|
|
Cheers from the east coast! Last week,
we left off from San Juan, Puerto Rico and this week we're traveling back to L.A. before hopping on a flight to visit two great
cities: New York and Toronto. If you're up for enjoying the summer weather and some fun on the east coast with my family and friends,
then hop on board. Also, don't forget to check out the final installment of Juliet Pennington's three-part series on her travels
through South America. This week, she's in Peru.
SAN JUAN TO DALLAS
From San Juan, I flew five hours to Dallas, then another three hours to L.A. I fly so much that I have elite status on American Airlines
and so when I checked in, the agent offered to give me a first-class seat. Well, I kindly declined; it would have cost me five American Airline upgrade units (which elite frequent fliers accrue or can purchase at a discount). Since I was already assigned to seat 9E – which, in my opinion, is the best seat on American's 757 planes, I decided to stay put. Note: Each airline and airplane has different seat configurations; log on to SeatGuru.com
to find which ones they rate as the best.
9E is a bulkhead exit row with plenty of legroom but there's no overhead space so you have to make sure that you board the plane early to find storage nearby. The flight to Dallas was uneventful; I passed the time working on my laptop. I also found myself watching in amazement as people of all ages tried to figure out if the bathroom was vacant or not and how to open the door. This isn't just a domestic problem either. Last month, on my flight from Cyprus to London, it was just as bad (if not worse!). This past month alone, I opened the bathroom door twice to find someone sitting on the toilet! And then they slam the door like it's my fault! What's going on around here? Do the airlines need a better system or are people just knuckleheads?
DALLAS TO LOS ANGELES
I arrived at the Dallas/Fort Worth airport
(DFW) in the new, $1.4-billion Terminal D a little bit late.
Terminal D
is state-of-the-art and looks awesome but unfortunately, I just didn't have time to roam around and explore the many shops and restaurants. I had a tight connection and found myself rushing to make the last flight out to LAX. Another problem: I don't know if it's just me but every time I travel through DFW and take the Skylink high-speed train to travel between terminals, I can't remember which stop to get off at. Coupled with the fact that gate information is not provided on the train or in the station, it's a real problem! Therefore, you have to go all the way down the steep escalator to find out if you're in the right place, something this particular bonehead has had to do on more than one occasion!
WICKED
Back in L.A., I managed to catch the Los Angeles production of the popular play Wicked.
I was lucky enough to see it a couple of months ago when I was in
London ... and I liked it so much,
I thought that I'd take a friend to see it in L.A. The show was at the historic Pantages Theatre in the heart of Hollywood
(on the corner of Hollywood and Vine.) The headliner here was Carol Kane who played Madame Morrible. She and all of the other
cast members
were great, but to be perfectly honest, I much preferred the London production. Maybe I'm biased but I think
that London offers the best theatre in the world and it's my favorite place to catch a show – I even prefer London's West End to Broadway. However, if you want to see Wicked in L.A., LA INC. has just partnered with 12 area hotels to offer special VIP package deals that guarantee VIP tickets to the show and a great place to stay. Click here
for more info.
BI-COASTAL FOR THE HOLIDAYS
I spent the Fourth of July in Hermosa Beach, CA. It was
fun
as usual, playing volleyball with my friends and people-watching down on The Strand – the nearby beach boardwalk. This holiday brings out all kinds of characters – and drunks – so it's fun to just sit back and observe. The holiday prior to this (Memorial Day), I spent in New York and Connecticut, just after returning home from my trip to Puerto Rico. I flew
LAX-JFK on Delta, which, incidentally, one-upped American by giving elite frequent fliers space available FREE upgrades. I love that about Delta! It's such a welcome surprise when you're sitting in a coach seat and the agent comes down the aisle and hands you a boarding pass for seat 3A, just prior to takeoff. Though there was more legroom in my emergency exit economy seat (27D), I still made the switch because I was starving; Delta does not offer food in economy. They don't even offer a buy-on-board food service! Is that ridiculous or what? All Delta does (though keep in mind that it's more than some other carriers) is hand out a small snack box filled with cheese, crackers and junk food. Meanwhile, first-class passengers behind the curtain are dining
on a hot meal (salad, chicken breast with cheese ravioli and chocolate cake). Both meals are fattening as hell so really, the best thing to do is bring your own food onboard. But remember: cold foods don't smell as strongly as hot foods do. I'm just saying: Think of your neighbors when you're thinking of your belly.
LONG WEEKENDS IN CONNECTICUT
I love being on the east coast during the Memorial Day long weekend. In fact, it's my favorite weekend of the year and I always try and spend it with my family and friends back home in Connecticut. There's just something about late May that makes everything feel so alive back there. My theory is this: the trees are green, the flowers are in full bloom and everyone is in a good mood because they've survived yet another miserable winter. Besides that, it's the unofficial first day of summer and most of the beaches open up on this weekend, too. The people of Rowayton, Connecticut know just how to kick the season off right! It starts with a moving Memorial Day parade, followed by free hotdogs at the fire station. Then, while everyone else is running
off to attend BBQs, my friends and I head to the community center to play an annual game of
stickball. Every year, we
have so much fun.
IT'S UP TO YOU, NEW YORK, NEW YORK
If Connecticut is too slow-paced for you, then New York City is just a one-hour train ride away. I
love strolling around the city and Central Park
this time
of year. Obviously, there are thousands of fantastic places
to eat in NYC but this time, I dined for the first time at Cercle Rouge
in Tribeca. It's a trendy French restaurant with solid food and a popular outdoor patio; so popular, in fact, that you need a reservation to snag a seat. Cercle Rouge is known for its chicken wings, which, if I might say so, are damn good. But be warned: they don't come cheap. Four of these juicy things will set you back -- hold your breath -- $8! Ouch! Cercle Rouge, 241 West Broadway; tel.: 212-226-6252.
THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED
I grew up in Connecticut and after my mom
passed away in 2000, my dad moved to Erie, PA. Just this past April, he gave us all a scare when he had to have emergency quadruple bypass surgery. It's not been easy, to say the least, and his recovery has been long. Since he wasn't feeling up to traveling to Connecticut for the holiday, I went out to western Pennsylvania to spend my birthday with him. And this time, I took a new route to get there. Instead of flying directly into Erie, which requires two flights from New York, or flying nonstop into Buffalo (105 miles away), Cleveland (112 miles) or Pittsburgh (134 miles) and driving the rest of the way, I flew
into Toronto. You're probably thinking: what the heck!? That's right! Toronto's
Pearson Airport (YYZ) is Erie's other, lesser-known alternate airport. I know; it's a bit further away (196 miles) but there actually is method to my madness. I had to be in Toronto for business the following week and my good friend
Natalie lives up there and since she was going to Erie as well, it all worked out.
BORDER CROSSING
The trip to Toronto
was smooth and easy; it's just an hour flight from New York's LaGuardia airport
(LGA). After I landed, I had dinner at Sher-E-Punjab, a fine Indian restaurant (351 Danforth Avenue, Toronto, 416-465-2125) and the following morning, we drove
three hours to Erie. It takes 90 minutes to get to the Peace Bridge, which is one of the U.S./Canada border checkpoints. It was just a five-minute wait
and the agents asked a bunch of personal questions. I don't want to divulge the nature of the questions, just in case some cowardly terrorists are reading this! But I will tell you that they even checked the trunk for contraband. Fortunately, they didn't see the ... just kidding! Once we crossed the border, we were in beautiful downtown Buffalo, New York. And as my Canuck friend pointed out, the drive
from Buffalo to Erie
is actually much prettier
than the first part of the drive, from Toronto to Buffalo.
MY DAD'S ROAD TO RECOVERY
When I arrived in Erie, my dad was just getting over the worst part of his recovery.
He was so much thinner than usual; he didn't have much of an appetite and had very little energy. Fortunately, he was just
snapping out of it and every day we were able to go for a short
walk,
out to breakfast and dinner (our favorite place was
Pufferbelly's — a restored firehouse), play Scrabble and even visit Waldameer Park to play (and win!) at some fun amusement park games. We had lots of laughs and memorable times and I think this was the first time that we didn't argue with each other at all. My dad
is a great father and even before this trip, I thanked God every night that I have him as my dad. Pufferbelly, 414 French Street, Erie, PA; tel.: 814-454-1557.
BEST BUY FIASCO
For the past year and a half I've been using a Panasonic Lumix FX01 wide-angle camera. Unfortunately, after it broke for the second time, the Best Buy repair center said they wouldn't fix it for free again because I beat it up too much. With the amount of traveling that I do, and the number of pictures that I take, I use my camera a lot – and I mean A LOT! To get it repaired would have cost me nearly the same amount as purchasing a new one, so that's what I did. I bought the exact same camera, for the second time. While I was in Erie, that camera started acting up, just as the other had done before it broke. Not wanting to take any chances, I took it to a Best Buy store (since that's where I had bought it, but in L.A.). The Best Buy folks in Erie said that since the camera was so new, they'd send it out for repair and get it fixed, free of charge (even though I didn't purchase the $60 insurance for it). As the friendly workers filled out the paperwork, I purchased another camera since I was going to tour Toronto the following day and definitely needed a camera. BTW: My new camera, a Canon Power Shot SD1000, is awesome! I love it! My only complaint is that it doesn't have a wide-angle lens like my Lumix did.
OK so, to make a long story … longer, when I returned to L.A. I received a message from the camera repair center stating that they couldn't do the repair because the camera had no serial number. I thought that was weird. The camera was too new for it to have worn off and I certainly didn't scratch it off. I got the run-around from both the repair center and corporate Best Buy. One told me to call the other and vice-versa. I did. Surprisingly, both the corporate headquarters and the repair centre phones were answered quickly (kudos to them), but twice, I was put on hold for almost 30 minutes. The most frustrating part? I was told that if I had the serial number, the repair would be approved. I frantically searched for the original box but of course, I had thrown it out. Lesson learned: Don't throw out your boxes. I asked to speak to a Best Buy supervisor. This guy turned out to be a real jerk. He was unnecessarily curt with me (considering that I'm the customer!) and would only give me his first name, "John". I swore to him that because of his bad customer service I would never buy from Best Buy again. Ever.
WORST BUY
My outraged intentions didn't last long. Sure enough, (though I hate to admit it!) I was in Best Buy the following morning to buy an ink jet cartridge for my printer. Best Buy was the closest store and clearly, I was desperate. While in the store, I spoke to a friendly guy in the camera department. I quickly told him my story and he agreed with me: it just didn't make sense. He informed me that the camera would never have been sent out for repair unless it had a serial number in the first place. He advised me to look for the service order I had received in Erie, because it would have the elusive serial number on it. I rushed home, rummaged through my bag of receipts and ... voila! There it was.
I called the repair centre but this time, they told me that the number wouldn't help because it's not physically on the camera. So I called Best Buy (again!) and spoke to a lovely woman named Evelyn. She sympathized with my plight, but was not in a position to authorize any action on my behalf. So I made another call, this time to the highest level I could reach, and explained my case for what felt like the millionth time. When I finally got someone on the phone, I said, "Listen – when I returned my camera, it had a serial number on it because the employee who filled out the service order included the number on the form. So somewhere between your store in Erie and the repair centre in Connecticut, the camera lost its serial number." The corporate hack from Best Buy was useless, essentially saying, "Sorry, can't help you," and that was that. Is that not the exact opposite of customer service? Can you believe that Best Buy would pull a stunt like that, particularly on a customer who, in the span of one year, has bought three digital cameras from them? I'm so glad that I didn't open the ink cartridge case that I had bought from them. I went back to the store, returned it and drove a few extra miles to Target and bought one from them.
Best Buy should officially change their name to Worst Buy.
VIDEO
Sorry! No video this week. However, we have all the Johnny Jet videos ever made on
You Tube's servers.
Next week: Arts and culture in Toronto. Stay tuned.
Happy Travels,
Johnny Jet
*PLEASE tell us what you think of this week's newsletter!
All information presented here is accurate at the time of publication but prices, dates and other details are all subject to change. Please confirm all information before making any travel arrangements.
Note:
This trip was sponsored by San Juan Marriott.
Copyright 2007 JohnnyJet
, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.