i had the chance to actually travel the itinerary that i booked and wrote about, heading from london, ontario to singapore, and then back again to vancouver. i see these trip reports all the time. i didn't have the foresight to actually take enough pictures to make it trip-report worthy, but i figured that i might as well post the pictures anyway.
this will be broken into parts.
part 1: yxu-ord, ord-hkg-sin
yxu-ord
i had to book a cab to head from the london hotel to the airport. in london, you can either go by the regular metered cabs or the chartered cabs. the chartered cabs run based on zones and are easier to get. they are also the only ones that are allowed to pick up passengers from the airport. the driver assured me that the rates are roughly the same except it's less stressful to be charged based on zones because you weren't constantly worried about the lights. i didn't really care -- i spent $50 to get to my hotel, and i spent another $50 to get to the airport.
london airport is a cute, small airport. it is reminiscent of the old brunei international airport where all the boarding gates share the same seating area. the check-in counter for united was manned by air canada. united runs the crj's between london and chicago twice daily, and these planes don't have business class. for that matter, air canada typically runs non-business class planes between the two cities. so when i walked into the premier check in lane, it felt a bit odd, especially since there was a long line for the economy lane.
the flight boarded quickly and left on time. it was uneventful. there was no need to take a picture of an economy class seat.
ord (5 hour layover)
typically traveling from either calgary or vancouver, i've become used to the pre-clearance facilities. in chicago, i ended up clearing US immigration there. i used my global entry access, but because i was carrying food (granola bars, lots of nuts), i checked yes to the question where they asked if i had any food with me. tip: their computer system cannot differentiate between you checking yes to food versus livestock, and i think firearms. and it was very clear that the border agent didn't know the system either. he kept asking why i checked "yes" to having livestock with me. i kept telling him that i answered yes only to food but he didn't believe me.
it was the very first time in my adult life that they sent me to secondary. which consisted of an x-ray. where they indeed found my granola bars that i kept for airplane snacks. and they let me keep it.
if i were to have done it all over again, i would have just stood in the regular line because at 7am, the lines aren't all that long. and i don't think i would have been sent to secondary.
i had to exit the secure zone, transfer terminals, and re-clear security. i went to the united lounge in concourse C (of terminal 1) while i waited for the flight. i honestly wished that i could have went to a different airline lounge, but the terminal was pretty much a united-only zone. so no luck.
flight ua895 began boarding on time, and left on time. next post: my 16 hour journey to hong kong.
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