Cat and I spent the last week or so visiting her relatives in Vancouver, British Columbia. That's Canada, which contrary to a joke that became popular in my office once my coworkers discovered where I was going, is not the 51st state in the Union.
On our first day, we got up at around 5:30am and finished packing. The cab dropped us off at the John Wayne International Airport at 6:30am. Luggage was checked to avoid too much carry-on, and we were having breakfast at Starbucks by 7:00am. Sweet.
First flight was pretty smooth, although the steep climb you have to take to get out of Orange County almost had me reaching for my barf bag. We had to make a connection in Sacramento. The gap between flights allowed us to grab a quick lunch in the Sacramento Airport, where lack of other options drove me to pay $7.85 USD for this three item combo from a steam table Chinese takeout place called the "Manchu Wok".
Yes. Me. Your friendly frugal Asian payed the 33% markup for this magnificent three course meal of Pepper Chicken, Orange Chicken, and Kung Pao Chicken. Curse you, Sacramento Airport. Curse you...
Food tasted pretty good, though. Nothing remarkable, just your standard Americanized Chinese fare. I think this place is a chain, since I saw one in Seattle and one in Vancouver.
The second flight was actually enjoyable. I managed to get a good nap and read a good chunk of Tipping Point, by Malcom Gladwell. The flight attendants were a hoot, voguing up and down the aisle to secure the bins, making really bad jokes, and doing all the announcements in fake New Orleans accents. The best part of the flight was that we managed to score a few bags of these.
That's right. Ritz crackers shaped like freakin' airplanes. How cool is that? Made just for Southwest Airlines.
Place hit the tarmac at Seattle International at 12:30pm. By 1:30, we were cruising up I-5 in my spiffy Ford rental car. Hit some traffic leaving Seattle, so it took us around four hours to get up to and through the Canadian border, with a stop to check out the Douglas Peace Arch. Really felt like a different county once we were passing through Surrey on the BC-99 and everything was in kilometers. Got to the hotel around 6:00pm. Trip took a bit longer than flying straight into Vancouver, but the drive more than made up for it.
Bill (for one):
Three item combo – 7.29
Tax – 0.56
Tip - 0.00
Total - 7.85
Flavor: C+
Ambience: B (An airport food court, but nicely designed.)
Service: C- (Surly staff. Got grumbled at when I asked for a cup of tap water.)
Overall: C+
Manchu Wok
Sacramento Airport
6850 Airport Road
Sacramento, CA 95837
1-916-568-5384
http://www.manchuwok.com/
Other locations:
Approximately 200 in the United States and Canada. I wouldn’t bother seeking them out.
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4 comments:
Plane crackers! How cool is that? I love the simple and to-the-point name too.
Lol. We managed to save a couple of bags as novelties. I've yet to meet someone who didn't think the crackers are awesome.
I have flown Southwest Airlines over 50 times (no joke) and I have only gotten their stale peanuts and pretzels. They must give the plane crackers to the passengers on international flights.
I think it's new, since we flew from John Wayne to Seattle International, then drove to Canada. I'd never seen them before either, but they passed them out on all four flights.
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