Commitments
We are three days into the new year and my calendar is surprisingly free of personal travel commitments for 2017 which is highly unusual, almost suspect.
I’m not entirely free of commitments as I have several business and volunteer commitments already penciled in and am awaiting decisions on projects that may largely direct the next several months, if not years, of my work. But for the first time in eons, I have no personal travel booked. No cruise deposits on hold, no award tickets booked, not even any solid commitments to join friends on some off the exotic adventures I’ve been invited to partake in (like a luxury African safari).
It is quite unlike me, especially given that I still have eight unused international upgrades that need to be burned by the end of February and a $1,000 American Airlines voucher with similar expiration. (Before you ask… I have a long waiting list of individuals who want both of those items should I not utilize them – which is unlikely since at the very least I can press them into service for the onslaught of transcon flights that may be in my near future.)
I don’t feel like the right itinerary (or fare sale) has hit me yet. It would be easy to book my usual solo first quarter jaunts to London and Paris. I could sneak off to visit friends in Tokyo or Hong Kong for a long weekend. But my calendar is not coming together easily and I’m not automatically inclined to run away and travel for travel’s sake. That’s a strong departure from the girl who never wanted to be home in the past.
Yesterday Ed over at Pizza in Motion included me in his roundup of travel resolutions from various BoardingArea.com writers and I was struck by how I’m not the only one being more deliberate with my choices in 2017.
Some would say to just “book the damned ticket already” (I’m looking at you, Andy.) But part of my mantra of “less” means dialing down my impulsiveness.
That said… I’m taking suggestions for the best three day weekend trips out of DFW on American Airlines in the month of February (preferably with reasonable fares and the likelihood of systemwide upgrades clearing). (I may also be able to use Seattle, San Francisco, Atlanta, Austin, or Sacramento as a start or finish point depending on the week.)
Where would you go if you were me? And go…
Jennifer,
Thanks for contributing to my post! I wish it had drawn a bit more traffic for everyone, but that’s how the cookie crumbles.
That whole “systemwide clearing” part of your request makes it troublesome given how few of those are clearing ahead of time right now. If the SWU is most important, I’d shoot for somewhere in Western Europe to take advantage of emptier planes to places where the weather isn’t great.
I think South America is another good consideration if Zika isn’t a barrier to your travel. We were trying to put the pieces together on an IGU trip this year (I’ve had two near misses getting to IGU).
I’ll be interested to hear what you decide.