UMTravels

Since I’m on the road today (and in the air) I thought I’d pass along my Air Travel Tips.

1. If you can afford it, go First Class. You don’t get what you pay for, but at least you don’t totally feel like a cow loaded into a trailer on it’s way to market.
2. If you can’t afford to fly first class — figure out how to get a free or reduced rate upgrade.
3. Fly on Saturday’s when there are fewer business people who are the most frequent fliers and therefore are on the list way ahead of you
4. It never hurts to ask — my first leg of this travel season I went to the counter and asked where I was on the upgrade list — she looked at the screen, said two people hadn’t checked in yet, then looked at her watch and said “and they should have by now, here is seat 1B for you”
5. With no airline’s planes on time — allow two hours for a layover between flights. This travel season this has already saved my ass (and my stomach) several times. It also give you time to get a snack between flights since no one serves food anymore, and that is now starting to apply to first class as well.
6. The cheap travel days are Saturday and Tuesday-Thursday. Less business travellers.
7. Smile and be pleasant even if the experience isn’t. On the plane they are the ultimate authority — push it and you;ll end up in plastic cuffs. On the ground, it’s the difference between being rebooked on the next flight out in First Class, or going the next day in Coach (even with a paid First Class ticket.

Well — there are my seven tips which I had time on the flight from SEA to SFO and then from SFO to Eureka/Arcata.

Got to the party around seven because of delayed flights (both) and then getting the rental car and getting checked into the hotel. A pretty subdued party — Mark from the Grand Canyon Trip from last fall was there with his new girlfriend (I assume) and lots of the local gay boys showed up starting at 10, so it went longer than I was expecting. Nic (another guest) and I had to go out for a light dinner to soak up all the alcohol — Porters Smokehouse in Eureka — and apparently we ordered one of the best things on the menu, the tri-tip sandwich. Didn’t get home until after midnight.

Tomorrow is another long day. 9:30 for sourdough buckwheat pancakes and then it’s off to Humboldt Pride, the gay/lesbian/whatever celebration happening in Arcata — who knew? Not me until I got to town.

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