Italy 2014 trip coming into being

Thanks mainly to the bonus I got for getting the Explorer credit card last summer, I've had the United miles to book one of us to Italy, keeping to the biennial plan and going in 2014. Looking for a time that works and is before prime season, I was looking at a trip in May, being in Venice for our first anniversary. Although I think the thought is exaggerated that people should book awards as soon as the schedule opens around 330 days in advance, I felt ready to look and potentially book a trip when dates including prospective return dates were open for United awards.

The plan was for an open-jaw trip, into Venice and out of Rome. Although I was trying to avoid doing it too often, I did sometimes search award availability for the dates available before my dates came up, and found sometimes there was availability on the US Airways flight from Philadelphia to Venice; anything else to Venice on a United award would require a connection, usually in Germany. But a return from Rome generally did not show a US flight. Since I was going to need to pay for my own flight, it looked like a paid trip US one way, United/Lufthansa the other, was going to be priced like two one-ways and prohibitively expensive.

But then when I looked at return dates that had just opened up, they sometimes showed only the US flights: they were loaded with award seats before the UA flights were. Plus, I found a list of when different airlines load their schedules: UA loads them 337 days in advance, US 330 days. On the night when I was ready to search with the possibility of completing a booking, after midnight Eastern time, I did a search for my dates of choice. The ideal return date wasn't showing, but with a return a day earlier there was US availability in both directions. I made the decision that this was good enough. And then, when I got up the next morning, there was availability on US flights on the ideal return date. Since it was within 24 hours of the original booking, I could make the change at no charge, even a few days after United changed the rules to have a $75 change fee when changing dates on an award trip on the same route. I'm not expecting very good service from US compared to Lufthansa, but we have the convenience of a transatlantic flight to Venice, with one long layover in the U.S. In the long layover in Philadelphia on the outbound, we can hope to see friends.

To sum up, it was to our advantage for me to book right at schedule opening. There was the advantage of getting the US flight to Venice, the US return flight was showing as a UA award before it showed on the US site, and I suspect it would stop showing as an award once UA awards were showing for that date.

In the shadow of this is the plan for US to leave the Star Alliance and merge into American Airlines. When I book myself on these flights, I don't know if I'll be able to earn UA miles on it, although I think US will still be operating under its own name. There's much to see about whether the flights will still operate under the schedules that are showing now.

So I've gotten plans started with this flight booking, and we'll see in general what will happen during this trip. This will probably be just less than a week in Venice, and two weeks in Umbertide. I'll be looking into Venice lodging shortly, and other details can be thought out closer to the time.

The wedding and beyond

I've been waiting to see if Zaka, the designated photographer, would make pictures and video available; in the meantime I'm showing this phone picture and saying what I remember about things around my wedding with Margaret. (And I'd like to get this done before there's news to post about next year's trip to Italy, which should be soon.) The wedding events themselves are in a haze for me. We had a nice little ceremony in my parents' living room in Vermont, performed by the Justice of the Peace, with poems recited by my mother and my cousin Mike.

Margaret and I checked into the guest suite of the Full Circle Studio, a nice spot for ourselves up the road from my parents'. The next day my parents hosted a reception at their house. In this midweek wedding that we fit into the trip based on the flights we booked without planning it as a wedding trip, it's amazing what people made the trip for us. Mike came from Taiwan, making his annual U.S. trip earlier than usual; his brother with lady friend came from Indianapolis. Other cousins came from California (as did Margaret's son), as did others from Maine. There were other longtime friends from Connecticut.

As I said, the events become a haze, and Margaret wasn't feeling well the next day. Even if I tried to think of it as a low-key wedding, it was a great occasion, including the intrigue of interesting connections made among some of the guests.

So then I'll get into some of the travel aspects. The arrival worked pretty well, once Margaret dealt with the reality of spraining her ankle a few days before. In this flight connection that I booked for her, with time on the ground in all four time zones of the continental United States, under Southwest's system we were counting on her being able to save a seat for me as she continued on the flight that stopped in Kansas City. With crutches next to her in row 1, she succeeded. For me it was easy enough, taking advantage of the new non-stop service to Boston.

While Haydee was booked to arrive 30 minutes earlier, her flight had a delay, and both flights were unloading at the same time, but she was out first. We had our meeting at baggage claim, and I took the bus to get a rental car, selecting a Chrysler 200 from the lot. I managed to get it to the crowded terminal curb, pick them up, and be on the road; we made it fine to my parents' Vermont home.

Then the return had complications making for better stories. Haydee changed her return flight and went to Maine with cousin Veronica, then planning to spend more time at my parents'. Margaret and I took off for our final night in Boston at a time that I thought was early for beating rush hour. I stopped at the place that I'd scouted as the place to gas up the car in the suburbs and, feeling good for my foresight, called the hotel and said my wife would be checking in while I returned the car; it was new to be using that term.

Then, as we proceeded towards Boston, the traffic came to a standstill. It crept along, I think two hours to go the last 10 miles, where we eventually crossed the bridge and entered the Big Dig tunnel. Here is the map of the end of our route to the Intercontinental Hotel: I had the words of the directions on my iPad for Margaret to read:

It had been a while since I had looked at the map or directions, and I was so frustrated by how delayed we were, when we exited, I didn't pay attention to how long we were to stay on Purchase St., I turned too soon, saw that we crossed Atlantic Ave., and figured I needed to turn around. I made a U-turn on Seaport Blvd. where there was a break in the median although it wasn't advisable. I was thinking then turn right (go north) and watch for the hotel. Did I miss it without many markings? I recognized the garage where the rental return was, convinced that I'd driven past the hotel. I returned the car to the lot on level 7; this was all while Margaret had felt an urgent bathroom need for some time. We went down the elevator to ground level so she could deal with that in the rental office; we barely made the 6 p.m. closing time, when I was thinking we'd be there over two hours before that.

I took the bags for both of us to walk the few blocks to the hotel while she felt the effects of her sprained ankle. I figured out where the hotel was and what my driving mistake had been, hoping the marriage would survive this. We checked in for the annual free night I get from my credit card at the Intercontinental, getting a nice harbor view room. We kept with the plan I had anyway not to have Margaret need to walk any distance: we took a taxi to the North End and the restaurant Bacco, on the Rewards Network miles-earning list. Remembering that Boston had been shut down for a manhunt just three weeks earlier, it was impressive to see the crowds in the narrow streets, and we had a nice meal although it meant climbing stairs. Then we took a taxi back for a nice night at the hotel.

In the morning, we agreed to have room service breakfast, and take it easy before taking off for the airport in the late morning. We had our separate return flights booked as planned before we knew this would be a wedding trip. I was booked to connect through St. Louis. Before we left the hotel, so about eight hours before the connection, I got a text of a big delay on the connecting flight. A little later, I got an alert of a delay on my flight out of Boston. From the times they'd given, I saw that I would still make the connection; in fact an initially tight connecting time would be extended. Because of the first flight's delay, the skycap sent me to the ticket counter, where the agent confirmed what I'd determined about making the connection.

We got to the gate area and ate at the Vineyard Grill, with a friendly waitress. It was time for Margaret to take off on her involved itinerary, so I saw her off, as she gets ready to move out of her Sacramento area home to move in with me a couple of months later.

There were announcements made about my delayed flight to St. Louis, and they asked people booked to Kansas City to go to the counter to get new boarding passes to connect through Chicago instead. I kept track of the projected status of the flights, and it looked like the second flight was still more delayed. It could be that they were going by the rule that delays can be reduced or eliminated, but then why didn't they say that at the ticket counter? Also, I'd made an effort to get a good boarding number, stopping at a rest area 24 hours before departure to check in, which delayed our arrival in Boston a little (but I don't think we'd have beaten the traffic tie-up), and now I got boarding number C18. Even with that, I got an aisle seat to Chicago, so some displeasure was reduced. I had a long layover there, with more food choices. Perhaps Southwest should be praised for being proactive, but I still would have made the connection in St. Louis with plenty of time, arriving 1.5 hours late, while this Chicago connection made me arrive three hours late.

So there's quite a reflection to make on what has become of me since I started this blog. I started as a guy wanting to post on the practicalities of travel and my experiences with them, which is still a big part of my interests, but I've also had the terrible time of losing Flo, writing on that, and getting people's great responses to that. And then something I couldn't have expected, of the connection with Margaret and it leading to marriage, a great turn in my life, as I look forward with wonderment to seeing what it all means.

Working towards a wedding

There have been big developments in my life since my last blog post. Margaret and I had been talking in general terms of moving towards marriage. When we were both at my parents' in Vermont, my mother slipped me her grandmother's engagement ring. At the end of January, when I was at Margaret's for the start of our drive to Slow Bowl, the wine-focused gathering of Slow Travelers in the Santa Ynez Valley, I offered the ring and a proposal.

At first we just thought the marriage would be at some time in the unknown future, but Margaret suggested that we could get married and she'd live with me most of the time, but make some returns to California to be with family there.

Between the time of the engagement and the decision to get married soon, I'd booked a trip for the two of us and Haydee to Vermont. Margaret had suggested a trip for her late-April birthday, but I made it early May after my school-year obligation to work Thursday nights is over. When we decided to have the wedding in the short term, wanting to keep it simple and with most of the principals already there, my parents offered to have the wedding during this trip. It's a trip booked Saturday-Saturday with no thought of it being a wedding trip. The plan is to have the Justice of the Peace marry us in my parents' house on Tuesday, and a reception on Wednesday.

So those are the basics: before I knew it would be a wedding trip, I booked flights for us all to arrive in Boston around the same time, including my joining Margaret on a flight where she will be a through passenger. When we knew that it would be a wedding, I used my points and miles to get Margaret's older son to come and represent her family. So, I worked on travel coordination, and my parents may be organizing something bigger than I'd like, but this is all an amazing turn of events; I'm trying to see what it will all mean for this new life.

Thanksgiving Week 2012 Travels

I haven't posted since my return from Italy; I've had some trips to visit Margaret and she to visit me, but I generally just think of posting about international trips and planning for them. By getting the United Explorer Card, I once again have the miles for one of us to go to Europe. I'm generally planning to keep to my practice of making an Italy trip in even-numbered years, but we also consider the chance to go to Italy in 2013 around a Big Event. My visit to Margaret for Thanksgiving week had enough practical travel things happen around the flights that I'm making a post now.

Margaret suggested a visit; with my having the whole week off work and flexibility in dates, I found a reasonable fare to Sacramento on United going Sunday-Friday. The Saturday before my departure, I went to the monthly Italian Club in Kansas City and stayed at the airport Econo Lodge, using points that would otherwise expire at the end of the year. When I arrived at the motel, there was a sign at the front desk saying "Back in 10-15 minutes." The people who came in right behind me called the motel number, and got the person saying she was driving the van to the terminals and would be back shortly. The people indicated they would cancel their booking, since they didn't like the thought that no one would be around in the event of an emergency. I got checked in quickly with no payment needed, and decided to wait for later to pay for parking, while the people behind me sorted out their wishes. With United flights being split since the March merger with Continental between Terminals A and C, I said my return flight would be to United in A, and the desk person said I was the first person to know which United terminal I would use.

I slept lightly, having my iPhone alarm set for 4 a.m. to get the 4.30 shuttle for my 6 a.m. flight. In the lobby, another young woman was sleeping on the couch through a phone alarm, but she woke up and was ready to take me early, the only passenger going at that time. Where I could have carried my bag on, I checked it for free on the minor perk of having the Explorer Card, and was quickly to the gate; I could easily have taken the shuttle at 5.

Using another perk of the card, I boarded the first flight to Denver in Group 4, Priority, not to be confused with the Premier groups who board first. On the turboprop plane, it didn't seem that there was any heat, and I kept my coat on. We sat until departure time, and they said there was a maintenance issue (related to heat and pressurization?) that could not be resolved quickly, but there was a substitute aircraft available, and we could probably make our connections o.k. So we de-boarded; the revised departure time showed briefly as 6.30, then became 7. I thought the original 1 hr. 15 connecting time in Denver was o.k. for having breakfast there, and had charted out the options. Now that was looking unlikely, and I went to the little concession stand in this 3-gate area, getting an $8 not-good sandwich. As I was buying it, I saw pastries that might have been a better choice.

Although it took longer than expected, having a substitute plane on hand in a non-hub airport was a good break. We boarded, with a departure finally at 7.30. This Q400 turboprop was reasonably comfortable compared to the other prop planes that I remember. I turned my phone on on landing, hoping for a text message with the gate number of my connecting flight. That wasn't coming through, and I turned data on (I mostly keep it turned off, aware of the data limits on my plan) to see an e-mail, giving the gate number of the flight but saying that if I missed it I was confirmed on the next flight. This plane came to a stop, having us get off on the tarmac by the ground-level extension of the concourse, at 8.25, with the connecting flight at 8.35. I went to the connecting gate and no plane was there. I'm a big worrier about tight connections but was reasonably confident in this one, with a 6 a.m. departure meaning delays wouldn't have built up during the day, and feeling that overall missed connections are rare, but here I had missed one. It was nice to be confirmed rather than be on standby through who knows how many flights.

I texted Margaret with the new arrival time, and decided this was the time to use one of the United Club passes that I got with the Explorer Card. I went to the Customer Service agents there to get my new boarding pass. I was the only customer, with three agents working; those on each side were advising the one in the middle on getting me the seat assignment and pass; apparently the computer system used since the merger in March is still a problem. She got me an exit row, classed as Economy Plus; I could have gone to a self-service kiosk, but the exit row may have been a benefit of using the Club and getting agents who work with the top customers.

The Club wasn't too crowded, with some bagels and doughnut holes; there was a delay for the bar to open, but I got a Bloody Mary, catching up with things online before going to the departure gate a little before 11.

An advantage to the flight change was that I was on a mainline rather than regional jet. There was seatback DirecTV, which I considered trying but preferred to try to sleep with the full day still to come. The TV was on with a free preview during boarding and through takeoff until 15 minutes into the flight; I could follow football but I figured we'd land just short of the finish of those games.

So, arrival was fine, Margaret met me, and we went to her mother's in Davis, leading to dinner out and going to a symphony concert. I held up well, including driving afterwards to Margaret's home in the Sacramento suburbs.

This is a report mainly on the flights, but it was a great week with Margaret, including seeing the Crocker Art Museum and Thanksgiving at her mother's with more of the extended family.

On Thanksgiving morning I got a text message saying my Denver-Kansas City flight was cancelled. I got online for more details, and found that it really meant that the scheduled turboprop was replaced with a regional jet with a different flight number but at the same time. Also the seating chart was wide open and I could select a seat.

Margaret took me to the airport Friday; with no place to eat outside security, I went on my own to eat at Vino Volo, a good airport option for a brie and prosciutto sandwich with wine. The Sacramento-Denver flight also had DirecTV, but it wasn't interesting enough for me to pay the price. On landing in Denver, again there was no text message about the connecting gate; I went to e-mail and found another flight cancellation notice; oh no! Looking at it more closely, I saw that it was a repeat of Thursday's message about my original flight 4901, and there was no mention of flight 3966, where I was checked in. I used the iPhone browser to find the gate number, wanting to know it in this 50-minute connection (landing 15 minutes before boarding time); I got it and that was sure helpful, because when I was in the terminal and looked at the departure board, they only showed the cancelled flight 4901.

I had also noted that while my flight was showing an on-time departure of 5.40 p.m., they also had a link to the aircraft's previous segment, which was showing a 5.34 arrival, so I figured there would be some delay. The board at the gate kept changing the time, sometimes having gone past the scheduled time, and the gate agents sometimes announced that they weren't being told much, but there was a minor maintenance issue. We eventually boarded and took off about an hour late. This
ERJ-170 felt similar to the mainline flights. We landed, I got my bag, and called to get the van back to the Econo Lodge and get my car.

So these were my flights this week; most of my domestic flights are on Southwest, and even when they have delays, there aren't such big consequences. This trip on United had the noteworthy missed connection, and I felt like making this report, but things could have been worse.

The long return home

On Sunday we talked to some Canadian guests at the Girasole, who advised against doing the Grotta Azzurra tour: a rowboat trip where we would need to lie down while it goes through the small opening: two minutes in there while the oarsman sings O Sole Mio, all for €12.50 per person and he's aggressive about a tip. The advice was that it would be better to take the boat tour around the island for €16.

So our tentative plan for Monday was to do that tour and go around Capri town. In the morning Margaret wasn't feeling well, and then a steady rain started, so we just stayed inside. So we had nice memories of Capri without doing that much. I got these pictures of the sunset with clouds from our terrace:

I was worried about how well Margaret would feel on Tuesday when we needed to get to Rome, but she got up and was well. I'd arranged the hotel shuttle at 9.40, and once again we had the little van going part of the way on what are really walkways. Once again we had spectacular views on the ride to Marina Grande. We were planning to take the hydrofoil at 10.35, but we were in time to catch the one at 10.10. Up to last week, that one had a promotional fare of €10.10, but now its fare was like the others: what had been €17 had increased to €18.70; local people had protested the fare increase, blocking a departure, on Sunday morning. After the purchase, it wasn't that clear where to board. We started on the right-hand side of the pier but had doubts whether it was correct; we went back to the head of the pier and had it confirmed; a board there lists numbered boarding spots. We joined the waiting group and the hydrofoil turned up; it was easier to board than the other ferry, without steps. It was a faster, sometimes rocking, crossing that got us to Molo Beverello in Naples.

We went to the front of the line of taxis and got a ride to Stazione Centrale; the meter was off, and at the end the driver counted bags and assessed a fare of €15. We were way early for the train we'd booked, at 13.45. That's a consequence of getting the great €9 Mini fare on a high-speed train, having time to kill once we made sure to get to the station on time. We had sandwiches at a bar, moving to tables once they opened. Then we had coffee at the bar past the low-numbered tracks, catering mainly to rail workers. We found seats open among those scattered around the station; a little past 1, we reclaimed Margaret's checked bag, at a cost of €28. We went to the track that showed on the poster as our train's regular track, although it hadn't been posted on the board. A train turned up, and people appeared to be confident that it was right, even though it wasn't posted. We found our seats in car 6, at one end of the car with seats facing each other, with bag storage space on overhead racks and between the backs of seats.

This was a train with a final destination of Torino; the stop in Rome was Tiburtina. Once the train left the station, there was wi-fi available with the password sent to my cell phone. I learned there of the new earthquakes in the North. There was an information board with the speed of the train, which got to 300 km/h. It was a nice experience, without any discomfort from the speed. Not many people were getting off in Rome, using that secondary station. When we got off onto the platform, we had the ramp down to the underpass; we didn't go up to the new area over the tracks, part of the project to increase the importance of Tiburtina. We had an elevator take us to street level. A taxi that was letting people off wouldn't take us; we needed to go to the regular stand, which was hard to reach around construction barriers. We got our ride to the Hotel de la Ville, where I'd booked an award stay with my points for getting the Priority Club Visa. This driver charged the metered fare plus €1 for each bag in the trunk, for €12.40 total.

I'd seen warnings about the hotel, at the top of the Spanish Steps, being a luxury hotel that was somewhat worn, with snooty service. Without great expectations, we found it to be nice; they gave us an upgraded room with a little more space. In this brief time in Rome, we just wandered the Spagna-Popolo area and enjoyed the room. I got persuaded to go to the 6th-floor panoramic terrace, where we had cocktails (a Bellini for me) at a high price. For dinner, we were going to try one place based on a SlowTrav review, but found it closed down. I had general memories of a place near Piazza di Spagna but didn't find it; we went to Il Re degli Amici on via della Croce and had a serviceable final Roman meal of spaghetti carbonara and saltimbocca.

I set the alarm for 5.30 as we'd booked a car from Rome Shuttle Limousine for 6.30. We checked out and the hotel person offered to put our charges (cocktails and city tax) in dollars using dynamic currency conversion, which I knew to decline. The driver was there and got us going ahead of schedule. We arrived at Terminal 5 around 7 a.m.; he said he didn't have change from my €50 for the €40 fare. I asked about paying by credit card, and he had €8 to give me in change, reasonable enough.

In my studies of Terminal 5, I saw a disability assistance area, marked by a smiley face, near the front. I saw the door and knocked as instructed; an unfriendly man came out and said to go through the airline. We had the first checkpoint where they ask security questions, and they couldn't find Margaret's booking; we needed to go back to the ticket counter for them to locate that. Then we went through to the regular check-in; they instructed us to wait five minutes for wheelchair assistance. We could have had breakfast at the non-busy Terminal 5 bar, but we waited past that time without help. We got an agent's assistance to call again, and got help. I was with Margaret, but they told me I would need to get the regular security screening and take the regular bus to the departure area, while she got the special bus.

I got through that, and not knowing how long it would take her to get there, went to the bar in the G satellite, getting something for her to eat. Margaret found me there, but it was questionable whether it was worth it for her to stand in the long line to pay the cashier before ordering to get a coffee. We went to the gate area, where someone was watching Margaret's bag, but I needed to stand. When they started boarding, at 9, they just called group numbers without a call for those with disabilities. We boarded regularly in our group 6. United flight 41 to Newark pulled out of the gate on time at 9.50, and took off around 10.10. The 767 has seatback monitors with many selections. For the meal, I selected a beef brisket rather than a chicken or vegetarian dish. I've been writing this onboard, and we're over Labrador now.

Finishing off when I'm home: there was a sandwich and bag of chips for the late snack. Although I preferred the Lufthansa service going over, the time of this return flight passed well. We landed a little ahead of the scheduled return time of 1.40; this flight arrived at Newark's Terminal B, which United (mostly former Continental flights) doesn't use for departures. It was good to tag onto the disability assistance that Margaret had booked. A wheelchair attendant took us through some elevators and the crew passport check. Then we had our baggage claim, were cleared through customs, and left our bags off for the next segment. There we had more elevators (where it was crowded, I went up the escalator to meet them at the top) to get to the monorail to Terminal C. We didn't find room on the first train and needed to wait. An elevator down to the security checkpoint, where we got to a privileged lane: got through the ordeal with a basic metal detector. I cleared there even though my much later flight would be from Terminal A.

The attendant left Margaret at her posted departure gate of C120 at the start of concourse C-3. We'd made good time, still with three hours before our departures, and we'd decided to have a meal at whatever nice restaurant was nearby; we went to a sushi place. We did what we could to catch up on things on our phones; when Margaret turned on her phone to get texts, her son welcomed her to the U.S. pointing out that it was still 12 hours until her final arrival: quite a long day for her. We went around some more, having coffee, then looked at the departure board and saw Margaret's flight now showing as going from gate C112, at the far end of concourse C-2. At the gate where she'd been left, the departure around that time was to Berlin; who knows how that might have wound up. I accompanied her to the revised departure gate for Houston, where she had the long time ahead to connect to Sacramento. It was 4 p.m., well ahead of her 5.25 departure, but we needed to say our good-byes for me to get to Terminal A in comfortable time for my 5.15 flight.

I went to the place at the start of concourse C-1, where there's the not-pleasant area to catch the airside bus to the area of Terminal A that most of United's regional jets use. I got to that terminal and found a seat in the crowded gate area. I boarded that regional jet and took my combined aisle/window seat in the 1-2 setup. It was nice when the pair of seats across the aisle was empty, and I could put my bulky shoulder bag there. The flight didn't have much of a wait to take off from Newark, and arrived in Kansas City early; I had to think with concern about finishing my flights six hours before Margaret.

I had called from Newark to book a taxi. The cab company said I'd need to meet it at the Marriott, taking their shuttle. I had some calls with the dispatch and the driver while I waited for a Marriott shuttle for nearly an hour to no avail. They finally advised me to go in and call the hotel; I'd been worrying whether that was proper when I wasn't staying there. Anyway, that finally got me to the Marriott and the cab, getting home in a rainstorm that I might have beaten if I'd gotten the cab promptly.

Still not fully recovered from the trip, I don't know if I can make final comments. It was a great trip, and great to have Margaret with me. Being together all the time we found that we continue to be comfortable with each other. She loves the thought of basing in Umbertide for slow travel or something more permanent, and I was glad to be part of it even if she sometimes had health slowdowns. I have to consider this a great trip, pointing to much good for the future beyond travel.

Air booking to Italy

Once I had Margaret booked to Italy on my award, I was going to make every effort to book myself on the same flights. Fares were higher than I was hoping for May; I was set up with Yapta to check for any notable decrease, but I was ready to book whatever there was on Jan. 13 when a new credit card cycle opened. In the time I was tracking the fare, it reached a maximum near $1300, but mostly hovered around $1150; usually the difference over the lowest fares for any flights on those dates, also on United, could be explained by the extra taxes for connecting in Germany.

Would that Friday the 13th be my lucky day? When I got home from work, the fare for those flights was in the $1060s (before any Yapta alert showed), lower than they had been in the time I'd been checking. Even though connections on US Airways were in the $880s, I was determined to be on Margaret's flights and started to book. Kayak directed me to the United site, which asked me to log in. Once I did that, I got a message that the fare was gone and was now near $1200. When things like that happen, I stop and hope things will settle down later. I was leaving for Arizona the next day, and packed my netbook computer, which I wasn't sure I would take, so I could check fares during the trip.

I did another check at 11 p.m. The fare had gone down to $947.70, and I was ready to book. There was another hiccup in going from Kayak to United, but the fare was still showing. I started the booking process, including selecting my seats. I opened the United site in a second window to see what Margaret's seat assignments were, so I could select seats next to her (and it would include going to the Lufthansa site to make a selection for their Chicago-Munich flight). When I finished selecting my seats in my window on the United site, the final booking page showed Margaret's itinerary, not mine! I was able to start over with the fare still there, and get it booked.

So I'll be worried about the Chicago connections to the flight to Frankfurt, with myself taking a 5 p.m. flight on a regional jet, when aircraft can accumulate delays during the day, and Margaret having 1 hr. 20 to connect; I get agitated when time at airports gets short. For now, I'm glad to have the flights booked; my mother may join us in Italy for some of the time, and I'll be looking at what "on the ground" plans need to be made for Italy.

Arizona visit with Haydee and Margaret

After Margaret couldn't join me at my parents' in Vermont over the year-end holidays, it worked out that we could both go to Arizona mid-January, meeting my first cousin once removed Haydee in Phoenix, and going on to Sedona. It was a wonderful time: Haydee is the granddaughter of my mother's Mexican half-brother Enrique, who had a big family. We had dinner out with a group including her father, my first cousin Enrique Jr.

Margaret became instant friends with Haydee, and invited her to join us in Sedona. We stayed at the Sedona Real The first part of the stay was overcast, but then the sun came out and we got these great looks at the red rocks, and got to understand the magic of the place. Here are the pictures:

Sedona, Arizona Jan. 2012

Time passing, new Italy trip

Since I last posted here, Margaret has visited me twice, the second time to see an opera at the new Performing Arts Center in Kansas City, and we arranged to go to Los Angeles together to join a SlowTrav get-together. Things are well affirmed between us.

I went to my parents' for Thanksgiving when they essentially ordered me to go. Booking relatively late around peak dates, I did a non-Southwest trip on regional jets, on Continental to Manchester via Newark, returning on Frontier from Boston via Milwaukee, opting out of Boston's body scanner, and gate-checking a bag on a full flight.

I generally reactivate the blog when planning for an international trip is under way. When I was with my parents, I established that the house in Italy was available for most of next year. I've been wanting to have Margaret join me in Italy, using my United miles. We've been looking to plan it around a reunion of the school in Rome that we attended, but enough time has passed with no announcement that I was ready to make a booking without regard to a reunion.

Margaret was willing, and I asked the SlowTrav board a planning question based on my general thought that the trip should include Capri, and for a trip in May, which was showing decent award availability. For most United awards, there's better availability if you go through Germany on Lufthansa. I was looking at having Capri at one end of the trip, and so using Naples airport. With Margaret going from Sacramento, many options had flights from the West Coast to Germany, but I was looking for places were I could more easily join her for the transatlantic flight, Chicago in particular. If we had Capri at the start of the trip, I was looking at a flight arriving in Naples at 4.15 p.m. Then I got to think that getting to the port and ferry to Capri after that long overnight series of flights could just strain us too much. It could be better to have Capri as the culmination of the trip, but a 6 a.m. flight out of Naples would mean staying on the mainland.

For my first choice of return date, flying out of either Naples or Rome would mean going through Germany. Some people on the boards were urging me to try for a transatlantic flight out of Rome. The United site wasn't allowing open-jaw booking if partner airlines were involved; I could pay to go through a phone agent or, as the merger gets closer, transfer the needed miles to Continental, which allows this open-jaw online booking.

Before I did this, I tried a round trip to Rome on the United site. By changing the return by a day, I was able to book Margaret on the Rome-Newark flight. That calls for a long Newark layover and a connection through Houston; these are all current Continental routes; I don't know if, once the airlines are fully merged, she could make a more logical connection through the United hubs of Chicago or Denver. I'm guessing the Houston-Sacramento flight has award availability because it isn't so much in demand.

Margaret certainly shows excitement at this trip; I'm hoping I can wait a bit to book my paid trip on the same transatlantic flights. Wanting specific flights might limit my search for the best fare, but I've signed up with Yapta to monitor the fare. My mother may also go, so there's much to work out about details of the trip once everyone's booked.

Taking off for Berlin

It's been a while since I've posted. I'll mention in passing that I made a visit to Margaret in Sacramento and it was all great. The main thing with practical travel was that my Southwest return flight announced a 2-hour delay just as the plane was supposed to show up in Sacramento. Many people with connections got rebooked through Phoenix, but I stayed on my flight, which was a through flight stopping in Las Vegas. There were comped drinks, I got the exit row, and the flight arrived around 1 a.m.

Now I'm starting this post as I wait to board the first flight for my trip to Berlin. This is one more trip that I'm taking on my own, but I'm looking forward to Margaret being part of future trips.

The main thing in planning: I can decide day to day whether to get a transit pass for the day, since there are many sights close to where I'm staying. There are many museums: I was looking at the 3-day pass for €19, but trying to see even all of Michelin's 3-star museums in three days isn't really doable. I got advice that I might as well buy the annual pass for €40.

Things that I'll mention that I know from my planning: when I thought of a Berlin trip, I thought it could be interesting to arrive on one of the last days of Tegel Airport's operation, and leave on one of the first days of the new Berlin-Brandeburg airport, which is being built incorporating Schoenefeld airport. That was projected to happen in October 2011, but that was later changed to June 2012, so I decided not to wait. So I'll still see Tegel as its end is in sight. Tempelhof Airport, important in the Nazi era and the Berlin airlift, closed down a few years ago.

It will be interesting to take note of how things are now and how the city was once divided. In reading about visits when the city was divided, one thing to note is how some of my getting around will be on the S-Bahn, the urban rail system that also goes out of town. For most of the time of divided Berlin, it was operated by the East German railways, and many West Berliners boycotted it. It was possible to take trips between West Berlin places with a connection at Friedrichstrasse in East Berlin, not having to clear border controls but with a tax-free stop at that station. On the U-Bahn (Underground) lines, there were ghost stations where the West Berlin lines went through Eastern territory.

For my flights, having gotten a United credit card after booking this trip, I made a purchase to get some of the extra miles for using the card on United, of Premier Travel Plus, giving me the extra legroom of Economy Plus on the transatlantic flight and access to the airline lounge at Chicago O'Hare airport. I expected to get the boarding pass for my Frankfurt-Berlin flight on Lufthansa when I did online check-in, but I was not able to get it online or at Kansas City airport.

Resuming this once I've arrived in Chicago (decent flight, full, a little early in arrival), I got to the Red Carpet Club and asked the agent there about the Lufthansa BP. He said it was a roll of the dice to get it, but it printed. So I'll pst this now, and plan to post regularly during my trip.

More Berlin planning; oh, and there was a New Orleans trip

To continue on the current official focus of this blog, I have indeed booked an apartment in Berlin; it may be small but it looks like a good deal, centrally located. Now I just need to do a planning about how I'll spend my days. I'm studying the geography and wondering whether to get transit passes. There are some passes that combine transit and Museum Island museums; since I'll be walking distance from the island, I don't think I'd use both features of the pass on the same day. I think I'll buy four single tickets at a special deal, using one to get in from the airport. I can see on what days it will be worthwhile to use passes. Also I got a phone message from United about a schedule change in my flight; maybe because it was finally booked on the phone (and the initial misspelling of my name limited what could be done online) they couldn't just send me an e-mail. The change was a Frankfurt-Berlin flight going 10 minutes earlier, but I think my connecting time is still adequate (at 1 hr. 40, getting to be less than I'd like with passport control and security, but there are other flights if I miss the connection). I also see that my Frankfurt-Brussels flight has been made a full-size jet with new seat types, rather than a regional jet. Then just as I was starting this post, I see that I got an e-mail from United where the last segment, Chicago-Kansas City, was listed both with the regional jet flight I had, and an overlapping mainline jet flight departing a half-hour later. The United site confirmed that I'd been changed to the later flight.

There are some practical things to report on my New Orleans trip. I booked myself on Delta with a $59 ($80 with taxes) one-way fare. I didn't like the thought of paying $25 to check a bag, although I got some advice that I might as well do that to avoid hassle, when I got such a good fare. A flight that would have given me the long layover that I preferred in Atlanta was removed from the schedule, and I was changed to one with a tight connection. At first (in the advance seat selection) I lucked into an exit row, then I was removed from it and the only seat to choose was the middle seat in the bulkhead row behind the rear galley. I would have checked the bag if I'd been stuck there, but as time got close I was able to select a better seat. I took my bag to the gate area, and they announced that the flight was so full that it could be a problem to find overhead storage space (my main worry) and anyone who wished could get the bag tagged for free; I went for that. The incoming flight was late, and I observed the "gate lice" phenomenon making it hard for disembarking passengers to get out through the people crowding the gate to board.

An extra privilege of gate-checking my bag was that I was invited to preboard as I left it at the end of the jetway. This was also the first flight on which I used onboard wi-fi, posting Facebook updates from the air. Then the arrival in Atlanta was a little late; I had to get from my high B gate to the central underpass, where a train was ready, so I took it where I might have opted to walk one concourse over, to the A concourse and a gate at the end. I boarded after all groups were called, and likely would have had a problem finding room for my bag. So I saved the bag check fee, and the wait at New Orleans baggage claim was no big deal, since I was waiting for people on later flights. I rented a cart for all the bags that would accumulate.

When I arranged the trip, I worried about the three flights coming in close together working out, given what the weather can be in February. Margaret, the woman I mentioned in my previous post, was due to arrive shortly after I claimed my bags. I went the width of the terminal and up the elevator to meet her at the Southwest concourse. She'd made a new friend, as she often does, on the flight. We added her bags to the cart and had her wait with it while I met my parents, coming from Vermont connecting through JFK, at the JetBlue concourse. They had a nice meeting, and waited while Margaret and I located the shuttle (not well signed, in the garage across from the terminal) to the Alamo lot. I had a good rental deal for a mid-size car, and we got an Impala, larger than what they usually put in that category. I had a GPS and got to our host Jim's house in Algiers on the West Bank.

Just some impressions about the trip in general: I didn't see a whole lot of evidence of Hurricane Katrina; Algiers had wind damage but not flooding. The group had lunch with a curator at the Art Museum; while my parents went with Jim, who had a toll tag to get through an automated lane of the bridge over the Mississippi, Margaret and I faced a long delay to pay the $1 toll, and then they were restricting driving around the museum because they were filming the Natalee Holloway story there. We got the lunch and looked around the museum; then I did the first of some walking tours from Frommer's that I'd downloaded to the iPod, along part of Esplanade Ave. With Margaret it works well to point out a few places and then sit down, a nice way of taking it easy (good weather all the time). On later days we did some more of this in the French Quarter, both with the craziness of Bourbon St., and on Royal St. also getting crowded as they were building up for a pre-official (and raunchy) Mardi Gras parade. That Saturday we parked on the Algiers side of the ferry, free to pedestrians but they charged $10 for parking. On Sunday, my father got the gallery that has works of his to open and show those works. We walked the Garden District a little before our return flight.

One can expect good meals in New Orleans, and we had a great variety. On the Algiers side, we had Belgian, Vietnamese, and Dim Sum; in the latter we were confronted with a constant array of carts and many dishes. During the weekend we were joined by my mother's friends Lisa and Paul from Atlanta; we ate at the Palm Court in the Quarter as the parade went by, and there were jazz performers. We had a nice Sunday brunch at Café Degas on Esplanade; Monday lunch at Pascal's Manale, an old-time neighborhood oyster place. We put something together at Jim's house on Monday night before my father's birthday (with an early flight departure) Tuesday, including a Mardi Gras King Cake. Margaret and I went on our own to Domenica, an Italian restaurant in the Roosevelt Hotel, where I had an interesting pasta with chestnut sauce. Before our flight departure, we stopped at Martin's Wine Cellar, a wine store with good food served at the counter; we got good sandwiches.

So we returned the car and got to the airport. One wouldn't know it to look at her, but Margaret is entitled to disability assistance; as I joined her with her wheelchair assistance, we got smoothly through security and to the gate. We were going together on Southwest to St. Louis, then connecting to different flights. We preboarded on their open-seating flight and took a row in front. I took the middle seat but was very glad through the flight to have Margaret next to me holding hands, head on shoulder. She re-entered my life at a difficult time, and we have taken the title of boyfriend and girlfriend.