The Jet Set Lifestyle

It’s only been five days but it feels like it’s been forever.

This past weekend marked the end of a long run of traveling- I really want to say I’m done for the year or the time being but I have a feeling November is going to get intense and I will be traveling a little bit more until the end of the year.

To get a sense of the amount of travel I’ve done I crunched some numbers, and while not impressive to the hordes of business travelers that do this way more than me, I personally am impressed. I never saw myself as the jet set type but I quickly fell into it.

Since May…

• I’ve flown on 18 flights on 4 different airlines
• In my air travels I’ve flown out of 5 different airports
• Over all my flights I’ve traveled about 7172 miles
• I have stayed at 6 different hotels - ranging from really elegant to damn ghetto
• I have had the joy of driving 7 different cars- almost all of them better than my Corolla
• This year I’ve been to 4 weddings, two involved high school friends and two involved college friends
• I also recently embarked on one 236 mile road trip to see 1 future president of the United States.

So after all my travels I’ve learned the following things:

• Buying airline tickets is like using a hatchet when you need a scalpel – the analogy doesn’t really apply but I’ve been waiting to drop that line since last week. What is true is the fact that shopping for airline tickets sucks. Obviously the earlier is the better; I tend to go to the airline’s own website to buy tickets when I’m not using my work’s travel booking system. My friend Laura also suggested some interesting sites like SideStep.
• Saturday is a great day to travel, terrible day to rent a car – Most of my travel has been the Friday/Thursday fly out, Sunday night fly in; which is pretty typical of most weekend travel. A couple of times I’ve booked a Saturday flight and I found the traffic to be much quieter. I also found flights to be less booked. On the flip side I also notice that there are no cars around to rent since they are snatched up on Fridays.
• Loyalty Programs rule – Since I was about embarking on a few months of lots of travel, I decided to make it work for me and I enrolled in several frequent traveler programs. Being a member of the National Emerald Club gives me the choice of any car I want- always nice when I need a pimp ride. I also got some extra perks at hotels as a Sheraton Preferred Guest.
• I preferred aisle seats in the back of the plane – I found myself booking the same seats on every flight. While it sucks that I get off last, I’d rather get on first and make sure I get my luggage on which brings me to my next point…
• I may never check luggage again – 90% of my trips were business travel so I packed lightly and was able to breeze through security. Trying to manage the stupid rules on liquids and lugging the occasional camera and package of Vietnamese food makes life interesting but I can’t tell you how I love not having to wait at baggage claim. Even checking a bag at the gate is easier than all that waiting.
• Room service rocks - I love how it comes on a tray with a metal cover. I love the little bottles of ketchup and how the drinks are always covered with Saran wrap. Room service food always seems to end up on the ottoman in my room- my desk is usually covered with a laptop.
• You have a 1-year window to get a couple a wedding gift – Usually I’ll buy something off the registry before attending a wedding but there were a couple of instances where I wanted to get something extra special. I also learned that I’m too busy to go shopping for wedding gifts so I’m glad I have a year.
• When I get married I will have an open bar - Two of the weddings I went to this year were open bar, and it made things wonderful.
• When I get married I will let everyone bring a date - When the day comes that I actually have to plan my wedding I’m sure that won’t be possible but I went to three weddings without being able to bring a date and the results varied from terrible to awesome.
• I always forget something when I’m packing – Of course you never figure out what you forgot until you need it. A couple of times I’ve forgotten toothpaste. One time I forgot to pack a tie. One time I forgot to pack any underwear. Always plan on a Target run wherever you travel.

I got an e-mail today telling me that I have over two weeks of vacation time left. It is now finnaly time to recharge the batteries.

Related posts:

1. The $170 Mistake
2. My Wedding Dance
3. Weddings And Dates
4. Wedding Crashers
5. Credit Default Swapping- It Is All The Rage!