MSP to PHX: Frontier Airlines v. US Airways

I go back and forth to Phoenix too much. By too much I mean way too much: I miss my dog and missing my family on either end of the trip. That being said I've taken just about every carrier back and forth with the exception of those that do more local routes. And I've just about had enough of crummy customer service...and happily I'd like to share some exemplary experiences along the way.

This last trip, I took Frontier Airlines on the way down, with a layover in Denver. On the way back I took US Airways non-stop. This gave me the ability to very easily compare and contrast the two journeys and I'd love to get us to begin a dialogue about our own experiences so that we might better understand which carriers work best for our situation.

Frontier:

• Leather seating in all classes
• Efficient, perfunctory operating airline attendants
• Efficient layover, easy hub airport to nav
• Seats normal size and legroom also normal size. I was in 18a and 14a for each leg and it was just eh. Normal. I always get window because then I can lean against the window since I'm not aggressive enough to fight for my space like you have to in the aisle seat.
• Bonus: I do like that the jets are referred to by their tail animals, it's a cute addition even though I couldn't tell you what animals I had after the fact.
• On time.

Overall impression: Economy operator, customer service far from exemplary but obviously trained in efficiency.

US Airways:

• Leather seating in all classes
• A321 refurbished and the legroom was extraordinary. From what I overheard a flight attendant telling another passenger, this was one of the first flights this particular jet had been on since refurb and it showed. The regular seats I was in 10A so exit row and it was of course even better. Bonus: unlike other carriers, I didn't have to pay extra for exit row.
• Flight attendants....wow. I can't say I had any particular need of them, or there was anything specific where they went beyond the call of duty but that was what made the deal for me. They were just so sincerely happy to be there. That fake 'Hi,' 'Welcome,' 'I'm not really Southern but affecting the accent makes me seem more nice," really get on my nerves. These people were so very...happy. My kind of people. I watched them happily most of the while we were in the air (I had already finished my books and the battery on my lappy was misbehaving and I'm trying to give up my iPhone games addiction.) and they liked working with one another and their jobs. Absolutely highest marks.
• On time.

Overall impression: Airline of preference for the MSP-PHX route and maintained that position with this week's experience. I'd love to shake the hand of either their customer service training team or the individuals who consult for them.

What routes do you fly? I'm sick of poor customer service and never being on time (yes I mean you, Continental) and think I speak for all of us with that. Let's use the internet to collectivize our experiences and make sure to give our business in these trying times to companies that live up to our expectations instead of let us down!

Mixed Vintages, Single Vantage

We went on Thursday in celebration of a birthday as well as my possibly having some fabulous personal news (TBA at a later date) to Armitage in DC Ranch. I had been there before and chosen a 'safe' Malbec that I already knew I liked so was willing to come back and be a bit more adventurous this time.

Among our group we tried:

2 flights of bubbles

1 'worldly reds'

1 'fun whites'

We started off with the Ahi Tuna Carpaccio...meh. The Ahi was fantab but absolutely drowned in their sauce so the inherent (very strong) flavors were overwhelmed. So meh. But really it could have been worse, they started off with great ingredients so even overdone it was still totally lovely. Let's say 6-7/10.

At this point we got our wine flights...and the presentation on the customary wooden boards was completely nice. They numbered them (not a novel concept but totally useful) so obviously were accustomed to having a large volume of patrons doing flights at the same time. I approve.

The flights themselves...the bubbles were nice but nothing really novel. But fun for a night out with your friends. Sort of like roast beef with vegetables...you have to do something really horrible to make it go wrong, but by the same token you aren't going to have done something memorable without reinventing with a crazy twist or offering something like a Kobe roast. They hit the target but that's about it.

Next we'll go on to the 'worldly reds,' and I'd like to point out that despite everyone's assumption, this was not my flight. I did try all of it though of course, as any friend of mine well knows wine is meant for sharing. Yours is mine and all that. The tempranillo that started it off tasted off, the French Côtes du Rhone that followed was completely uninteresting but at least I have hope that had it either aged or opened more there might have been some delicate beauty. The malbec that finished...bleah. Yes, you heard me, I said bleah. I love malbecs. I am even gentle with their critique because so often the vintner is still learning but there is a lot of hope. This one...I really have little to say other than bleah it had a green tasting overtone and I don't mean in the nice white wine way. I mean in a taste that made me think of moldy logs in the forest and the strange green smell of a marsh. No thank you.

Now I, I chose the 'fun whites' flight for one reason and one reason only: I was feeling nostalgic. During grad school in Oz I discovered Brown Brothers Winery and their Orange Muscat and Flora. Up until we made each other's acquaintance, I found most muscat/moscato to be just too cloyingly sweet. I had a similar experience once upon a time with ports. Then I found Brown Brother's version and fell in love. Fabulous sipping on a hot day or snuggling in on a romantic evening or writing a dissertation in the hot tub. Yes I did just say that. So the muscat involved was quite solid but surprisingly so were its friends, the pinot gris showing a lot of character for such a light wine and the blend really I would have preferred paired with a more robust meal to showcase...my salad just didn't do it justice.

All in all, Armitage is what it purports to be: a decent wine bar with surprisingly decent prices for the area that also has nibbles. Wait staff is a bit snooty as one would expect but at least schooled well in serving.

...oh and the picture? Plum wine on the patio.

Rhiannon Blog Reloaded

Up until this point my blog has been very generalized. My thoughts, my comments, places I like and don't like etc. But no purpose or specificity to content other than whatever's been in my head at that moment. This will change from this point forward.

My blog will now serve as a forum for these topics fairly exclusively:

• Travel - Airlines, restaurants, and other service industry professionals that perform...and those that don't. Places that catch the imagination and what is special or repulsive there.
• Millenial perspective armchair philosophy.
• Living the good life - Working within your budget to enjoy the wines, music, furry friends and comfortable surroundings that are important to us.

This divergence is in large part a response to my reprioritizing my perspectives and parts of my life. I want to help myself and therefore help my friends live a better, more wholly examined life...furthering my path toward self-actualization and along the way having great memories is what is important to me.

Please as always feel free to respond with your thoughts...hopes and dreams and happies and dislikes. If there is anyplace in the world where we can express our thoughts as equals it is on the web.

Happy discussing!

-Rhiannon

Museums and Memory

The MIA is playing host the the travelling collection, The Louvre and the Masterpiece. Now however wonderful it was, I'll saw it was entirely not what I was expecting.

Back story. I love the MIA, it is to me what an art museum should be: lots of marble, lots of quiet and there's a very pregnant sense of hope that you the visitor will achieve some deeper understanding of the heights to which humans may ascend and the depths to which their souls may shatter. This is probably from spending many wide-eyed trips there as a youngster and marvelling at the beauty, this massive place where everything was organized and beautiful and the common world of disorder and chaos and meanness that I tried so hard to pretend didn't exist just fell away. It was as beautiful an escape as my books.

The exhibit was well organized (yes, organization to me is very important...without it the rest almost matters for nothing) with each gallery leading well into the next. There were works representing most every major form of visual art: sculpture, painting, sketching, metalsmithing/gemcutting, drawing, etc. They led stories from pieces of masterwork to forgeries and lesser pieces, and obviously the show was a product of unimaginable years of research and study. I dutifully read each placard, each explanation and listened to my headset like a good little nerd. But. But, but, but.

Here I'm going out on a limb to explain something I am not entirely sure about. I left the museum that day feeling unsatisfied with the exhibit and I couldn't put my finger on it then but I think I've figured it out now, after being in the Houston Museum of Fine Art. That story to come.

In the other exhibits, including the others at the MIA (notably their architectural and Native American are amazing) there was enough homogenity for a person to get a real footing in the subject material. To be overwhelmed and consumed by it. Having only these several rooms of VERY disparate objects didn't let the viewer or at least me, completely immerse my mind in any specific subject with any sort of completeness to forget the externalities. And for me, that's what it takes. So while the pieces were amazing beyond any of my meager words, the exhibition did not have the same immersive power of many others I have been in and that was sad indeed for all the obvious planning and work that went into the execution.

Should you go? Without a doubt. Maybe your brain is less OCD than mine, and you can focus with more ease.

Dear Chino Latino:

Thank you again. I love your family portions and atmosphere, and good god I think my ribs distended to accomodate you. It was perfect celebrating my beautiful mother's birthday with you ! Thank you.

Your humble servant,

Rhiannon

Alexis Bailly Vineyard

I grew up in Hastings, MN. I am also back in that lovely little ville and am exploring it again: both the things that I loved as a kid and the things that I didn't experience before. One of these latter gems is the Alexis Bailly Vineyard. Sure, I had sampled their wines before but I hadn't visited the vineyard.

As most of you are quite well aware...this is a girl who is very much a part of the sensory world. And by a 'part of' what we really mean is that she thrills at tastes, touches, smells, sounds and is often enraptured in her own little world enjoying these things. She is often also appalled (thank you, upset doggy tummy) by some of the concoctions she comes across. Now, does this mean her palate is necessarily more educated than yours? Nope. Just means she is seeks out new sense experiences like a lot of people seek new WoW trophies. Polite cough.

Well it was a beautiful day in October in Minnesota, not one of those few that snowed. Our heroine puts herself with her parents and heads out into that sparkling blue afternoon over cornfield and soybean field and arrives. The approach is quite respectable: a horse and her rider on the dirt road out front, bare older vines as we make our way down the long drive to the house. It's rustic and charming, a dark red log-cabin that while is probably new looks like it could be the home of a well-to-do farming family from way back when.

We park and that's what hits me first: there are probably 20 cars in the parking lot. I wasn't expecting this, I thought it was little bitty. Hm, deserves more thought. So we walk through that clear fragrant air, the skin underneath my coat chill but in that pleasant way when your insides are still warm and your skin is just breathing in the open air. It takes a moment for my eyes to adjust from the bright outdoors to the dark interior but I see my first impression about it being a beloved farmhouse are once again affirmed: gleaming warm woods gleam from every surface. Not the hyper-polished kind of cherry, but pines of rough-hewn tables loved under many hands and glasses, and oaks from the barrels surrounding the tasting room and the darker walnut (a guess) of the towering wine racks.

We belly up to the bar and order a couple tasting flights. I find out later that this particular bartendress who looked so familiar is someone who used to be in our neighborhood, she's just a couple years younger than me. So it is townieland and that brings me back to myself for a little bit, but que sera. The first light whites are pleasant, entirely drinkable but nothing that thrills my soul. Don't take this as extreme disparagement, in point of fact for a white to be at all acceptable to me is quite the feat. Normally I find them bland and without interest, or cloyingly sweet or overly oaked in lieu of real flavors. Specifically the Seyval Blanc was quite nice, and I can see how with the right fruits on a summer afternoon I'd want to sit out on the patio with a glass (fine, bottle) of that and a good book. Especially if George R. R. Martin actually can finish the stupid Song of Ice and Fire series because until he does it will occupy a part of my brain that I need for something else. /rant off. Anyway.

So we get through the whites and onto much more pleasing territory for these tastebuds, the reds. The means reds. Wait no, that's another thing altogether. The red wines, that's what we're here for or at least I am. Again, I'm pleasantly surprised at the generally palatable nature of these wines FROM MINNESOTA..actually, I'm going to digress again for a moment to give some kudos. The vineyards up here have decided to fight the good fight against Old Man Winter and a short growing season in which the sugars don't have anywhere near the same amount of time to work their magic multiplying act on the vine. These vintners have done some great work researching grapes and working hard at their craft, and I am so pleased at their result. Nay, tickled. That's what happened with Voyageur, a gorgeous red that I can't wait to try with a good ribeye. After maybe it sits for a little while as it was still a little peaky, but I have faith in that mellowing with a bit of decanting and/or aging. I'm pretty sure what we were drinking in the tasting room was 2006 so quite the baby.

The dessert wines I'm not going to get wax on about for the simple reason that I think my palate is in a state of flux and the clear sweet ruby ports and things I used to love just aren't holding me the same way. It could be also that after so many wines I just was feeling full and the heavy desserts just wasn't what I wanted.

Either way, if you are in the area I recommend you go and visit Alexis Bailly, if you aren't, come visit me.

Playing Catch-up

I'm sorry I've been remiss lately, heck I've been even neglecting Facebook! (For those few of you who read me here, Facebook imports my blog and most of the commentary is to be found there.) I will attempt to catch us all up through a series of short posts rather than one long rant. Which would be normal for me.

Thanks and happy Fall!