by Lufthansa Flyer | Sep 23, 2013 | Trip Reports |
Thanks to my mastery of procrastination, I’ve managed to ‘book’ myself into a corner as far as reaching 100k revenue miles this year is concerned. At the beginning of the year I though I would get ahead of the curve and booked a ‘Mileage Jog’ to Anchorage to pick up approximately 9000 miles and to take in a couple of days of planespotting. Then things were a bit quiet until the Spring and Summer with 1 trip to Hong Kong and a few minor runs within the US. With airfares at their peaks during the summer and not much going on as far as needing to be in Europe was concerned, I decide to practice my advanced procrastination skills, until now.
The beginning of Autumn marks the beginning of what will be a very busy Mileage Run season for me over the next 3 months. To get things started, I’m off to Dubai later this week for 3 days to mark my first visit to the Middle East (I’ve decided to not count my trip to IST as Mid-East eligible). I’m looking forward to seeing the city in person after seeing so much of it on the internet and various travel shows. My wife is looking forward to me visiting the Gold Souk (obviously I can’t come home empty-handed) while I’m looking forward to my rounds of golf and plane spotting from atop the Sheraton Deira which actually caters to plane spotters and understands our disease. I won’t be staying at the Sheraton, but they still allow Plane Spotters to use their rooftop for a very nominal fee. As a bonus there is a roof-top bar to take advantage of in between arriving and departing aircraft. The trip to Dubai, thanks to some creative routing in the USA will yield approximately 18,000 miles. Not bad.
Two weeks after I return from ‘DXB’, I’ll be off to Munich for a weekend to visit with friends from Lufthansa Social Media and to take in an FC Bayern Munchen football match. It will be my first FC Bayern game that I’ll see in person (I’ve been a fan for years) so I’m genuinely excited about the 3 day trip! I think there will be enough time for a day trip to Salzburg or Innsbruck as well. Chalk up another 11,000 miles.
After that run, I’ll be off to Frankfurt to be there when Lufthansa Cargo celebrates the arrival of their 1st Boeing 777 Freighter. The date has yet to be announced, so that trip will be on very short notice as it’s expected sometime in October/Early November. Add another 10,500 miles to the tally.
Then in early November my wife and I are going back to Hong Kong for our second visit this year. She fell in love with the city during her first trip this past May and who am I to say no to visiting one of my favorite cities in the world…..not to mention the great plane spotting. This time we’ll finish off her checklist of places to visit. On our last trip we ran out of time to visit Lantau and the Peak, so these will be the first places we go to. We also plan on visiting Macau this time as well. Add another 17,300 miles to the abacus.
If that isn’t enough, it’s back to Germany and Slovakia over an extended Thanksgiving Holiday break. If schedules and logistics work out, I’ll be attending Lufthansa Group’s internal Social Media conference in Frankfurt and then fly on to Vienna and cross into Slovakia to visit a wide assortment of cousins, aunts, uncles and a very healthy 99 year old Grandmother. At least 17,000 miles to the balance sheet (have yet to decide if I’ll fly in First or Business for this one so a few extra miles will hit the account).
That brings me to December which has yet to have anything booked, but I think the momentum of October and November will carry over and there will most certainly be something added to the December calendar. South America and Australia are still missing from my list of visited Continents, so it may be high time to go!
So as it stands, between now and the end of the year it looks as though I’ll cover at least 73,500 miles (most of it on LH except for Dubai and Hong Kong) with what’s already on the books. This will be my busiest/most concentrated stretch of long-haul travel that I’ve experienced– I wonder how I’ll come out on the other side……
A hat tip goes to Michelle of Miles, Points and Mai Tais, whose post on her own Mileage Run Marathon motivated me to put together my own version.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Jun 2, 2013 | Trip Reports |
In my life I have 3 passions: Air Travel, Golf and Classic/Muscle Cars. Air Travel is obvious – you know how I feel about Lufthansa. Golf? I get in 3-4 rounds per week. Muscle and Classic cars? That’s my therapy. When I get home from work , off comes the suit and tie and on go my mechanic cover-alls. There’s something holistic for me about working on an engine, body panel, interior etc. If things go well, I usually leave them better than I find them, and to me thats the rewarding aspect of the car restoration hobby. What I spend on classic cars and restoring them would probably have been dollars going to therapists and Prozac anyway! 🙂
Anywho, on a recent trip to southern California I had the opportunity to take in the Donut Derelicts Car Show. Donut Derelicts started in 1986 when 4 friends would meet at a local donut shop each Saturday to talk about and admire each other’s cars. As time went on, more and more people joined this gathering each Saturday and the group has now grown to well over a hundred. The gathering happens each Saturday morning between 6:00a and 9:00a in the parking lot of a strip mall on the corner of Magnolia St. and Adams St. in Huntington Beach, California. If you ever visit, come early as cars start to head for home around 8:00a.
Being a ‘car guy’, I had no problem immersing myself into the gathering and meeting fellow gear-heads. What I found was typical: A group of friendly guys and gals who love their cars and love to talk about them even more. Tips, tricks and emails were exchanged and I went away with an invitation to bring out my own vehicles next time. That most likely won’t happen unless I can check my cars in as oversized luggage.
What I’ve assembled below is a collection of some of my favorites, ranging from ‘warmed over’ classics, Resto-Mods, and untouched “survivors”.
For those of you not familiar with these terms, a “warmed over” car has had minor performance upgrades, such as engine or suspension modifications, or modernization of a component or 2. A ‘Resto-Mod’ is a full-blown restoration of a car that basically replaces all the original major components with modern technology. New engines, electronics and drivetrains are part of a Resto-Mod’s DNA. These are my favorite and what I specialize in. You may have a 1968 Corvette on the outside, but underneath, its a lot of technology from the last 10 years. A ‘survivor’ is for the purist. A survivor is usually untouched, all original, and shows wear and tear typical of it’s age and has never been restored.
These car shows are a great way to be taken back to an era when cars still had character and personalities. You could also tell them apart. Ford, Pontiac, Buick, Chevy and Dodge all had their “looks” and you can identify a model based on how it sounded and looked from a 100 yards away. With today’s relative garbage & cookie-cutter cars being offered where most vehicles look the same regardless of manufacturer (like how Hyundai makes some of their models look like BMW’s and Benz’s), I for one am glad that there are thousands of us ‘gear-heads’ holding on to the past! 🙂
ENJOY!
A beautifully restored 1967 Ford Mustang GT350
1938 Chevy Coupe
This Chevy beauty is an example of a Resto-Mod
Perhaps the most iconic America car of all time: A Chevy Corvette, this being from 1958, the first year that the Vette had 4 headlamps.
A gorgeous 1957 Chevy
Being a Cougar guy, I love this 1970 Mercury Cougar Eliminator
1971 Chevelle SS — RestoMod
This was my favorite of the day….a GORGEOUS 1950 Mercury
Chevy Camaro Z28 – Today’s Camaro can’t hold a candle to this one!
A great example of a survivor: A Dodge Barracuda with Hemi Engine — affectionately referred to as a Hemi ‘Cuda.
Dodge Coronet 500
Another beautiful Hemi Cuda — Some of these can fetch a MILLION dollars or more.
A beautiful Pontiac Firebird ‘Resto-Mod’. If you’re in your 40’s or 50’s how many of these did you see around your high school?? I still have flashbacks and regrets….
Huntington Beach always has it’s fair share of Ford “Woody’s”!
Stunning Ford Thunderbird
So beautiful that it deserves a second photo…..Unfortunately they don’t make ’em like they used to!
This Mustang is unique because of the “H” that you see behind the GT350 logo on the side of the car. The “H” stands for Hertz (as in car rental). Back in the day, Hertz would rent these ‘track-ready’ mustangs to anyone who wanted one. Most guys would rent this car and take it to their local drag strip for a weekend of 1/4 drag racing and return the car on Monday morning. The beauty of this is that you did not have to invest money into building a track-ready car – you just rent it. Today, these are extremely hard to find and are fairly valuable. Seeing this up close was a real treat for me.
A great example of a Restomod Roadster.
1967 Buick Riviera
A beautiful Studebaker Pick-Up “Survivor”…..actually a rolling piece of art!
A mid-1960’s Chevy Corvette hardtop
A Corvette Stingray – For you Vette fans, the stinger is red.
Yet another “Woody” – I love the license plate on this one…..
by Lufthansa Flyer | Feb 24, 2013 | Trip Reports |
For those of you familiar with me, you know that Hong Kong has become somewhat of a travel habit. Last year I took 2 relatively short trips to Hong Kong, each lasting only 2-3 days, which were more or less glorified mileage runs and an opportunity to add suits and shirts to the wardrobe. It would have likely been three times, but I took advantage of an opportunity to visit Singapore and experience SQ’s First Class Service for the first time (though I did have a 2 hour layover in HKG so does that count as an HKG visit? 🙂 ).
This time, it’s going to be different. It’s actually going to be a vacation. Yes, more than 72 hours.
Actually, I’ll be there for 8 days and this time I’m taking my wife who will be seeing Hong Kong for the first time and it’s an understatement to say she’s excited about it. We’ll stay at the Hyatt Regency in Kowloon which is where I normally stay when in Hong Kong. It’s a great property and close to just about everything that you’d want to see in the area.
She’s been elbow-deep in researching all the places that she wants to visit and has drawn up a laundry list of things that have to be accomplished. So far it’s been “suggested” that we visit The Peak, Stanley, The Jade Market, Mongkok, The Ngong Ping Gondola and the Temple Street Markets. Additionally, the harbor light show, Sunday Dim-Sum and a huge time block set aside for Antique dealers and shopping. At least she’ll have me to act as a personal city-guide. I’m glad I picked up an extra Octopus Card. We’re going to need them!
But all is not lost for me. I have managed to negotiate a substantial block of time for my own pursuit which of course is going to be Plane Spotting. A trip to Hong Kong for me is not complete without it. But truth be told, I am really excited that she can finally go with me on one of these trips.
We’ll be traveling to Hong Kong toward the end of April and will come home during the first week of May. The strange bit is that we are not traveling together on the outbound leg. My wife will be flying United to Hong Kong via Chicago and it’s unfortunate that United pulled the 747-400 off the route and replaced it with a 777. She’ll be sitting in the nose of the aircraft and will have little to worry about for the 15 hours it takes to get there. She’ll no doubt be in good hands with United.
For my outbound leg, I’m parlaying it into an opportunity to fly to Hong Kong eastward on Lufthansa via Frankfurt. The reason behind it is so that I can visit my friends in Lufthansa’s Social Media Team, Lounge Services and Cargo. Having an 11 hour layover in Frankfurt will also give me time to take one or two pictures from the observation deck as well.
I’ll being leaving a day ahead of my wife and will ultimately reach Hong Kong about 3 hours ahead of her. Once she clears immigration I’ll take her over to the Immigration Office so that she can enroll in the e-Channel frequent traveler program so that she can avoid long queues at immigration/passport control in Hong Kong in the future.
For the return leg, we’ll be flying Asiana from Hong Kong to Chicago via Incheon. We’re looking forward to trying their new First Class Suite service on their 777-300ER aircraft. It will be an interesting comparison to make between Singapore and Asiana First Class products.
Something tells me it will not be her last time visiting this fantastic city. It looks like she’s already invited herself to the trip I’m planning on taking in early November. She said she’ll need the miles this year. Did she just become one of us mileage running Avgeeks?!?!?
