Valerie and I are off on another exciting globetrotting adventure… is probably what I would say if I liked to travel. We’ve begun our long journey to the east! Our first stop is Chicago where we’ll be staying for the next three days. Our flight pulled into the gate around 8:40pm, about half an hour behind schedule. While I didn’t mind the delay, I fear that many of our fellow passengers missed their connecting flights because of it.

We’re staying at the Swissotel in downtown Chicago. It’s about a half mile slightly uphill walk from the Loop. By the time we made it to the hotel, most of the restaurants nearby were closed, so we walked to Bockwinkels, a nearby grocery store / deli and picked up some microwavable dinner and snacks for tomorrow’s breakfast.

Tomorrow, we will probably try to eat some delicious Chicago food at some fine eateries that do not require reservations (both because we don’t have any and because we don’t have any clothes fancy enough to eat at a place that does).

When Valerie and I booked our flight to Europe last year, we used a British Airways companion pass to get two tickets for the price of one. However, the companion pass is only valid for round-trips. Since we were returning to the US on a Transatlantic cruise, there was no need for a return flight. Not knowing what to do, we just booked a return flight from Paris for as far in the future as BA would allow with the intention of canceling it after the cruise. Fast forward half a year and we’ve decided to use that ticket. Next week, Valerie and I are leaving for a trip to Eastern Europe, Turkey, and France!

Valerie will be describing our travels in her blog at http://valeriechang.net/blog/.

After several weeks of trying to book a flight from SFO to LHR on British Airways using our Avios points (frequent flyer miles), we finally found a flight departing on Friday afternoon. Finding a flight has been quite an ordeal. Both of us have been checking the American Airlines website every two hours for available rewards flights for weeks now. (We used the AA website since the BA availablity checker is strictly worse than AA.) Since BA allows a free stopover in London, we’ll be staying in Great Britain for 5 days before continuing on to Oslo. Despite the fact that neither of us has ever flown on British Airways, over the past couple years we’ve accumulated a ridiculolus quantity of Avios points using our BA Chase credit card. (As a side note, for BA Chase card holders who are reading this, don’t try to get the companion pass unless you plan to fly from JFK or ORD or DFW to LHR. Trying to find a BA-only route from anywhere other than those airports is a pain.)

This was the first (and probably only) time that either Valerie or I have flown first class. Ever since she started reading travel blogs, it’s been Valerie’s dream to fly in first class. First (as BA calls it) was nice, but probably not worth it. The SFO first class lounge is smaller than the business class lounge. The fully reclining seats, turndown service, and free cotton pajamas are certainly very nice. However, Valerie can’t sleep in any moving vehicle that is smaller than a cruise ship, so many of the amenities of first class are somewhat wasted on us.

My New Year’s Resolution for 2010 is to write at least one entry in my blog.  Success!

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