Apr 2, 2025
Up before 3am, and waited outside in the dark for our Grab to arrive. The good thing about traveling at this time of the morning is that the roads are very quiet, and there aren’t many people in the departures terminal.
Well, the Manila airport lived up to the standard set when we arrived, and must be one of the most efficient airports in the world, even if it’s not the newest. There were only a couple of people in our check in line, there were three immigration staff waiting for foreign passport passengers, and nobody in the queue. They had two security scanning lines open, and we only had one other couple ahead of us. All that meant was that we were in the Priority Pass lounge having breakfast by 4am. Not sure that the chocolate mousse at that time of the morning was the healthiest option, but it’s going to be a long day.
Boarded and left on time, and headed off to Taiwan on our two hour flight. Comfortable flight on an EVA Air Boeing 777. Surprisingly they used a large extended range 777 for a short two hour hop, so it wasn’t very full.
Found out later why they used such a large extended range aircraft on such a short flight – when we pulled into the gate that our departing US flight was due to leave from. We had to get off the plane, walk all the way up the concourse to the transit lounge, go through security, and walk all the way back down the concourse to the same gate. In fact, we’re sitting in exactly the same seats that we had on our last leg, but this time the plane is full.
The slight problem was, that when we got on for the second leg in the same seat, we now had a blanket, a pillow, a toiletries bag, a bottle of water, some slippers, and some headphones on our seat- all wrapped in plastic. And you have to keep the floor and aisles clear. Just where you put all of that, as well as the stuff that you brought on, is anybody’s guess. And when they served drinks and a meal ….
Comfortable night with a few hours sleep. They served breakfast a couple of hours before we arrived on time in San Francisco. Breezed through arrival formalities thanks to the MPC program, which allows you to complete your immigration forms online before you arrive, and then go to a much shorter queue. However, arriving rather promptly to the baggage claim area didn’t help as the baggage carousel broke down halfway through unloading our flight. Took them close to half an hour to summon somebody to try and unblock it, so at the end of the day we just spent our time standing around in a different part of the airport.
Customs was a non-event. They didn’t seem to be checking anybody, although a sniffer dog came past us as we were waiting for the belt to be fixed.
Took the air train to the United terminal, grabbed a cup of coffee, and waited for our flight to Salt Lake City. We are back in the land of good coffee and outrageous prices. A little Embraer 2×2.
Arrived early and landed amongst mountains with snow on them. It’s a long time since we’ve been anywhere with snow. Mandy had her puffer jacket on before she even got out of the aircraft. It’s staggering to think that less than 24 hours ago we were on a beach near the equator with an air conditioner running, and now we’re on the other side of the world amongst mountain ranges covered with snow.
I’ve got to say that I’m very impressed with United’s systems, though not with the perfunctory crew who couldn’t even read the safety briefing spiel in a coherent manner. We got a notification that we had checked in, we got a notification that our bags had arrived at the aircraft, we got a notification that our flight had started boarding, we got a notification when our group number was being called for boarding, and we got a notification when we landed telling us which baggage carousel our luggage would be on. I didn’t even ask for it.
Salt Lake City airport looks like it’s brand new, and in fact it is. It’s been built in four stages over the last five years, probably with the coming Winter Olympics in mind, and is a US$5.1 billion project to completely rebuild the airport and all of its associated facilities. Large, spacious, pristinely clean, and space for everybody to move. Mind you it was a long way to walk from our concourse to the exit to pick up our baggage, but it emerged from the bowels about the same time that we did.
Walked over to the spacious rental car hall and sat around for a while until the time we had nominated for our car pick up. Drove into town, found our accommodation, checked in, then went for a walk for a light tea – mainly to stretch our legs. Last night we slept with the A/C running. Tonight we have the heater on.
Sure Stay Hotel, Salt Lake City
Different scenery to Boracay
Sure Stay, Salt Lake City