While I'm on the road, September 15-30, 1996, you can contact me through Rohit if absolutely necessary. If not, wait until I get back.
From overseas, for emergency, call the travel agency collect 1-402-255-7820. x4044 is our ticketing agent, Fay. x7833 is her supervisor, Barbara.
You could say that the main reason I want to go around the world is to bump up my United Airlines frequent flier Mileage Plus account up to Premier Status. Being Premier is more fun than being a member of the Red Carpet Club. I think of this road trip as a full-fledged, honest-to-goodness learning experience. Around the world in 237 hours.
Naturally, Rohit scoffs at this paltry objective, mostly because he already has qualified for 1K Status in 1996; for some unknown reason though (maybe it's the 100,000 frequent flier miles he stands to gain?) decided to accompany me around the world, like he's Hunter S. Thompson and I'm playing HST's lawyer globetrotting with him. Not to mix metaphors or anything, but Rohit and I will be globally on the road like a couple of beatniks. Hopefully this will be nothing like that Mardi Gras trip I took in February.
From khare@pest.w3.org Sat Sep 14 16:15:08 1996
You know, maybe I've just peaked too early in life. I mean, look, after
this little escapade, I have scaled the Mt. Everest of frequency
programs; there is nothing left to challenge in the system. In nine
months of study I have analyzed and destroyed my opponents, the Airline
Reservation System and Mileage Plus. What more crushing defeat is there
than:
Round-the-world tix (for cheap!) 22,389 base United miles
Business, First class bonus 6,037
Premier Executive 100% matching 22,389
Threshold bonuses 22,389
MasterCard miles for tickets 8,090
TripsPlus double miles for tickets 16,180
TripsPlus initiation bonus 1,000
Avis rental (HNL) 500
Sheraton (AGR) 500
Shangri-La (HKG) 500
------
99,974 for a single trip
Sigh, I have so little left to achieve in this meager life...
RK
PS. I would note, though, that the retail value of this mileage exceeds my
monthly take-home... :-)
So we're doing the fabled United Flight 2 around the world. Rohit is taking a vacation from W3C, and I am taking a vacation from Caltech, even though I haven't been there in 3 months, since I spent the summer working at HP in Palo Alto.
Is it business or pleasure? Well, some of both: when we're in Tokyo, Rohit and I will be operating under the capacity of Roadrunner Technology. Don't try to find a Web page for them in Altavista, though: they have no Web presence. And I can't tell you what it is that Roadrunner does, except that it has something to do with outsmarting Wile E. Coyote. We could tell you more, but we'd have to kill you.
For the rest of the trip -- Washington DC, Paris, London, Delhi, Hong Kong, Honolulu, LA, and New York -- Rohit and I are just being general tourist slackers. Which means, of course, that Rob Harley has to join us at some point in the trip: it's a moral imperative. The current plan is for us to rendezvous with him in Hong Kong, and do Tokyo, Honolulu, and LA together, too.
Oh, another side plan is that Rohit and I want to determine the Future of the World Wide Web while we're globetrotting. At least, that's what we keep threatening on FoRK. Wish us luck.
How did we come to get round-the-world tickets? Originally, Rohit and I were supposed to only go to Tokyo for Roadrunner. Rohit did some research and determined that in business class, the Tokyo tickets would cost $4500, and a loophole in the United pricing schedule (designed to promote United's single-airline round-the-world service) meant a round-the-world ticket would cost $3600. It's actually cheaper to fly around the world on United than it is to fly to Tokyo.
Incidentally, this loophole exists for economy class, too: Japan alone is $2800, whereas around the world is $2570.
The terms of this loophole are unlimited stopovers, no more than 4 in the US and requires one in Europe. Changes to day or time are OK. Change to route -- 1st reissue is OK, $35 each additional. Any segment can change date/time as long as stopovers don't change. Also, there's a $35 fee for prepaid ticket service.
So, my trip is thus:
lax-iad-cdg-lhr-del-hkg-nrt-hnl-lax-iad-lax-den-ord-hpn-ord-lax = 28,422 miles
That's Los Angeles to Washington, D.C. to Paris, then a day with Rob on the town in Paris. Then a connection Paris to London to New Delhi. In India, a tour of Agra, Varanasi, and Delhi, then onto Hong Kong. One full day in Hong Kong, then on to Tokyo for three days and Honolulu for one, stopping back Los Angeles to hop a 777 through Denver to Chicago, and then a jet to White Plains to see my family for a few days in Wilton, Connecticut, and then back through Chicago to Los Angeles. Around the world in 10 days (well, 237 hours!), then 4 days with the family to round things out.
(Rohit says the following passage makes me sound like a loser.) My mom says no sane person would even think of doing this trip, and she guilted me into doing all the immunizations I could get shot into me (which Rohit claims makes me a fool twice over since he thinks most of these innoculations are redundant, but I'm scared because I catch a cold when it's 71 degrees out and I really don't want to deal with malaria) on September 9 at Palo Alto's clinic (for the low price of $522, and of course I have no medical insurance coverage, doh!):
As I write this, I feel a little sick from all the little beasties currently raging through blood in an attempt to boost my immunity. On the other hand, I feel strong. I feel like I have the strength of ten men. Death, where is thy sting?
First off, Rob's itinerary is
Start Friday 20th of September 1996: 10h15 - 11h00: D.E.A. defense, followed by either hara-kiri, or: 14H50 - 16H10: Paris Charles de Gaulle -> Frankfurt 17h20 - 10h55: Frankfurt -> Hongkong arriving Saturday (Lufthansa) Then HK -> Tokyo -> Honolulu -> L.A. with Rohit & Adam (United). Finally L.A. -> Paris anytime after 5th of October (United) perhaps via Boston to see Rohit again! All for 13955FF ~= $2736.
Now, assume Rohit's itinerary is similar (if not identical) to mine,
which I've outlined below. The travel agency is TripsPlus, 800-898-PLUS
(7587). Our agent is Fay, the supervisor is Barbara (x7833). The total
for the two of us, including prepaid ticket fees, is $8090.30.