744 Forum

There is a trip brewing to fix up N194UA with "my" satLINK and this will drag me all the way up to the Windy City somewhere over the next two weeks.

Social opportunities, anyone?


Jeroen

I'm a Chicago person! My work schedule is arduous, but I may be able to find time to get together for coffee or dinner. Will you be in the 'burbs or in the city proper?

Most likely I will hang around ORD all the time, being put up in a local airport hotel and working through hangar duties while not asleep. N194UA is a charter bird so not necessarily midnight work, though.


Jeroen

Confirmed: arrival ORD Sunday evening June 10th, kick aircraft around Monday morning, leave for MIA Monday afternoon.

Jeroen, arrrgh, I won't be able to greet you. But I hope you have a good time in this excellent city. Both airports are kind of meh (Midway has more history and charm), but the city itself is world class. Come back and spend more time!

Well, this will be one of those normal business trips anyway. Airport, plane, airport, hotel, plane, plane, airport. :-D


Jeroen

In case you still find time, go to the Meigs field and bring a hammer.
Pieces of the runway are down at the beach and make a nice
souvenir.

Hoppie,

How about July? Chance maybe for a side-trip to Oshkosh? I won't be there this year, but just suggesting.

Cheers.

Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers wrote

Well, this will be one of those normal business trips anyway. Airport, plane, airport, hotel, plane, plane, airport. :-D


Jeroen

If practical, etc, try and stay downtown on North Michigan Avenue - very glitzy shops and other places of interest. I can recommend specific hotels if this location is of interest. Unfortunately, the commute to O'hare or Midway takes a fair amount of time and can be formidable if there is any traffic congestion. There are frequent, inexpensive buses to make the journey to the airports, if taxicabs are too expensive. There is a subway to O'hare but I have a personal aversion to Chicago subways.

If you can spare some time, the Art Institute and the Field Museum of Natural Science, as well as the Shedd Aquarium, are all well worth visiting for a person with interests in museum-things. Might even be worth spending a day or so of vacation.

There is a very large science museum on the south side, too, but it would need 1+ days to scratch its surface. They even have a captured and restored WWII German submarine you can go inside.

(Disclosure: About 100 lifetimes ago, I spent almost 10 years in college and then grad school at the U of Chicago.)

Forget it. Fly in late evening, hotel at the airport. To the terminal at 06:00 AM, air side bus to the hangar, work, then plane back South after lunch.

Hey... I thought Miami was hot... but Chicago is a few degrees hotter! Ok, humidity and wind, but still.


Jeroen

Last Wednesday it was 65 degrees... Come back when you can explore the city. If you get homesick for Dutch beer and food, we have that covered.

I'll keep you to that one! Though I pass on the Heineken -- must be some real beer (and preferably neither Amstel, Hollandia whatever that may be, etc.).

Belgian is good, though. :-)

I mean Belgian... We have a place with a hundred or so Belgian beers, many on tap. And a great food menu, too.

hopleaf.com

Well, posting from a 737-800 at FL400 is something new.

Looks like fun!

100% white-out at FL400 South of Atlanta. Pretty bad weather. Clear of it now.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AAL295

Mission accomplished

You did the push-back with just one hand ? ... not bad !

That "airplane" is much too big - it would never get off the ground! Even if it did get off the ground, it's too big for any person to fly!!!

Seriously, it always amazes me to see a person walk under an airliner, and to give scale to how large these things really are. I guess that in order to fly one, you have to resolve to never think about how tiny you are as a person and how big the plane is.

Next stop: Williamsburg, VA.

Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers wrote

Next stop: Williamsburg, VA.

Just in case you haven't looked up the tourist opportunities in Williamsburg, there is an incredible restored 1700s-1800s era US village, with apparently period-authentic buildings, staff clothing, etc. If you happen to end up with about a half-day or more free, it's worth a visit. Of course this recommendation assumes you're interested in such things.

In further thinking about this recommendation, I am less sure this site would work well for a well-traveled sophisticated European... (1) 200 years old is not very old for Europe, (2) it's possibly too commercialized (plenty of "antique" recreations are for sale and were created by the Williamsburg village shops with good quality).

Even if you can't make a visit to area attractions, I hope you enjoy your trip and that it's very successful.
------------------------------

Some background:

I did a lot of business travel during my career. As a result, I've seen more interesting and beautiful cities from the back seat of a taxi than I can easily count. Perhaps 5% of the time I would end up with a free weekend in an interesting city, or maybe a half-day to quickly survey part of a museum, or to walk around and acquire a feel for a place. Not a substitute for an extended visit, and definitely not a substitute for living in a place for the several years it would take to know some things about a place and its culture. Perhaps an analogy would be to taste a few dishes from a very large array of food vs enjoying many meals over an extended period of time.

Same here. In at 01:30AM, out at 07:30PM. Plane, hotel, meeting, plane. The wonderful aspects of business travel.

At least it is not cold here, either. The US seems to be boiling in Summertime.


Jeroen

Quote

Boiling

Well, depends a bit where you are in the US.
I'm in Delhi, India right now and Dallas seems quite pleasant weather wise compared to Delhi! And let me tell you, you don't want to be in Dallas in the summer.
Jeroen

Jeroen, how's the food? I imagine beautiful tastiness everywhere.