The amount of travel I have coming up this fall has ballooned now that I’ll be out of school. And out of work–almost. I already have a couple interviews, requiring flights down to the Bay Area. In fact, I’ll be flying down, then coming back, then flying down again to visit my family! I must still like flying enough not to bother trying to combine those trips. 
I’ll be making a stop at the Hipmunk offices again, so be sure to let me know if you have any special requests for how they design their site or services they provide. I’ve been very impressed with how well they respond to suggestions, and their inclusion of AirBnB listings and even houseboats in their search results gives some reassurance that they really do want to be a one-stop shop for travel. I just signed up for their new Business Class service yesterday (still available for a free 60 day trial!) and will be reviewing it soon.
After coming back to Seattle for a few weeks to wrap up things in lab, Megan and I are heading to Hong Kong and Singapore in first class thanks to the Singapore Airlines award space that opened up earlier this year. It’ll be a great birthday vacation, and I hope to share a lot of pictures and stories from our first trip to Asia.
What to do when you’ve hit the peak of luxury? Time to travel like you mean it! I’ll be going to the Chicago Seminars, the Star Alliance MegaDO (international and domestic portions), and the LA Frequent Traveler University. If you’ll be going, too, be sure to stop and say hi. Those of you who haven’t signed up yet should get moving because FTU is already over 70% full.
In between I have mileage runs to Fort Lauderdale, Philadelphia, and even a short vacation/run back to Maui. Family obligations will take us to Amarillo and San Francisco a few more times, and hopefully even a trip to visit friends at the Texas State Fair. Just because I like playing around with GCMap, here’s my plan for the next 73,139 miles in four months:
Clearly I have a full plate, and there’s even more to do if I’m going to keep my Executive Platinum status with American. But as we get to the end of the year, it’s more important than ever to start thinking about your travel goals and how you plan to meet them as the qualification periods start to close. You don’t want to be the guy doing a mileage run the day after Christmas because it was the only day you could fit in the extra 1,323 miles you need for Gold status. Plan ahead, count your miles and stays, and enjoy looking forward to some off-season fares!
About Scott Mackenzie
