Award Travel

Sounds like a good thing, you are being awarded for something...right? That is what it is called when you book airline tickets using award miles that you have earned via your particular airline loyalty card. Some restrictions apply. In our case, flying to Barcelona, Spain from Orlando, FL was a total of 17 hours of total travel time.

We booked a British Airways flight with "award" miles from its partner American Airlines. This meant an overnight flight to London Gatwick Airport (7 hours and 45 min flight), an 8 hour layover in London and then on to Barcelona (2 hour flight) arriving Barcelona at around 9PM. This was the best itinerary available for "award" tickets.

Some carriers now charge you a per seat premium to pre-book any seat assignment more than 24 hours before your flight, including British Airways. If you don't pay, you can only select your seat at the time of check in. We debated the relative virtue of the $90 ($45 pp) on an 8 hour overnight flight, kept checking the seat map every couple of days to see who was shelling out the extra money. It looked to us like no one else wanted to pay the advance seat fee either. We checked in 24 hours in advance, got aisle seats in the bulkhead middle row with an empty seat between us. Now we wait to see if the gamble of getting a row to ourselves pays off.

After an uneventful 1 hour shuttle ride to the Orlando airport at rush hour, we dropped off our two suitcases to be checked through to Barcelona and proceeded through a rather short security line to our gate. Our flight departed on-time, feeling really lucky now. PAYDIRT...a whole row to ourselves. It did not make sleeping on the flight any better but we had legroom and an extra tray table to place our wine.

We had a great selection of movies to pass the time. I watched 12 Years A Slave (terribly moving and devastatingly sad), then needed to refill my "happy" tank so I selected Saving Mr. Banks (how can you not smile at Tom Hanks as Walt Disney). We got a rough hour or two of sleep then we were in London.

Mike had hoped that we could find a reasonably easy way to get into London to spend the hours of our layover.  There was no easy way to store the bags we carried on and London Gatwick is not as close as Heathrow to the city, so we decided to hang out at the airport.

Luckily, we have a membership card that gets us into some airline clubs across the globe. We quickly checked into a very large club with reasonably substantial free snacks, drinks and wi-fi (the Traveler's Trifecta). Bleary-eyed, we mindlessly ate and drank every hour or so to fend of sleep and boredom, caught up on current events on-line, read our books and people watched. It was a very busy place and many people came and went while we spent 7 hours there awaiting our flight to Spain.

The flight from London to Spain landed a little early at approximately 9PM , about 24 hours from our departure from Orlando. Hola Barcelona!

From the Port of Indecision, Southeast of Disorder

The first quarter of 2014 in Florida has been quite a respite from the rest of the cold, snowy cruel world. We have had great fun visiting with friends, family and the beach.  We have not seen any snow or ice except on the Weather Channel.  My heart goes out to those of you who experienced multiple SNOWMAGEDDONS and other stormy conditions!

My golf game is progressing, as a beginner that just means that I don't whiff the golf ball as often. While is is a maddening sport, I have learned to admire the beautiful surroundings of a golf course and of being outdoors to see a late afternoon pink sunset while walking from the last hole. I did birdie one hole once which will probably have to sustain me for several years to come.

Our original plan for 2014 was to stay in Florida through mid March then proceed on a 3 month European road trip.  In February, we had a health issue that had to be addressed.  It was not serious and all is well, but we had to adjust some of our plans accordingly.

I have updated our new "tour" schedule to the right of this post.  We will be in Europe for approximately 7 weeks.  I expect it to be a totally awesome trip.  Postings to follow.

When we get back on June 30th, we have decided to rent a place in St. Petersburg for a few months. While constant travel has its glamorous side, we have agreed to "settle in" somewhere comfortable and sunny at least temporarily.  For now, we are on the road again.

Festivus for the rest of us

We have been lucky enough to celebrate holidays with friends and/or family over the years in a variety of locations and sometimes it has just been the two of us having breakfast at the local Waffle House, a tradition whose origin now escapes us but we dutifully carry on.  This December 2013 was particularly fun.

We attended two Buffalo Bills football games.  One in Tampa (lost bad) and one in Jacksonville (won barely).  That NFL Fantasy Football commercial whose background song is, "Cause you had a bad day...You're taking one down...you sing a sad song just to turn it around"...yatta yatta. Although the outcomes could have been better for the Bills, we had a great time at both games. We will get 'em next year.

Tampa Bay Bucs vs Buffalo Bills (27-6) :-(

We attended my brother's annual Boat Parade Bash.  Every Christmas a few zany Captains decorate their boats with lights, music and even some animation and drive up and down the many canals in the various Florida beach communities for prize money and to promote holiday cheer.  It is akin to a miniature Mardi Gras on the water.  There is eating, drinking and bead throwing with the added danger of falling off the sea wall.

My brother and his wife never fail to disappoint when hosting a party.  The Big Green Egg was fired up and roasted enough pork butt to feed the hearty crowd of about 50 people  It was a reasonably warm evening on the 21st of December and it was a great night of holiday frivolity.  We think this is a sighting of Herbie, the elf who wanted to be a dentist. It is no wonder his practice never took off...

Love the tights and flip flops.

We took a little side trip to visit Mike's dad for a nice Christmas lunch. See where he gets his good looks?




















Back to my brother's place for an awesome Christmas Day dinner. Again, his Big Green Egg prowess did not disappoint.  Smoked prime rib of beef was the centerpiece of our meal.  It was quite a feast.  Carnivores only please!

I realize I focus a lot on food, not sure what that says about me, but I think I like it.  We had great fun, laughs and a lot of catching up that was a huge part of our time with my brother and his very lovely wife and many of their good friends which we have come to know over the years.  The times that great memories are made of.