Berto Republic

On the morning of the 30th, I looked out my window and saw that the sun was shining in comparison to yesterday’s overcast and rain.  I figured that on this day I would hit another popular beach destination to the people of Sydney and head north to Manly Beach.

Manly is just a 30 minute or so ferry ride from Circular Quay on one of the larger boats of the Sydney Ferries system.  The journey gives a pretty good tour of Sydney Harbour and if you using a MyMulti 1 travel card, it’s included, otherwise a MyFerry 2 card is required.  Either way the public ferry system is cheaper than the tourist express ferries and give you a bit more time to check out the sights as you go through the harbour.  The further from the CBD you get it becomes more wooded and then the big surprise is when you pass the harbour entrance.  Since you have the waves coming in from the Pacific Ocean, the ferry starts to pitch and roll a good bit.  Nothing too bad, but if you are the type that is prone to getting sea sick, it’s probably not the best place for you.

Additionally, for the entire journey I found myself on the forward most seating area I could get to.  Being that it was Fall/Winter it got a good bit cooler as we moved through the harbour.  The good thing is that this meant all the cold tourists went back indoors as I was able to take pictures with no one in my way.  I also, was lucky enough to have finally found my beanie, which made it a million times more bearable than when I didnt have it for a similar ferry ride in Seattle earlier this year where the cold really got to me.

Upon reaching Manly, you disembark at the Manly Wharf which like most public transit terminals has a variety of quick service/counter service restaraunts inside.  Across the street one finds the Corso, which is a pedestrian zone straight to the beach.  Stores here include you basic beach variety, some accomodations, and even a food store if you want to pick up some cheap eats for a day at the beach.

It doesn’t take very long before you find yourself at the beach.  Compared to my trip 2 days before to Bondi, Bronte, and Coogee Beaches, this beach had a lot more people at it.  As I walked north along the walkway I saw many more surfers, but also people just relaxing or playing on the beach.  In comparison the others felt relatively empty for their sizes.  I continued my walk all the way down until where the beach ends which is a decent ways from the Corso.  I sat here for a bit just taking pictures and otherwise just taking in the scenery before heading back the way I came.  Not done exploring the beach, and somewhat interested in lunch, I kept heading south and reached the other end of Manly Beach.  I didn’t see anything too exciting to eat, so it was back to the Corso.  Here I spotted a burger joint, so I popped in and ordered a Mexican Burger (yeah, I know probably should have aimed for something a little more further from home than a burger with jalapenos on it), only finding out too late that they had a kangaroo burger that I had overlooked.

With my freshly cooked, and fairly delicious burger in hand, I found a picnic table and enjoyed while fighting off the seagulls and watching the people/the beach.  It was fairly relaxing way to enjoy lunch and I wish that PCB had areas like this.  Unfortunately, I think that is probably a downside of having such a large beach (PCB is roughly 26 miles long) while beaches like Manly may at best be around a mile long…allows for these public places to be created.

Back down the Corso I went stopping for Ice Cream I went towards the Manly Wharf.  It was approaching 1PM, so I figured that I would catch the next ferry and while I waited would check out the immediate area.  There really wasn’t anything to see, so I jumped on a wifi hotspot to get some ideas for the rest of the day and then headed down to the boat.  The ride back was essentially the same, but just had more people on-board and the front of the vessel was crowded with people, so I had to be contempt with sitting inside on this ride.

In Circular Quay I didn’t have any real direction, so I figured I would check out the Police and Justice museum around the corner, provided they would take my UCF ID for a discount.  So far I had succeeded in getting a discount for each museum, but unfortunately I got shot down by this museum.  They claimed that they had no way to tell if it was me (yeah its in that bad of shape and has tape holding bits of it together), but they wouldn’t give it to me.  That is if I paid for one of those International Student ID Cards (nothing more than a discount card that anyone can get provided they pay a fee…I find it kinda of lame), they would have decided to let me in, but I decided that paying $12 for a museum that I didn’t have any strong reason to go to was a better idea.

Heading back down to waterfront, I paused to watch a street performer do his thing for a crowd of tourists which for when I showed up involved riding like a 10 foot tall unicycle.  Even better yet was another performer did his show/act after this guy so it was a way to kill a good chunk of time.  The sun was starting to set around this time (it was probably 3pm or so - Winter), so I grabbed a sandwich from a deli and started walking back to the Royal Botanical Gardens to sit and have an early dinner as the sun went down.  I found a bench and ate my sandwich just looking out to the water.  At some point someone asked me to take a picture for them, so I did and that lead into a conversation of comparing stories of travels around the world.  Kept my afternoon interesting, but was relatively short as the park closes at 530pm.

I decided I would walkabout in the waterfront area for another night of the Sydney Vivid Festival, so I did that for a while until deciding that I needed food.  While walking past the the wharf for my ferry I noticed I missed the last one for the night (Sundays are limited service), so I thought I would take the train back to near my hotel.  I rode a few stations down, but instead of switching to a north-bound train I got off at Town Hall station to see what I could find in that area for food.  There wasn’t much to get, so I picked up a snack at a food store and then just wound up walking all the way down George St. back to the waterfront.  I decided to go cheap for this meal and against my better judgement got some McDonalds.  Took care of some Internet business on the free wifi and then proceeded with my original plan to take the train to the neighborhood I was staying in.

Eventually, I made back to the hotel and pretty much went straight to bed.  I wanted to make sure I could get up early enough to try and beat any bad weather for making the climb of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Also, I’m still working on pictures.  They will get up eventually…

Made it back home tonight after one crazy long day.  I’m still working on the remaining entries about what I did, so they should be up in the next few days.  After that is all done, I will start working on getting pictures up.  Expect to see it all up by the weekend!

Throughout this whole trip it seems like I have had to deal with a Seattle amount of rain in Sydney.  As a result, I wasn’t able to do everything inside that I wanted to do, so I was forced to check out a variety of Museums (which isn’t all that bad, really).

Starting out my day I decided that the National Maritime Museum would be a good start.  Located in Darling Harbour, it has exhbits on all things dealing with Australia and the high seas.  In fact they even have a former Royal Australian Navy Submarine and Cruiser, along with a replica ship of the HMS Endeavour.  While, the shore-side portion of the museum is free, the vessels are not.  Ultimately, I just did the inside portion, as I did not want to spend $20 to tour a warship.  This didnt stop me form taking pictures though, and once I was done with that, it was time to find some food.

I wandered around Darling Harbour before settling on Subway.  I didn’t care that its something we have back home, I just wanted cheap and convienent, and thats exactly what it was.  Sadly they didn’t have a Vegemite sub.  Next, it was time to head to Paddy’s Market - a giant flea market/produce market in Chinatown.  There wasn’t anything too remarkable in there, although I’m sure Australian Customs must go through there every now and then, as I bet a good portion of the goods sold by vendors are less than legit.

I essentially had no direction after leaving the market.  I wandered around a few streets trying to find my way, which was a bit difficult as my map did not have some street names.  Eventually I did find my way though and headed over towards Hyde Park again.  I read in my Sydney book that I should stop into St. Mary’s Cathedral to take in the architecture.  As i walked in however, it appeared that I wound up catching the tailend of a wedding.  Myself and the other tourists stood off to the side and this time I remembered to take off my hat (got reprimanded in Munich when I didnt last year).  I figured taking pictures would be ok, as with every other church I have ever been too, but right as I was snapping one from the rear of the church, I again got in trouble.  It appears that I just always break the rules when it comes to checking out churches.

After walking around it was back into the rain and a short walk to the Australian Museum.  The Australian Museum was founded only 40 years after the establishment of Sydney (according to my guidebook) and is primarily a natural history museum.  While they had some interesting exhibits, it really wasn’t a very large musuem.  In the end I am glad that my UCF ID got me in at the student rate instead of full price. 

However I cant seem to remember what I did after that.  I remember that it was raining and I got dinner somewhere, but that is all.  Maybe I just walked around…

Australia is known around the world for beaches, with many famous ones such as Manly and Bondi Beaches.  I figured that since the sun was coming out on this day, that I would head to Bondi Beach. 

Now, I wasn’t going to go swimming or anything.  It’s winter here and the only people who go into the water are the surfers wearing wetsuits.  My objective was to take a roughly 5km hike along cliffs on the coast between various beaches.  To get started I took a bus from the city center to the north end of Bondi Beach.  I started here because my Sydney guide book explained that there were some Aboriginal carvings in a park here.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t find where that park was.

I started at the very north end of Bondi Beach, taking pictures as I started my walk south.  Around the mid-point on the beach is the Bondi Pavilion, and I decided to head down onto the sand to get my feet wet in the Ocean.  I was standing out there in the cold water up to my ankles taking pictures when a wave caught my by surprise.  Next thing I know the water is up past my knees and I have wet shorts.  Luckily, it wasn’t a huge wave, or my camera would have been toast.  After drying out it was back on the trail.

All along the trail I was constantly stopping to take pictures…it was just quite beautiful and calming being out there.  In fact at several spots I got off the path and went out on the rocks to just sit, relax, and maybe do a little thinking.  As the trail headed south, I eventually found myself in Bronte Beach, where I picked up a lunch of fish and chips to enjoy while watching the surfers get pummeled by the waves.

After lunch, the hike continued, passing through a small beach, a cemetery, and even a film shoot for an Australian TV show/movie before reaching Coogee Beach.  I didn’t really do anything other than get a strawberry smoothie and just sit on the beach walk watching the waves.  Eventually it was time to catch a bus back to Circular Quay.

Upon arrival to Circular Quay, I decided to head to the Royal Botanical Gardens.  I figured I would tour the Government House that afternoon, but was disappointed to see that there was an event taking place inside and no tourists would be allowed in.  Instead I just wandered the gardens for a while.  Granted I don’t know one plant from the other, so I found my self taking pictures of birds and other wildlife in the park.  Even found a flock (?) of Cockatoos (I think). 

Eventually, though I needed to leave the gardens since it closes at 5:30PM.  Since that coincides with nightfall I figured I would enjoy the second night of the Vivid Sydney Festival.  I started by watching the Opera House light up, but decided that I would go explore another part of the festival - Macquarie Visions.  Macquarie Visions is a celebration of the 200th anniversary of the former Governor of New South Wales and his wife, who together apparently launched several projects and visions for the city of Sydney.  As a result, they have lit up several buildings along Macquarie Street including: St. Mary’s Cathedral, Hyde Park Baracks Museum, The old Mint, NSW Parliament, State Library of NSW, Palace Garden Gate, and the Conservatorium of Music.Each had a different theme and all were very colorful.  You’ll see when I get some pictures up online.

Afterwards, since Macquarie Street dead ends at the Opera House, I figured I would get some dinner.  For one dinner on every trip, I make sure to have one good meal.  I opted for an Italian restaurant that was located right on the Harbour in Circular Quay facing the the Harbour Bridge.  It was a bit on the pricey side for me, but it was worth the view.  Food wasn’t too bad either.  Although I did get gouged when ordering water (I hate it when I say the wrong thing and get the expensive option).  Afterwards I just walked around the Circular Quay area for a while taking in some of the street performers that were part of the festival, before taking the ferry back to Kirribilli.

Next: Museums

When I last left off, I was heading into a very long sleep.  In fact I woke back up around 11pm and decided that I would try to sleep a few more hours.  Eventually around 3am, I couldn’t sleep anymore and resigned myself to late nate infomercials on TV.

When I did get up and moving that morning after eating breakfast at the hotel, I rode the ferry across the Sydney Harbour to Circular Quay station, which is right between the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge.  I was keen on exploring this city by foot on this first day, as that is just how I like to introduce myself to a new city.  In the beginning I found myself wandering mostly around  Circular Quay, taking pictures of the bridge and Opera House before heading out into an area to west of Circular Quay known as the rocks.  This is the historic center of Sydney and there are a lot of old buildings and the southern end of the harbour bridge.  I explored the coastal areas first (having crossed under the bridge), before making my way back up up the hill.

From here I found the stairs to the bridge, so I went up and headed to the first pylon.  Unfortunately as I got there it started to rain, so I hid out there waiting for it to pass and then heading back in the direction I came from.  I still had plenty of other places to check out in the city center and going across the bridge would have meant heading back to the hotel.  I headed down Macquarie St. going past several sites of historic interest before entering Hyde Park, which contains the ANZAC memorial (War memorial).  From there it was just aimless exploring of the city streets.

I again found myself at Circular Quay yet again, as it was approaching sunset.  I figured I would watch the sunset from here, but little did I know that at 5:30pm the Sydney Vivid festival would start.  Actually, this night would be the first night of it.  Needless to say I was surprised when I turned and saw that the Opera House sails were lit up along with other building onthe waterfront.

On this first day I found myself worn out pretty badly by the end of the day, so I called it quits early.  If I had to venture how far I had walked that day, it was easily over 10km.  All I know is that I had a very good sleep that night.

Next: Beaches, Hiking, and Gardens

If you have been checking this while I have been down in Australia, im sure you have noticed that I havent updated in a while.  I have been keeping myself fairly busy throughout the day and just havent really found the time to write anything up.  I might try to work on some tonight, so check back in the evening (In the US), and I should have something up.  In the mean time, here is where I went today: http://twitpic.com/1sbi6s

I pick up as i sit in the breakfast room for the hotel that will be my base of operations for the next week.  Unfortunately, its a really crappy weather day here in Sydney today.  I knew as we were landing and could see nothing but gray skies outside the aircraft windows for the last hour of the flight. 

I got through Immigration and Customs checks relatively quickly and found myself wandering through the arrivals hall trying to get to the train station.  I reluctantly used Travelex to change some USD into Australian Dollars (Figured I might need some local currency on my way to the hotel).  I got my train ticket, which was almost $16 and actually wound up costing me more since I wound up leaving the turnstiles at the station where I had to change to another line and the machine kept my ticket.

The line I was on actually ran across the Sydney Harbour Bridge and from there I caught my first glimpse of the Sydney Opera House.  It is a shame that it was during inclement weather conditions.  After leaving the train, I tried to find a taxi to take me to my hotel, but for whatever reason I failed at hailing one.  Getting impatient, I started walking in the direction of my hotel following signs to Kirribilli House (Sydney residence of the Prime Minister) since I knew the hotel was just down the street from it.  It turned out to be a 10-15 minute walk through the rain and getting soaked in the process.

I was hoping that when I reached my hotel that they would be able to check me in.  With the weather and having been up for the better part of the past 36 hours and probably having slept a total of 6-8 hours during the past 72 hours, I just wanted to take a nap before I ventured into town…that and take a shower.  I wasn’t so lucky, but at least was offered breakfast while I waited.

Eventually I was able to check in and get situated.  After a shower, I noticed it was still raining, so I decided to lay down for a bit.  After napping for a few hours, I saw it was still coming down pretty hard outside and just decided to spend the day sleeping.  I had not been getting much sleep lately, so I figured it would be best if I got a good day’s sleep so that the rest of my trip would be enjoyed.

This first entry is broken up into three parts. Saturday, May 22 (Airport Grand Opening); Sunday, May 23 (Inaugural Flight on Southwest Airlines); and Monday, May 24 (Travel to Sydney).

5/22: New Airport Recap
Almost anyone reading this already knows that Panama City has replaced the Panama City-Bay County International Airport (KPFN) with the brand new Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport in West Bay.  On the day before commercial service was to commence, the airport
authority held a grand opening with dignitaries, a ribbon cutting, planes landing, and of course an open house of the new terminal.

The event kicked off at 9AM, but I did not go that early, instead leaving around 1030 to get there for the ceremonies at 1130. Turns out I underestimated how many people would go to the event, as there were cars parking along the airport access road a good distance from the terminal. Luckily the kid directing traffic screwed up, and a group of us wound up in the rental car lot. The Camry became the finest rental car Alamo could offer.

Anyways, they had a stage setup on the terminal ramp. Gov. Crist, Sen. Nelson, Rep. Boyd, and representatives from the St. Joe, Southwest Airlines, the FAA and the TSA were on hand to give remarks. During the anthem three F-15E Eagles out of Tyndall performed a flyby. Later after the ribbon cutting, an F-22 also out of Tyndall performed a flyby and then performed the first landing (touch and go).

I checked out the terminal afterwards and I have to say, it’s a pretty nice facility that we have now compared to the old PFN terminal. There are seven gates total with Delta at gates 4,5,6 and Southwest is at gate 3. I wandered around for a while until 1:50 when the first Southwest 737-700 arrived from Dallas Love Field with 70 or so Southwest employees for the weekend events.

5/23: The first ones never get anything
About a week prior I booked a ticket on the first flight (WN1659) down to Orlando. This was mostly a positioning flight for me, as I booked my trip to Australia out of Orlando. I also figured that there would be celebrations around the first flights and the News Herald even reported that Southwest would be providing breakfast to those passengers.

As it turned out, those of us on the first flight got shafted. There was no breakfast, there were no freebies, and WJHG only showed up while we were boarding. Once I landed in Orlando, I checked twitter and what do I see, Southwest posting pictures of breakfast and freebies that they handed out for the other 2nd, 3rd, and 4th flights of the day. Waiting in the gate, boarding, and even the flight were nothing special - it was like every other flight I have ever been on. I know that my flight left at 7:25am, but come on Southwest, you could have done something for those of us on the first flight out of the airport. Afterall there were over 100 of us on that plane.

The flight itself was a quick 45 minutes flying time and definitly beats driving the 5.5-6 hours to Orlando. In the future I see myself probably booking these flights every so often, especially since fares are fairly low.

Upon arrival in Orlando, I had to wait for my friend Lee to pick me up, so I grabbed breakfast. After some confusion of where to pick me up from, we headed back to campus. The rest of the day was spent at his apartment or driving around Orlando to various stores. When it came time to sleep I slept in a chair, but that didnt work very well. I tried the sofa too, but that was a failure and went back to the chair. Needless to say, I didn’t get much sleep - probably 3 hours at best.

5/24: One really long travel day…
Monday was going to be one long day considering my roundabout way of getting to Sydney. First I had to get to the airport fairly early, since Lee has a 9AM class and I had to catch a 10:45AM departure. As usual check in and security was quick, so I just wandered the concourse.

The first flight of the day, Delta 2973, was a direct flight to Minneapolis. It was fairly full and I got stuck with a window seat on the flight. Unfortunatly there was no wifi on this flight, so I just
read some magazines and watched a movie on my netbook. Upon landing I had to check in for my next two flights, because for whatever reason it wouldn’t let me in Orlando. After getting boarding passes, it told me the flight to LAX was oversold, so I tried to get Delta to put me on an early flight for a voucher, but it turns out every flight to LAX was oversold that day.

With 6.5 hours to kill before my LAX flight, I jumped on the light rail down to the Mall of America. It had been several years since I was last here and I wanted to see what was different. For the most part it seemed it was largely the same, but what used to be the Camp Snoopy Amusement Park is now Nickelodeon themed (no I did not ride any of the rides). I eventually found the Best Buy after grabbing lunch and proceeded to look at the DSLR department.

I had seen a Sony DSLR on sale when in Orlando and at $399 with pretty much the same specs as the $499 Nikon D3000, I thought it might be a good buy. I wandered for a while and I’m sure I annoyed a few people with my “should I buy it routine”, but in the end I purchased it and walked out the door to test it out, pack it in my bag and get rid of the box. I didn’t have time to play with it at the Mall (plus I needed to get a charge on the battery), but eventually made my way to the light rail back to MSP. Going through security was a breeze since I left my luggage in a locker in the secure area and just had my backpack.

I still had just under 2 hours to kill so I found a quiet spot in the small Concourse D. I started playing with the camera and at somepoint turned around and noticed a staircase with a sign that said observation deck. Needless to say, I went up to this small room which had a good view of one of the runways and many of the gates in Concourse C and tested as much as I could on my new camera.

Eventually I needed to head towards Gate G17 (opposite side of the airport) according to the screens, but once I arrived it turned out to actually be Gate G3. I’ve connected through MSP twice this year, and on both visits, this has happened. It’s like Delta or maybe MSP just doesnt like me…

The flight (DL41) was completely full and once again I was stuck in a Window seat. At close to 4 hours, I needed to keep busy and found myself playing with my new camera (tried to catch a few shots out the window including another aircraft that flew past us) and reading a few of the magazines I brought with me. Otherwise, it was fairly uneventful. We landed on time, but for whatever reason our gate was occupied. I had a short 56 minute layover here to connect to my flight to Sydney. Instead we went for a lap around LAX and parked out by the American Airlines maintenance hanger. We sat and we waited, and I kept looking at my phone as it kept getting later and later. I was starting to get worried that I wouldnt make my flight and that I wind up spending my night at the Crowne Plaza LAX or some other airport hotel.

After 20 minutes of waiting, we finally were on the way to the gate. Only once we got to the gate, we had to wait some more, because apparently we had to towed into this gate. I looked outside the window and saw the Boeing 777-200LR at the next gate that would be going to Sydney. I saw that a good deal of people were already sitting down. Eventually the door opened and I watched as people fumbled with their belongings. Eventually I got off and walked over to the neighboring gate, and found myself to be the only person approaching the boarding pass scanner. While I was probably not the last person on board, it certainly felt that way.

THe load on this flight turned out to not be packed, and I managed to get an aisle seat far enough forward to be able to get a power outlet. Another plus - no one in the middle seat. As I write this I am about 3 hours, 45 minutes out from landing in Sydney. So far the flight has been fairly smooth and I have spent the bulk of my time wathing TV/Movies on the seatback screen. Dinner was fairly basic and about halfway throught the flight there was a sandwich meal. I suspect before we land there will be breakfast as well. I even managed about 2 hours of sleep, but thanks to the person behind me, I cant recline my seat, so it’s probably a safe bet that I wont be getting anymore sleep before I arrive in Sydney. Hopefully I can check in early to the hotel and maybe take a nap.

I’ve been busy a lot lately and free wifi has been lacking since I have left Seattle. I left Seattle on Wednesday morning at 730am aboard Amtrak Cascades #501. I actually managed to get out the door when I wanted to and caught the bus to King Street Station. After stopping for breakfast, I managed to stop in the door right as boarding was being called.

Amtrak, unlike the systems in Europe where you just board directly from the platform, is more set up like air travel. After waiting in line, I was at the check-in desk where I received my seat assignment to Portland, OR. Luckily no one was assigned next to me, and for the scheduled 3.5 hour ride I set out to work on some school work. The ride was otherwise more or less uneventful and I got done with my work done right as we arrived into Portland’s Union Station about 20 minutes late.

As I jumped off the train it was hailing, but I made my way to the light rail stop. I had planned this layover in Portland so that I could check out this city briefly and breakup my long distance train ride. It wasn’t a very long ride until I hit the end of the line at Portland State University. I figured this would be a good place to grab lunch plus I noted that there was a Safeway food store near campus so I could pick up some snacks for the next train.

I settled on Pita Pit, getting my usual, and then moved on to the food store where I picked up a few things. After walking around for a little bit, I hopped back on the light rail. Turns out the train I was waiting for was delayed, so I just found myself waiting. Really wasn’t very exciting at all.

Eventually Amtrak 11, the Coast Starlight, showed up about 30 minutes late. Boarding was quick and luckily my superliner car was equiped with power outlets. Unlike my earlier train, this one was packed, so I was assigned the aisle with another traveller at the window. About 30 minutes after leaving Portland a Union Pacific freight train broke down in front of us and set us back 1.5 hours. It apparently was resolved and we were on our way.

As the train went through the day and into the night it was rather boring. I watched a movie on my netbook and tried to sleep but probably only got an hour or less. At Sacramento (first stop after the sun rose) the guy in the window seat got of and I was able to finally stretch out for a few hours and finally get some sleep. As we went through California I listened to music and spent most of the time looking out the window. We passed through some interesting landscapes especially up through the mountains. Lot’s of twists and turns and going through tunnels. After getting out of the mountains we wound up at Vandenberg AFB.

Vandenberg is the west coast launch site for the USAF and at one time was slated to be another launch site for the Space Shuttle. But the best thing about passing through Vandenberg is that you finally get to see the Pacific Ocean and from that point to just outside LA, the tracks run right on the coast.

We actually got into the LA on time and I began the long journey out to LAX via multiple Metro lines and shuttle buses. Checked into my hotel and then just crashed. Not getting much sleep causes that.

Boeing Commercial Airplanes is one of the two primary commercial aircraft manufacturers in the world with the other being EADS subsidiary Airbus. Boeing for most of its corporate life had been headquartered out here in the Seattle area, but a few years ago they moved out to Chicago. Despite this, all of Boeing’s commercial aviation assembly still takes place at several sites around Seattle. The largest of these facilities is the plant in Everett, WA, which also holds the distinction of being the largest building by volume in the world.

Originally I had planned to catch a bus around 8AM up to Lynnwood, WA where I could transfer to a bus that would get me within walking distance of the Future of Flight Aviation Center at Paine Field. The Future of Flight Aviation Center was recently built by the county to host the Boeing tour center along with some museum space and an observation deck.

However, knowing me, I managed to sleep through my alarm and didn’t get up until close to 8:30am. This seems to happen on every trip I take. I now had a little bit of time to catch my bus and caught a commuter bus going north around 10am, transferred to a local bus and finally arrived at a bottom of a steep hill 2 hours later near Paine Field. After the fun 0.5 mile walk up the hill, I was at my destination. I secured my ticket for a 12pm tour, which luckily was a last minute addition with only 15 or so of us.

After getting introduced to our guide and locking up everything on our person including cameras as photography is not allowed. It’s a short bus ride over to the building and along the way we passed three of the first Boeing 787 airframes.

Our first stop was the 747-8F production line. After a walk down a tunnel under the building we took an elevator up to the observation deck. From there we could see the cockpit/nose assembly stations and the wing assembly stations. There was not much going on thanks to it being the lunch hour, but we then rotated over to the bay on the other side of the observation deck. Here we could see the actually assembly stations where all the pieces come together and eventually become an airplane. Luckily there was activity in each station so we could see each step of the process.

After finishing up there we took a bus ride to the other end of the building where the 777 and 787 production lines are located. The 777 line is a different kind of line from the 747 line in that it is a moving production line (kind of like with how they assembly vehicles). There were a five planes being assembled and if you looked past the offices in the middle you could see one 767 being built as well.

A turn to the other side of the observation deck yielded what I really wanted to see: the 787 production line. The 787 is the newest commercial airliner that Boeing is introducing, just having taken its first flight in December. What is notable about this aircraft is that it is not built from aluminum at all; it is constructed from composite materials such as carbon fiber, Kevlar, and other super-strong synthetic materials. Thanks to the elevator being used for moving some freight around we got a little extra time to view the production line.

Afterwards, the hour long tour was over and we were taken back to the Future of Flight Aviation Center and deposited in the Boeing store. I picked up some stickers and headed back down the hill to catch a bus and a burrito from the taco bell next to the bus stop. The bus ride back was fairly non-descript and was deposited in downtown Seattle. Unfortunately by this point it was approaching 5pm, so I could not really go to anywhere else (during this time of the year many of the attractions close at 5pm), so I stopped at King Street Station and printed my Amtrak tickets for the next day. Afterwards I wandered around Pioneer Square and then caught a bus down Pike Place Market. Unfortunately it looked like everything was closing up, so I was not able to grab any dinner.

I walked around some more before stumbling on the Monorail station which I had not yet taken a journey on since they only take cash. Seeing as I still had quarters left over, I took the ride to the Space Needle. From there I just took it slowly back to my hotel stopping to pick up a pita on the way. I turned into my hotel close to 7pm, since I needed to pack back up and get to bed early. After taking care of business it was lights out and a wakeup call set for 5:30am.

The next entry might be a few days away. I doubt I will have much in the way of internet connectivity while on the 30 hour ride on the Coast Starlight from Portland to Los Angeles.