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.