Honestly, I’m not really sure what day of the week it is as I blog from the Doubletree Dayton Downtown. After arriving home late Friday night, Mrs MJonTravel and I made the drive to BWI and boarded a Southwest flight to Columbus, which is our usual way to get to Dayton. It is almost always significantly less expensive than flying directly to Dayton from DCA.
In the past month I’ve done DC-Denver-Cheyenne-DC, DC-Seattle-DC, DC-Phoenix-Dallas-DC, and now DC-Ohio-DC. There’s another trip in there that I’m forgetting, but you get the picture. I don’t by any means proclaim to be the world’s most frequent flier (for a month) but it’s certainly been busy. It reminded me of a time back in the day when I spent 42 weeks on the road in one year. I was doing station and supplier audits for my airline employer so I had no access to things like the Admirals Club, helpful agents, priority boarding, priority baggage, etc. And oh yeah, even though I was flying on company business, all that travel was still done on a standby basis. Somehow, I survived. Probably because I was 27 years old, didn’t know things like elite status existed, and I was seeing the world on the company dime.
My current job requires about 30 percent travel on average. This year, that’s more like 70 percent, and that’s not even counting the above average amount of personal travel that Mrs MJonTravel and I tend to do. I’ve been incredibly fortunate during this little spurt to not have experienced very much in the way of delay and disruption that sometimes plague travelers. But one thing is certain, I cannot fathom having to do this without elite status. The value of access to shorter lines, pre-boarding, waived fees, and when needed, an actual airline employee that usually at least pretends to be on your side can’t be measured in dollars. I just don’t know how I’d be able to fly without it. While I appreciate elite status at 2 hotel brands, it’s just not quite as important to me as being an elite at my favorite airline, OK, my 2 favorite airlines. 🙂 I don’t ever, ever, ever, ever, want to be without elite status.
I guess if there’s a conclusion to be drawn from this random reflection, it’s this. I love to travel, I love to come home. But I can’t imagine a life of sitting still. Travel broadens your mind, your perspective, and your network. I can’t imagine not being out there moving around. If you’re a homebody, you don’t know what you’re missing.
