Cities and Places

a group of tall buildings at night
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Six Initial Thoughts on My Trip Around the World

After two weeks and just under 22,000 miles of travel around the world, I’m finally getting acclimated to the real world after arriving back in Washington from Tokyo last week. I’d initially planned to publish trip reports as I went on this trip, but after a pretty intense first few days of Oktoberfest in Munich, that whole…

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An Around the World Trip — Introduction

As I previously wrote, I will be embarking on a two-week journey around the World starting tonight.  While I’m meeting twelve other friends in Munich, two of them will be joining me for our exploits in Asia. Though we all have somewhat different flights, we all did manage to get on the same THAI flight…

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Live Blog: A Mileage Run to Anchorage — 33 hours of InsAAnity

Three weeks ago, I flew to Anchorage for the weekend to kickoff my status challenge to American Executive Platinum.  Well, today, I begin the last trip to finish that challenge of 25,000 Elite Qualifying Points in three months… only I’m completing this challenge in a mere 21 days! In order finish this challenge, I’ll be…

a large crowd of people in a large room
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Ten Tips for Planning an Oktoberfest Trip to Munich

My favorite trip  of the year is always my annual pilgrimage to Munich for the World’s largest festival — Oktoberfest! This will be the fifth year in a row that I’ve attended the Wiesn in Germany, so I’ve learned on the fly, but at this point,  I think I know what I’m doing pretty well. Oktoberfest…

a map of the world
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Around the World with US Airways Miles

A week from today, I will be embarking on another around the world adventure — this time it will include a stop at one of my favorite places in the World — Munich during Oktoberfest.  The Oktoberfest trip is one that I’ve taken the past four years, so it was a no-brainer to book a fifth…

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Vegas Baby! For BAcon!

I’m writing this post from about 35,000 feet on a US Airways flight somewhere in between Washington’s Reagan National Airport and Phoenix en route to Las Vegas!  I’m heading out to the desert with my girlfriend in tow for this weekend’s Boarding Area blogger Conference… better known as BAcon!    The primary reason for the…

an airplane wing and a body of water
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24 Hours in Anchorage

I’m posting this after completing a short, weekend trip to Anchorage, Alaska as part of a mileage run to hit the American Airlines Executive Platinum Status Challenge. Anchorage is a great place to spend a day, and obviously a fantastic hopping off point to explore more of Alaska, including Denali, the Kenai Peninsula, or even…

a map of the north america
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Meeting the AA Executive Platinum Status Challenge… In One Month!

I previously wrote about the details of the Executive Platinum Status Challenge with American Airlines for which I recently signed up.  Well, I didn’t just blindly agree to the challenge — earning 25,000 elite qualifying points (EQP) in three months is no small feat, after all! Before I even asked for the challenge, I carefully…

a seat in an airplane
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Review: United Global First Class Sydney to San Francisco

A review of our flight back to the States from Sydney to San Francisco in United Global First Class on the B747-400. United Global First is an extremely comfortable way to cross the Pacific, though the seat privacy and catering lags in comparison to first-rate international carriers.