled chicken sliders. Hunter and I both had the chicken and it was delicious! For the desert, there was a piece of hot chocolate cheesecake and boy was it amazing.

The starter

Hunters meal, I forgot to take a photo of mine this time, but it was the same as on the way to Brazil

The best icecream I've had

Hunter had a cheese plate

Our arrival meal

A better view of the cheesecake

Cool lighting in the cabin

 A backwards seat

My seat

We arrived about an hour early at 9:30pm and made our way through customs. Now we don't have to wait in line to see an agent, we get to go through automatic booths that scan our passports and take a photo. That's it that's all. It was pretty simple, except Hunter's passport doesn't like to be scanned and he got called aside to see an agent. There were no other issues and we exited. We headed to the Holiday Inn Express at terminal 4 and checked in. It was nice to finally get to shower and lay down in a real bed.

Our hotel room - no bed bugs this time

The TV said Hello Hunter!

We stayed up a little longer trying to finally figure out where we were going next. We decided on visiting Hamburg, Germany. There's a museum we are dying to visit called miniature wonderland. It is the largest model train and plane museum. We checked loads and hotels and everything looked good, so that was our plan. We needed to catch a 10:40 flight on British Airways and would have plenty of time for breakfast at our hotel.

Date: August 12/13, 2019