While on these extended trips, we make constant use of the Internet’s community of fellow travelers. I hope to eventually write up our recent trip up the West coast to the Seattle area, but before I do I need to fix some of the damage the script kiddies did. And I needed to give back to the community that reviews Fixed Base Operators (FBOs) at the various places we land. The best site to read these is AirNav and I’ve posted my reviews for them before. 

(We also use Yelp! all the time when we drop into a new city. On this trip it was vital and delivered a key lunch place on the way to the Portland Airport, Yuki and Song. I say it was key because we needed to get to the airport fairly directly (Nell had a commercial flight out, the boys and I were trying to beat the weather through The Dulles pass), and didn’t see anything we liked near our hotel in the downtown. Nothing was as amazing as the lunch the boys and I had at Graze, in Walla Walla, WA the following day. It was amazing. I need to get them to write reviews for those two places, because contributing to the community is vital for it to remain vibrant and useful.

My two for AirNav:

Atlantic at KPDX, Portland, Oregon

My little family of four stopped in on June 10 in our Diamondstar and spent the night. We barely took sixteen gallons of fuel.

The service we received was phenomenal. We were met on the ramp and marshaled in like we were a Citation X. The lineman offered to grab the luggage (unnecessary, that’s why I bring teenagers with me) and took the fuel order. I had called the night before to see if I needed to arrange a rental car and was told they always have quite a few on hand, that I didn’t need to bother.

Inside the incredibly friendly woman behind the desk (I wish I was better with names) already had the forms for the rental filled out. The car was parked just outside the main doors with the trunk open. We spent a few minutes basking in the free WiFi and then jumped in the car and we were gone.

Everything was just as smooth on the return. My wife needed to depart on a commercial flight and they were helpful in pointing out the easiest way to stroll to the terminal (they offered a ride, she wanted to stretch her legs).

This is a *very* high class operation. I cannot understand the complaints about a ramp fee. I see this sort of place and I hope it stays in business so I can keep sneaking in on the heels of the private jet travel.

Millionaire at KMFR, Medford, Oregon

We flew in on June 10 on our way from Oakland to Portland. We are just a little Diamondstar, but the lineman hustled over and waved us in like we were a jet. We hadn’t called ahead (weather pushed us over from a route further east), but they gave us a Mercedes crew car to take to lunch. Their sleep room was pitch black and quiet for the necessary post-lunch pilot nap. Super-friendly and helpful at every turn. Such good service that on the return flight home we planned the stop in Medford just to get to Millionaire.