Just as quickly as I came home from Boston, I was
quickly out the door to Phoenix for my next work trip.It had been 12 years since my last trip to
Arizona’s capital, which coincidentally was for work.Actually, it was one of the first work trips
I had ever done in my career, so there was a bit of nostalgia returning to one
of the places where it all began.The
last time I was here, it was in the middle of summer and humid as Hell.With this trip occurring around the first
week of May, I wasn’t sure what to expect to be quite honest.
Boarding Air Canada Flight 1837
With an early flight around 9:30am, I had to
leave my condo early enough to avoid Rush Hour.What should be a quick 35 – 40 minute drive to the airport can easily
double in time if I didn’t time my cab pickup correctly.And with it being a Monday morning flight,
that could cause me severe problems as it is one of the busiest times of the week
for departures.Leaving around 6:45am, I
had a little bit of a scare as we ran into slow moving traffic on the
highway.It eventually cleared up so
that I was able to arrive just a bit more than two hours before my scheduled
departure.
Cimarron, Colorado
Check in was uneventful, although it took me
about 50 minutes because I lost some time trying to check in with Air Canada
International Departures instead of USA Departures.Chalking that one up to tiredness as I should
have known better having only being here a little over a week earlier for my
Boston flight.For breakfast, I decided
to give Wahlburger’s a second try.Boy,
was that a mistake!Although the Bartender
served me almost immediately, it still took almost 30 minutes for me to get
Paul’s Crispy Haddock again.After
wolfing my breakfast down as fast as I could and settling my bill, I literally
walked a few feet over to Gate 48 just to see my section being called for
boarding.No more Wahlburger’s for me in
the future – good food, but terrible service.
Thoreau, New Mexico
Finally, I could relax a little as I took my
seat in 49K.I picked this window seat
based on as I would get a great view of Camelback Mountain upon landing.Economy was also in a 2 x 3 x 2 formation
similar to my flight to Barbados.It was
a sunny 9°C in Toronto by the time we departed for the 4 ½ hour flight.Things were seeming to look up for this
flight if it weren’t for the fact that the in-flight Entertainment System
wasn’t working for the first hour of the flight.But that seems typical with my past
experiences with Air Canada.We also had
some turbulence issues once we crossed over Lake Huron, but it settled down
once we entered Michigan airspace.
Snowflake, Arizona
Around this time, I decided to watch Baywatch –
starring Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron – to pass the time.As with most children of the 90s, I used to
watch the original television series.Back
then, Baywatch was considered a “drama,” but it was a very cheesy one at
best.The movie takes on more of a
comedic approach with a little bit of drama mixed into the plot.Dwayne Johnson plays the role of Mitch Buchannon
– Head Lifeguard of Baywatch – who works with the team to uncover a criminal
plot that threatens the future of the Bay.I definitely had a few chuckles watching this feature film and
appreciated some of the inside jokes and nostalgia thrown into storyline, but
definitely would not have paid to see this in the theaters.It was an okay movie, but not great like the
Lego Movie.
Apache-Sitegreaves National Forest
Once we crossed over Colorado, I kept checking
the scenery every so often.From the
Rocky Mountains to endless miles of desert; from lush National Forests to
random Plateaus caused by Millennia of erosion, the Southwestern United States is
a Photographer’s dream.It was also dry
and humid outside as we got closer and closer to landing.In fact, I may have caught a glimpse of what
appeared to be the beginnings of a wild fire in the Forest Lakes area of Apache-Sitgreaves
National Forest with large clouds of smoke just endlessly carrying on for miles.Aside from that once incident, this stretch
of the flight was absolutely stunning.
We arrived at Phoenix Sky Harbor International
Airport about 15 minutes early around 10:34am PST, which is kind of unusual
when travelling from East to West in North America as you are usually flying
into headwinds that slow you down.Whatever gains were made in this early landing were quickly eaten up as
we had to wait ten minutes upon landing for another Air Canada flight to leave
Gate B23 at Terminal 4 before we could disembark.Once we got off the plane, it was straight to
Carousel 1 to pick up my luggage, grab the first taxi available, head to my
hotel to drop of my suitcase, and then head back downtown to catch the last
Chase Field tour of the day.
Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
AC 1837 – YYZ to PHX
Operated by: Air Canada Rouge
Aircraft:Boeing 767-300 (twin-jet); Seat: 49K
Cabin:Business – Continental Breakfast; Economy – Food for sale
Depart: 09:18AM EST – Toronto Pearson
International Airport (YYZ) – Terminal 1, Gate F68
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