Happy Trails To You

Tomorrow I leave for my final flight of 2010. It's a quick one - just about 45 minutes in the air - down to Philadelphia/South Jersey to spend the holidays with my family. But as I sit here, decidedly NOT packing despite the 12-day length of my trip, I realized that this year might just top all others in terms of airline travel, at least in simple terms of quantity of actual flights taken. So let's do what we Type-A personalities do best...make a list :

January
N/A (ha! that wouldnt last long!)

February
Boston-->San Diego
San Diego-->Boston

March
Boston-->Chicago
Chicago-->Boston

April
Boston-->Vegas
Vegas-->Boston

May
Boston-->San Fran
San Fran-->Boston
Boston-->Toronto
Toronto-->Boston
Boston-->Atlantic City
Atlantic City-->Boston

June
Boston-->London
London-->Boston

July
Boston--Phoenix-->Honolulu
Honolulu-->Maui
Maui--Honolulu-Phoneix-->Boston

August
Boston-->Philly
Philly-->Boston

September
Boston-->San Fran
San Fran-->Philly
Philly-->Boston

October
Boston-->Philly
Philly-->Boston
Boston-->San Fran
San Fran-->Boston

November
Boston-->Atlanta
Atlanta-->Boston

Dember
Boston-->San Fran
San Fran-->Boston
Boston-->London
London-->Boston
Boston-->Philly......

HOT DAMM. And you'd think by now I would be a better packer. How am I not?  Well the good news is that I got to my three new places of 2010 (more on that later) and its been an amazingly exciting year.  The even better news is that I'm finally getting a chance to sit still for a while...at least until I head to Toronto mid-Jan and start it all over again!

Seasons Greetings all...and happy travels!!

The Journey Is The Destination

Those that know me know that I travel. A lot. I personally love exploring new places (see: rule of three) and, as an event planner, I also am fortunate enough to travel for work - which is something I consider a wonderful bonus. I never want to spend 52 weeks a year in an office, my true love is being on site and that requires a bit of a journey.  In my semi-new job as Event Manager at Eloqua, I do travel a bit more than I have in recent years, which is both a treat and sometimes a challenge.

I measure in at 6'1" tall but most of my height in my legs.  This means that, more often than not, the seat pitch - the distance between one point on a seat and the same point on the seat behind - is less than the distance from my hip to my knee, say LV's pitch. This usually results in a cool new tattoo on my knee of the safety guide stuck in the seatback pocket.  To combat this, I typically only fly JetBlue Airways, which has one of the largest seat pitch standards in the biz - 34". I also love their product, their friendliness, their free tv...  But last week I flew out to San Francisco and needed an early flight so decided to try Virgin America.  My friend Erica raves about it, let's give it a whirl.

All in all, I found the experience to be very nice.  The security line was ridiculously short, the staff was courteous, the seats had tvs. BUT...their seat pitch still wasnt as high as JetBlue's and I found myself slightly uncomfortable the entire time.(grrrr) On the positive side, the plane was half full so I was able to monopolize a middle seat for my leg extensions but hate to think of what the experience would've been like had I been relegated to my seat only. 

End result: Richard Branson, you seem like a swell guy (and once in London I even got to go to your private club - thanks!), but I'm sticking with JB for now. I fly back to Boston today and booked a JB flight back and the joy of knowing my knees will be free from torture is overwhelming. And the free cookies don't hurt.