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NW Trip Report TPA-CLE-DTW-NRT-PVG-NRT-DTW-MSP-BOI-MSP-TPA, World Business Class
Previous Reports:
NW Trip Report TPA-MEM-DTW-CLE-MSP-BOI in F/Y
NW Trip Report BOI-MSP-DTW-CLE
NW Trip Report CLE-DTW-TPA
DL Trip Report TPA-ATL-DCA-ATL-TPA in F/Y
DL Trip Report TPA-ATL-DTW-TPA in F/Y with 77L and Cedar Point!
DL Trip Report TPA-BOS-TPA, First Class
Warning
If you do not fully read the trip report, I promise you, you will get lost. This is very long and will most likely take you a while to read. I have tried my best to keep it well organized with bold and color.
Here I am probably about to show you one of the longest reports I have put out. These flights are not recent and some of the pictures are much lower quality then my most recent trip reports. I got my DSLR in China so the pictures of the flights from Tampa to Shanghai were taken with a Casio point-n-shoot camera.
Reason
I've had tons of people ask me why I would go to China. They ask, "Why did you go to China out of all the places in the world?" Well, my uncle works for Lear Corporation and was based out of Detroit for three years. Before that he lived in Frankfurt, Germany for a couple of years. He was transferred from Detroit to Shanghai as Vice President of Operations. He was later promoted to President. So, basically, we went there to visit him.
Getting Set-up
The process for getting ready for the summer was long. We were going to go summer of 2007 but I got my passport and they had spelled my name wrong. So, we had to postpone the trip till June '08. I got our passports, invitations and visas all ready for the trip. My grandma decided she wanted to go since we fly standby. So, I negotiated with my mom to allow me to fly up to Cleveland a couple days before and then fly with her to China the day before my mom, sister and my other uncle. Not only that, I had a confirmed ticket on flights from Detroit to Minneapolis to Boise on June 23rd to visit my other relatives out there. We planned on driving all over the west USA!
Palm Harbor, Florida
8:00AM
June 7th, 2008
I got up at around 8AM and did my normal routine. I had a big breakfast. My dad took me to the airport to drop me off for my flight. At the time my parents worked for Northwest Airlines (now they work with Delta) so I was flying on a zedfare ticket on Continental. Lets just say, I'm not at the top of the standby list! He dropped me off and I said my goodbyes.
Tampa International Airport, Florida
10:00AM
I checked in my bags which one of them almost weighed 50 pounds and headed to Airside A for Continental Flight #1504 to Cleveland, Ohio. I got on the tram and sat went through security. Everything was normal. I sat down by gate A4 and waited for my name to be called. Luckily, I got the last seat on the plane! 07B! I was hoping for a window but if it means not getting on, a center is fine! At that moment, I realized I will not return to Florida until the end of July!
Flight #1504
Tampa, Florida (TPA) - Cleveland, Ohio (CLE)
Equipment - Boeing 737-800
Seat Assignment - 07B, Economy, Center
Departure Time - 12:25PM
Arrival Time - 2:51PM
Flying Time - 2 hours 26 minutes
Departure Gate - A4
Arrival Gate - C7
Aircraft Registration - N76254, delivered 9/27/2000
Status - On Time
Estimated Load - 100%
Video - Continental 737-800 Tampa to Cleveland
Flight #1504
This was my first time flying Continental Airlines that I can remember. I'm told I flew them when I was about 6 months old but I don't remember it. The seats weren't terribly bad for being economy and a center. One great thing I liked about this flight was the fact Economy got a free meal! Especially on a three hour flight! I got a ham sandwich and a Sprite! The flight went by rather quickly and before I knew it we were in Cleveland, Ohio! City stop one of my summer! Note, I apologize for the lack of pictures on this flight. Being in a center I didn't get many.
My plane, N76254 arriving from Newark, New Jersey!
View in Tampa. The Continental Beech-1900D is probably going to fly an inter-Florida route.
On the ground in Cleveland.
Boeing 737-800 flightdeck.
Cleveland, Ohio
June 7th-9th, 2008
My arrival into Cleveland was normal. I went straight to baggage claim and met up with my grand parents. I basically sat around their condo until Tuesday, June 9th. We decided that Tuesday, June 10th has the best seat availability and that my grandma and I would try to get to China that day. So, we did some last minute packing and booked ourselves on Northwest 3009, 25 and the continuation of 25.
Westlake, Ohio
5:00AM
June 10th, 2008
My grandpa woke me up at 5:00AM sharp. Surprisingly I slept that night even though I was excited. We wanted to get to the airport early so we left the condo around 6:15AM. One problem arose though. Before we left we figured out that the 7:00AM flight to Detroit had canceled so the flight we were trying for at 10:00AM was going to fill up quickly. We got to the airport and said goodbye to my grandpa.
Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, Ohio
6:45AM
The Hopkins airport is pretty nice. Unlike how it is today being renovated and such, back in 2008 it was pretty nice. When we were checking our bags the agent, while putting our bag tags on, said that we don't have a chance on Flight #25. She said it was oversold by 3! She said she would be running the flight to DTW and that she'd make sure we get on. Sure enough, she did.
Airlink Flight #3009
Operated by Mesaba Aviation
Cleveland, Ohio (CLE) - Detroit, Michigan (DTW)
Equipment - Saab-340B+ Turboprop
Seat Assignment - 02D, Economy, Window
Departure Time - 10:15AM
Arrival Time - 11:15AM
Flying Time - 1 hour 0 minutes
Departure Gate - C8
Arrival Gate - C17
Aircraft Registration - N410XJ, delivered 3/28/1997
Status - On Time
Estimated Load - 100%
Video - Northwest Saab-340 Cleveland to Detroit
Flight #3009
I actually found this flight rather exciting. It was my first time that I remember flying on a turboprop. It was kinda fun over Lake Erie though. There were some nasty storms which caused alot of turbulence especially in our little Saab! My grandma didn't quite like it but she survived. After about 30 minutes of flying we landed in Detroit and taxied right past the 747-400 parked at the McNamara terminal which would be operating NW25 that day!
Boarding the old fashioned way. Stairs.
[img]ttp://img195.imageshack.us/img195/3707/cimg2658c.jpg[/img]
View as we taxi away from the terminal.
Over Lake Erie.
Downtown Detroit!
We had a really long taxi. Here we are approaching the McNamara Terminal.
Saab-340B+ flightdeck.
Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County International Airport, Michigan
Detroit was how it always is. Big, spacious and just plain amazing. After having a short chat with the FO I got my grandma and we walked through the underground tunnel to the gate flight #25 was operating out of. After we ate at the Chilis across from the gate we sat and waited for our names to be called. Since she was flying as a parent she was at the bottom of the list while I was at the top as a dependent. They called my name and I walked up to the desk. The gate agent said she had one more World Business Class seat open, no coach and I was first on the list. Sadly, I had to decline it since I wasn't allowed to connect in Tokyo by myself! haha. I had my dad relist us on Flight #11 to Tokyo. Sure enough we got called for that one. But, she said she has two seats and one doesn't recline! Since that was the last flight of the day we had to take it. My trip to China had officially begun!
Airlines Flight #11
Detroit, Michigan (DTW) to Tokyo Narita, Japan (NRT)
Equipment - Boeing 747-400
Seat Assignment - 80K, World Business Class, Window, Upper Deck
Departure Time - 3:36PM
Arrival Time - 5:23PM +1 Day
Flying Time - 12 hours 47 minutes
Departure Gate - A50
Arrival Gate - 23
Aircraft Registration - N676NW, delivered on 4/18/2002
Status - On Time
Estimated Load - 95%
Video - Northwest 747-400 Detroit to Tokyo Upper Deck
Flight #11
This is the longest flight I have ever taken. It was also my first time in World Business Class. Now, some of you are probably wondering why I took a broken seat. Well, I wasn't really going to use it. I had my whole flight laid out. Stay awake, eat, take pictures of Alaska etc. Also, I figured if I stayed awake that I'd be dead tired when I arrive in Shanghai at 9:00PM I'd be able to sleep through the night and have no jet lag. Anyways, I had an appetizer, dinner, dessert and breakfast. I had some conversations with the captain who was having a snack while we were over Alaska and the flight attendants. They brought all kinds of stuff. Candy, a cake and a root beer float. All at around midnight EST. I was hoping to get some pictures of Mt. McKinley but we flew a little bit too far south of it. After a while I finally saw the Japanese coastline. All I was thinking of is that in a couple hours I will be visiting my third country and second continent! We had nice landing in Tokyo, had a long welcoming speech and got off the plane. Flight 2 of 3 for the day had been complete!
My plane, N676NW, at gate A50.
Gate A50, to Tokyo-Narita.
View after boarding.
Climbing over Michigan.
Peppered smoked tune appetizer.
View of the upper deck World Business Class cabin.
I scanned the menu and a few other items from the flight. Here they are....
Front page of the menu.
Entrees.
Beverages.
Cover of the Japanese Northwest World Traveler.
I found this rather interesting. The Japanese Northwest fleet page.
Instructions on how to use the remote for the PTV.
Salad of mixed greens, fresh cucumbers, yellow tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Also, assorted bread.
Dinner. Rather small but quite tasty. Mushroom crusted beef tenderloin with duchess potatoes, asparagus, grilled red pepper and a porcini sauce.
Ice cream cake with fudge swirl and chocolate crumb crust. Delicious.
Cruising over Saskatchewan.
Map.
Alaska.
Approaching Anchorage.
Wingview.
Amazing mountains!
More mountains.
View of our route.
Breakfast quesadilla with peppered bacon and roasted red potatoes.
[
Over the coast of Japan.
A Korean Air 777-200.
The terminal. The 747-400 shown operated Flight #25. The flight I missed I ended up parking next to fifteen hours later!
Parking.
The flightdeck after 13 hours!
My plane (right) and another NW 747-400.
Tokyo Narita International Airport, Japan
June 11th, 2008
After we got off of flight #11 I was just filled with excitement. I wanted to look around but I knew we had to get to our gate to catch the flight to Shanghai. We went through security after we sweated and panted for a half hour. It had to be atleast 85* in that part of the airport! We arrived at gate 16 for Flight #25 to Shanghai, China and we immediately given our seats. We sat down and waited to board.
Gate area for NW25 to Shanghai.
Airlines Flight #25
Tokyo Narita, Japan (NRT) to Shanghai Pudong, China (PVG)
Equipment - Boeing 747-400
Seat Assignment - 10K, World Business Class, Window
Departure Time - 6:41PM
Arrival Time - 8:43PM
Flying Time - 3 hours 02 minutes
Departure Gate - 16
Arrival Gate - D73
Aircraft Registration - N674US, delivered 10/18/1999
Status - On Time
Estimated Load - 75%
Video - Northwest 747-400 Tokyo Narita to Shanghai
Flight #25
The minute I boarded I immediately noticed a difference from the upper deck. It was loader and more crowded downstairs. Plus, you didn't really get as much attention as you did up stairs. After takeoff I watched the sunset over Japan. Sadly, my old camera didn't perform very well in low light situations. Somehow, I fell asleep over the East China Sea. I woke up right before we started our descent into Shanghai. Once we landed we were welcomed to China and my day long journey had come to an end.
My plane, N674US, to Shanghai. Ironically, when this plane was in the old bowling shoe colors it was named "City of Shanghai".
Gate 16.
Pushback.
That big hotel.
Right after takeoff.
Sunset.
Over Fukuoka.
I know it's hard to see, but that's the Shanghai Pudong airport.
Approaching terminal 2.
Shanghai Pudong International Airport
I was immediately impressed with Shanghai's airport. It's the cleanest airport I have ever seen! Not even a crumb (exaggeration lol). The bathroom was spotless! My grandma and I headed down to customs where there were yellow lines you had to stand behind and wait your turn for an empty cubicle. They sit in glass type boxes. I gave them my passport and visa and they looked up, down, up, down (worrying me) and finally cleared me into China. We met up with my uncle, cousin and their driver to take us to their house. Once I got there I had a soda and went to bed. overall, PVG is an amazing airport.
Shanghai, China
We spent the majority of our time in Shanghai. As I planned out, I had no jet lag! We visited all the big buildings in Shanghai including the Pearl Orient, Jin Mao and we looked at the Shanghai World Financial Center which wasn't open yet. We went to YuYuan gardens and several other places around Shanghai. I'm not going to go very indepth since this is aviation related but I'd highly recommended visiting Shanghai!
My uncle's house.
A temple we visited in Shanghai.
Shanghai cityscape!
YuYuan Gardens
Ningbo, China
We had to drive down to Ningbo for a business meeting my uncle had to attend. Ningbo is about a three hours drive south of Shanghai. We went on the Hangzhou Bay Bridge, one of the longest in the world. Ningbo wasn't as glorious as Shanghai but it was pretty interesting. At the hotel we ate at I got my first meal that I really wanted to eat. Honestly, I got tired of everything being in dumplings really fast! I had a hamburger. I think there were carrots in it!
View from the mall we went to in Ningbo.
Suzhou, China
Suzhou is located west of Shanghai more inland in China. It's about a two hours drive from my uncle's house. We went to what the driver referred to as a "water town". It was what you'd imagine when you think of China. It was a pretty interesting place to go. The restaurant we went to was great. It was a little hole in the wall place but they had these really good....things. If anyone can tell me what this is that would be great. They looked like sectioned potatoes, same color and grew in the water. They had the same texture as a sweet potato.
Part of Suzhou.
The types of streets they had.
June 21st, 2008
This was a fairly eventful day for our travel plans. If you don't remember be mentioning I had confirmed flights to Boise from Detroit that I had to catch on the 23rd. My dad called me, probably costing him $20 to tell me the flight we were listed on for the 22ndhad canceled! So, I had to have my flights changed to the 24th. So, now I had one more day in China but only one chance to get to Boise before my relatives leave for vacation!
Shanghai, China
5:30AM
June 23rd, 2008
I woke up around 5:30AM. We got all of our bags brought together and headed off for the airport. It took us about a half hour to get to the airport. I unloaded our bags, said goodbye and headed into the airport.
View of the airport as we were circling around.
Shanghai Pudong International Airport, China
The airport was even more spacious in the check in area! It was HUGE! While checking our bags the agent told us that it was a full flight and that they would have to wait to give us our seats. So, we went to the second floor and had breakfast. After breakfast the agent informed us that they had four World Business Class seats and one economy seat. So, I was forced to take the economy. Back of the bus, 66K! Atleast it was a window though.
Chinese TSA marching by.
The Pudong airport check in.
Airlines Flight #26
Shanghai Pudong (PVG) to Tokyo-Narita (NRT)
Equipment - Boeing 747-400
Seat Assignment - 66K, Economy, Window
Departure Time - 9:47AM
Arrival Time - 1:43PM
Flying Time - 2 hours 56 minutes
Departure Gate - D73
Arrival Gate - 22
Aircraft Registration - N662US, delivered on 3/13/1989
Status - On Time
Estimated Load - 100%
Video - Northwest 747-400 Shanghai to Tokyo Narita
Flight #26
The flight was fine for me being in economy. I slept most of the time. The weather in Shanghai was terrible when we left so we couldn't see anything. Turbulence was horrible on approach to Tokyo though, followed by a rough landing which you can see in the video.
Check in for flight #26 to Tokyo-Narita.
N662US at D73. My ride to Japan.
Parked. A Virgin A340 next to us.
Holding short of the runway. A United 747 and a Lufthansa 747 is pictured.
Right after we emerged form the clouds.
Climbing.
The Japanese coast.
Taxing to our gate in Narita.
Northwest's 747-400 economy cabin.
N662US, the plane I was just on.
Tokyo Narita International Airport, Japan
The airport was the same as a couple weeks before. It was hot. We had to nearly run to our gate since we were running a tad bit late. Once we got to the gate my uncle had a little temper tantrum. They had told him that all they have is three World Business and the rest economy. There were five of us. So, he's up there saying, "God D*****, we're in f****** cattle class!" You don't know how embarrassed I was! He can get my mom fired for acting like that! So, they basically printed the tickets and threw them at us. My mom grabbed the two coach seats took my sister and went ahead of us so he would shut up! So, as you can tell, we had a blast in Japan for two hours!
Airlines Flight #26
Tokyo-Narita, Japan (NRT) to Detroit, Michigan (DTW)
Equipment - Boeing 747-400
Seat Assignment - 12K, World Business Class, Window
Departure Time - 2:50PM
Arrival Time - 2:10PM
Flying Time - 12 hours 20 minutes
Departure Gate - 24
Arrival Gate - A40
Aircraft Registration - N667US, delivered on 7/20/1990
Status - Delayed by 25 minutes due to lightning in Detroit.
Estimated Load - 99%
Video - Northwest 747-400 Tokyo Narita to Detroit
Flight #26
The flight was rather uneventful since I slept the majority of the time. The dinner was excellent. I did wake up though right as we were south of Anchorage and I still say, the most stars I had ever seen in my life was that moment!
Parked in Narita.
Directly after takeoff.
Dinner.
Cruising over Minnesota.
The map as we pass into Wisconsin.
On approach to Detroit.
Sitting on the tarmac unable to move due to lightning. The special schemed Saab is pictured.
NW Trip Report TPA-MEM-DTW-CLE-MSP-BOI in F/Y
NW Trip Report BOI-MSP-DTW-CLE
NW Trip Report CLE-DTW-TPA
DL Trip Report TPA-ATL-DCA-ATL-TPA in F/Y
DL Trip Report TPA-ATL-DTW-TPA in F/Y with 77L and Cedar Point!
DL Trip Report TPA-BOS-TPA, First Class
Warning
If you do not fully read the trip report, I promise you, you will get lost. This is very long and will most likely take you a while to read. I have tried my best to keep it well organized with bold and color.
Here I am probably about to show you one of the longest reports I have put out. These flights are not recent and some of the pictures are much lower quality then my most recent trip reports. I got my DSLR in China so the pictures of the flights from Tampa to Shanghai were taken with a Casio point-n-shoot camera.
Reason
I've had tons of people ask me why I would go to China. They ask, "Why did you go to China out of all the places in the world?" Well, my uncle works for Lear Corporation and was based out of Detroit for three years. Before that he lived in Frankfurt, Germany for a couple of years. He was transferred from Detroit to Shanghai as Vice President of Operations. He was later promoted to President. So, basically, we went there to visit him.
Getting Set-up
The process for getting ready for the summer was long. We were going to go summer of 2007 but I got my passport and they had spelled my name wrong. So, we had to postpone the trip till June '08. I got our passports, invitations and visas all ready for the trip. My grandma decided she wanted to go since we fly standby. So, I negotiated with my mom to allow me to fly up to Cleveland a couple days before and then fly with her to China the day before my mom, sister and my other uncle. Not only that, I had a confirmed ticket on flights from Detroit to Minneapolis to Boise on June 23rd to visit my other relatives out there. We planned on driving all over the west USA!
Palm Harbor, Florida
8:00AM
June 7th, 2008
I got up at around 8AM and did my normal routine. I had a big breakfast. My dad took me to the airport to drop me off for my flight. At the time my parents worked for Northwest Airlines (now they work with Delta) so I was flying on a zedfare ticket on Continental. Lets just say, I'm not at the top of the standby list! He dropped me off and I said my goodbyes.
Tampa International Airport, Florida
10:00AM
I checked in my bags which one of them almost weighed 50 pounds and headed to Airside A for Continental Flight #1504 to Cleveland, Ohio. I got on the tram and sat went through security. Everything was normal. I sat down by gate A4 and waited for my name to be called. Luckily, I got the last seat on the plane! 07B! I was hoping for a window but if it means not getting on, a center is fine! At that moment, I realized I will not return to Florida until the end of July!
Flight #1504Tampa, Florida (TPA) - Cleveland, Ohio (CLE)
Equipment - Boeing 737-800
Seat Assignment - 07B, Economy, Center
Departure Time - 12:25PM
Arrival Time - 2:51PM
Flying Time - 2 hours 26 minutes
Departure Gate - A4
Arrival Gate - C7
Aircraft Registration - N76254, delivered 9/27/2000
Status - On Time
Estimated Load - 100%
Video - Continental 737-800 Tampa to Cleveland
Flight #1504
This was my first time flying Continental Airlines that I can remember. I'm told I flew them when I was about 6 months old but I don't remember it. The seats weren't terribly bad for being economy and a center. One great thing I liked about this flight was the fact Economy got a free meal! Especially on a three hour flight! I got a ham sandwich and a Sprite! The flight went by rather quickly and before I knew it we were in Cleveland, Ohio! City stop one of my summer! Note, I apologize for the lack of pictures on this flight. Being in a center I didn't get many.
My plane, N76254 arriving from Newark, New Jersey!
View in Tampa. The Continental Beech-1900D is probably going to fly an inter-Florida route.
On the ground in Cleveland.
Boeing 737-800 flightdeck.
Cleveland, Ohio
June 7th-9th, 2008
My arrival into Cleveland was normal. I went straight to baggage claim and met up with my grand parents. I basically sat around their condo until Tuesday, June 9th. We decided that Tuesday, June 10th has the best seat availability and that my grandma and I would try to get to China that day. So, we did some last minute packing and booked ourselves on Northwest 3009, 25 and the continuation of 25.
Westlake, Ohio
5:00AM
June 10th, 2008
My grandpa woke me up at 5:00AM sharp. Surprisingly I slept that night even though I was excited. We wanted to get to the airport early so we left the condo around 6:15AM. One problem arose though. Before we left we figured out that the 7:00AM flight to Detroit had canceled so the flight we were trying for at 10:00AM was going to fill up quickly. We got to the airport and said goodbye to my grandpa.
Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, Ohio
6:45AM
The Hopkins airport is pretty nice. Unlike how it is today being renovated and such, back in 2008 it was pretty nice. When we were checking our bags the agent, while putting our bag tags on, said that we don't have a chance on Flight #25. She said it was oversold by 3! She said she would be running the flight to DTW and that she'd make sure we get on. Sure enough, she did.
Airlink Flight #3009Operated by Mesaba Aviation
Cleveland, Ohio (CLE) - Detroit, Michigan (DTW)
Equipment - Saab-340B+ Turboprop
Seat Assignment - 02D, Economy, Window
Departure Time - 10:15AM
Arrival Time - 11:15AM
Flying Time - 1 hour 0 minutes
Departure Gate - C8
Arrival Gate - C17
Aircraft Registration - N410XJ, delivered 3/28/1997
Status - On Time
Estimated Load - 100%
Video - Northwest Saab-340 Cleveland to Detroit
Flight #3009
I actually found this flight rather exciting. It was my first time that I remember flying on a turboprop. It was kinda fun over Lake Erie though. There were some nasty storms which caused alot of turbulence especially in our little Saab! My grandma didn't quite like it but she survived. After about 30 minutes of flying we landed in Detroit and taxied right past the 747-400 parked at the McNamara terminal which would be operating NW25 that day!
Boarding the old fashioned way. Stairs.
[img]ttp://img195.imageshack.us/img195/3707/cimg2658c.jpg[/img]
View as we taxi away from the terminal.
Over Lake Erie.
Downtown Detroit!
We had a really long taxi. Here we are approaching the McNamara Terminal.
Saab-340B+ flightdeck.
Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County International Airport, Michigan
Detroit was how it always is. Big, spacious and just plain amazing. After having a short chat with the FO I got my grandma and we walked through the underground tunnel to the gate flight #25 was operating out of. After we ate at the Chilis across from the gate we sat and waited for our names to be called. Since she was flying as a parent she was at the bottom of the list while I was at the top as a dependent. They called my name and I walked up to the desk. The gate agent said she had one more World Business Class seat open, no coach and I was first on the list. Sadly, I had to decline it since I wasn't allowed to connect in Tokyo by myself! haha. I had my dad relist us on Flight #11 to Tokyo. Sure enough we got called for that one. But, she said she has two seats and one doesn't recline! Since that was the last flight of the day we had to take it. My trip to China had officially begun!
Airlines Flight #11Detroit, Michigan (DTW) to Tokyo Narita, Japan (NRT)
Equipment - Boeing 747-400
Seat Assignment - 80K, World Business Class, Window, Upper Deck
Departure Time - 3:36PM
Arrival Time - 5:23PM +1 Day
Flying Time - 12 hours 47 minutes
Departure Gate - A50
Arrival Gate - 23
Aircraft Registration - N676NW, delivered on 4/18/2002
Status - On Time
Estimated Load - 95%
Video - Northwest 747-400 Detroit to Tokyo Upper Deck
Flight #11
This is the longest flight I have ever taken. It was also my first time in World Business Class. Now, some of you are probably wondering why I took a broken seat. Well, I wasn't really going to use it. I had my whole flight laid out. Stay awake, eat, take pictures of Alaska etc. Also, I figured if I stayed awake that I'd be dead tired when I arrive in Shanghai at 9:00PM I'd be able to sleep through the night and have no jet lag. Anyways, I had an appetizer, dinner, dessert and breakfast. I had some conversations with the captain who was having a snack while we were over Alaska and the flight attendants. They brought all kinds of stuff. Candy, a cake and a root beer float. All at around midnight EST. I was hoping to get some pictures of Mt. McKinley but we flew a little bit too far south of it. After a while I finally saw the Japanese coastline. All I was thinking of is that in a couple hours I will be visiting my third country and second continent! We had nice landing in Tokyo, had a long welcoming speech and got off the plane. Flight 2 of 3 for the day had been complete!
My plane, N676NW, at gate A50.
Gate A50, to Tokyo-Narita.
View after boarding.
Climbing over Michigan.
Peppered smoked tune appetizer.
View of the upper deck World Business Class cabin.
I scanned the menu and a few other items from the flight. Here they are....
Front page of the menu.
Entrees.
Beverages.
Cover of the Japanese Northwest World Traveler.
I found this rather interesting. The Japanese Northwest fleet page.
Instructions on how to use the remote for the PTV.
Salad of mixed greens, fresh cucumbers, yellow tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Also, assorted bread.
Dinner. Rather small but quite tasty. Mushroom crusted beef tenderloin with duchess potatoes, asparagus, grilled red pepper and a porcini sauce.
Ice cream cake with fudge swirl and chocolate crumb crust. Delicious.
Cruising over Saskatchewan.
Map.
Alaska.
Approaching Anchorage.
Wingview.
Amazing mountains!
More mountains.
View of our route.
Breakfast quesadilla with peppered bacon and roasted red potatoes.
[Over the coast of Japan.
A Korean Air 777-200.
The terminal. The 747-400 shown operated Flight #25. The flight I missed I ended up parking next to fifteen hours later!
Parking.
The flightdeck after 13 hours!
My plane (right) and another NW 747-400.
Tokyo Narita International Airport, Japan
June 11th, 2008
After we got off of flight #11 I was just filled with excitement. I wanted to look around but I knew we had to get to our gate to catch the flight to Shanghai. We went through security after we sweated and panted for a half hour. It had to be atleast 85* in that part of the airport! We arrived at gate 16 for Flight #25 to Shanghai, China and we immediately given our seats. We sat down and waited to board.
Gate area for NW25 to Shanghai.
Airlines Flight #25Tokyo Narita, Japan (NRT) to Shanghai Pudong, China (PVG)
Equipment - Boeing 747-400
Seat Assignment - 10K, World Business Class, Window
Departure Time - 6:41PM
Arrival Time - 8:43PM
Flying Time - 3 hours 02 minutes
Departure Gate - 16
Arrival Gate - D73
Aircraft Registration - N674US, delivered 10/18/1999
Status - On Time
Estimated Load - 75%
Video - Northwest 747-400 Tokyo Narita to Shanghai
Flight #25
The minute I boarded I immediately noticed a difference from the upper deck. It was loader and more crowded downstairs. Plus, you didn't really get as much attention as you did up stairs. After takeoff I watched the sunset over Japan. Sadly, my old camera didn't perform very well in low light situations. Somehow, I fell asleep over the East China Sea. I woke up right before we started our descent into Shanghai. Once we landed we were welcomed to China and my day long journey had come to an end.
My plane, N674US, to Shanghai. Ironically, when this plane was in the old bowling shoe colors it was named "City of Shanghai".
Gate 16.
Pushback.
That big hotel.
Right after takeoff.
Sunset.
Over Fukuoka.
I know it's hard to see, but that's the Shanghai Pudong airport.
Approaching terminal 2.
Shanghai Pudong International Airport
I was immediately impressed with Shanghai's airport. It's the cleanest airport I have ever seen! Not even a crumb (exaggeration lol). The bathroom was spotless! My grandma and I headed down to customs where there were yellow lines you had to stand behind and wait your turn for an empty cubicle. They sit in glass type boxes. I gave them my passport and visa and they looked up, down, up, down (worrying me) and finally cleared me into China. We met up with my uncle, cousin and their driver to take us to their house. Once I got there I had a soda and went to bed. overall, PVG is an amazing airport.
Shanghai, China
We spent the majority of our time in Shanghai. As I planned out, I had no jet lag! We visited all the big buildings in Shanghai including the Pearl Orient, Jin Mao and we looked at the Shanghai World Financial Center which wasn't open yet. We went to YuYuan gardens and several other places around Shanghai. I'm not going to go very indepth since this is aviation related but I'd highly recommended visiting Shanghai!
My uncle's house.
A temple we visited in Shanghai.
Shanghai cityscape!
YuYuan Gardens
Ningbo, China
We had to drive down to Ningbo for a business meeting my uncle had to attend. Ningbo is about a three hours drive south of Shanghai. We went on the Hangzhou Bay Bridge, one of the longest in the world. Ningbo wasn't as glorious as Shanghai but it was pretty interesting. At the hotel we ate at I got my first meal that I really wanted to eat. Honestly, I got tired of everything being in dumplings really fast! I had a hamburger. I think there were carrots in it!
View from the mall we went to in Ningbo.
Suzhou, China
Suzhou is located west of Shanghai more inland in China. It's about a two hours drive from my uncle's house. We went to what the driver referred to as a "water town". It was what you'd imagine when you think of China. It was a pretty interesting place to go. The restaurant we went to was great. It was a little hole in the wall place but they had these really good....things. If anyone can tell me what this is that would be great. They looked like sectioned potatoes, same color and grew in the water. They had the same texture as a sweet potato.
Part of Suzhou.
The types of streets they had.
June 21st, 2008
This was a fairly eventful day for our travel plans. If you don't remember be mentioning I had confirmed flights to Boise from Detroit that I had to catch on the 23rd. My dad called me, probably costing him $20 to tell me the flight we were listed on for the 22ndhad canceled! So, I had to have my flights changed to the 24th. So, now I had one more day in China but only one chance to get to Boise before my relatives leave for vacation!
Shanghai, China
5:30AM
June 23rd, 2008
I woke up around 5:30AM. We got all of our bags brought together and headed off for the airport. It took us about a half hour to get to the airport. I unloaded our bags, said goodbye and headed into the airport.
View of the airport as we were circling around.
Shanghai Pudong International Airport, China
The airport was even more spacious in the check in area! It was HUGE! While checking our bags the agent told us that it was a full flight and that they would have to wait to give us our seats. So, we went to the second floor and had breakfast. After breakfast the agent informed us that they had four World Business Class seats and one economy seat. So, I was forced to take the economy. Back of the bus, 66K! Atleast it was a window though.
Chinese TSA marching by.
The Pudong airport check in.
Airlines Flight #26Shanghai Pudong (PVG) to Tokyo-Narita (NRT)
Equipment - Boeing 747-400
Seat Assignment - 66K, Economy, Window
Departure Time - 9:47AM
Arrival Time - 1:43PM
Flying Time - 2 hours 56 minutes
Departure Gate - D73
Arrival Gate - 22
Aircraft Registration - N662US, delivered on 3/13/1989
Status - On Time
Estimated Load - 100%
Video - Northwest 747-400 Shanghai to Tokyo Narita
Flight #26
The flight was fine for me being in economy. I slept most of the time. The weather in Shanghai was terrible when we left so we couldn't see anything. Turbulence was horrible on approach to Tokyo though, followed by a rough landing which you can see in the video.
Check in for flight #26 to Tokyo-Narita.
N662US at D73. My ride to Japan.
Parked. A Virgin A340 next to us.
Holding short of the runway. A United 747 and a Lufthansa 747 is pictured.
Right after we emerged form the clouds.
Climbing.
The Japanese coast.
Taxing to our gate in Narita.
Northwest's 747-400 economy cabin.
N662US, the plane I was just on.
Tokyo Narita International Airport, Japan
The airport was the same as a couple weeks before. It was hot. We had to nearly run to our gate since we were running a tad bit late. Once we got to the gate my uncle had a little temper tantrum. They had told him that all they have is three World Business and the rest economy. There were five of us. So, he's up there saying, "God D*****, we're in f****** cattle class!" You don't know how embarrassed I was! He can get my mom fired for acting like that! So, they basically printed the tickets and threw them at us. My mom grabbed the two coach seats took my sister and went ahead of us so he would shut up! So, as you can tell, we had a blast in Japan for two hours!
Airlines Flight #26Tokyo-Narita, Japan (NRT) to Detroit, Michigan (DTW)
Equipment - Boeing 747-400
Seat Assignment - 12K, World Business Class, Window
Departure Time - 2:50PM
Arrival Time - 2:10PM
Flying Time - 12 hours 20 minutes
Departure Gate - 24
Arrival Gate - A40
Aircraft Registration - N667US, delivered on 7/20/1990
Status - Delayed by 25 minutes due to lightning in Detroit.
Estimated Load - 99%
Video - Northwest 747-400 Tokyo Narita to Detroit
Flight #26
The flight was rather uneventful since I slept the majority of the time. The dinner was excellent. I did wake up though right as we were south of Anchorage and I still say, the most stars I had ever seen in my life was that moment!
Parked in Narita.
Directly after takeoff.
Dinner.
Cruising over Minnesota.
The map as we pass into Wisconsin.
On approach to Detroit.
Sitting on the tarmac unable to move due to lightning. The special schemed Saab is pictured.
Bujuraj Vataranjan-O'Malley
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