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| A US Airways A321, my ride to Phoenix |
Continuing on from Part 1, I was waiting my next leg of my journey back to Calgary. Now that we've gone northeast, it was time to do some backtracking and head west to the desert and the lovely city of Phoenix, Arizona. The sun was low in the sky as I awaited. During my 4 hour layover in Charlotte I had seen pretty much every type of aircraft US Airways has in its fleet from the Boeing 737-400 to the mighty Airbus A330-300. My flight to Phoenix would be US 705 and we would be flying on a Airbus A321, the largest aircraft in the A320 series. Because this was pretty much a cross-country flight, it would be about another 4 hours in the air on this leg of the trip. At 4:30pm local time, boarding began and to my surprise, my seat had been changed. Instead of being at the back of the bus again, my seat got changed to the 12th row, quite an unexpected surprise from an airline that has already done so much for me. What was even better, the middle seat in our row was vacant, giving me and my seatmate more room to stretch our arms and legs. We pushed back from gate 10 minutes ahead of schedule and headed out for Runway 18C. Here, the A321 lit up its IAE V2500 engines and roared down the runway and boy what a beautiful sound they made as we rocketed off and headed west.
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| A United Express Embrarer 145 just finishing pushback next to us |
This seat would be a little quieter because we were one less person in our row and also because the gentleman who was sitting in my row had just gotten off an 12 hour flight from India and was heading home to Phoenix, so it was no surprise that he was looking for some sleep. He did wake up towards the end of the flight and we started chatting about our journeys and our homes. That's one of my favorite parts of flying is getting to sit with people you've never met before and just learning about them, especially on long trips and everyone is just so interested in learning about each other. We would be chasing the sun for part of this flight and seeing the sun set at 38,000 feet is probably one of the most beautiful sites in the world, the colours of the clouds are bright and livid and its beautiful to see; I love picking evening and morning flights just for that reason. During the flight the pilot made an update on our arrival time into Phoenix and me usually being the organized one didn't realize what my departure time from Phoenix was until I looked at my ticket in Charlotte, I would have barely 45 minutes to connect and had that flight left Charlotte late, I wouldn't make that connection. Still even with an early arrival time, I would just be sliding by with my connection. My seatmate, who was from Phoenix, assured me it was super easy to navigate the airport and I would make my connection no problem, especially since Phoenix is another US Airways hub. Descent and landing into Phoenix was smooth and uneventful and soon I would be at the gate awaiting the final leg of my journey.
My time in Phoenix would be short, only 15 minutes in the terminal before boarding my next flight. All airlines prior to departing for Canada are required to verify that passengers have their passports prior to boarding as airlines do face stiff penalties fro transporting passengers who can't enter Canada. After flying on both the A320 and A321, my fingers were crossed on getting the A319 on this flight and completing the A320 series in 1 day. Sadly this wouldn't happen as I would get another A320 on US 247 heading to Calgary. This short 2 hour flight to Calgary and it would be a quiet one, most of the flight was families heading home from Spring Break and everyone was pretty dead tired, including myself from the long journey home I've had so far. Our A320 pushed back right on time and in 10 minutes we lifted off Runway 8. This flight was a little more bumpy than the previous flights, mainly due to turbulence over the Rockies and the wacky weather that was going in Calgary at the time (gotta love when Chinooks roll through). Despite the turbulence we arrived 20 minutes ahead of schedule on Runway 28 in the wee hours of the morning and with that came the conclusion of my Mexico trip. Driving down 16th Ave during the night was quick and along the way I thought, I can't believe I did that much flying in one day. But I was home safe and sound and at 1:30am, I fell asleep in my bed, happy to finally have some peace and quiet and get some sleep after a long and frightening trip.
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| My tickets for the flights out of Charlotte |
I have to say, US Airways was amazing that day, they ensured I was able to make my connections and get me home safe and sound. From getting a great fare at the last second to their amazing staff, it was a great trip home with them. I would highly recommend them when flying to the US. As for Mexico, I wouldn't mind going back someday, but if I do it will be during a time when it is quiet and not full of drunk college students on Spring Break. I will also probably pick a quieter location away from Cancun and will do my research before booking a hotel.
But that's another story, for another day.
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