"I was a piano player in my last lifetime." - Common, Time Travelin' (A Tribute To Fela)
December 22 – Travel
How did you travel in 2010? How and/or where would you like to travel next year?
(Author: Tara Hunt)
One of the reasons I use Tripit is so that I can keep track of all this data. It came in handy this morning, otherwise I would've forgotten one of the many trips I took to Atlanta this year.
Here are the hard numbers:
- Atlanta, GA (6 times)
- New Orleans, LA (twice)
- Minneapolis, MN
- Greensboro, NC
- San Francisco, CA
The big news this year was that I flew enough miles to become a Silver Medallion Sky Miles member on Delta. I'm very excited about this. Got that bump from zone four to zone two boarding. I get to check two bags for free (which doesn't mean much to me but was super important for Tiffany's move to Los Angeles yesterday). I also automagically get put on the upgrade list. I loves my status. With the end of the Long Distance Relationship thing (we're now co-habitants happily living in sin for a few months), I'm going to find more excuses to fly. My sister may see me in New York a lot more often just so I don't lose that status (and, you know, cuz I love her, too, or something).
As Tiffany noted, travel this year has been all about family, friendship, and fellowship. Every trip was about matters of the heart. Included in those trips were weddings and anniversaries (both of the same sex variety by the way. You didn't ask but I'm tellin'), birthdays and holidays, volunteer work and medical and dental visits. And good hard cries. And good hard laughs. And warm smiles and soft eyes. And surprises.
And you. In the end, it was about all the "you's" I was going to get to see after I touched down.
This final trip of the year, though, was the most unique. It was the first time Tiffany and I have traveled on a flight together. It's the first time in eons that I've gotten to sit next to someone I knew. It's the first time I've ordered a town car. It's the first flight I booked less than a week before take off.
It's the first time when we both could say we were coming home.
I always like coming back to Los Angeles but this was the first time I was truly excited by the prospect. Excited by the travel itself. It didn't disappoint. We, with our matching ipads, danced in our chairs to different music, silently judged some of the passengers around us, and gave each other nervous looks with the rough turbulence on the way in.
Next year I expect more of that but hopefully expanding our adventures beyond the contiguous United States and maybe some new domestic cities together too.
I'd guarantee at least a trip or two to SF. I know we'll be in Austin and Nola again. But what about Portland? How about visiting Grandma in Omaha?
And internationally? Iceland and Argentina probably top my list for Honeymoon destinations but I'm open. I've never left the States (beyond brief visits to Mexico and Canada. Also Alaska and Hawaii which might as well be foreign lands) so anything that isn't part of the good ol' U S of A will be exciting.
