Northern California in November '08

I have waited nearly a month to write this trip report, luckily I'm sick as a dog and therefore in a perfect mood to describe my experiences which weren't so great. I scored a very cheap admission to yet another SRT Track Experience which unfortunately was due to expire prior to the expected February date for the famous Laguna Seca, luckily another Northern California location was available for late November and judging by the reviews it wasn't half bad.

I planned the entire trip about two months before leaving, which gave me plenty of time to search flights, book hotels and plan my road trip in general. My first logical option was flying from Philly to Sacramento on a super cheap United flight for under $190 round trip... but I wasn't about to start thinking logically... so of course I booked my trip on JetBlue via Los Angeles with the final destination being San Francisco where I'd try out Virgin America service for the first time.


My intention of visiting Los Angeles again was to visit a few friends. My buddy Richard, one of the biggest contributors to my SVT site... who was gracious enough to give me a private tour of his business and more importantly his antique car collection. And my buddy Chris who again was very helpful in my previous travel putting me up for the night at his house in California and letting me crash with his friends in Las Vegas. That trip however was way too short, even though the flight arrived 30 minutes early. I ended up flying into Burbank Airport since I've never been there. Rented a car at Enterprise Neighborhood Location in Glendale. Took Metrolink train to get there which was very convenient and most importantly saved me a great deal of money (total car rental bill was $19, as opposed to the base rate at the airport starting at $95+tax) In between the meeting with Rick and Chris I shot some videos for my new cousin Julia in France, and before I knew it I ran out of daylight, it was depressing to see the sun go down at 5pm while I was stuck in traffic on the freeway.

I spend the night at the Radisson near LAX which I booked the night before using priceline. I intended to stay at a Rodeway Inn in Hollywood but couldn't pass up on a three star hotel deal which was much closer to where I needed to be for my first Virgin America flight. Of course my last minute shinanigans nearly cost me the flight as I was trying to find a perfect post card to mail Julia in France... I realized there was no mail boxes at LAX after 9/11 so I had to bribe a United customer service rep to personally drop it in the mail box on her own time, which she did... so I'll give United another shot one day even after my bad experience to Detroit.


The flight to San Francisco was delayed anyway because of heavy fog. I didn't mind though as the toys on VX flight entertainment system RED were outstanding and far superior to that of JetBlue, although the channel selection is lacking. We were put in a holding pattern over Monterey which gave me an excellent view of Laguna Seca region below. Upon arrival into SFO I took the BART train to downtown where I was picking up another rental at Enterprise Neighborhood Location downtown. I should mention that both vehicles I rented on this trip were pick-up trucks... yes, pick-ups! I couldn't believe how cheap they were, they were literally half the price of the econobox, and I was more than willing to pay the difference in gas money because the ride comfort was superior. I do have to complain about the San Francisco Enterprise because their vehicles were far from what was advertised, pretty dirty and smelly not to mention beat up. After three separate attempts to get a better vehicle I ended up with a Dodge Ram Big Horn monster truck, which was even bigger than the Dodge Dakota Magnum I got in LA. The truck got an incredible 5.8 miles to the gallon as I was sitting in traffic trying to get on the Bay Bridge, but once on the highway it climbed to nearly 18 miles to the gallon.


The ride to Willows, CA was supposed to be 2 hours, but I made it in less time stopping for the night just outside of Sacramento at a Best Western where I was able to use a $50 gift card I received from one of my credit cards. The following morning I drove in heavy fog to the Thunderhill Raceway Park to do my third track experience.


Upon arrival I was warmly greeted by a lot of familiar faces. This time around I actually made some new friends and had a blast beating on the Vipers in a dense fog. Towards the early afternoon the fog burned off and I had an incredible time driving the full track with all its elevation changes and banking, this track was not like any other I have driven thus far and therefore a lot of fun. The highlight of my day was not driving the SRT-10 Vipers, even though I came very close to spinning one again, but instead taking the little SRT-4 Caliber on the full track. It was fun because the car is stick and I was terrified of stalling it any moment. Luckily that didn't happen, but reviewing the video on the DVD I have already received I suck at shifting the manual gear box tremendously. The car was always in the red, overreving and shifting at the wrong points, but I am getting better.


The following two days were awful. After I returned to San Francisco, which was freaking freezing compared to Los Angeles, I found myself with nothing to do. So I decided to buy a day pass for the Cable Cars and found that it was the only thing I really enjoyed in this gloomy city. I also took the boat ride to Alcatraz but was not immencely impressed with it. After riding the cable cars some more I explored more of San Fran downtown and Chinatown, where I was the only white person among like five chinese locals, at 5pm on a Friday afternoon trying to grab something to eat, everything was closed!!! It was a ghost town and I was dissappoitned.

Luckily on my last day in San Fran, upon checking out from the Holiday Inn Golden Gateway, another decent hotel I scored on priceline and much better than the Rodeway Inn Civic Center I was preparing myself to endure, my buddy Amir picked me up and gave me a little tour of SF suburbia. We quickly left the city and went to grab some chicago style pizza at Berkley, it was the most expensive pizza I've ever had at $36 a pie (with tip). From there we went to the Golden Gate Bridge, walked to about half way point, and then he was kind enough to drop me off at Oakland Airport about 3 hours early for my return flight on JetBlue.


All in all I do not see myself doing anything like this anytime soon. Although if Chrysler does not go out of business I would like to come back to the Bay Area for antoher go at Laguna Seca, that cork screw turn is calling my name!

Philadelphia, PA Fall '08

Although I've been to Philly maybe half a dozen times, if not more, this trip was outstanding.

I found a perfect opportunity to go on this short road trip after someone from my car club decided to buy some old wheels I had for sale. With Free delivery to sweeten the deal I jumped in the truck after work and headed down the turnpike to the city of brotherly love.

Yeah, that sounds real cheesy. But I was excited. Not so much for the sale which was great because I've been meaning to clear out my garage for the longest time, but because it gave me an opportunity to take the advise of several Flyer Talk members and try some of South Philly's best: cheesesteak!

While at work I had prepared a list of places I needed to hit in order to enjoy the experience... and enjoy I did. The first stop on my list was Tony Luke's. This joint just off I95 was very busy with patrons. Especially those wearing Phillies jerseys as there was a game in town and Phillies were headed for a pennent victory. The wait wasn't too long, but with so many people all around it was a good atmosphere to be in. Everyone smiling and joking around, the smell of victory was in the air... or maybe it was the onions? Not sure, but one thing always catches my eye when I'm in Philadelphia and thats their parking habits. People leave their cars in the middle of the street parked throughout town, in between the yellow lines. I haven't seen this done nowhere else in my travels. If it were up to me I'd be afraid of doing that in fears of getting the damn truck towed, but no one seemed to care.


After grabbing one of Tony Luke's famous Philly cheesesteaks with mushrooms and hot peppers, I decided to wolf it down on the way to PHL airport. I've been coming across a number of real cheap flights from that airport and wanted to check it out to see how easy it would be to use if I were to book something flying out of there. To my amazement I finished the steak in a few bites. I don't know if I was that hungry or if it was simply that good. Then after sampling all 6 of Philadelphia/Willmington's International airport terminals I still felt hungry and decided to follow my nose to the birth place of Philly Cheesesteak: Pat's (right across from Geno's who also claim to be the first)


I couldn't find the street address in my notes, so I relied on the GPS to get me there... sadly while at PHL Pat's wasn't on the list of nearby eateries. So instead I followed my nose... and boy was I good! While driving down Broad St, I punched in Pat's into the GPS again and this time it was there: "Pat's King of Steak" it said. I clicked "GO" and within minutes I was there, wow. Got a parking spot right along the restaurant outdoor tables, and went to place my order. Again, drunk Phillies fans were in abundance, and unlike Luke's I didn't have to wait at all for my cheesesteak to be ready it was made right in front of me. By comparison to Luke's it was much larger, with bigger chunks of steak, and more cheese. It was also very juicy but to be perfectly honest I liked Tony Luke's best.



Nevertheless, soon after leaving it seemed like I finished this hoggie in a few bites as well and in not time at all I was back on the turnpike heading home.


I should do this more often!

Useful links:

Tony Luke's

>Pat's King of Steaks

Geno Steaks

JFK T5 "a fligth to nowhere" on jetBlue

No, this isn't some kind of a joke or sarcasm towards jetBlue and their delay/cancellation woes. I really did take jetBlue on a flight to nowhere this weekend and it was sweet!


I was among 1,000 other loyal jetBlue TrueBlue members to be invited to participate in a test of the luggage system and operations at thier brand spanking new terminal 5 at JFK airport. I first heard about this event on FlyerTalk.com and since I didn't get a personal invite right away I quickly asked one of the other members to forward me a copy of their's... but just a few days later I got my very own invite from jetBlue. I was joking that I must be at the bottom of jetBlue marketing list because it seems I always get special offers and promotions about a week after everyone else.


Upon arrival at JFK the first thing that strikes your eyes is the old TWA terminal: Eero Saarinen building that will now symbolize jetBlue even though TWA sign is still above it. The new jetBlue parking lot is very convenient and parking on the 5th floor allows you to walk right into the walkway connecting AirTrain to both T5 and T6. The walk to the main terminal is quite long, which will be pretty awful when on the rush, but it's something we'll have to learn to deal with.

The new terminal is spacious! If I could use one word to describe it it would be huge. The new TSA security area looks quick and infact after checking in for my pretend fligth it was a breeze. That was probably the most realistic part of the whole experience, while everything else was going according to the script the TSA were quick to turn around people carrying water, change in their pockets or even forgetful folks like me that left his keys in his pocket.


The most attractive part of the new terminal itself, aside from all the shops and restaurants that weren't there yet but had reps on site giving more information, was the gate area 14, 15 and 16. There are seats aligned along the huge windows overlooking the runway and quite a few jets caught the attention of the participants, everything from regional commuter jets to double decker Boeing 747's.


We were allowed to keep the carry-on bags we checked in to test the system, and after checking in for my pretend Las Vegas flight and arriving from Oakland I made my way outside to the tents set up on the departures driveway to have lunch with everyone from the participants, the media, to the Port Authority cops and of course many jetBlue big wigs including the CEO Dave Barger. They had catered food, some entertainment and a drawing for free flights anywhere jetBlue jets... unfortunately with my luck and even after a pretend flight to Las Vegas I was still unlucky and didn't win anything.


I did score a few hats and luggage tags though, before heading home.


Thanks jetBlue for a really special experience, I can't wait to fly out of there... JFK so far is my primary local airport even though both EWR and LGA are significantly closer.


www.jetblue.com