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...

Thursday, May 19 We left our flight from Chicago feeling defeated and broken.  We were mostly separated on the plane, with two of the four of us stuck in middle seats for the four hour trip.  The journey had barely started and we were tired.  But fate had a way of making sure we were feeling ok about this whole long journey.  A Business Class Upgrade. Our flight landed at LAX in Teminal 4.  Following the signs to the Tom Bradley International Terminal was easy.  An escalator here, moving walkways there.  I had read a blog post in yesterday's frenzied Internet research about Qantas Business Class to know the terminal was relatively new.  And walking to the terminal was quiet, but quick. At this point, we didn't actually have tickets in our hands.  They couldn't be released when we checked in a few hours earlier.  So my main goal was to figure out where to check in.  As we walked through the terminal on Level 5, we began passing by th...

Thursday, May 19 Mom's dream trip was always Australia.  It was always talked about as a "One Day" type of trip.  Sometimes, the conversation would be more forceful than others.  Like when Oprah went to Australia.  Mom watched the episodes and talked a bit more seriously.  That was in 2010.  And Australia never happened. Elias and I have gone to the Travel and Adventure Show for the last few years.  We usually meet up with Adele and Sooj and wander the halls, waiting for inspiration to strike.  That's when the idea of Australia came into focus.   Elias and I drove home from the convention in 2015, talking about what we'd seen.  We spent several minutes talking with a travel agent that specializes in Australia, picking up several pamphlets for light reading.  During that drive, we came to a decision.  It was time to either make Australia happen or leave it be. Let's be honest.  Every year the trip was ignored, it became har...

August 30th, 2015 I've been here before.   Not at this exact position, flying 35,000 feet over the Atlantic Ocean en route to Madrid.  But the same situation.  You spend several hours in a smallish (though technically "Premium") seat, jockeying for the best position to try and get some kind of sleep, only to fail miserably.  It can't help but fail miserably.  And instead of sleeping, you poke though the In-Flight Entertainment, searching for movies that will keep you occupied for the next number of hours, or read the book that you downloaded on the iPad, preferably one set in a dystopian future (because apparently there isn't anything but a future that is dystopian).  Or both.  You do anything you can to keep your mind off of the fact that you aren't sleeping and you will be miserable when you land. This trip, though??  This trip took a long while for us to even get to this place in the sky. Spain has always been on the list.  When talking ab...

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...

Thursday, April 30th Early morning flights, man.  I always have such great intentions.  Because the flight is so early, I have to leave the house early.  Because I have to leave the house early, I have to wake up early.  Because I have to wake up early, I have to go to sleep early. I never am able to go to sleep early. So every time, I am struggling in the morning.  My eyes burn.  I have to finish packing.  It's never as smooth a process as it should be.  But whatever.  Today is a travel day!! I referenced my First Class flights yesterday.  It is on today!!  But I'm flying with US Airways.  I think I was on US Airways once before, but I wasn't sure how this was going to work.  My flights were booked on American.  So was I checking in on US Airways or American Airlines?? The answer, US Airways. Unfortunately, the US Airways counter is significantly smaller than American's.  And if it is possible for the US Airways...