Category: Travel

Home From the Road

ssegraves

I arrived back in Houston from Amsterdam last night after one of the longest travel days I have ever experienced. Originally, six of us planned to fly from Brussels to Newark and go our separate ways from there but Continental decided that was not going to happen.

The plane from Newark to Brussels was delayed for a few hours due to mechanical problems and then ran into weather issues at Newark, delaying the arrival of the plane in Brussels for approximately six hours. My friend and I called Continental and had ourselves rebooked through Amsterdam and then on to Houston. The good news is, we all made it home safely.

The trip was fantastic and Belgium is at the top of my list for another visit. The weather did not cooperate nearly as well as I had hoped but I managed to stay warm most of the time.

Brussels is a very interesting city with a very easily spotted contrast in old and new, classic and modern. The beers are some of the best I have ever had and were dirt cheap compared to their cousins here in the States.

I will be posting pictures from the trip later today and this evening and will hopefully do a full recap at some point this evening.

Brussels Here I Come

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Today I start a short trip to Paris and Brussels. This trip has been a long time in planning and came together only a few weeks ago. Some friends and I will be meeting up in Brussels and doing a short beer tasting around the city with a side trip to Brugge.

We started planning this in the middle of last year and the fares at the time were completely unreasonable but over time the prices have nose-dived and I was able to find a cheap ticket to Paris and connect to Brussels via the Thalys train.

I will be flying back to the States on Monday, January 19. The flights to and from Paris and Brussels are completely empty. I should have a whole row to sleep in.

My year in cities, 2008

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Maybe this will become a yearly thing. I decided to post a list of cities I visited in 2008.

  • Austin, TX *
  • San Pedro, Belize
  • Amarillo, TX
  • Lubbock, TX
  • New Martinsville, WV
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Denver, CO *
  • Los Angeles, CA
  • Honolulu, HI

 

One or more nights was spent in all locations except for Amarillo, where we spent an entire day. Cities marked with an asterisk (*) were visited multiple times on non-consecutive days.

Continental Jet Runs Off Runway in Denver

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Continental Airlines flight 1404 has reportedly run-off the runway at Denver International Airport. Smoke was reported to be coming from the wrecked plane. I hope everyone made it off the flight safely.

[EDIT] More information about the crash posted below

There is a lot of information coming out of Denver as to what caused the flight to exit the runway and catch fire. Some reports state that the wing broke-away from the plane and others that weather was a factor. This is all speculation and until the NTSB has had time to explore the crash site we will not know exactly what happened.

The good news is that all passengers and crew made it off of the flight safely and were taken to area hospitals. A few had severe injuries but were listed in stable condition.

Some information on the airplane itself:

  • Boeing 737-500
  • N-Registration #: N18611
  • Delivered in 1994

I found a few pictures of the 737-500 involved in the crash (here and here)

There is also a Twitter user who was a passenger on the aircraft when it ran off of the runway, 2drinksbehind

It appears that Continental ferried a 737-800 to Denver to pick up the passengers who are stuck in Denver due to the crash.

Continental Airlines to launch Frankfurt service from Houston

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Continental, my airline of choice, announced launching Houston to Frankfurt service starting November 1, 2009. The route will be flown on a Boeing 767-200, with 25 BusinessFirst and 149 economy seats.

This announcement coincides with Continental’s entrance into the Star Alliance and will be a great compliment to the current Lufthansa flight that services Houston and Frankfurt. In the past, the only option to Frankfurt on Continental was to connect in Newark, now it will be a simple check-in and go.

Wedding and Honeymoon Pictures

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The pictures from our wedding and honeymoon have finally made it online. We apologize for the delay, the hurricane threw a kink in our uploading plans.

An Austin firm called I Do Photography photographed our wedding. They posted a slideshow and a gallery where you can view the pictures and order them. They did a wonderful job and we are extremely happy with the way the shots turned out!

I have posted separate galleries at Flickr. You can view the ceremony, reception, and the honeymoon.

If you have pictures from the wedding and would like to share them with us, just e-mail them to thecouple@stephanandjessica.com.

Continental cuts London-Gatwick and adds flight to Heathrow

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Continental, my most common travel provider, has announced today that they will stop serving LGW from both Houston and Newark and instead add a flight to Heathrow from Newark.

The news is a little bittersweet for frequent travelers to London. Gatwick is a much better alternative to Heathrow in terms of room and passenger loads, losing it means arriving at a much more congested airport and clearing immigrations with a larger number of people.

We’re back and we’re married!

ssegraves

A little over two weeks ago Jessica and I were married in the company of our friends and family. The ceremony in downtown Austin was perfect, with a fantastic reception following. I wanted to say thank you to everyone who was able to make it and share in our day.

We are also back from our honeymoon in San Pedro, Belize. The water, beaches, and resort were wonderful and Jessica and I had an amazing time. I will be posting pictures from both the wedding and the honeymoon as fast as I am able to edit them.

There will also be some changes on this site and the http://stephanandjessica.com site, hopefully for the better.

Continental announces service to old routes

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Continental airlines has loaded the schedules into their reservation system for a few new routes and one that they have not flown in a long time.

They will fly EWR–ITH, EWR–MDT, EWR–AVP, and they are bringing back EWR–PHL.

The announcement is great news for the smaller markets and a welcome relief from US Airways customers in Philadelphia. And while this move looks great for the customer it’s partially a strategic move so that Continental secures their take-off and landing slots at Newark.