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On Thursday my return flight retired another 929 miles against my goal of 5,000 points to Gold status.
My initial flight was scheduled for 1:40 CST which I missed due to work stuff. I found my way to TGIF Fridays in DFW and embraced a plate of fried Mac and Cheese (a Dotty Dumpling’s Dowry treat in Madsison Wisconson) and a big ass beer… or twomore. My gate was only a few down from Friday’s however when I arrived I found that there was a gate change… I almost missed two in a row. Drunk and Retarded.
I boarded the AA flight which got me back to Tampa a little after 7:00PM just in time for Halloween. An annual event which revolves around lawn chairs, a cooler full of beer and lots of candy for the lil’ peeps.
So often my flights are just uneventful with some small polite conversations and other times you are fortunate enough to meet some very cool travelers. In this case my row mate was a guy, who I will call “J”, simply because I do not want to blog about him without his permission. Very cool guy who is a Mac developer from San Francisco, but better yet is on tour with Jimmy Buffet and manages the Teleprompters for the band.
So “J” is a very interesting guy. We had a great conversation. I had a chance to talk about my other life as a musician in Detroit. It turns out that Jimmy’s bass player, Jim Mayer spent some time with project work for Little Feat. I played clubs and did some project work back in the day with Shawn Murphy, currently with Little Feat. So we talked Mac’s, music and lots of other topics. I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation and the laughs. Jimmy’s band played last night, and is off tonight with a final show tomorrow night. Jimmy is staying on Clearwater Beach, so I suspect some entertaining times at the local establishments. And no I did not ask for comp tickets or back stage passes…. However if something happens with my day gig… I may use my new contact to coordinate an audition!!! Who knows?? Or my bud “Thinguy” can be Jimmy’s SE.
So based my goal of retiring points to get to Gold… You earn some while others are gifts. This flight was way more enjoyable than the outbound to DFW!
My next flight is Dallas on Monday… will update
Later
–s
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Going for the Gold…
Scott here…
Today I retired 929 points against my Gold challenge on the outbound trip to Dallas. I few more trips and I will have status. I accomplished lots for work, accumulated additional Hilton Honors points and found a great Micro Brewery called The Flying Saucer… Lots o’ Beer. I even got in a workout at Gold’s Gym in spite of the fact that we really clocked some pretty long hours.
It is funny how each flight segment has a personality of its own. The outbound flight started out to be very nice; however I earned every single point. I had an exit row, windows seat, with ample leg room and a great opportunity for a nap between cities. Next to me sat a young mother and a very small baby… My first red flag. About 5 minutes into our takeoff, the crying started…Freakin’ Pavarotti reincarnated…. Holy shit this kid had lungs. Woulda made a great advertisement for iPod or Bose sound isolation headphones… I should write the copy and retire
Well things progressed… actually a frightening turn of events. An elderly man with Whooping cough sat directly behind me and hacked. He did not cover his mouth… I could feel the cough on the back of my head… not good… And with every bout of coughing, there was bad gas… The air vents cracked and it was still nasty thick. Kinda smelled like the morning after a drunken White Castle binge. For those of you who have been there, this should be a very vivid description.
Then the kid started shitting. LOTS. At least 2 large pant loads in the first hour or so of the flight. I quickly moved to the isle way, where I stood as long as they would let me. Between the old guy hacking and exercising his mud flaps in unison… and the kid dumping choad… it was beyond ‘real bad’. I contemplated several Bloody Marys’ however I really had to work when I got there. A very nice flight attendant walked past, she touched my shoulder and said… I am sorry but there are no empty seats… I could see that… but the thought was very nice and she let me stand in the isle.
The nice young mother apologized, and cleaned up the kid which resolved half of the problems. The old guy… well the people next to him had it much worse than I… so overall a few hours of hell and we landed. I learned lots about the art of visualization… and finding that happy place.
Stay tuned… More to come as I chase Gold…
Scott
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This blog is about the American Airlines AAdvantage program -- getting status, free flights, and other benefits -- as well as travel in general. See the about page for more.
