"One The Road Again"...but hoping to be "Home For the Holidays" Soon!

I have been a delinquent blogger. I really do enjoy blogging and had a great time blogging-away this spring and summer, but towards the end of the summer my life took an interesting turn. My normally crazy job leapt from crazy to certifiably insane and I embarked on 3 back to back months of insane travel. Since September, I have slept in my own bed around 6 nights or so. Where in the world has the Nurns been? Well, all over the world basically:

Hong Kong - Week 1
Thailand - Weekend
Singapore - Week 2
Atlanta - Week 3
Munich - Week 4
Spain (paradise) - Weekend
Paris/Amsterdam (without luggage) Week 5
Shanghai (also without luggage) Week 6
Orlando Week 7
Atlanta Week 8
Munich again Week 9....and next week I will be in Munich Mon/Tues, but then possibly Paris the rest of the week. Still up in the air.
And for next week I will be in Munich

I obviously haven't been doing much cooking lately, and I know I owe you guys a few recipes before Thanksgiving so I will definitely get those posted. But in the meantime, I thought I'd share a couple articles from another blog that I came across that pretty much sum up my life recently.

Last week I found out that all this travel has qualified me for United Airline's 1K club. This means that I have officially sacrificed family, friends and a normal life for living on planes and in hotels enough to warrant some recognition from my new family at United. I have flown roughly 90,000 miles this year and a United promotion is going to kick me over the 100,000 mark. I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry at this news, and then I came across the article below that summed it up quite nicely. The articles are from http://blogspot.mutedonkey.com/category/travel/

The 1K Letter (frequent flyer’s delight)

October 29th, 2007 by Bob

I achieved a milestone on my latest trip to SE Asia, I became a 1K member in my “preferred carrier’s” frequent flyer program. Even if they send the obligatory “Congratulations!” letter, I won’t get to read it for the next couple weeks because this is a long trip. But that doesn’t stop me from imagining what the letter might say. I think it will probably be something like this:

Dear Mr. Bob,

Congratulations on becoming a 1K member in our frequent flyer program! First, lets us say that we apologize for the name. We realize that 1K really means “1,000” and not “100,000.” This is a marketing ploy to make this status level seem more achievable.

Second, let us state for the record that you must be a hearty soul. If you are reading this letter (and not your executor), you have avoided an ever increasing host of airborne pathogens that we keep in our planes, ranging from the common cold to such exotics as SARS and Tuberculosis. Yes, we have a policy that states we will not let you fly while you are sick, but we don’t ever enforce it. That would eat into already waning profits, would make use enormously unpopular, and would really mess up our scheduling programs.

Finally, let us be the first to offer our condolences on the status of your relationships with family and friends. On a positive note, just think of all the chatty relationships you have developed with your seatmates during those 16 hour international flights. For 16 hours, you can be anyone you want to be because you will never see your seatmate(s) again!Some privileges you will enjoy with your new status:

You will get to board future flights with only 25% of your fellow passengers. No more waiting in line with the other 75% of the travelers who, apparently, are all part of our other frequent flyer programs. **NOTE: We are currently investigating the phenomenon of 100% of the passengers claiming to be a frequent flyer and the fact that 25% of the passengers always claim to be in First Class.

You will receive two bags of peanuts during domestic flights (please show your membership card when requesting the second bag).

We will send you even more unsolicited credit card applications in the mail and we will kindly submit your name to our growing list of partners. Now, even your family pets are eligible to receive a credit card (and 20,000 frequent flyer miles!). The double-upside: When you get home from your travels, you will have plenty to read.

You will receive more spam in your email from us and our partners, but we will make it look like something you better read or risk loosing your status. We will also send you lots of emails to allow you to claim your “rewards.” After flying 100,000 miles, you deserve a magazine subscription!

Some privileges you won’t enjoy with your new status:
Courteous treatment on domestic flights, or return flights to the USA for international travel.
Courteous treatment at international security checkpoints by TSA agents (i.e. LAX). We have no control over them.
Departing on time.
Arriving on time.

Again, congratulations! We look forward to delaying you sometime in the very near future.

The Airline

I can hardly wait…

And then there was the follow up.....apparently being 1K officially gets you....well, nothing.

The 1K Letter - An Update

November 8th, 2007 by Bob

As I stated in a previous post, I have achieved the glorious distinction of being a 1K Frequent Flyer. I am currently sitting in the Narita, Japan Star Alliance lounge and wanted to give you an update of the differences between flying as a non-1K member and a 1K member. There is almost no difference. I am still in the back of the bus, the flight time from Singapore to Japan is still 6 hours, and the time remaining to home is still 16 hours away. I have decided to start taking pictures of the folks on the plane that probably should not be flying, with my cell phone. Unfortunately, my cell phone doesn’t work in Japan, so that will have to wait until I am back in the States.There was once improvement, I did not wait in any lines before getting onto the plane (OK, there were lines, but they were very short). But I have to say, that time saved (maybe 15 minutes) compared to the 23 hours it is going to take home, is like “a fart against thunder” to use a phrase of the day.