Diamond Day In Warasaw

Another cold, chilly, damp November day in Warsaw.  At the airport on the way back home.  With my flight from Paris home I'll make my status goal and complete my mission.  :-)

Interestingly enough, happy to get back on a plane and head off to a new adventure.  I was so exhausted yesterday afternoon that I was unsure if I'd be ready.  But, after a great night's sleep, I'm ready to go again. Here's hoping for a smooth connection, smooth flights, and a safe trip home.

A photo looking out across the city from the Executive Floor, taken this morning on my way back from breakfast:

If It's Saturday, It Must Be Poland

As I type I'm in a cold, dark, and dreary Poland.  But, alas, it's not as bad as it sounds:  it's not raining (nor snowing), I've "done" Warsaw before, so I can forego scurrying from sight to sight without too much guilt, and, perhaps most importantly, I like the cold.  Only problem today is that I didn't pack for it because I was trying to economize space.

To back-up a bit, my flight from Seattle to Paris was packed-in, cheek-to-jowl, completely sold-out.  I lucked out, though:  the infant ten rows back slept most of the flight; the two children in the row behind me (one about three and the other five), were about the best-behaved children I've ever seen, and my seat mate was completely okay.

We pushed back on-time and landed at such a time that we should have been on-time.  Of course, this being CDG (though they're not the only airport that does this), you never know when you're going to end up with stairs and a bus instead of a jetway.  We got the stairs and a bus, which adds precious minutes that I didn't have to spare:  the geniuses at Air France consider an hour enough of a connection time.  An hour to clear passport control, change concourses (a fifteen minute affair on its own), reclear security, and find the gate.  Because I hopped the passport control and security queues, and because I sprinted, I made it.  Just.  The flight was uneventful and not very full.

At the airport in Warsaw, I stopped into the lounge for a quick snack, stopped past the Air France office to sort out my seats for Sunday's flights, and taxied into Warsaw.  The ride was only about 10USD and twenty minutes.

The Warsaw Hilton is a newer hotel tower, 26 stories.  The staff were welcoming, the room was nice enough, and it felt good to be able to get out of my clothes an into a shower.  To bed early tonight to try to compensate for zero sleep last night.  All in all I've been satisfied with my first mileage run.  Let's see what tomorrow brings!

View from my room at the Hilton:

Four o'clock in Warsaw (nearly sunset, actually) and the back of the Hilton:

Going Nowhere Fast

Yesterday, day one of my mileage run, came off without incident.  As I type I'm relaxing in the SkyClub in Seattle, awaiting departure of my flight to Paris.

The biggest hassle of my first day, as is often the case when flying out of BWI, is just the chore of getting to BWI.  In the past, I've taken the train from Union Station to the BWI station.  That would have meant taking the Blue/Orange Lines to Metro Center, then the Red Line to Union Station, then the MARC train to the BWI Rail Station, then the shuttle to the terminal, still a few miles distant from the train.

I thought I'd try something new this time and get the Green Line out to Greenbelt, and then the 30B bus, which goes directly to the airport.  First the bus was late by about fifteen minutes; then, the traffic was horrific.  It took us almost an hour to go the 23 miles from the metro station to the airport; we arrived about 40 minutes late.  I was so glad that I allowed what I thought would have been a ridiculous abundance of time to make it up there.  Had I not, I may have missed my flight and thrown the whole trip off.  I don't know which is less difficult, the bus or the train.  Either way, getting to BWI remains a chore to be avoided.

At any rate our flight loaded up and the boarding door was closed about ten minutes early.  We then sat at the gate for another twenty minutes waiting to push back.  Eventually we took off for a smooth and uneventful flight out to Salt Lake.  The only thing missing was an upgrade:  as I boarded I was #17 of about 60.  I wasn't surprised, though, since it was a Thursday night and the flight was packed to the gills.

Changing in Salt Lake was problem-free, as it usually is.  I made a quick pass through the SkyClub and then on to the gate.  The flight was boarding as I walked up.  I'd been upgraded about a week before departure day, so I boarded with First, had a seat, and relaxed for the flight to Seattle.

I made it to the Doubletree on the shuttle, checked-in, and was soon off to sleep.  It had been a long, tiring day.

Now for the next part of the adventure...

What It Means to Be Number One

Well, don't be jealous, but I've been number one today.  Not just once, but twice!  As I boarded my flight from Dallas, the board showed me number one to be upgraded to First (there were no seats).  As I boarded my flight to San Francisco, again, I was number one; again, no seats.  I resisted the urge to break into chants of "I'm number one!  I'm number one!"

In both cases, I ended up with exit row seating with at least as much space as I would have had up front.  So, not such bad luck.  After all, "I'm number one!"  Well, not totally:  as I spend the night in California, my baggage remains in Minnesota.  I hope it's number one tomorrow!

How to Turn Two One-Hour Flights Into a Fourteen-Hour Odyssey

Taxi Driver:  "How are you?"

Me:  "Tired.  We've been traveling for fourteen hours."

Taxi Driver:  "Oh, have you come from Europe?"

Me:  "No.  Florida."

Ah, the thrill of travel.  This weekend we were in Pensacola for a wedding.  (Wonderful event with a stunning bride and lovely guests.  More on that later, on my website.)  Our routing was Washington/National-Atlanta-Pensacola-Atlanta-Washington/National.  Easy.  But, we'd fix that!

On the way to Florida, except for a minor delay out of DCA, everything went smoothly.  On the way back, not so easy.

When we got to the airport in Pensacola we discovered there'd been some equipment downgrades, so the airline was way, way oversold all day.  They were looking for volunteers.  We discussed with the Delta rep what was on offer.  They would pay for us to take a taxi to Mobile, 75 or so miles away, give us each a $400 travel voucher, and meal vouchers.  We'd get home about four hours late.  Our time can be bought for that price, so we signed up.

The drive to Mobile was boring, uneventful, and expensive.  Upon arrival into Mobile, we found a stark and empty terminal.  Empty except for the Delta desk, which was a bit crazy.  Our Memphis flight was sufficiently late that we would never make our connection through to DCA.  So, we were rebooked again, this time through Atlanta.  That's where the real nightmare began.

In Atlanta there was no aircraft for our flight so one had to be brought in from the hangar.  That was delay one.  We finally boarded and awaited pushback ... paperwork ... etc., etc., etc.  We taxi, then hold short for about 45 minutes.  Some warning light would not go off in the cockpit.  Back to the gate.  That was delay two.  Wait at the gate as mechanics try to fix the problem.  Delay three.  They eventually do, but we wait.  Delay four.  Finally, it's pushback time [again], after nearly an hour.  Taxi to the runway but pull off to the side and hold short [again].  The weight/balance paperwork was not done!  Delay five.  Twenty minutes later, we were on our roll and into the air, only three hours late.

By the time we made it home it was two o'clock.  I never look back on these things and regret them, but I do look back and take instruction.  Would I do it again?  Ask me in a couple of days when I've recovered from the ordeal.  But, knowing me I would.  Adventure means surrendering to circumstances beyond my control.  And $400 for more travel!

Web Updates

At long last, I've finally got some new updates posted to my website.  Here are click-throughs to them:

Cleveland
Oklahoma City
Buenos Aires

Next up:  cruise pages.  We took a combined 3000 photos, so I can't make any timeframe promises but it won't be six months this time.  Let me know what you think!

Running For Diamond

Back in May I made Delta Platinum, their 75K flight-miles threshold.  The next threshold is Diamond, at 125K another 50K away.  Since Delta has a rollover feature to its program my strategy had been to accumulate as many miles as I naturally would up to 124,999.  That way I'd roll lots over and be almost to 50K (Delta Gold) early in the year.  Yesterday I rethought my strategy:  I'm going for Diamond.  Why?

Well, because I have a Delta co-branded AmEx, I received an offer in the mail earlier this year offering me bonus miles for reaching Gold or higher:  25K bonus miles for Gold, 50K for Platinum, and 100K for Diamond.  So, by reaching Diamond I'll be getting another 50K.  (To put that into perspective, our $1500 ticket to Buenos Aires in June cost just 60K Delta points.)  And, when I get to Diamond, Delta will gift me 20K miles and $200 toward a future flight.  And, I get a 100% bonus in addition to whatever miles I fly:  flying 1000 gets me a credit of 2000 miles.

This past week I calculated how many points I have and found out I needed just 12,600 points to get to Diamond.  My analysis showed me that I could fly those 12,600 miles and realize a return of almost 100,000 miles.  I decided it was worth it.  I was going to book my first pure mileage run.  Of course, I've added on legs and segments before but I've never taken a trip just solely for the points.

My mileage run comes in November and takes me from Baltimore to Seattle via Salt Lake City, on to Warsaw via Paris, and back to Dulles.  It's a little daunting but it will certainly be an adventure!  Details to follow and certainly postings to my website.