Posts RSS
Business trip at a glance
Country: United States of America
Period: 23 Sep to 01 Oct 2007
Flight timings:
23 Sep: SQ 22, SIN-EWR, ETD 1050 ETA 1750 (23 Sep)
24 Sep: US 2647, EWR-CLT, ETD 0500 ETA 0650
24 Sep: US 4376, CLT-LYH, ETD 0920 ETA 1029
29 Sep: US 4423, LYH-CLT, ETD 1442 ETA 1549
29 Sep: US 1840, CLT-EWR, ETD 1810 ETA 2002
29 Sep: SQ 21, EWR-SIN, ETD 2300 ETA 0540 (01 Oct)
Accommodations:
Marriott Newark Liberty International Airport Hotel (23 Sep)
Ramada Inn Lynchburg VA (24 Sep to 29 Sep)
Currency exchange rate: USD 1.00 = SGD 1.51 (Sep '07 period)
Airline Review
Singapore Airline
The IATA code for this airline is SQ. Flight was arranged by the company therefore could not choose flight timing or airline. This was my fifth time to the States for business trip and third time taking SQ 22 and SQ 21. Unlike my previous two trips 3 years ago, this time I was "down-graded" to Executive Economy (left photo below). Wasn't complaining ...... at least I have the chance to experience something new in another class of seats in Singapore Airline. Leg space for Executive Economy is slightly wider than typical SQ Economy class. As this is a newer series of Airbus A340-500 series, monitor screen is much larger than the older ones in Boeing 747 series.
Journey for this non-stop flight between Singapore and Newark was about 17.5-hours, and two main meals were served during this flight. I do noticed that SQ now serves "Ben & Jerry's" ice-cream (right photo below) instead of "Haagen-Dazs"; not too sure why was there a switch.
Singapore to Newark flight
- Following inflight meals were served: 'Chicken Rice' (left photo below) and 'Stewed Beef' (right photo below). Was flipping through the meal brochure and found that Sam Leong (well-known local chef) was the one who created the 'chicken rice' menu! Well, that's too easy for him compared to other chefs.
Newark to Singapore flight
- Following inflight meals were served: 'Roast Chicken' (left photo below) and 'Beef Noodles' (right photo below).
Inbetween the meals, snacks/fruits can be obtained anytime at the aircraft gallery. Snacks would include instant cup noodles, yogurts, muesli-bars, potato chips etc. and a variety of hot & cold beverages.
US Airways Express
Almost like toy planes to me when I boarded these aircrafts. There are two types of aircrafts I took: Canadair Regional 900 series (left photo below) and De Havilland DHC-8 Dash 8 Turboprop series (right photo below). It would be fun just for experience as if you were taking a private jet. But for me, probably would be my first and last time, as I don't feel safe when it comes to air turbulence. In fact, passengers were told to sit evenly on both sides to balance the aircraft!
Unlike budget airline, snacks and choice of drinks were served during flight, even if the journey lasted only one hour (left photo below). As these aircrafts tend to fly at a lower altitude, thus closer view of the ground could be seen from the flight (right photo below).
Airport Review
Lynchburg Regional Airport
The IATA code for this airport is LYH. Lynchburg Regional Airport is located in Campbell county, Virginia (photos below). It is the smallest among the three airports in my trip. It has only has one luggage belt and one beverage store which was closed most of the time. Really can't do anything; do prepared to bring a book or your MP3 player to kill time if you've got a long wait.
Charlotte-Douglas International Airport
The IATA code for this airport is CLT. Charlotte-Douglas International Airport is located in Charlotte, North Carolina. It is a more passenger-friendly airport compared to the rest of the three; many shops in terminal, lots of rocking-chairs for tired passengers and best of all, provides free wireless internet service at the main concourse (left photo below). There was even a small exhibition on the Aviation History in this airport (right photo below).
Was surfing a Singapore forum (EDMW) with my earphone connected (listening to Yes 933 internet radio), sat on an armchair. Really feel at home even it was 10,000 miles apart on the other side of the globe!
Newark Liberty International Airport
The IATA code for this airport is EWR. Newark Liberty International Airport is located in Newark, New Jersey (left photo below). It serves as one of the three airports supporting the air traffic for New York City, the other two airports are John F. Kennedy International Airport (IATA code: JFK) and LaGuardia Airport (IATA code: LGA).
Newark airport has three terminals and are all connected by Airtrain (right photo below). One experience was to enter the gates early (at least one hour in advance) as the security check was very slow; I do often see passengers squeezing through the long queue at the very last minute when their names were called.
Accommodation Review
Marriott Newark Liberty International Airport Hotel
Booked this Marriott Newark Liberty International Airport Hotel just to have a bed to rest on before taking the next flight. The cost was SGD 230 nett per room per night. It was quite a nice hotel; it has a gym, indoor swimming pool, a gift shop and two restaurants, but I was too tired due to jet lag and didn't border to use any of the facilities. Overall the room was comfortable, just that the bed was unusually high (photos below).
My room did have a great view of Manhattan; I was able to see the Empire State building clearly from far (photo below). Do note that there is a free shuttle bus from the airport to the hotel, just need to dial the hotel number at the booth outside the security gate to find out where the pickup point is located. This hotel is definitely recommended to anyone going to Manhattan (New York city) for short trip.
Ramada Inn Lynchburg VA
Located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Ramada Inn in Lynchburg VA., is a full-service corporate and leisure hotel with all the basic necessities (photos below). One night per room was USD 77.25, including city tax and state tax.
My room was allocated on the ground floor and facing the carpark. One design flaw is that there will be lots of distractions from parking vehicles outside the room; beam lights shining through the thin curtain and the annoying reversing alarm when you're trying to sleep. Luckily this happened to me only during Friday night.
The hotel was in classic design with comfortable couch seats in its lobby (left photo below). Daily breakfast was provided and I really liked their bacons; very crispy (right photo below). However, their choice for American breakfast was limited.
Rest and Relax (R&R) review
Fortunate that I've some R&R around Lynchburg despite my packed schedule. My U.S. colleagues even rented a minibus to ferry any other colleagues who would want to join me for dinner and tour. Very thoughtful of them as I got to know them better through these excursions.
Rebec Vineyards
Rebec Vineyards is located along North Amherst Highway and this is a rather small scale vineyard. Grapes harvesting and winemaking were over when we visited this place. Nevertheless, the owner still showed us around the area where wine were made. Processes were manual and didn't have any Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) at all!
Anyway the highlight was to taste different types of wine. I've got to try out 17 types of wine ranging from dry, semi-dry to sweet wine (left photo below). You could image by the end of the wine tasting, my face already burning red! The vineyards do accept orders of their wines (right photo below).
Peaks of Otter Mountain Trekking
Finally there was some exercises on Friday after consecutive days of meetings. The Peaks of Otter are three mountain peaks in the Blue Ridge Mountains, located at Bedford, Virginia. As Lynchburg is in mid-Fall (autumn), the temperature could drop to about 15°C at the mountain top. I wasn't prepared for that and wore only a thin long-sleeve shirt while the rest of my colleagues put on wind-breakers.
Visitors could learn more about its wildlife at its Visitor's Centre (left photo below). It wasn't real trekking as there was bus service (right photo below) to shuttle you to middle of the mountain and from there, just need to walk 15 mins to the mountain peak.
But it's really worth the effort as the view was breath-taking (no pun intended) after some tiring walk (photos below).
Virginia Dare Cruises & Marina
After trekking, we proceeded to have a cruise ride, Virginia Dare Cruises & Marina, along Smith Mountain Lake (left photo below) in the evening. Dinner was served on the cruise (right photo below) and the theme for the night was 'Hawaiian'. Food was great and after our meal, most of us went up to the upper deck to enjoy the cold breeze.
As it was two days past Chinese Mid-Autumn (American called it 'Harvest Moon'), the Moon was still bright and big, and casted a nice reflection on the lake. I had fun chit-chatting with my colleagues, but it was a pity that the cruise ended too soon. Really had an enjoyable night.