It's Like We Know What We Are Doing

Every time we fly, we try to figure out a way to get upgraded.  It's one of the reasons we stick with one airline partner.  If we're loyal to Oneworld, chances are upgrades could happen. They rarely happen. Sure, occasionally there's an upgrade to First Class on a domestic flight.  Then again, I have a ton of upgrade segments from this past year and haven't once been upgraded.  But I keep trying. And one time there was that sweet ass Business Class upgrade to Australia .  That was cool. But that isn't the norm. Adele and I always strategize on how we can do the whole upgrade thing.  Do we call them in advance??  Do we keep trying at the check-in desk??  Then again in the lounge??  Then again at the gate?? Seriously, the amount of time spent thinking about upgrades is ridiculous. Starting the flights off right. In the bar. All of this trial and error makes for a sweeter moment when these upgrades actually do happen. ORD-LAX...

Saturday, July 11th I broke Elias.  Again. I don't mean to do these things.  It just happens.  We go so hard for so long that I forget to stop and relax.  Not everything has to be done on a trip.  Not everything can be done.  So there we sit, at lunch at Famous Dave's right outside the gates at Cedar Point.  I look at Elias and he isn't saying anything.  And I knew before I even asked the question, "Are you done??" He was.  Then again, so was I. Would it have been different if we would have checked out of the hotel in time to have eaten breakfast with Mark and his family??  Maybe.  Would it have been different if we had gone to the Soak City side of Cedar Point versus just riding the rides??  Maybe.  But we didn't do these things. We quietly ate our food, walked back through the park to the exit, found the car, and began our drive home.  We didn't even have funnel cake. The trip ended with a bit of a whi...

Tuesday, May 5th The trip home is its own story.  Mostly because it's been almost two weeks since the flight and I'm still pretty angry about the whole thing.  Well, I'm not as angry as I was.  It has been almost two weeks.  I shouldn't still be angry at what happened.  My remnant anger is at the resolution...or lack thereof. I mentioned in a previous post that I had used miles to travel First Class to Hawaii.  I had saved them up for almost 15 years and had finally decided to use them for a purpose.  I don't normally fly First Class.  I mean, I travel a lot, but I try to go as inexpensively as I can because I travel a lot.  So First Class isn't in the budget.  This was a birthday trip that was created based on flying First Class to Hawaii. This is what I was leaving.  I didn't want to leave... Fast forward to my flight home. Well, fast forward to the start of this journey.  And this journey actually star...

December 7th, 2014 I've never tried to upgrade to First Class before.  Other than just asking at the gate, I never really knew how to go for it.  So I really didn't try. Dude.  I didn't know what I was missing until today. Based on the extreme amount of travel I've done in 2014, I have Gold Status with American Airlines. And every time I booked a flight, it gave me the option if I wanted to upgrade.  Then there were talk of segments and...it just got so confusing.  Until I tried it.  And it worked. So how does it work?? As you book your flight, there is a box to request the upgrade.  Upgrades are broken out in 500 mile segments.  Flying to Orlando you need two segments to upgrade one way, because it's (slightly) over 1000 miles from ORD to MCO.  In your account, you can see if you have segments available.  If you don't, you can buy some online or at the airport.  If you have Status, you're given four segments for every 10,...

Thursday, September 4th Our flight home was scheduled for 10a.  Considering the traffic in Beijing, we knew we had to give ourselves extra time to get to the airport.  So we started counting backwards.  Our math took us away from our hotel at 6a.  Which means we are up around 5a.  And of course, I was up once an hour since about 2a.  Because I was petrified I'd oversleep. In our wine-based haze from last night, Danielle and I did do 90% of our packing before falling asleep.  So I didn't have to do much this morning.  Shower, light packing, I was done.  This is always recommended. Because every key should have a Gumby keychain. Yesterday, when coming back from the Summer Palace, I went to set up a car service from our hotel to the airport this morning.  The front desk person explained it was actually cheaper if we just called a cab.  As we discovered the other day, the price for a taxi is based on the kilometers dri...