Gardyloo

While you're looking, do consider trips that depart and return to Vancouver BC instead of Seattle. Most of the cruises from Seattle travel north on open ocean west of Vancouver Island, where conditions can be rougher and where there are no views. Most departing from Vancouver travel on protected "inside passage" waters east of Vancouver Island - smoother and more scenic. Worth checking out.

Don't know where you've cruised or plan to go in the future (or non-cruise travel for what it's worth) but if you're planning that far out and want to fly in the pointy end, and especially if you're interested in global cruising and not just Europe/Caribbean, then you might want to do a little research on round-the-world (RTW) plane tickets. I'm a broken record on the subject (those that know my shtick are groaning at the moment) but there might be some benefit in investigating this approach to flight planning. Basically, these are tickets that allow up to 16 flight segments (takeoffs and landings) over the course of 12 months. You have to cross both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans one time each, and in the same direction, and end in the same country from which the first flight departed. Aside from that main rule, however, the tickets can be quite flexible. Within the ticket's limitations (either the total miles flown or how many continents you touch) you can zigzag and backtrack (not over the oceans) fairly easily. The feature that makes them potentially interesting to those who like to fly in premium cabins is that they can be excellent value depending on where the travel begins and ends, NOT depending on where you live. The tickets are priced VERY differently depending on the "country of origin," meaning where the first flight departs. For example, a three continent RTW ticket using Oneworld carriers (British Airways, American, Iberia, Alaska, Qantas, Japan et al) in business class has a base price of $10,426 if travel begins and ends in the USA. However, the same ticket with travel starting and ending in Norway costs $4875; in Japan $4423. (Note these are base prices; taxes and airline fees will usually add 10% - 20% to that total.) For that you'd get up to 16 flights, with a maximum of 4 flights in Europe, 4 in Asia, and up to 6 in North America, which includes Central America and the Caribbean. (You'd also have to fly 3 intercontinental flights, so with a limit of 16 some continent would get shorted by one.) Imagine you had two European, one or two Caribbean or other North American cruises, and one Asian cruise planned over a 12 month period. (I'm just making this up.) Say you make your way to, say, London for the first cruise, on your own nickel. You cruise the Mediterranean or the Baltic, whatever, then when the cruise is over, you fly to Oslo for cheap, and start the RTW that you've already bought. You fly home, in business class. Some months later, you use the same ticket to fly to Florida (or wherever) for a Caribbean cruise, or use it to fly to California for a Mexican one, or to Vancouver for an Alaska cruise. Maybe two. Then back home again. Then it's time to shoot over the Pacific for an Asian cruise. Hong Kong to Singapore? Whatever. Then you fly back to Europe, maybe for a fjords cruise, or Greece... You end back in Oslo before 12 months have elapsed from the first flight. In the meantime you've had up to 16 flights in the front end, with an average cost of around $350 - $400 per flight. Not bad for business class from Detroit to Miami; pretty terrific for Chicago to Hong Kong or Rome to Dallas. For $500 or so more up front, you could get a 4-continent ticket (also 16 flights) that could include Australia, Africa or South America. I'll stop here, but if this sounds appealing, let me point you to a thread I posted on Fodor's a few years ago that covers the subject in more depth. Maybe for nought, but worth a thought.

Here's the deal. The road into and out of the interior of Denali National Park is closed past milepost 43 (of around 90) due to landslides and unstable conditions that will keep the road closed until 2025 or (more likely) 2026. While the part of the road that's open can be quite scenic, and while you might see some wildlife from the tour buses that travel the road, you'd need to weigh whether the reduced access into the park, coupled with the VERY high price on the tours, is worth it to you. The many hotels that are clustered around the park entrance (accessed by road or rail) are dependent on (and sometimes owned by) the cruise operators, so while the experience in the park is reduced, the tours still spend the same amount of time as if it wasn't, for obvious reason$. The train ride from Anchorage to Denali is scenic in a few parts, but mainly goes through forest. By comparison, the train rides to Anchorage from Whittier or Seward, where the one-way cruises from Vancouver dock, are fabulously scenic, albeit shorter. If it was me (and of course it's not) I'd save my money on the cruise tour and use it for some self-touring. If you're on Princess, you'll be docking in Whittier. Depending on when your cruise takes place, on arrival at Whittier, I'd take the "26 Glacier" cruise that's offered from the Whittier dock, then take the evening train into Anchorage. I'd then (the next day or the one after) do a flightseeing tour of Denali on a floatplane from Lake Hood in Anchorage. This will be an incredibly memorable and - IMO - a far better investment than the land tour. If time permits the next day, you could rent a car and drive up to Independence Mine, an historic site on a mountainside above the town of Palmer, around an hour north of Anchorage. This is a very scenic and interesting glimpse into Alaska's past, well worth the few hours it takes. Of course, these are personal opinions; but IMO they'd make for a more rewarding experience with your short time on the ground. Phillips Cruises Glacier Tour Whittier Alaska Prince William Sound Alaska Flightseeing Tours & Air Charters | Rust's Aviation (flyrusts.com) Hatcher Pass map - https://maps.app.goo.gl/twDdgkGfBxFSfg5y9

Rather than wrestling with the "multi-quote" option (which I always manage to screw up somehow) let me address some points raised in several posts above. Sorry if these are out of order. 1. You will NOT go through any immigration in London on a connection at Heathrow. Security, yes, immigration, no. This is called a "sterile transit" as long as you don't leave the secured (aka "airside") parts of Heathrow. Even if you had to change terminals, for example from Terminal 5 to Terminal 3, you wouldn't technically enter the UK hence no need for border controls. 2. You will go through both immigration (people) and customs (stuff) at your first port of entry in the US. If that's PHL, it's there, if it's LAX, it's there. You'll re-check your bags (if at PHL) after clearing customs, usually a formality. Changing terminals at PHL is not a big deal; a little walking is all that's involved. Sometimes it can be quicker than at LAX. Scratch that - usually quicker. 3. The extra cost for the British Airways flights ($295 vs. $90) is NOT due to taxes. It's because BA adds "carrier imposed fees" on award tickets that use BA flights. Years ago BA called these fees "fuel surcharges" (technically, "YR" or "YQ" fees on the tariff breakdown) but a US court ordered BA to stop calling them that, after BA lost a big class action lawsuit that showed they were no such thing and that they were simply a means to elicit increased profits from mileage award flights. So BA just changed the name to "carrier imposed surcharge" and kept on as before. The (Dutch, British and US) taxes on AMS-LHR-LAX are the same regardless of whose plane you're on; the difference is due to BA's surcharges. AA has agreed to levy the same charges between LHR and LAX (or any US destination) even if it's an AA plane from London. I believe the technical term for this practice is "ripoff." 4. The algorithms used by the airlines to set fares and release seats into award inventory, and at what "cost" in miles, are some of the industry's most closely guarded secrets. Trying to outguess these robots is a fool's errand, absent, like I say, an advanced degree from Hogwarts. Ever since the major airlines went to so-called "dynamic pricing" for award seats (where the mileage can bounce all over the place, from, say, 22,500 miles for a coach seat to/from Europe to 100,000+ miles for the same seat) it's been harder and harder to know what good value is vs. poor. My old rule of thumb was that I never used miles when their value was less than 2c or 2.5c per mile (divide the airfare by the miles needed) but those rules of thumb are much less useful now. 5. BA generally releases more seats at the opening of the booking window (330 or 360 days for most airlines) than other carriers (like AA) because they can use the "carrier imposed fees" (above) to hedge their profits. But all airlines - BA, AA, all of 'em - release seats into award inventory throughout the eleven or twelve months of the booking period, when and only when their robots tell them it's more profitable to do so. Not only will the robots tell them to release seats, but also how to price them - cheap to astronomical - in terms of the mileage requirement. 6. Late August typically is when you see the highest cost for transatlantic economy-class plane tickets. Ironically it's also among the cheapest times for business class, due to the falloff in actual business demand. Looking at the required mileage for mid-August (up to 8/20, which is as far as AA goes at the moment) I can see some business class one-way awards for under 100K miles under $100 in fees. Of course I don't know how many miles you possess, but even if you had to buy some miles from AA, this might be worth investigating. Or, depending on how many Avios you have, you might look at using them for flights on Aer Lingus from Amsterdam to Dublin, connecting to Aer Lingus' nonstop to LAX. You can book using BA Avios on Aer Lingus' website (Aer Lingus is owned by the same company that owns BA and Iberia) and one big advantage of traveling via Dublin is that you "pre-clear" all US border controls - immigration and customs - at DUB, so when you arrive in LAX it's like coming off a domestic flight. Major time-saver. I'll stop here; hope this isn't too confusing.

The rental car offices in downtown Seattle have pretty normal hours; it shouldn't be hard to do some comparison shopping to see where the cheapest place is, counting base rates, one way drop fees, etc. A taxi or Uber from Seatac airport to Pier 91 will run around $50, more like $15 - $20 from downtown, so add that to the total. I have to wonder, however, if taking the train (twice daily, morning and evening) might not be a better choice. One-way fares between Vancouver and Seattle run around US$40, and the (daylight) ride is pretty scenic. Home Page | Amtrak Cascades

Please, there's no "s" in the Pike Place Market. Pike Place is a street. Remember there are two cruise terminals in Seattle, at Pier 66, right downtown, and at Pier 91, located around 2 1/2 miles north of the downtown core in a predominantly industrial area. Most cruise lines use Pier 91; NCL is the main tenant at Pier 66.

It's important to include the "when" question with the "where" question. You don't indicate what month this might take place, how long you have, or if you have any particular interests (or limitations) to take into account. The cruise tours make logistics easy, but they also only let you see (and stay) where it's best for the tour operators' bottom line. On the other hand, independent travel in Alaska is expensive, distances are great, and you have to handle all those logistics yourself. MICA's treks on the Matanuska Glacier are well known and popular, but there are other options that might appeal; for example you could do a flightseeing tour of Denali with a plane that lands you on a glacier. Pricey, yes, but talk about a once-in-a-lifetime experience... Or you could take the money you'd spend on some pricey cruise excursion, add the money you'd spend on a couple of (also pricey) days of car rental in Southcentral Alaska, and use it to fly up to Kotzebue, an Inupiat Eskimo community located on an inlet of the Arctic Ocean (around $320 round trip on Alaska Airlines from Anchorage.) Kotzebue is above the arctic circle, and if your trip occurs during most of June or the first half of July, you'll have 24 hour sunlight. Learn about this remarkable part of the world and the remarkable people that live there, stay at a comfortable Native-owned hotel across the street from the beach, stick a toe in the Arctic Ocean... What I'm saying is that more research is better than less, but we need more information in order to be of more help.

I was going to say the same thing. Round trip airfare from London to Tromsø, Norway in January/February is around £190, and there are numerous tours out of the city (which is way farther north than the arctic circle turn-around on the Dalton Hwy in Alaska) to see the aurora, as well as other activities like dog mushing, etc.

If your cruise is stopping in Victoria, odds are that this is a Seattle-based round trip. (The Victoria stop is to satisfy the US legal requirement that foreign-flagged vessels on trips originating and ending in US ports have a stop en route in a foreign port.) If that's the case, and if you have some time in Seattle before or after the cruise, it's worth noting that there are a couple of excellent gardens easily accessed from Seattle. I won't say they're the equivalent of Butchart Gardens (although IMO Butchart is rather overpriced) they might be of interest. 1. Kubota Garden in south Seattle is a beautiful (mainly Japanese) garden complex developed privately by Fujitaro Kubota and his family over decades. Entrance is free, and it's a stunner of an experience. Kubota Garden Foundation - Home 2. The Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island, reached by a 40-min. ferry ride from downtown Seattle, is regarded as one of the best botanical gardens in the US. Take the ferry to Bainbridge, then connect to a local dial-a-bus service out to the gardens, and you're in for a terrific experience. Bloedel Reserve | One of North America's 10 Best Botanical Gardens

The Alaska red king crab fishery has been cancelled for the past two years, so any king crab legs you'll get will likely have been frozen long ago. (Overfishing and climate change most likely.) Try Dungeness crab, which is more plentiful, costs less, and is quite delicious.

You're on the open ocean instead of protected Inside Passage waters, so yeah, it's going to be bumpier - maybe a little, maybe a lot. And you'll be far enough offshore that I wouldn't expect much in the way of scenery, but that will depend on the precise locations chosen in real time. That's a problem with (a) Seattle departures and (b) ships the size of the Quantum - too big to handle some of the narrower passes in the Salish Sea and other parts of the Canadian Inside Passage.

Here's the view from the Portage Glacier visitor center taken a couple of years ago in the late summer/early fall. https://goo.gl/maps/A6pNg1NUwwyuT1PM8 Here's a picture I took from basically the same spot around October 1980.

The Marx Bros. opened in 1978 or 1979 IIRC. I broke up with a girlfriend over an expensive dinner there shortly after they opened. (Her loss.) I was going to suggest an even older "old time" place a short walk from the Hilton, Club Paris, a definitely "old school" steakhouse but a major Anchorage tradition/landmark. It appears that it's better lit than in the day, when we used to joke that one should order a sirloin medium rare, accompanied by a flashlight.

Arrive at 5 PM. Bags claimed by 5:30 (sooner in most cases.) Into cab/Uber by 5:50 PM (over the skybridge, down to transport hub.) At the Mayflower by 6:20 PM (Friday traffic can be minimized by using the diamond lanes.) Leave your bags with the concierge, then dinner at Andaluca, or pupus at Oliver's, or if you feel adventurous, walk around the block to the Asean StrEAT food court in the Westlake Center building (abuts the Mayflower) - very fun Seattle spin on a SE Asian hawker food center - umpteen SE Asian stalls. Easy peasy.

Even though Alaska Airlines doesn't serve CLT (yet, but they've been expanding their east coast destinations for some years) I should mention the Alaska Airlines-branded Visa as a possible contender. Here's my thinking. Alaska's mileage plan is one of the best, and since they joined Oneworld (along with American, British Airways, Iberia, Qantas, Japan Airlines, Cathey Pacific et al) it's arguably gotten better. At present, their signup bonus is for 40,000 miles but it's often for 50K. The real value, however, comes from the annual "companion certificate" (electronic, not paper) that provides that if one person flies on any Alaska Airlines trip - one way, round trip, open jaw... paying the going price, a companion flies the same route/flights for $99 plus some taxes, usually totaling $122 all in. Now like I said, Alaska doesn't fly to CLT, but they do to RDU, so if you could get yourselves to Raleigh/Durham (couple of freeway hours, right?) then the following math might apply. Say next June your (annual) cruise is to Alaska, say a one-way cruise from Vancouver to Seward. An "open jaw" ticket bought today for CLT to Vancouver, returning Anchorage to CLT two weeks later, would cost around $700 per person on either United or American, so call it $1400 for two. However, if you were to fly on Alaska out of RDU, the round trip for one passenger would be around $750, but the companion ticket would cost $122, for a total of $872 for two, or $528 less than the total cost from CLT. If you chose Hawaii instead (maybe not for a cruise, just a trip) the savings would be on the order of $1000 for two. Both the prime traveler and the companion get full mileage credit for the flights, the card gets you free bags and priority boarding, and the card also earns miles at the usual rate throughout the year. So in this example, the $95 card fee is erased fivefold with the one trip. This repeats every year. And since American is an alliance (and codeshare on many routes) partner with Alaska, award travel with Alaska miles is quite easy from CLT. Alaska's redemption rates (miles needed for a given flight) are usually better than American's, and way, way better than United's or (especially) Delta's. Maybe worth considering. Alaska Airlines Visa® Credit Card - Apply Today Mileage Plan™, our loyalty program for frequent flyers - Alaska Airlines

Seattle Tours & Activities | Tours Northwest | Seattle, WA

As a petite Asian with dark hair, you're going to be one of tens of thousands of similar-looking people walking around downtown in this Pacific Rim city. For example, a five minute walk from the Paramount Hotel will take you to a Seattle version of a Singapore hawker food center. Check it out. https://goo.gl/maps/buAitBsgshxpk3kH6 Or hop on the light rail to the International District/Chinatown station and walk a block or two to Uwajimaya, Seattle's iconic pan-Asian grocery and department store (heavily Japanese but not exclusively.)

Honestly, if you can afford it, I'd just stay at the Embassy Suites. It's ideally located, you can walk straight to the waterfront (a couple of blocks) or to the International District, Pike Place market, or any number of other attractions. For example, look at the historic Smith Tower as a possible alternative to the ($$$) Space Needle - you can actually see the Space Needle from the building, something you can't do from the Space Needle. 😉 One note is that the free waterfront shuttle has been restored this year, and hopefully will be running next June when you arrive. It can take you from the King Steet Station all along the central waterfront and up to Seattle Center, with stops for the Pike market (via elevator through the market garage) - all for free. Free Seattle Waterfront Shuttle - Official Page Route map -

In another thread the OP indicates that the planned (Alaska Airlines) flight to Seattle arrives at 23:35 and the onward flight to Anchorage departs at 07:00. The LAX-SEA flight has an on-time departure record (this year) of 85%, so any delays in clearing the border formalities at LAX might well mean an overall delay. To be honest, rather than a ridiculously short connection through a deserted Seatac airport, with all the hotels pricey and their shuttles scaling back at midnight, IMO a delay at LAX would be preferable. If I were the OP (as I suggested on the other thread) I'd get on the horn to Silverseas or my TA and come up with a more humane plan, especially given that Silverseas isn't exactly the Ryanair of cruise lines.

Well the first thing I'd do is contact Silverseas or my travel agent and ask if there are alternative flights available. Alaska Airlines (who it looks like you're booked on) has almost hourly flights from Seattle to Anchorage, so choosing one that isn't quite as grueling might be worth a change fee of some sort. Frankly, my guess is that the entire booking process has been handled by robots and if you can find a human to intervene they might well be able to come up with a better schedule, e.g. one that has you spending the night at LAX rather than at SEA. I'm guessing you'd be arriving at LAX at 18:30 local time (off a Qantas nonstop?) which even with an early morning departure from LAX would still give you enough time to shuttle to an airport hotel, take a bath, get some sleep, and be back at the airport for the northbound flights in much better shape than the one you describe.

And note that "late spring" means something altogether different in the BC, Yukon and Alaska interiors than it does in most other places. With construction, frost heaves and lots of bugs, it might not be the dream drive you'd hoped for.

One question I'd have (in two parts) is (a) where are you coming from, and (b) would/will you have some time in Vancouver before or after the cruise? If you're coming from the eastern time zone (or central) then one consideration is that a very long day's travel to Alaska, combined with a 4-hour time change and pretty much 24-hour daylight (not "midnight sun," but definitely midnight twilight or daylight) AND launching into active sightseeing - up early, down late - can be very tiring and make for a suboptimal experience. If you wouldn't be able to make time available before a northbound cruise from Vancouver, at least the 3-hour time difference could be overcome during the first couple of days on the ship - no port calls until Ketchikan, usually on the second morning, so you could relax and get your clocks adjusted on the boat. Then if you're planning some land-based touring upon arriving in Southcentral Alaska, your internal clocks will be all adjusted and you can leap into action. Yes, the trip home will be tiring, but you'll have tailwinds during the flights (it's always quicker west-to-east than vice versa) and you can readjust once you're home. Now if you DO have extra days available at both ends, then it probably matters less, but if it's your first time to Vancouver I'd REALLY recommend taking a couple of days to enjoy that beautiful city and its region. Just for kicks, google some of these activities, which are below the radar for many visitors. - Lynn Canyon suspension bridge instead of Capilano - Steveston fishing port - Vancouver Punjabi market - Richmond Night Market - Bard on the Beach Shakespeare festival ... and many others.

When is this trip? It matters because there are a number of events in the region that could influence your decision. It also appears that you're sailing on Holland America, which uses the Pier 91 (Smith Cove) terminal, which is located quite some distance from downtown or other attractions. Not knowing dates, here's what I'd recommend. Spend the arrival night near the airport. Hotels will be cheaper than downtown and arriving at 10 PM means 1 AM on your body clocks. Take one of the free shuttles to an airport hotel, maybe one that offers breakfast, and call it good. The next morning (Saturday) relocate to a downtown hotel and do the bulk of your touring of the city then. I'd personally save the Pike Place market for Sunday morning - as early as possible - in order to avoid the awesome crowds that fill the market by late morning. As for what to do on Saturday, there are many threads on this board covering that, but my recommendation would be to do some things that are a little less "typical," if I can use that term. Google the following: - West Seattle water taxi and walk to Alki Beach - Ferry to Bainbridge Island and visit to Bloedel Reserve - Fremont Troll, Gas Works Park and Archie McPhee - Fishermen's Terminal and Ballard Locks salmon viewing - Museum of Flight (already mentioned - a blast for kids.) - Uwajimaya, Kinokuniya Books, and dim sum in the Chinatown/International District - Asean StrEAT - a SE Asian food hall (like a Singapore hawker center) at Westlake Sunday morning, head to the Pike Place market for breakfast at Lowell's (opens at 8 AM) then watch the vendors set up for the day. Be gone from the market by 10 or 10:30, maybe with some (amazing) flowers for your cabin on the ship. Return to your hotel, collect your bags, and taxi or Uber to the cruise terminal. When you return, because you're flying out that night, and because Pier 91 is far from downtown, I'd simply take whatever form of transportation (taxi, Uber, shuttle van) to the airport and collect a car there for the day. The rental companies are charging "one way" drop-off fees for cars picked up downtown and dropped at the airport; that fee will undoubtedly be more than the transportation cost from the pier to the airport. With the car and roughly 10 hours or so available (giving yourselves plenty of time to return the car and check in that night) you still have lots of options. You could make it to Mount Rainier and back - roughly 2 1/2 hours driving time each way from the airport - or you could stay at sea level and explore our watery area a little. One possibility would be the "Vashon loop," an enjoyable ride that includes some fun sights in Tacoma as well as scenic Vashon Island. Google the places on this map - https://goo.gl/maps/7whkZ4ZsqY8o3N456 Another would be to explore the beautiful Snoqualmie Valley, east of the city. This could include Snoqualmie Falls, a visit to Remlinger Farms (very kid-friendly) or the Snoqualmie Valley railroad museum. Map - https://goo.gl/maps/Ku43sHwTyhdCnEyz8 Or, if the Mariners are in town, Sundays are always day games, so you could skip the car, store your bags at the airport (storage place open 24 hours) and ride the light rail from the airport to the ballpark, watch the Mariners lose (most likely this year) and be back at the airport in plenty of time. Lots of options.

I'm so sorry, I missed where you've already decided to spend that extra money and take a BA flight through JFK. Those are NOT additional taxes, they're "carrier added surcharges," or "carrier imposed fees," - so-called "YQ" fees in the industry, and they're simply BA's way of insuring that it makes huge profits on those flights. Do some math. Let's assume for a moment that your miles are worth 1.5 cents each ($0.015.) That would be poor value in my view; I never redeem miles unless they're worth at least 2.5 cents each, but for the sake of argument let's say 1.5 cents is okay with you. So 57,500 miles x 1.5 cents = $862.50. Then add the $757.30 in BA fees and the total for one way in business class becomes $1619.80. Multiply that by 2 and your round trip (or open-jaw return) becomes $3239.60. If you were like me and wanted your miles to be worth 2.5c each, then the total for the whole trip would be $4390. You can buy a round trip business class ticket - one that earns a lot of miles rather than spending them - for less than that right now, but you should wait. Travel for next June is too far out to get good deals on flights booked now. The airlines set fares to insure they make a profit, and because things are so uncertain that far out (price of jet fuel, labor issues, the global economy, whatever) they hedge the risk by setting fares very high at the outset, and especially by limiting the number of "award" seats they make available. I promise you that if you are patient and wait until later this year - I'd suggest sometime around November at the earliest, that you'll see better deals both for purchased flights and for availability for mileage redemption. The airlines are NOT going to sell out, and in fact, traditionally the summer is the cheapest time of the year for transatlantic business class, due to the falloff in travel by actual business flyers. It's not unusual to see transatlantic business class fares in the $2000 - $2500 range (round trip or open jaw) for the peak summer, but those fares won't show up for several months yet. So I'd urge patience and research. You have plenty of time.

If you keep scrolling down, eventually you'll come to some flight combination where the minimum number of miles will get you a seat. Those are always the minimum number for economy seats, not premium economy or business class. If you click the "advanced search" box on the previous screen and specify "business/first" in the "class" box (under "Options" at the bottom of the screen," you'll get a similar table to the one above, only showing just the business options. Here's a screenshot of that result for June 10. Note before you get your hopes up, the flights for 57,500 miles (sounds great, right?) include a flight from Atlanta to London on British Airways, connecting at Heathrow to Barcelona. Because of BA's usurious additional fees, the "+ $5.60" or whatever line under the mileage cost, becomes $757.30 for that option. If possible, I'd use a laptop or desktop for this rather than your phone. It can get annoyingly slow and complicated to handle these transactions with a phone-sized screen.