HankStrong

I'm no Andy, but I've flown a couple hundred times in my life, both domestic and international. I started as a teen collecting miles on TWA and started learning how to use the system to my advantage early. In the early days on the internet you couldn't find much, so I actually went to the library and found books on how to get the most out of frequent flyer miles. My friends and family thought I was crazy for randomly flying to TWA cities for weekends away with my girl. Free trips were the best trips! I got to know St. Louis airport extremely well in those days. When they were folded into American, I tried AA several times and really hated them. I moved to Delta. My least favorite part about choosing Delta is Atlanta, although I'll go to great lengths to get around going there if reasonable. It is a miserable wretch of an airport. For every 1 great connection I've had there, I've had 5 bad ones. Most of the worst airline experiences I've ever had were in Atlanta, with the grand exception of Allegiant which I'll never fly again by choice. I just don't enjoy the budget flight experience. I like the upgrades to the better seats. I like the lounges. I like the in-flight entertainment. I like the pseudo-special treatment and I know it's only a mirage a lot of times.

This looks so fun.

Correct.

It's interesting to note, too, that if you follow the European train model layout of lengthening your stations to increase capacity they also left a ton of room heading South in the grass (North of the vehicle traffic exit lanes) to widen the tracks from the eventual 4 to 6 or 8 or even 10 (only based on a finger measurement on the screen) tracks. That doesn't even include SunRail tracks.

That actually makes a lot of sense. Thanks.

Does anyone know why Terminal A2 is missing a leg? It's like 8 or 9 gates never got built. I wonder why C was started before A was finished.

Since trains are my thing and airports aren't, can someone confirm what I'm saying? I believe there are currently 4 runways at MCO: 17L/35R (the short one ~9,000' long), 17R/35L (~10,000' long), 18L/36R, & 18R/36L (both ~12,000' long) The 2 longer ones being the only ones that can handle the jumbo jets? They look wider, too, which is where my assumption comes from. My question is: At what point with Terminals C/D do we need more runways? I googled it and O'Hare has 8 runways, DFW has 7, and several have 6 including Denver & Detroit. Is 4 enough?

It was for the Maglev, but you think it's a Nona APM now? First I've heard of that, but cool if true.

I typed this: I know it's just a rendering, but having the APM go all the way around the new complex and dead-end instead of just going the few hundred extra feet and come back directly is such a waste of time. *ah-ha moment by looking closer* Then I realized this APM isn't connected to the one that goes back to TA/TB. This would be a totally separate APM that just goes around the loop for TC/TD. It looks like a short 6 station half-circle.

Extremely nice for an old airport to modernize.

That's a great read.

I'm not sure why this thread got banished, because it was out in the main area for everyone to see????? In the entirety of UP, Orlando and Grand Rapids are the only two forums with any vague sort of regular activity. There are about 6 or 7 forums with a handful of posts in the last MONTH and the majority of forums with not a single post in 6 months (or 6 years) so I'm not sure why that doesn't earn us at least a tiny bit of leeway when a beloved poster dies.

Banished to the coffee house!

I'm assuming it would be a member of the UP gay community. No matter how many times I suggested he and jrs2 get a room, I don't picture Spense as the type to try that sort of approach.

Juicy gossip? What the? I think we definitely need more info. I was completely oblivious to this.

Since Scott has still be publishing reviews, the rumors that they were one-and-the-same have been proven unfounded!

It looks like the original hotel promo site has been removed. Probably not the original concept at this point.

It happens.

That's funny because I do that a lot, too. If I interact with someone online a lot and haven't met them I sort of assign them a persona. When I read their posts it comes out in my head as that persona. I don't do it with everyone, but someone that I spend a lot of time interacting with usually winds up with one whether I want it or not. My persona for Spense was Captain Kangaroo. Before anyone asks, there is no one else on this forum that I currently have a mental persona for. The brief time we had with Reality messing up the forum I did visualize him (I think it was a him?) as Jean Girard, the Sasha Baron Cohen French NASCAR driver character from Talladega Nights. For humor purposes only, sometimes I read jrs2's more outlandish posts as if they were written by Larry the Cable Guy, but certainly not all of them, only the really aggressive ones.

My buddy growing up had a 1984 LeBaron that talked to you. "YOUR DOOR IS AJAR! YOUR DOOR IS AJAR!" We would all respond in chorus "NO CAR! THE DOOR IS A DOOR NOT A JAR!"

Cocoa & DeLand. It's sad they were so opposed to their respective train systems when they first began.

It's Miami Central Station (NW 1st Ave & NW 6th St). It's under construction (or was the last time I was there) to be a true multi-modal hub. Brightline, Tri-Rail, Metrorail, Metromover, buses, cabs, Lyft, Uber, etc. all in one place. I'm not 100% on this, but I believe the Metrorail only stopped at Lyric Theatre & Government Center last time I was there. Central Station was in the middle of those two and about a block from each. If I read correctly, it's going to eventually be connected.

I understand that for some people, the dollar is going to always be the deciding factor. If you are poor, there are often few luxuries that are worth it. My grandparents chose the luxury of nice toilet paper. It didn't matter how bad things got, their butts were soft. While I appreciate that the creator of that table says driving to Miami is $42, that's not completely true. Every trip you take is wear & tear on your car. If you have reached a station in life where wear & tear doesn't factor into your driving, then $79 for a train ticket likely isn't a concern either. The Standard Mileage Rate established by the IRS gives a fixed rate per mile of $0.655. This is supposed to factor in gas, maintenance, and wear & tear. This is supposed to reflect an accurate amount of what each mile should cost in a variable gas price market. Using the 237 miles they used that actually says the true cost of that trip would be $155 plus about $15 for tolls or $170. However, I realized the $42 they list is what you actually pull out of your pocket for this trip and may be all that matters to someone. For me, the ease of getting on the train and riding is a big draw. I have made this trip many, many times and have experienced so many problems. Traffic completely stopped, the turnpike shut down, crazy road rage drivers, poor weather causing accidents, general frustration, ill-timed pee breaks from people in the car with me, and the list could go on forever. I'm fine getting on a train, sitting down, playing on my phone or tablet, and arriving rested at my destination.

Spense was my UP buddy. It's funny because we come from completely different backgrounds, but had many similarities all the same. I always enjoyed reading his posts, as long as they stayed away from being too political. I'm not sure if I was one of many of us or few he shared with beyond posting here, but he'd get ticked off about something and light my PM up about it. We'd chat and I'd do my best to smooth his feelings over. We'd usually make some lighthearted cracks about whatever it was and then he'd be ok. I appreciated his knowledge and his vast well of opinions on things. He will truly be missed as the most prolific poster I've ever seen around here.

Yeah, we were staying in the British suburbs with a couple we're friends with. I was asking if it was like Walmart or Target before we went. The wife said it's where you buy kids school clothes and cheap socks, undershirts, & underwear. My wife and I went down to check it out one day and that seemed correct. My wife needed a pair of winter gloves & a scarf because the temp had turned colder than expected. She gets cold easy and they definitely had exactly what she needed. We went in another one in London for reasons long forgotten. I'd call it above Walmart and below Target (but 100% British in styling) from my experiences.