So I got the picture I forgot to get last time…one of me reclining in one of the rocking chairs on the concourse. They’re high-demand seating…I had to come by a second time because they were all taken earlier.
My flight to Vegas will push back in about 45 minutes, so I better head on down towards the gate. Two more segments and I’ll be home…back where I started. 🙂
I got into DC on-time, pretty much. This is my first time in Reagan National Airport — it’s crowded, but not too bad overall. I have about 20-30 minutes to myself, so I might try to get some lunch or something.
The shuttle flight down here was mostly deserted — I would say there were maybe 30 people aboard in total. But that’s the Tao of a frequently-scheduled service, I guess…
The gift store was selling various election-themed tchotchkes, so I had to take a picture.
Hustled across the terminal to make my connection to DC. I’m on the plane now.
The picture was taken while speed-walking from one end of the US Airways terminal to the other.
The title is my motto for the 20 minutes that I am here in the Granite State.
Adjacent to the gate where I deplaned, there was an arcade, in which I was going to take this picture. But somehow, I wound up booting my phone into its debug mode (i.e. ready to have a new ROM flashed), so I wound up having to pop the battery out to reset it. After all was said and done, it was nearly time to re-board the plane, so I just took the picture next to the gate.
Since I didn’t really get to see Manchester while I was here, I still believe it to look the way it is portrayed in Autoduel:
About 15 minutes or so until my flight to Manchester, NH boards. Nothing too special to report — things have gone pretty soothly so far.
This will be my first time flying aboard a deHavilland Dash-8 — we’ll see how it goes.
My flight to Pittsburgh arrived about a half-hour early, so I have some extra time to write about the trip. I feared that I wouldn’t be able to sleep due to the presence of a very chatty woman (with a bullhorn for a voice) seated two rows ahead in the window seat. I would go so far as to say that she is the first woman I’ve seen that could be called unctuous — that sort of shadiness combined with youthful “look at my k-k-krazee antics!” (The phrase, “This could be the start of a beautiful relationship,” was uttered. Seriously.) Fortunately, though, she went to sleep as well.
The new travel pillow
Other things: I think the guy in 5D in front of me was a mileage runner as well. One of the crew said something along the lines of, “So you’re back again, huh? That was a quick turn…”
Also, the terminal here in Pittsburgh is surprisingly pleasant. Much nicer than the one at LAX…
I’m currently sitting in the somewhat-decrepit US Airways terminal here at LAX, waiting for my flight. As usual, I overbudgeted somewhat on time to get to the airport, so I have a little time to kill. I think I’ll try to rustle up a light supplement to my dinner while I wait. Afterwards I think I’ll play a little Phoenix Wright…
That’s right…I’ll be doing another mileage run shortly. In my idle moments, I worked out a fare that will net me 7,052 EQM (elite qualifying miles) at a rate of just about $0.03/EQM. I’ll actually get some additional redeemable miles (RDM), as my status nets me a 25% bonus, and, subsequently, a rate of $0.024/RDM. This bonus is also part of why I’m doing this in the first place — as it currently stands, the redeemable miles we currently have will only get us free capacity-controlled tickets to a number of destinations. The capacity controls, however, typically mean “off peak only,” so if we wanted to, say, go to Europe in the high season for free, we’re out of luck. However, by redeeming more miles, we can get tickets that are usable at any time there are available seats, and we also would not need to book very far in advance. (The capacity-controlled awards are typically booked 11 months in advance for high-demand routes.) In essence, the “standard” awards can be booked any time there is a seat available on an aircraft — the “saver” awards come out of a (much) smaller pool.
You can also buy frequent flyer miles to add to your account. The rate starts at something like $0.065/RDM for 1,000 miles, and goes as low as $0.027/RDM (if you buy 60,000 miles at once!). Note that even the best rate for buying miles is still worse than my mileage run, and the miles that are purchased are not elite-qualifying. With the way our situation currently stands, it would be significantly cheaper for me to do mileage runs and/or buy miles than to buy the hypothetical peak-season ticket to Europe with cash. And, of course, doing a trip like this gets me back on the road to re-qualifying for elite status.
From my departure point in Los Angeles, I’ll be (briefly) visiting the fine cities of Pittsburgh, New York, Manchester (New Hampshire), New York (again!), Washington D.C., Charlotte, and Las Vegas. My alleged final destination is the aforementioned Manchester, New Hampshire, but I won’t be staying long — as a matter of fact, I’ll be heading back to New York on the same plane that brought me there. Amusingly, this convoluted itinerary is significantly cheaper than itineraries I found that simply went to New York — a byproduct of the byzantine fare rules and other machinations of the airline industry.
Once again, I’ll try to blog a bit (and take a few pictures) while I’m on the road. We’ll see how much patience I have with trying to work with WordPress in a mobile browser — it can be quite aggravating, although a quick search turned up a couple of plugins (WPhone and iPhone/Mobile Admin) that I can try out. My road trip should also give me an opportunity to do some reading, as well as play some of Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations, which I just bought the other day…
It feels strange to call a win “routine,” honestly. Not much to say about the Arsenal win over the Jam last night — for most of the game, the Arsenal held a lead, and never dug themselves a hole. Granted, the Bakersfield Jam are easily the league’s worst team, but they beat the Arsenal twice before during this season (and, strangely, they also beat the LA D-Fenders twice, and they’re actually pretty decent), so you can never take a game for granted. New acquisition Mo Charlo acquitted himself fairly well. The addition of him and ex-Thunderbird Ejike Ugboaja necessitated the waiving of Jamaal Thomas, who I thought was actually a pretty consistent performer and decent fit for the Arsenal game. Such is life.
