The Best Coast and the lovely Star Alliance!

One of the nice things about United Airlines is that they allow you to make same day flight changes. When using this perk, the change fee is either reduced to $75, or completely free.

Thus, on my recent trip to Tokyo, I was able to take advantage of this feature and change my outbound flight for no cost.

But first! here's SEA to SFO!


We climbed into a nice cloud sandwich with views of Rainier:

I napped for a bit and woke up for our descent into the Bay Area:


SF!



Now, if you ever get the chance to change from UA to one of their partner airlines on an international flight, do it. United is part of the Star Alliance, and their partner airlines are all better than them.That is... unless you like projector screens and movies loaded via VCR's.

^UA853

The flight I changed to used this fresh new equipment! (NH007)

^the actual plane I took was JA735A, and it's 8-yrs old.

What's so good about ANA and their 777-300ER?

^larger windows

Better service:




A prettier wing


and a self serve bar unit!



They also have better seats than UA. As for the movie selection, they have less, but they still have new releases. I watched:

Robocop - Blah blah blah, drones are bad. CEO's are bad. Human robots though? mostly OK.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit - Kevin Costner is alive?!

3 Days to Kill - ANOTHER KEVIN COSTNER MOVIE?! And it's really bad!!! Did Kevin go broke or something? Also, ANA's description was the best:

...Not only is the movie directed by McG (Terminator Salvation), and suggested and scripted by Luc Besson, the film also features a plethora of powerful scenes, including car chases, gun fights, and arm-to-arm combat. Costner also gives full scope to his masculine charm to round off this great piece of entertainment.

They had me masculine charm...


Lastly, the door 2 galley was missing the aft panel kick strip (see bottom corner next to the seat monitor unit).

^tsk tsk!

The High One

We wrapped up the trip with a day at Denali National Park and Reserve. The word "Denali" means "the high one" in the native Athabaskan language and refers to Mount McKinley.

Denali is different from other parks in that it is only accessible by bus. There is one road that this bus follows, and one can get dropped off anywhere along that road.

Unlike the other days, it was rainy, cloudy, and cold...

^can you spot the wildlife???

Caribou


Dall Sheep


We got off at Toklat, and hiked along the Toklat River...


Toklat River Valley with Divide Mountain on the left. On the way back, the rain stopped and it started to clear up.


The next day, smoke and haze from the Funny River fire arrived...



ANC was especially hazy, but it also had some pretty slick planespotting opportunities as it is a major air cargo hub.

If you notice, the Alaska Airlines jet doesn't have windows in the front of the emergency exit. This is a B737-400C, and is used for used for salmon shipments (and other stuff).

^relevant airlines...

A Cathay Pacific Cargo B747-8F sitting next to the EVA B747-400F


A Conoco-Philips B737-76N(WL). Ewww...


It was a hazy flight back to SEA.

The Last Frontier

So United operates flights to ANC in the summer.
They also had a fare sale, so I went.


Chasing the Midnight Sun






Anchorage at 11:41pm.


We woke up early for some suburban wildlife spotting

^the neighborhood moose... crosses streets safely...


Then we ventured off to the Matanuska Glacier






Did I mention the GREAT views?!


Next up, a flightseeing tour of Mt. McKinley courtesy of K2 Aviation!


I played co-pilot.


The Alaska Range






The smoothest landing. EVER.


Don Sheldon Amphitheater


It was a good first day.

Comfort & Kamakura

On Saturday I slept in, and took a day trip to Kamakura

^This guy was everywhere.

Kamakura was the political center of Japan until Kyoto was established by the Muromachi or Ashikaga government.


The first stop was Jōmyō-ji


Temple Neko, living the good life...


Kisen-an tea house and the Zen garden


Where one could enjoy the Japanese Bush Warbler's song



I then slipped into Hōkoku-ji right before they closed


Their lovely grove of about 2000 mōsō bamboo, and their Chashitsu to the right






Peace and quiet... exactly what I needed.


Momiji


The temple closed, and we were told to let ourselves out.

#trust


Sunday = American style BBQ and karaoke with Karen, Aaron, Joe and others! The venue provided all the chicken, beef, veggies, and even a beer can chicken kit! The bbq wrapped up with Yakisoba on the grill.



...annnnd I made one run to Harajuku before I left for the airport on Monday