Friday, July 03, 2009

Leaving for Europe!

Off to Europe I go. Pictures to ensue shortly.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Duty Free Sundays!


I realize that this picture is of Japanese whiskey, but damn they look tasty. Strange that the Japanese make the best whiskey in the world, well, it's not strange. Anyhow, I'll be in Europe less than a week from now.

6 more days from today!


This time next week I'll be on a British Airways flight on my way to the Netherlands. I'm currently watching Cloverfield (for the 100th time) and drinking a Sapporo Reserve.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Duty Free Tuesday!

10 more days till I leave for Europe. Johnny Walker Blue, one day she will be mine...

Monday, June 15, 2009

Duty Free Monday!

There is a picture of a duty free shop at Tokyo Narita, will all of my favorite whiskey on one shelf. Hopefully London Heathrow has the Suntory Whiskey (top shelf far left).

18 days till Europe

Been lifting weights like mad. Trying to get buff before I leave. Had to book another hotel. In Utrecht. A nice hotel near Utrecht Centraal. Some place to get some rest before I start class the next day. 6 different flights, 3 different hotels, an apartment, 3 countries. Probably a 4th hotel in Belgium overnight, unless they put us up in the dorms. Anyhow, ready to leave!

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

25 days till Europe

I'm currently watching Slumdog Millionaire and getting pretty tipsy. I'm ready to leave for Europe already! I leave in 25 days from today. I'm already ready for my next trip. I think Asia is next, then Africa. Then I'll start going back to Europe before returning to Asia and Africa. I'd like to go to the Middle East somewhere in between as well. So, drinking and posting on a blog deleted my whole entry, so I'll update later when I'm getting closer to Europe....

Sunday, May 31, 2009

London Heathrow Plan C



Another duty free post. I am considering this plan C if the other two options don't work out. However, I will be looking for foreign whiskey at London Heathrow. Whiskey you can't get here in Oklahoma, but here is another alternative.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

London Heathrow Duty Free PLAN B


Just in case there isn't any Suntory Whiskey at London Heathrow, here is my plan B. Suntory, a Japanese company, makes better whiskey than any place in the United States. Funny. Plan C to be posted shortly. In the mean time, here is a picture of Plan B. Which is above.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Duty Free Memorial Day!


For some reason I'm really excited about buying some liquor this time at the duty free at London Heathrow on my way home. I'm pretty sure I'll be buying two bottles of Suntory Whiskey, hopefully they'll have it! If not, some foreign whiskey that one cannot get here in Oklahoma. Suntory makes my favorite whiskey in the whole world, Yamazaki. Suntory is also the whiskey that Bill Murray was advertising on the awesome movie Lost in Translation. Now, look at the picture above and tell me that isn't sexy as hell.

40 Days till Departure for Europe

Just counting down the days till I leave for Europe. I found out the other day that between landing at Amsterdam Schipol, getting the train to Utrecht and getting a ride to the place to pick up my keys for my apartment, I'll only have an hour to do all of this. Well, they said to just call and they'll wait for me, but we'll see how that goes! I'm just ready to be living in Europe for 3 weeks. I might try to do the 20 dollar trick at the airport to see if I can get a free upgrade to Europe. I'm really excited about flying on British Airways. I think on my day of departure back to the United States, I'm going to head to London Heathrow about 4 hours before hand to hang out. The usual check-in time on international travel is 3 hours ahead, but I'm going early so I can take a ton of pictures of the airport. I had a crappy film camera last time I went and didn't take a single one of the airport, it won't be the same this time around. I got an upgraded camera and memory card as oppossed to my last digital camera, so there will be pictures galore. I plan on either posting daily pictures on here or just a recap, I haven't decided yet nor figured out if I'll have wifi at my apartment in Utrecht. My first London hotel has free wifi, but the second one doesn't. Either way, loads of pictures to be posted.

Been out jogging twice a day in order to drop some pounds before I leave, it's wearing me down!

Thursday, May 07, 2009

Is it July yet?

I'm so ready to leave. My job is boring and people in bars are so cliche. I'm tired of doing what I do, which will go unspecified. I've been looking at Google Streetview for the last few days doing the virtual walk up and down the streets of London surrounding my hotels and can't wait to get there. I haven't even looked into Utrecht and it's streets. As soon as my professor sends out the information on where I'll be staying I'm all over it. I've just now started to write my 8 page paper for my one credit hour I've enrolled in this semester. I just want a C and move on. I'm capable of making an A, but I don't care at this point and I'm a little pissed they made me take one credit hour. My professor is the best professor ever so I'm not worried about it. I'm just so ready to leave for Europe already. I need this vacation/study abroad like it's nobody's business.

On a side note, in regards to my normal life. I've been up and jogging/walking every morning and have switched my diet drastically. I'm getting back into drum and bass again and hopefuly I'll be reading soon enough for fun. My life is finally swinging back my way asides from my car always taking the piss.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

British Airways Flight #2

After extensive research I booked a flight from Amsterdam to London. I wanted to take a train, but it's just cheaper for me to take a regional train from Utrecht to Amsterdam (which is connected to the airport) then take a flight from Amsterdam to London. It was about 126 USD, then I figure in the 6.50 Euro to get to Amsterdam from Utrecht, then the Heathrow Express is about 12.50 pound. Still a 3rd of the price for the Eurostar and all of it's connections. So I got a few more BA miles towards my Executive Club membership. I'm nearing a free flight to Europe to use in the future. Exciting, I know.

The Flu and the Media

Where do I even begin? The media is taking this flu thing way out of proportion in regards to the United States. It's causing pandemic because, guess what, PEOPLE ARE MORONS. People are freaking out about a strain of the regular flu. Here is my response and how to prevent yourself from getting said flu:

1. WASH YOUR HANDS. Every single time I use the bathroom in a public place every single guy walks by me after using the restroom without washing their hands. Yeah, I'm serious, every single guy. That is first off, disgusting and second off, really unsanitary. Just take 2 minutes and help us all out who do wash your hands.

2. TAKE YOUR VITAMINS. Poor diet is also significant to said flu virus. Take a multivitamin and couple it with some extra vitamin C and zinc.

3. CALM THE HELL DOWN. If you are a normal person, you would already have decent personal hygiene, have a decent diet and are going on business as usual.


As far as travel goes, there has been a number of reports stating that if you are booked to fly to Mexico you can change your ticket by some airlines from May 6th and some great airlines giving people till May 20th. Hopefully this doesn't take a bit hit on the travel industry because they are already in dire straits.

Media, you suck. ABC has been the only station that has good coverage and isn't causing any panic in my eyes. Good for them.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Booked!

I haven't really thought about posting on my own travel blog lately. I have booked flights to Europe and back. I spent a good 30+ hours looking for hotels to stay in. I've finally got those booked too. Yes, plural. I booked 6 nights at a cheap bed and breakfast, then 4 nights where I wanted to stay. Both in close proximity to a tube stop, i mean literally a block on one and about 100 feet on the other. I think next trip to England I'm going to hit up Bristol, Manchester and Liverpool.

The study abroad stuff is all taken care of as well.

I'm just ready to leave now!!! July can't come soon enough!!

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Re; Connecting Flight

I called British Airways yesterday to talk to them about my connecting flight at London Heathrow. They said that it would be flagged if I didn't have enough connection time. My luggage is going straight through, but I'll still have to go through customs, hopefully it doesn't take an hour. All is good hopefully.

Still dealing with my car though, which will most likely cut into more of my travel budget. Not cool.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

An hour and a half at Heathrow Terminal 5


I made a huge mistake on my connecting flight to Amsterdam via London Heathrow. If I did the math right, I only have an hour and a half to make my connecting flight to Amsterdam at London Heathrow's Terminal 5. I arrive and depart in the same terminal, but I might be cutting it close. I've been searching the internet to find out if I need to go through customs first before connecting, but I thought I'd only have to go through customs on my final destination, which is the Netherlands. The British Airways website and the London Heathrow websites do not provide enough information on this subject. I'll keep searching on the old internet to see what I can come up with, because well, I just have that kind of time.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

British Airways Flight

I have booked my flight on British Airways. It was cheaper than normal so I made sure to get it today. I was looking on Kayak.com today before hand and they had some listed for around 1000 bucks, but when I went to try and get said flights they were unavailable. Every British Airways flight I've found on Kayak is never available. I wish I could have got one for 1000 bucks, but 1263 bucks is pretty good too.

This is the first time I've ever booked directly on the British Airways website. There is a ton of information after your booking. Which is a real good thing. I've never seen an airline so committed to quality as I have from British Airways so far.

From OKC to Chicago, Chicago to London, London to Amsterdam.
From London to Dallas, from Dallas to OKC.

Maybe I'll get some tier points for once!

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

795 Euro

Well, as of today I'm officially enrolled at Utrecht University in the Netherlands and damn that was expensive. It was 795 Euro, which is roughly around 1008 bucks and some change. I would have had that all covered had it not been for the damn mechanic I gave about that much to a week ago. Well, now that that's taken care of, my flight is next on the agenda. I'd like to fly British Airways, but I might end up flying Continental or American Airlines. I think my Executive Club number works on American, but I'm not sure.

Tonight I will work out my budget for the entire trip. Hopefully I will fall under budget when I'm there so I can buy more music, books and stuff for my family.

Budget entry to follow.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Car Travel

I thought about writing this huge thing about how this mechanic is fucking me over with my car. I went to get it fixed once for one problem, then the same problem came back and I brought it back in and they "fixed it" again. Two times brought in for the same problem, THE CAR IS STILL NOT FIXED. I got charged twice already for a total of 1000 dollars. That seriously ripped into my travel expenses. So now I have to bring my car back to the fucking mechanic on Friday at 8am. It better be fixed for free. I'm not posting the name of the automotive place until I get the problem sorted.

Monday, March 16, 2009

The Smoking Lounge


One of my favorite things to do at the airport is going to the smoking lounge, smoking and people watching. As of today I quit smoking (nicotine gum tastes worse than cigarettes). I've been wanting to quit for a while and today I actually did it. However, I will miss smoking at the various lounges in airports. However, the upside to quitting smoking in relation to airports is that I'll have much more time to browse around the airport. At Chicago O'Hare I would have to go outside past security to smoke. Atlanta Hartsfield, same thing. Oklahoma City Will Rogers, smoking lounge. London Heathrow has the best smoking lounge in my opinion. It's an old gate with various television screens showing departures and arrivals from around the airport, which is awesome. In conclusion, I'll be eating and drinking more at airports giving me more time to people watch in better locations. Those smoking lounges were always out of view...


Sunday, March 15, 2009

Duty Free Sundays!


Every Sunday I think I'll post pictures of Duty Free shops that make me want to drink. Here is the first!

Re: Executive Club


I've decided not to forgo my Executive Club membership because I've just found out I'll be able to get a free flight to Europe sometime in the next year or two. Which is cool because I'd like to fly to Europe before heading to Lagos/Cape Town in 2 years time. Or I might just keep racking them up for when the Olympics comes rolling around to London in 2012. Either way, free flights are cool. I just wish I could get into one of those damn lounges!

My card looks similar to these (mine is the ugly blue one), I'd like to have a silver one :/

Executive Club

Well, I think I'm going to trade my BA executive card in for a One World card. I'm not sure yet. I'd like to have a card with more perks. I could go to either United or American as well. With One World I'd have more options I suppose. We'll see. I'll decide by tonight and give them a call. I want lounge access and a better opportunity to get other perks! At the same time, One World deals with both American and British Airways. Decision to come later.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Ancient Astronauts

The history channel has been showing their show "Ancient Aliens" a lot lately and I must say it's very fascinating. It does explain a few things in the world and also opens a lot of doors. I'm not saying I'm a believer, but damn if its not really interesting. I mean, who the hell built the pyramids? Where did the Mayans go? I think the most interesting parts of the show are the artifacts of people in ancient breathing masks and the ancient aircraft. Astronauts and aliens are travelers, so hence they get their own blog entry.

Ancient Aliens on Google Video

It's not quite the same video that the History Channel has been showing, but it's pretty cool too.
Do aliens get frequent flier miles? I bet they get into the British Airways Universe Lounge. Jerks always got to one up me.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Oklahoma City to Tulsa = LOLZ

I was looking at random flights to places like Cape Town, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Cairo, etc. for future purchases and for fun I put in Oklahoma City to Tulsa (all on Kayak.com of course) and came up with some ridiculous flights. Here is the most ridiculous flight schedule from OKC to Tulsa without entering a multi-city route:

Depart – Sat Jul 4 2009
Delta
Flight 6218
Operated by Freedom Airlines
Departs: 8:30a
Will Rogers World (OKC)
Arrives: 11:34a
Cinci./ N. Kentucky (CVG)
Coach | Embraer RJ145 Amazon (Regional Jet ) | 2h 04m
Layover in Cincinnati, OH (CVG) for 0h 46m
Delta
Flight 5509
Operated by Atlantic Southeast
Departs: 12:20p
Cinci./ N. Kentucky (CVG)
Arrives: 12:49p
Memphis (MEM)
Coach | Canadair Regional Jet (Regional Jet ) | 1h 29m
Layover in Memphis, TN (MEM) for 1h 31m
Delta
Flight 2454
Operated by Northwest
Departs: 2:20p
Memphis (MEM)
Arrives: 3:45p
Tulsa (TUL)
Coach | Canadair Regional Jet (Regional Jet ) | 1h 25m

Return – Wed Jul 15 2009
Delta
Flight 2527
Operated by Northwest
Departs: 6:30a
Tulsa (TUL)
Arrives: 7:54a
Memphis (MEM)
Coach | Canadair Regional Jet (Regional Jet ) | 1h 24m
Layover in Memphis, TN (MEM) for 1h 36m
Delta
Flight 2545
Operated by Northwest
Departs: 9:30a
Memphis (MEM)
Arrives: 11:04a
Will Rogers World (OKC)
Coach | Canadair Regional Jet (Regional Jet ) | 1h 34m

Saturday, March 07, 2009

Departures/Arrivals

I was looking for pictures of London Heathrow today, inside the terminal, and came across one of my favorite things. London Heathrow Departures/Arrivals time table. There's something about looking at it like it was a thing of beauty. It's a "thing of beauty" because it's really cool to know that people are leaving or are arriving at London Heathrow from some far away lands. People I don't even know are on planes back to Delhi or are heading to London from Singapore. I'm not sure why it's so fascinating, it just is.

Link to table: London Heathrow Arrivals/Departures

The Braves are playing the Yankees right now and the United States is playing Canada for the World Baseball Classic, so I'm going to cut the blog short.

Thursday, March 05, 2009

Airline Drink Porn via Airline Meals Dot Net

Nothing like a nice Kronnenbourg on the way to France. If that's not sexy, I don't know what it is. Thank you airlinemeals.net (please update again).

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Flight Searching

I have the night off tonight so after I overloaded myself on Chinese take-out, I'm drinking a Fuller's London Pride Pale Ale (which is unbelievably tasty) and looking for options in regards to my European adventure for the summer. I had to get my car fixed today, however it did not make a huge dent into my travel budget for the summer. I actually don't have a budget yet, but I'm thrifty, yet snobby. I'm thinking if I stay only in Europe for ten days following my study abroad I can stay at nicer places. The travel lodge in Marylebone is a given, because it's just perfect.

So, I'm looking at flights currently. I might just fly Delta just so I can get a baseball game in during a layover. Maybe, maybe not. I dunno. Spending the evening drinking and looking for flights is my kind of night.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Airline Food Porn via airlinemeals.net


First airline food porn. Copyrights should be directed to airlinemeals.net somewhere I'm sure. I love grilled seafood and asparagus is great, here is the airline food porn of the day:

Less time searching, more time flying.

Well, this website: http://www.kayak.com/ is amazing. I must say, there isn't an option for food porn but that besides the point. Kayak essentially compiles all other search engines and airlines into one easy search. When I was looking at multi-city flights earlier I had so many options turn up I was rather entertained. Searching for the airline, airport, liquor stores or whatever is half the fun for me. Straight to the point, Kayak is great.

The Terminal, now with more food porn.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

United Airlines - To gripe or not to gripe?

When I went to London in 2004 I had a lot of flight problems. The first problem was the delay trying to leave Oklahoma. It took us nearly 5 hours to get out of Oklahoma City to Chicago. Well, we ended up in Chicago finally only to miss our connecting flight to London Heathrow. They claimed it was weather so that basically was a screw you. Anyhow, I saw some stupid American tourists (you know the ones I always hate who act like they're better than everyone else that is not them) bitching out the United Airlines help desk at O'hare. Well, I saw and heard they ended up with a hotel room because they were due to be on the same flight. They got a free damn hotel room while my friend and I literally slept overnight in the terminal. What kind of shit is that? I guess you have to bitch pretty hard to get something these days, well, that was 4 years ago so I guess things might have changed but I doubt it. I called United Airlines when I got back and had some rather calm words about how I was mistreated while other people got free rooms. By the way, those departure seats are not comfortable. So I was granted a free domestic flight eventually, but damn that sucked. United has screwed me and has sorted me out in the past.

Another United experience I had was to agree to give up my seat in exchange for some airline goods. I got a free flight and free food for staying at O'Hare an extra 3 hours. I'm all for that. I love airports so much, i mean, its wierd how much I love them so I didn't mind. What I don't like is when everything is shut down and I can't get outside to have a cigarette. I still remembe what that lady looks like that bitched out United to get that free room. I even saw her, fanny pack and map out, walking about in London sometime during that trip. I didn't even bother saying hi, i just mumbled to myself "rude bitch."

I'm good at my negotiating skills, I'll use those next time I'm in a jam at the airport. Next time I'll get sorted out proper. Maybe I'll use the "mystery method" on some unsuspecting female check in attendant.

Stocked up

I've come to realize that an aspect of travel has made an impact on my current keep of liquor and beer. I always buy cans of beer. However, it's always good beer. I always keep Asahi cans and recently bought Amstel light in cans as well. Just like on flights. Also, I keep scotch that is branded throughout the travel industry as well. Johnny Red Label or Black Label. Those are sort of my "go to" scotches. J&B rare on occasion. I've come to the conclusion that after all of the high end stuff I was buying for a while, albeit tasted extraordinary, I always come back to the basics. You know you're always at home when you have those certain liquors around. On the plane, in a foreign hotel, in an airport, Johnny Red Label or J&B always makes you feel like you're closer to home.

I went to a friends birthday party tonight and brought her a shot, like the smaller ones you get on planes. I'm a bit of a germ-o-phobe, similar to Adrian Monk. So it was natural to buy those. I still have my half mini bottle of jack daniels from my first trip abroad.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Lakers - Thunder

Got some tickets to the Lakers game on Tuesday. I wish my sister could go with me, but she cannot on that night. So now I need a date. I don't really feel like bringing a regular friend. Not travel related, but there will be pictures.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Hells Kitchen

First and foremost I'm a big fan of Gordon Ramsey and am delighted that I'll get to go eat at one of his pubs in London this summer. I turned on Hells Kitchen tonight to see that the men's team won their little challenge the women lost. So Gordan flies the men to eat at a prime steak house while the women are butchering whole cows. Then Gordon serves the women the cow parts. Liver, kindeys, etc. They women are throwing up and some don't even make it past a bite. Seriously? These women want to work in his kitchens and they cannot stand the nasty bits? What the hell is that about? Anthony Bourdain would be so pissed and I bet Gordon Ramsey gets pissed after the commercial break. YOU ARE CHEFS! Study up! Those parts are what everybody else is eating in the rest of the world. Shame.

Burning on your doorstep

So I bagged a "Random Crap" today on Woot.com. Finally! It's apparent I have too much time on my hands. Here is the wikipeda description of what I bought or how it's bought:

In lieu of typical product sales, Woot occasionally offers a fukubukuro-like blind grab bag officially called "Random Crap". Its accompanying picture has lent it the name "Bag O' Crap" (BOC). The BOC sells for $1.00 but users are advised to buy the maximum of 3. The BOC typically includes dollar store items and may include significantly more expensive items such as large flat-screen televisions.[7] The BOC typically triggers the flooding and subsequent overload of Woot's servers with thousands and thousands of order requests. The available BOCs typically sell out within seconds. Processing a customer's order for a BOC, assuming he or she is first lucky enough to get one before everyone else, may sometimes take over an hour.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Ok, the blog shows up.

Took me a blog to see my blogs. No travel research today. Just been sort of refreshing Woot.com all damn day. It's actually been kind of lame today. :( Less than an hour of wooting off left.

Where did all of my bloggings go?

Strange, I can has no blogs visible. :(

Woot Off !

Sound's like some sort of chicken breakdance battle or something, but Woot.com is doing a "Woot Off.' In which they offer an item at a good price and after they sell out they move onto the next. Normally, they offer one deal per day. The reason I mention it is because of the random things they sell. Travel related. There are multiple digital cameras, storage devices, laptops and other related offerings they pertain to traveling. Anyhow, I'm waiting for them to sell RANDOM BAG OF CARP.

http://www.woot.com

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Europe on Sale via AirfareWatchdog.com

Apparently Europe is cheap right now and at the end of summer. airfarewatchdog.com is reporting that you can fly to Europe (Paris, London) for under 700 and some flights for under 600 bucks. If you don't mind a little cold (or perhaps London's massive snowfall this Winter), you could see the sites you always wanted to see. There is also a flight from Charlotte to London for UNDER 300 bucks. One could easily put together a package with this flight from their hometown to Charlotte, then Charlotte to London + hostel (or hotel) + transfers (heathrow express, gatwick express, tube pass) + food and easily get away with a trip abroad for 1000 bucks. My flight this summer is costing me around 1300 bucks! Wicked.

Oklahoma City

Oklahoma City is a terrible place to fly out of if you go by discount standards. We are not a large city therefor we have to get on connecting flights in larger cities. Don't get me wrong, our airport is beautiful, most flights year round are on time, security is easy to get through and it's just not that busy, BUT, there are not that many discounted fares that are listed out of Oklahoma City. I've been on a few airlines email lists for quite some time now that list their discounted fares and rarely do you see flights from Oklahoma City. It sort of makes me wonder that if this is the reason not that many Oklahomans really get out of this state. Is this the reason? Is it more expensive to fly from here? That may be the case.

AirFareWatchdog.com is another website I've come across that really isn't mentioned on other websites. All you have to do is type in your home city or destination city and it pulls up all the deals from all of the airlines that depart from your city or go to your destination city. Pretty neat.

I need to put all of these websites onto a list and put them in the links section.

Monday, February 16, 2009

FareCompare.com

I stumbled upon this site via 3 other sites. This is actually really neat. Most air travel sites are really cluttered and really don't get to the bottom line anymore, however they are improving. This website actually shows how much it is to leave every day of the month from wherever you are and returning. Once you put in your Location and Destination, it starts calculating. So you can just pull up the months.

I really should work on revamping my travel writing or I could say screw it and just write it however it comes out. Yeah, screw it. This is not the Travel Channel, however I could see Anthony Bourdain not giving a damn.

WebFlyer.com

I should have looked at this site before investing in the BA Executive Club. I might have had a reward already. If you pay attention to this particular sentence: BA has clearly refocused its frequent flyer energies on rewarding higher-end spenders.

For a guy like me, it's all about finding the best deals. So I am going to consider trading in the executive club membership for something with a little better effort to bend for the cheap world traveler. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to be part of the executive club when I'm older and much more successful. But I guess I was always looking at flying in the long run.

To look at it like this, when I do go abroad, I won't be getting any extra miles for flying British Airways with my executive card flying to Europe. If I was using a United Airlines card flying abroad I could receive up to 10,000 miles. Plus, I might be able to gain access to a United Lounge.

Funny story about United Lounges. I was heading to Atlanta for baseball and I had a flight to Chicago before departing to my destination. I ran into Jeremy Dawson and Chad of Shiny Toy Guns. They were headed to Boston to play a "My Super Sweet Sixteen" for MTV. Well, we ended up on the same flight and ended up in Chicago on a lay over together. I got to go inside my first travel lounge which might have been the arrivals lounge at Chicago O'Hare. Well, we drank 3 drinks in less than an hour and I was already drunk. I ended up trying to pay for my drinks as well as theirs, but Jeremy and Chad had this sort of deal where they traded off paying for drinks at airports. So Chad paid for mine. "You owe me." was the last thing I remember him saying. I ended up buying him a drink at a random bar here in Oklahoma City sometime later. Thanks Jeremy! Not really funny, but interesting. That was my first trip to a travel lounge.

Well, it may have not been funny or interesting, but it was cool for me being in that lounge.

As for using WebFlyer.com for comparing Airline programs it's clear that my BA card might not be for me. Comparing it to other airlines such as American Advantage, United Mileage Plus and Delta Sky Miles it's far inferior. I think if I can't book a day pass for the Executive Club I will more than likely switch to United or American. Maybe One World?

Sunday, February 15, 2009

British Airways Terrace and other Lounges


I've just spent the last 2 hours trying to figure out if I can book a day pass for a British Airways lounge at Heathrow on my way back to hang out in before I depart back to the US. I haven't found anything. I'm just going to have to call the executive club tomorrow and see what's up.

I've been looking about on the internet looking at other lounges that offer day passes and I've come to the conclusion that the ones that allow an easily bookable pass are pretty crummy. Who the f*** wants to go to the Holideck or Servisair?! Not me. I want to get in on the place I want to be.

I have an affinity for airports and have spent a long time in numerous ones and well, that's my favorite thing to do. I wish I could find a job that would allow me to airport hop and evaluate services.

Above is a picture of the British Airways 1st Lounge taken from airlinemeals.net. A site that is out of order (supposedly going to be redone). What a great site that was for the Airport/Airline-phile.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

International Travel

Testing out the adSense part of the blog. I've also featured a newsfeed with tag line as "AIRLINE". I was thinking about adding "in-flight food" but that did not work out so well.

Stupid College Students and Tourists

Well, I've decided to stay in Europe longer than previously planned. I plan on studying in the Netherlands for 2 weeks then hopping around for another 2 weeks afterwords.

Now, I plan on avoiding other college students as much as possible. I cannot stand stupid American college students or Americans abroad. I'm not ripping into my country, I love the country I live in and I love the state I'm in. However, there is the exception.

I was having lunch at Pepe Delgado's maybe 2 weeks before last semester as out and I was eavesdropping in on these two cookie cutter Real World looking people. Well, it was a date I think and it was hardly worthwhile. I bet they never had a second. Anyhow, I remember the blonde (dyed) girl talking about "like I so overslept, like all of my friends were going to Amsterdam and I so like missed the train." WTF, you wonder why people in other countries don't like Americans, it's because of douche bags like that! Another instance I can recall is being in London at breakfast at the hotel and I remember these American tourists (dressed in Hawaiin shirts and with optional fanny packs) just talking down on the waiter there. Why do people go abroad and act like that?!

Anyhow, I want to avoid these type of people as much as possible. I want to blend into the European psyche. You don't get to true experience of being abroad if you stand out like that.

To sum it up:

College Students Abroad (in frats or sorieties) = SUPER FAIL
Typical Tourists (Hawaiin shirts, fanny packs and passports around necks) = UBER FAIL

Back on track: I plan on going to the Netherlands, France, Belgium, England and MAYBE another country less traveled by tourists. Maybe Denmark or Luxembourg. I'd love to go Monaco, but I doubt I could afford that.

"Be a traveler, not a tourist." - Anthony Bourdain

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Study Abroad

I'll be studying abroad in the Netherlands in the summer of 2009. I haven't applied yet, but I will be in the next week or two. It's a 3 credit course in 2 weeks. Apparently there's an excursion to Belgium in which I'm very interested in. Hopefully I get my own room, I've never had a roommate so if I do, well, I'll work on getting my own room. I will be applying for various scholarships this week. That particular sentence applies to my current job status. I start my new job next week so it's not going to be fun to tell them I'm going to be gone for 3 and half weeks. I plan on sticking around in Europe for at least a week and a half after my study abroad is complete. Here is the agenda so far:

England: 4 days
France: 2 days

That's all I have so far, I might just wing the rest.

I'll be working on funding for the next 6 months.

More later...

The Return

I just spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out how to get back into this blog, it's been a long time since I actually logged on to it. I was thinking of starting a new one, but I like the lay out (for now) and also I want to use this for my study abroad. This will be my live internet journal if you will. I'll be posting various things regarding my study abroad, pictures of airports, various travel things. I've lost all passion as of late and I'm working on getting it back. Travel being the priority. Drum and bass could be next? Yeah, most likely.