The November Epic # 1: Welcome Aboard the Emerald Princess!

 And the winner of the contest for "Name That Destination," which nobody got right, is....

 

 Base map attribution:  https://freevectormaps.com/canada/CA-EPS-01-0004?ref=atr

Don't feel bad if you didn't guess right. After all, I was a little bit sneaky in leaving the correct direction off the previous map! Not to mention that few if any people would think of flying from Toronto to Kelowna BC to begin a trip to England.

 

By the way, if you have no idea what this introduction is all about, go back and read the previous post, and all will be explained. 

 

The flight from Vancouver to London is a bit of a gruelathon. It only lasts 8½ hours, but in that time you cross no less than eight time zones. This is what comes of flying across the narrowest part of the world -- the polar regions -- enroute from Point A to Point B. I'm probably going to be jetlagged for close to a week.

I always love watching the moving map on a flight. This one from the start of the trip gives a perfect illustration of what would be the straightest line direct route from Vancouver to London.

 

 

 

In this second one, taken when we were almost at our destination, you see clearly that the designated flyways across the Atlantic often do not correspond to the most direct route. Part of this is the need for twin-engine long-range aircraft like the Boeing 787-9 to keep within safe flying distance of suitable airports with long enough runways in case of an engine failure. The rest is the need to keep the flights to designated flight tracks to avoid collisions in the busy North Atlantic air corridor.

The good news was that when I staggered off the plane at noon in London, everything happened very quickly indeed. It's a long hike from the Air Canada gate in Terminal 2 at Heathrow to the immigration and customs area, but passing through the checks is very quick and civilized indeed. Holders of certain passports (including Canadians) are allowed to use the quick kiosks. You scan your passport, the machine takes your picture, and after a moment the gate pops open and you're through. After you pick up your bags (mine was already on the carousel, as usual at Heathrow), you simply walk through the "Green Channel" and out -- unless you have goods to declare which are going to remain in the U.K.

It then takes about 4 more minutes to hike across the outdoor but covered access area, past the lifts, and across six rows of parking spaces in the garage. You then enter the hotel, walk up a short ramp and arrive at the check-in desk. The best? Even though it was still only 1230, my room was ready. The Hilton Garden Inn Heathrow Terminal 2/3 asks you at check-in what time you expect to leave, and the housekeeping crew is on the job as soon as you go, freeing the rooms up for early arrivals. Pretty awesome.

So was the view from my room on the 13th floor. Of course, I've been in love with airports and airplanes ever since I was a kid.

The tall tail with red/green/black flashes on it is an Airbus A380 of Emirates Airlines. Emirates had two of these 600-passenger monsters leaving London within a couple of hours of each other. Crazy -- I've been on cruise ships that held less people! It's a weird sensation watching an A380 taking off. Because of its sheer size and bulk, it doesn't look like it's going anywhere close to flying speed when it lifts off the runway into the air. 

 

This second pic was taken a few hours later and just after sunset (and after I'd caught up on some lost sleep). Here, I caught two planes silhouetted against the colours of the sky.

I had a decent dinner in the Apron Restaurant on the first floor, where I got a good chuckle from this description of one of the wines on offer. Perhaps this less-than-technical description was meant to get you past the fact that it was the most expensive white wine on the list, by a wide margin.

 

I went with the pinot grigio, and after dinner had another one in the Runway Bar on the top floor, which gives awesome night views over the airport. This is where I watched that A380 taking off.

 

 

The next morning, after breakfast, I went back to the airport and found the transfer service. Presently, I boarded a coach and after a 2¼ hour drive found myself arriving at my real destination, in the south coast port city of Southampton. And here we go -- Princess Cruise Lines' Emerald Princess.

Princess Cruises photo

 

Say hello to my home for the next two weeks and a bit. Emerald Princess is one of a class of nine broadly similar (but not identical) ships built for Princess Cruises and sister company P & O Cruises over a period of a decade or so, beginning in 1998. Princess refers to them as the "Grand Class" after the first of the group, Grand Princess. I've been on 3 other ships of this class previously. These vessels carry different numbers in the range of 2600-3100 passengers. At the time of construction in 1998, Grand Princess was the world's largest cruise ship. These days, the Grand Class are looking more and more like mid-sizers!

 

Oh, the cruise? Sixteen days from Southampton to Fort Lauderdale. The real attraction of this trip for me was getting a whole series of destinations that I'd never seen before. That's the best kind of cruising -- you get to sample a wide range of places, and decide which ones merit more detailed visiting at a later date.

 

As we were driving into Southampton, we passed a couple of historic buildings along the waterfront of this historic commercial port. Here's the Southampton Harbour Board headquarters.

This building, whose identity I haven't been able to determine (although it may have been the Southampton offices of White Star Line), is the site on the lawn outside of a memorial plaque to White Star's most famous ship, RMS Titanic, whose home port was in Southampton. 

 

Indeed, the Titanic and many other great liners in the golden age of Atlantic sea travel used the Oceanic Dock, now the Ocean Cruise Terminal, which is where our ship, Emerald Princess, was moored. Here's the first look I got.

Boarding was very quick and efficient indeed -- 17 minutes from coach to cabin. The big luggage was sent down from London by separate truck, and was a bit slower, but still arrived at my cabin before the ship sailed which was all I asked!

Q: How do you know you are on a cruise ship?

A: As the afternoon moves towards evening, the internet service gets slower and slower and slower....

            (mainly because of all the people trying to stream and share video, I'd guess)

From my cabin, on the port side, I had a view of two Isle of Wight ferries docked in an adjacent slip -- I think that was a repair or service facility, as the main ferry terminal was on our ship's other side.

It was already dark when we sailed at 5:00 pm, but here you can see the unmistakable diagonal slant of the Oceanic Dock, which you can compare to any number of online photos of classic ocean liners moored here. I saw one beauty which I wanted to use, but the $69 license fee was too steep for my budget to take. Just Google "White Star Line Southampton" and you'll find them, no trouble. 

In this picture, a brilliantly illuminated cruise ship at the Queen Elizabeth 2 Cruise Terminal poses a huge contrast to the much more decorous Emerald Princess. Looks like a very new and flashy vessel from Aida, a cruise line which, despite its name (suggestive of Italian opera), is actually German. German is the working language of all staff on Aida cruises, which helps to explain why they aren't marketed in North America. Aida, like Princess, belongs to Carnival Corp.

 

It felt absolutely awesome to be setting out to sea again on a Princess ship, for the first time in over three years. Nowhere did I feel it more than the three-storey atrium midships called the Piazza, seen here from above...

 

 

...and from below.

Our first port of call was Cherbourg. Like its near neighbour of Le Havre, Cherbourg had a long association with the great Atlantic liners. Many ships, leaving Southampton or European ports, would stop to pick up passengers from France here. Today, it's more of a commercial port, although it also serves several ferry routes to and from Spain, England, and Ireland.

It was on the night crossing from Southampton to Cherbourg that my jetlag and lack of sleep caught up with me, and I slept off and on for eleven hours. That caused me to miss my early morning tour to Bayeux, to visit the famous Bayeux tapestry, so that will have to wait for another time. So will a separate pilgrimage to the Normandy beaches from the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944, all of which are quite close to here.

Instead, I stayed aboard, going for a big breakfast in the buffet, a good brisk walk around the promenade deck, a light lunch in the Piazza -- a hot sandwich and to-die-for cappuccino from the International Cafe, the ship's 24-hour food and drink outlet.

Since then, I've been working away in my cabin at this blog post, while also grabbing another nap. So, to close out, here are a few pictures I took during my walk.

 

Cherbourg is an artificial harbour, enclosed by breakwaters. The breakwaters are marked by numerous forts and castles, which shows that the builders of this port definitely meant business. 

A view of part of the city is centred on the Holy Trinity Basilica, its square tower looking surprisingly Church-of-England for a French Catholic basilica.

To the west of the port, a marina shows that recreational sailing is big business here.

The cruise terminal building looks plainly as if it dates back to the golden age of the Atlantic liners.

 

Later in the afternoon, the mix of sun and rain clouds gave way to clear skies, and we could see the rain clouds departing to the east.

And finally, to wrap up, a last picture on board the ship. I sat down for a breather mid-point of my walk, right opposite one of the lifebuoys on the promenade. It's a sight that always makes me laugh, but you have to have been there to know why. The "Hamilton" named as the port of registry is the capital of Bermuda. It's laughable because Hamilton Harbour is only accessible through a tight gap called Two Rock Passage, or even smaller passages between other islands in the Great Sound. Emerald Princess is so large that, like all fleetmates in the Grand Class, entry to Hamilton Harbour is an impossibility. This ship can never visit the port where it is registered. Seriously.

The November Epic: Prologue

Okay, I'm cheating a bit.

  

This nearly month-long trip is beginning with a short spell in British Columbia. I'm writing this in Kelowna, a sizable city in the Okanagan Valley of south-central B.C.

 

The trip here began, as so often, with a train ride up to Toronto, a connecting UP Express train to Toronto Pearson airport, and a night in an airport hotel. My favourite, when I can get it at a reasonable rate, is the Toronto Airport Hilton -- and here's the biggest reason why.

 

Not only is it a good big pool where you can swim serious laps, but in warmer weather the roof slides back halfway and the sliding glass doors open -- and it becomes effectively outdoor. There are also lounge chairs in the garden courtyard outside. 

The next morning, I was on a flight to Calgary at ten o'clock, and arrived in Calgary four hours later and 20 degrees Celsius (36 degrees Fahrenheit) colder. Colder, windier, and snowing heartily. As Queen Victoria was famously (and incorrectly) alleged to have said, "We are not amused."

Another fifty minutes in the air, though, brought me down into the valley airport at Kelowna, and there the weather was much kinder altogether. 

So was the management of the Delta Grand Okanagan Resort. Once again my loyalty paid off. Even though I was staying on reward points, I got upgraded from a basic king room to a suite in the "vacation homes" wing. They're not kidding. This two-room suite has ample closet space for a family, with a king bed and sofabed, and a fully equipped kitchen, complete with all cookware, dishes, and utensils.

 

And then there's the view.

 

This resort is in downtown Kelowna, and sits right by the park on the shores of Lake Okanagan. Not just a little postage-stamp balcony, the suite has a sizable outdoor terrace with a couple of chairs, to enjoy the surroundings. In this picture, the tower is part of the Grand Okanagan. The building on the left with the octagonal tower is actually a completely separate hotel in the same complex, the Royal Kelowna by Bellstar Hotels.

 

I had a room at the top floor of the Grand Okanagan's other (south) tower the last time I stayed here, a year ago. Here's the view a year ago from that tower room.

Returning to my current suite, though, I'm very glad I looked out the window again an hour later, as the colour of the sunset really highlighted the view.

On Thursday, the weather was cooler and cloudier, but I still got in two good walks on all the intertwining pathways in the park between the hotel and the lake. Even though autumn is well and truly here, and winter is on the way, there were still plenty of splashes of colour, including a number of flowers which had not yet died in spite of the frost the previous night.

A small artificial hill in the park holds a pipe-fed pool at the top. This drains through a couple of chains of artificial waterfalls down to the lagoon in the centre of the park -- which in turn has small outlets through a boat lock or under a bridge to Lake Okanagan. 

Another intriguing sight along the way was this tree stump, about a metre across and just recently sawn off. I could picture a couple of craftspeople I know making some very interesting furniture or ornamental work out of slabs of wood cut from this tree.

 

This morning, things looked somewhat different. Colder air moved in during the night, with predictable but (to me) lamentable results. Although it does look rather pretty.

 

 

And finally, the reason I have chosen to come to Kelowna at the beginning of November. These two screen shots from the Ballet Kelowna Facebook page show my nephew, Robert, at work in the studio, and a dress rehearsal picture of his newest major ballet work, In the Light of the Waking Sun. This new ballet receives its world premiere tonight from the artists of Ballet Kelowna. The proud uncle will be there!

 

 

And with that, what comes next on my travels? What is the actual main event of this November Epic? Enquiring minds want to know! So here's the situation, in map form. I've flown from Toronto to Calgary, and connected on to Kelowna. Tomorrow, I am flying from Kelowna to Vancouver -- and then? The next connection is to the true starting point of my November Epic. Guesses are welcome, but not from people who already know the answer. All will be revealed in the next post. Stay tuned!

 

 

Base map attribution:  https://freevectormaps.com/canada/CA-EPS-01-0004?ref=atr

 

 

Navigating an Airport

Last time I flew, two weeks ago, I made it all the way from my hotel on the Toronto airport hotel strip via shuttle bus to the terminal, checked in my bag, through security, and down to my boarding gate in 25 minutes flat. On this week's flight, I got it down to 23 minutes.

 

Am I good or what?

 

Okay, yes, it was partly luck. But experience and practice-makes-perfect certainly played a role.

 

If you're an experienced road warrior, you're not going to find any surprises here. This post is dedicated to all the once or twice a year flyers who absolutely hate the whole ordeal of getting through an airport and onto a plane. Here's some helpful advice from an old-timer who remembers when there was no security and no self-check, one who has watched all that garbage evolve over time -- and learned by practice how to roll with it and make the airport experience as easy as possible.

 

Much of the art of surviving an airport begins with planning and preparation. You want to navigate an airport successfully, you have to plan ahead.The biggest surprise for many people is that making your way through an airport begins long before you get to that airport -- usually 24 hours beforehand.

 

[1]  Check In Online

Most airlines have now gotten into the groove and offer online check-in from 24 hours before the flight departure. Do it. No questions, no arguments. Check in online, the sooner the better. This is where you pick your seat. This is where you prepay for checked baggage (with some airlines, at a cheaper rate than paying at the airport). This is where you get on the priority list for one of those precious gems of air travel, the upgrade to premium class seating. Have the boarding pass sent to you in a text if you're not using the airline's app (although you should).

 

 

[2]  A Bit of Research

 

First and foremost, find out if there is more than one terminal and, if so, make sure you know and get to the right one. Next: know where you're going when you get there. No matter from which airport you are departing, there is usually a website from the airport with floor plans to show where the check-in facilities are located. Use this to plan out exactly where you need to go inside the building, so you know exactly which way to turn once you get there. It matters because many major airport terminals have different check-in areas for different airlines, or for domestic or international travel. Here's a screenshot of a sample map (the actual maps on the Pearson airport website are bigger and interactive):

 

And here's a slightly fuzzy photo of the sign which greets you at the main entrances to Pearson's Terminal One. It lists all the flights expected to depart over the next few hours, and tells you which of the thirteen numbered check-in areas you should go to for your flight. If in doubt, go by the information on the sign.

 

 

 

[3]  Arrive Early

 

Yeah, I know, nobody wants to hang out all day in the airport. Just do it. If things go smoothly, you can keep working or reading your novel while waiting for flight time. Or have a much nicer meal than the one you would get on the plane (if any). If you try to cut it close, and things go wrong, the stress will drive you mad and ruin your entire week. 

 

Remember that there will be plenty of other people trying to cut it close -- you certainly won't be the only one! Then everything gets backlogged, from the lineup of vehicles trying to get up the driveway to the drop-off zone through to the check-in, the baggage drop, and security. Arrive early. I recommend one hour longer than the airline's "minimum check-in time." More if you are flying from Canada to the USA and have to clear customs before getting on the plane, especially early in the morning.

 

 

[4]  When Packing

 

Things to remember when packing:

 

[a] Batteries, electronics, prescription medications, etc., must go in your carry-on bag, not in your checked baggage (if any).

[b] Liquids in your carry-on must be in containers no bigger than 100ml, and all liquid containers must fit into a single clear plastic bag of limited size. Bigger containers have to go into checked baggage.

[5]  Before the Airport

 

Things to do before you get to the airport:

 

[a] Empty your pockets. Put all that stuff into your carry-on bag except....

[b] Get out your photo i.d. and your boarding pass and keep them out.

 

 

[c] Make sure your bag of liquids and your laptop are easily accessible in your carry-on bag.

Notice we haven't even arrived at the terminal yet? All this is preparation.

[6]  Keep Them Out

The boarding pass and photo i.d., that is. 

 

 

Don't put them away. Just don't. You need them at check-in and/or baggage drop-off, you need them to enter security, you need them maybe again before leaving security, you need them to get onto the damn plane so just KEEP THEM OUT. Don't put them away. Ever (until you board the plane). If you have a security code lock on your phone, and you're a sporadic user like me, disable it so you don't have to keep punching the code in to get your boarding pass back. Re-enable the security code once you are on board the plane. (P.S. this hassle is the biggest of the eleven reasons I prefer a paper boarding pass -- the other ten are my ten thumbs).

[7]  At Security

Be prepared. Get out the bag of liquids and the laptop while you are still in line, before you get to the checkpoint. I know, kind of a revolutionary idea, but it works. What else? Heavy steel jewellery like my watch (it's already in my carry-on, see step # 4a). Shoes and boots, if flying to or within the USA, or if they have steel shanks. Belt, if it has a sizable metal buckle. The more you can do before you step up to the actual checkpoint, the better. All this increases your chances of walking quickly and smoothly right through that metal scanner without having to go back and do it again. And again. And again.

If you're faced with one of the full-body silhouette scanners, then absolutely everything has to come out of your pockets, metal or not.

[8]  Collect Everything

It's astounding how many people walk away from security checkpoints, leaving behind various items. Phones get left behind amazingly often, considering how many people get a stress reaction if they aren't holding their phones right in their hands ("my Precious, my Precious"). Double check. If it's a belt you're leaving behind, there's a good chance that your trousers will remind you.

[9]  Look Up -- Look Waaaay Up

Now you are in the departures area of the terminal. It's time to get your nose out of your phone. I know, it's pretty much glued to the end of your nose, but just put it down for a minute. Why use a "navigate your airport" app when all the information you need is right there already? Above your head. It's contained in these wonderful high-tech devices called "Signs." 

 

 

These signs have useful stuff like gate numbers. Like washroom symbols. Like baggage claim and customs symbols. All there. And sorry to tell you this, but third-party apps aren't always accurate. The airport's own signs are. Let's face it, nobody knows better than the homeowner where the bathroom is actually located.

 

Pretty much every time I am in the domestic area of Toronto Pearson Airport's Terminal One, I see someone with their nose in their phone wander off down the concourse straight ahead as they come off the escalators from security -- and then, several minutes later, I'll pass the same person racing back to the other concourse on the right-hand side because they missed the overhead signs with the gate numbers. I'm sure people have missed their flights because they didn't look up. 

 

The "Look Up" advice also works like a charm when you arrive and get off the plane, whether you have to find a connecting flight at another gate, a washroom, or the exit and baggage claim area.

[10]  You're There? Sit Down

Once you get to the gate, take a seat. In the old days (pre-1980), you always had to check in with the gate agent when you got to the boarding area. Today, there's absolutely no reason at all to check in with or hang around the desk by the gate -- anyway, there's usually far more places to sit than spaces to stand. The odds are 99% that, whatever it is you want to ask about, the agent will tell you to take a seat. See, they have these things called "announcements"....

 

[11]  Listen

 

Once again, get your nose out of your phone. The worst thing you can do is slap on noise-suppressing headphones to watch a fave movie or TV show, and then miss the announcement where they tell everyone that your flight has just been switched from Gate 3 to Gate 73. Actually, a gate change announcement is the biggest one to listen for until it's boarding time. I've gotten gate changes on three of my last six flights.

 

The next worst thing is to be busy stuffing your face in a restaurant and miss the announcement where they begin calling you by name: "Passenger G. Hassenpfeffer, your flight is ready to depart. Please report to gate H-999 immediately, or your baggage will be removed from the aircraft." I once had to text some friends who were eating breakfast and didn't realize that their flight (at the gate next to mine) was paging them by name.

 

If you are waiting on a possible upgrade to the royal palace at the front of the plane, the gate agent will usually begin calling the lucky few about 30 minutes before flight time. The only other really good one (if you have time to spare) is the one that says the flight is oversold and they'll give you a refund in the form of a future travel voucher if you agree to travel confirmed on a later flight. 

 

At last comes the call for boarding. Most airlines have some kind of specific boarding procedure, and the announcement which explains that procedure is the last big one you need to listen to -- especially if it's an airline you don't fly with regularly. In particular, parents with small kids need to listen closely for the directions for their pre-boarding, if they choose to use it.

 

And that pretty much covers it. Hope this all helps to make your next trip less of an ordeal!

By the way: if you guessed from this blog post that I am about to start travelling again, you are absolutely right. Actually, I've already completed the first leg of the trip. Getting through the airport in 23 minutes flat was the least of it. Stand by for further updates.