Traveling in General

First off, thanks for your sweet comments about my Dad.  He says he is feeling a bit better today and Mom is going to drive him to his meetings.  You know what they say about, "in sickness and in health...." as part of the wedding vows!

Second, Happy 3rd Anniversary to Kevin's brother and sis-in-law! 

Third, Tara and I ran in the pouring down rain this morning.  We got 5.5 miles in so that was good but we were drenched.  Hilarious.  I'm pretty sure everyone passing us were thinking that we weren't very smart.  Hey, it wasn't raining when we started!

Today I thought it would be nice to share some weird things about how I travel.  Well most of you may know I travel about every week.  Sometimes I don't go for a week or two, sometimes I travel multiple trips in a week.  It really varies.

I only will fly US Air.  This is mostly due to the fact that Charlotte is one of their largest hubs and it's hard not to.  They've always done me pretty right too.  The good thing about living in a hub city is that they usually always want the planes to get back to Charlotte even really late at night or early in the morning.  Luckily I haven't gotten stuck anywhere.  It's been very close but I've always made it. 

Not every trip has been amazing with them but let's be honest, no one is perfect.  They have done their best to always make situations right.  And it doesn't hurt that I mostly fly first class due to their free upgrades for preferred customers.  If I'm not in first class, I'm always in an exit row.  Not terrible!

And I always rent cars with Hertz.  It's pretty nice to get off the rental car buses and get right in my car.  No standing in lines.  No dealing with their customer service people every time.  Just get in my car and go.  I'm not the biggest fan of their rewards program but I do usually get free upgrades to nicer cars.....It's not unheard of for me to have gotten a Mercedes or Infiniti.  Most times I get a Camry and that is just perfect by me!  If you rent cars a lot, I highly recommend their preferred program so you can just zip right into your car....saves a ton of time!

I used to only stay at Marriott's due to being raised by a lifetime Platinum Marriott member but I had trouble staying with Marriott when I traveled to small towns.  Most times there is only a Hampton Inn....so now I'm a dedicated Hilton customer.  They've treated me pretty darn well over the years too.  They've upset me a couple times but mostly they've made it right.  I've been saving my Hilton points for forever so Kevin and I should be staying for free for our honeymoon...hopefully for 10 nights.  And we better get the upgrade then!  We'll see.

Another important piece of my traveling is the US Air Club at the airport.  Essential my friends....essential.  It pays for itself once if you get stuck there for a few hours.  They can also help you out with your flights.  One time in particular in the Philly airport I was desperate to get to a meeting in Scranton by a certain time.  They had no rental cars anywhere in Philly and yall they put me on a flight to Scranton...when that was not my original destination.  It's kinda a long story but that only happened because I had the club membership and I was preferred.  Talk about totally worth the $315 annual club fee!

The preferred security line isn't so bad either! ;)  I hardly ever wait in a security line.

See, traveling isn't so bad!  The more you do it, the more preferred you get, the easier it is.  Kevin laughs and says I'm a ridiculous traveler that I expect all this stuff but hey if you do it basically every week, it makes it so much more manageable. 

Oh I didn't mention the Business Class Valet at the airport for parking your car.  That's essential too.

So when Kevin and I travel for pleasure, I tell him that all the perks he gets are because he doesn't see me for a couple days each week.  :)  He hasn't lead a rough life on our fun trips.  I think he has traveled first class every time and we cruise through that security line.  We also spent about 8 hours in the Phoenix Club on our way back from Cabo. 

Anyway, tell me your travel secrets!!!!  I promise I'm not too crazy about expecting all this...everyone in my office is the same way too!