Air Canada got some pretty sweet deals on a few 777-300ERs which they have dubbed their High Density 777.

I’ve flown on this configuration four times, the first time was with my manager who complained about the seating.  I thought he as joking, as I snapped a picture in response of my legs spread out from the exit row seat I was seated in.

I will say, I do like the concept of Premium Economy.  I could sit in a Premium Economy seat and be comfortable for a long haul journey. I would prefer an aisle or window as I’ve done middle seats – row 12 (bulk head) and row 13. If I had to sit in a middle seat again, I would not complain.

I have not had a chance to sit in a Studio Pod Business Class seat yet.  The concept of high density business class, in that configuration does not make sense to me.  Having two people seated such that if you’re by the window you have to bother someone, especially if they’re lying down, doesn’t seem appropriate.  I’d go as far as saying, it’s just wrong.  But hey, that’s a first world problem. 😉

Economy?  Forget it.  I can live with it for a 5 hour transcontinental flight, but forget going 11 to 13 hours overseas.

I get why airlines are going with high density configurations.  To squeeze out as much fuel economy per passenger as they can.  As someone who appreciates fuel economy and not wanting to pay for petrol, I get it.

I think there’s a balance to supporting your customers and supporting your needs as a company.

Below are some pictures from being seated in Premium Economy and the fact, in what I would call a rare move for AC, dual bridge boarding!

On Air Canada, there is one plane that guarantees that EVERYONE gets a window seat.  No, I’m not talking about a 787 where the windows are larger than life.

I’m talking about flying a Beechcraft 1900D, which could be Air Canada’s most comfortable airline save for the loudness.  The 1900D was introduced in 1991, so I’m flying a plane that is actually younger than the Dash-8s I fly to Portland from Vancouver.

So why comfortable?  The plane has 18 or 19 seats depending on configuration.  Everyone gets a window, everyone gets an aisle.  You don’t have to worry about anyone poking you, or stealing your space, or the guy sleeping on me like what happened when I flew to Dallas a few weeks ago.

The catch?  There is absolutely no beverage service on the plane.  Which, I’m actually fine with.  The past few flights I’ve had, I’ve skipped the beverage service.

Knee room is short, but manageable.  As I was not stuck in the same position because of someone sitting next to me, my back was thanking me at the end of the trip.  My butt wasn’t sore either

I think it’s interesting that while today I fly on what will be the smallest aircraft I will fly on this year, and in a little less than six months from now, I will be flying on the largest passenger aircraft ever build from ICN to HKG.

Given I am fortunate enough to have Star Alliance Gold having reached over 50k status miles flown on Air Canada last year, during our trip we have our choices of lounges.  If you’re in a similar situation, here are a few links to lounges by airport.

Note that I’ve not included United lounges which are available at Narita and Hong Kong International.  Why would I go to a United lounge when I can try ANA, Thai or Singapore?

Toronto

Travelling from Toronto to Narita, we’ll have access to the International Maple Leaf Lounge.

Narita

Traveling from Japan to South Korea, there really is only one option.  The ANA Business Lounge.  This article talks about lounges at NRT including the United lounge.

Incheon

We have our choices of the Asiana Business Class Lounge or the Singapore SilverKris Lounge.  I have heard amazing things about Singapore, and I have heard very good things about the Asiana lounge.  I think we’ll have a chance to try both given we do get to spend a lot of time at Incheon.  This article talks about the lounges at ICN.

Hong Kong

Choices, choices.  Do we go for Singapore, or do we try Thai Royal Orchid?  Sadly we get to the airport early, around 6am and then we leave at 8am.  I have to admit, I’m leaning towards Singapore, but really want to experience Thai’s offering as well.  Nothing stops us from trying both.  This article talks about both lounges, as well as the United lounge in Hong Kong.

Vancouver

From Incheon to Vancouver, we’ll get back to enjoy the trusty Domestic Maple Leaf Lounge in which Scott and I have spent much time waiting for flights home to Toronto.

We have our options.  I’m excited to try something new

Scott and I are headed on a two week vacation to Japan and Hong Kong.  This is a trip that we have been talking about doing for about 18 years since we got together.

Over the past two years, I have been saving up my Aeroplan and hotel points to minimise the amount paid out of pocket.

Let’s just say that I did not realize the value of airline points until I booked this trip, and really not until after I had booked the trip completely.

The original plan was to spend as much time in Japan as possible.  Using Aeroplan points, I did not think I could make stops along the way.  I knew I was going to fly via Incheon, South Korea and Hong Kong to get back to Toronto and on a whim I decided to see what we could do staying over with the number of points we had.  It turned out I could add one or two stops on the trip.

In addition to Hong Kong, we also considered Shanghai, Singapore, and Sydney.  Given we only had two weeks and we want to get as much as Japan in, we figured we’ll do one stop for three days.  We had both wanted to visit Hong Kong for many years, so this was the prefect opportunity.

The other requirements we had for this trip were;

• Flying on a 787 – While, by the time this trip happens, it might not be my first time on a 787 (Air Canada is starting to fly them Trans Continental), I really want to experience the difference with the cabin pressure brought down to a lower level, and flying at 40,999
• Flying direct to Japan from Toronto – The 787 offers this, although I believe Air Canada’s 777ERs do as well.
• Flying in Business Class – There is no way Scott and I are flying in economy, 11 to 13 hours. I’ve done it to Chile and it’s not comfortable.  Not only are we flying to and from Asia back to Canada in business class, the whole trip is business class.
• Shinkansen – There is no way I’m going to Japan and not getting on a Shinkansen train!
• Flying on an A380 – Within North America, you don’t have a lot of opportunity to fly on an A380, and the only A380 that flies to Toronto is Emirates service to Dubai.  It wasn’t an initial requirement but there was an opportunity to fly on an Asiana A380 from ICN to HKG.  Perfect!  I’ll take it.

Here is what we ended up with:

I’ve decided that I’m going to blog about my experiences as I fly Trans-continental, and around the world in the next year.  Why?  I think there’s a market out there for people curious about what kind of service airlines are offering.  There are a lot of videos out there, and a few blogs but with changes happening in the market place – Air Canada and their new jets with changes to service, United still going through changes with their merging with Continental, American merging with US Airways, and game changers from the middle east, it’s good to get some updates from those of us who travel.

I love what has happened to Air Canada.  I used to prefer Canadian Airlines prior to the merge with Air Canada.  Still, sadly, it’s a Canadian pastime to hate Air Canada.  While I have had some poor experiences, they’re certainly much much fewer than positive experiences.

A week ago, I was upgraded to what Air Canada is now calling Transcontinental Business Class on my Toronto to Vancouver leg of my trip to Portland.  What differentiates Transcon from International Business Class?  In short, the only thing missing is the amenity kit and slightly kicked up food options.

Honestly, relative to what I have experienced in the past, Air Canada really is kicking up food options on their Transcontinental routes.

Take a look at the menu to the left.  Moroccan-style lamb, Atlantic salmon, Ratatouille and Chicken.  More options and the presentation was quite nice.  The salad is pretty standard for Air Canada, however I love the presentation.  Of course, a perennial favourite of mine, the cookies and ice cream.

Believe me, the food was good before, although presentation did leave something to be desired, but it wasn’t bad.

Don’t be fooled.  As someone said in another blog I was reading, within North America, Air Canada really does First Class, not Business Class.  You get real plates, real cutlery, linen and great service.

We had a bit of an incident over at mathan.ca where we ended up losing pictures on all our blogs.  It was my mistake.  So I might go back and put pictures in where needed and important.

20ish years ago around this time in February, at the age of 20, I went back to Newfoundland after leaving when I was 4.  This was also the first time my Dad had seen me, and that I had seen Dad since his last visit to Ontario when I was 12 years old (for complicated reasons).

My step-mother picked me up from the airport as Dad wasn’t feeling well, but he got up when I arrived and he gave me the biggest hug he could, reaching up at my 6ft3 frame.

I went back one more time to Newfoundland during August 1995, 6 months later, on my way out to England to study in Norwich.  Dad insisted on paying for my flights out and back, with the provision that I stop in St. John’s on the way out.    It was the last time I would see him as he passed away Christmas Eve 1995.  It wouldn’t be until 1998 that I would go back out to St, John’s to see my step mother.

I felt so awkward during that trip, but we made the best of the time together.  I also had a bad cold, probably a bit worse than the one I have now.

So much has happened and changed in those 20 years.  Graduating, getting my first car, getting married, getting jobs, losing jobs, travelling, the ups and downs of life.

I wouldn’t have changed the experience for anything.

I’ve often struggled with having to figure life out for myself without having that father figure.  That doesn’t mean the efforts of my grandfather and uncle are not going unrecognized – they did the best they could with the energy they had (my grandfather), and with their own families they were bringing up (my uncle).  What doesn’t kill us does make us stronger.

I’m also thankful to those who have been able to step up and help out in that mentorship role since, and I’ve been glad of the opportunities where I’ve had a chance to share my own wisdom as well.

So today’s magic number is 263.  That’s 54lbs down since October, and that’s 6 lbs more than what I lost under Weight Watchers a few years ago.  30ish more pounds until goal.

I have to admit, i’ve been cheating a bit with this diet.  It started with my last trip to Portland where I got fed up with eating the same thing over and over again, and I decided to have the hotel specialty for breakfast – Eggs Benedict.  Over the past two weeks ago I had the equivalent to

• 1 piece of Pizza Pizza, Pizza;
• regular cheese in Tampa with a number of meals;
• rice with Teriyaki and yes I had the sauce.
• dim sum with the Teriyaki meal.

I’ve always gotten back on plan when I’ve done this with the exception of the cheese in Tampa.

I’ve always lost between 4.5 and 5 lbs on the plan.  I have no plans on slowing down at this point, but I am at a point where I feel I need to eat more towards regular foods so that when I hit goal, I’m not suddenly switching and gaining all that hard earned weight loss back like I did with WW.  I also need to learn to balance it so I’m not reverting back to old behaviours.

For example, I bought some low-carb rye bread made with flax.  I’m allowed two pieces per day.  Great!  I’m nervous about gaining weight on the stuff, but looking at the labels, it’s all on plan.

We’re going to be eating more protein, relative to where we were at in October. That’s been a major shift for Scott and me.

So we’ll see.  While I maintain my weight, I’m planning on continuing my regular weigh ins, and may even get us a bathroom scale.

But that’s not for 30ish pounds.

Scott and I are on our new, annual vacation.  Something we committed to last year when we went on our honeymoon.

We’ve had a few interesting ‘magic’ moments during our holiday this post is my way of thanking everyone who added to the magic thus far:

• Scott and I have been trying to find a Piglet pin for me, for a year and they simply don’t exist these days, or so we thought.  We went to the Pin Traders at Downtown Disney near The Marketplace and asked.  One of the cast members actually had one, and when asking what we could trade it for, she gave it to us!  We had gone off to pay for some other pins and went to find her again and she had disappeared.  We didn’t get her name, but still want to say thank you to her!
• When we got to our room, we had noticed two omissions – Bev’s character autograph book, and a mis-spelling of my name on an embroidered blanket.  It was too late to call, but we called in the morning.  They had the autograph book to us within 30 minutes of our call, and a new blanket was waiting for us at night.  They didn’t take the mis-spelled one, so we have a funny momento of our time here.
• At Cinderella’s Royal Table, Scott asked how much it would cost to get additional copies of the picture and frame together.  $29.99.  We opted not to as not all of us needed the frame and there were extra copies of the pictures.  As we were eating dinner, John, the cast member handing out photos came up to us and asked about Betty and Bev’s first time, our anniversary and my 40th birthday we were celebrating.  He passed us an additional 2 packages!
• Additionally at Cinderella’s Royal Table, I was given a HUGE cupcake for my birthday.   Thank you again to the folks at Cinderella’s Royal Table for helping us celebrate Thanksgiving, and for making that night magical.
• On our way out of Cinderella’s Castle after the fireworks, we ran into the stage manager of the show and he provided us with some neat info about the castle, some of the changes they made to the lighting and a tip on what’s coming up for the holiday season. *GRIN*
• PhotoPass – They now do videos!  We have two – one featuring Betty screaming on Seven Dwarves Mine Train and me being very stoic; and Mike from Monsters Inc. bouncing around one of our pictures. 🙂

Talk about some great memories and things we’ll cherish for life.  Thank you to everyone who has made out trip thus far.