London, January 16-19, 2026
Oh, hey, another trip to London? Yep, sure is. This time it was for my annual visit to see Spurs at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. While in town, I had planned on running a race but three-plus weeks of travel through Asia the previous month somehow re-aggravated the lower back injury I suffered last summer. Heavy sigh, it’s not fun getting old.
Spain, November 28-December 8, 2024
I’d already had a goal fall marathon booked with Chicago in October but if you know me, I like to have a backup in case training goes sideways. After seeing fast times being run in Valencia in the recent past and the number of available bibs already down to 2000 in early February (this for a race in December!), I decided to book this one as my the fall backup with the possibility of it being a BQ attempt if Chicago went well enough.
Mexico City, February 5-9, 2026
Between my annual turns on the Delta Medallion hamster wheel and my Amex Delta credit cards (which some would say is the actual business Delta is in these days), I have it pretty good. Upgrades automatically to Comfort+, occasionally to First and domestic Delta One, access to Delta Sky Clubs? Can’t complain. But one of the benefits of an Amex Delta Platinum or Reserve is a companion certificate and, as someone without a ready-made companion, that’s a benefit I’ve left on the table some years.
London, April 18-22, 2024
Date: July 6, 2023
Subject Line: Your 2024 TCS London Marathon Ballot result
Body:
You're in Gary!
We’re delighted to offer you a place in the 2024 TCS London Marathon, which takes place on Sunday 21 April – you just need to pay the international entry fee to secure it.
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat…
England and Portugal, July 2-13, 2025
Saturday, August 31, 2024. 3:45 am EDT… Wake up, go to Ticketmaster UK and click on the link for Oasis on Friday, July 11, 2025 in Manchester to enter the queue for an onsale beginning at 4:00 am.
I’m 600-something in the queue. In the 600s. WHAT.
Saturday, August 31, 2024. 4:11 am EDT… Pair of tickets secured for Oasis on Friday 11, 2025 in Manchester.
Seeing Oasis? Definitely NOT Maybe.
San Francisco, July 25-28, 2025
I hadn’t planned on coming back out to San Francisco so soon but after visiting in January but I once again had some RUCs to burn and the Mets were in town so I figured, why not!? Anytime I can get a lie-flat for the price of economy, I’m gonna go for it. And, of course, there’s also the opportunity to eat and drink myself into a food coma at the Delta One Lounge at JFK.
London, June 28-July 7, 2024
At some point in late 2023 or early 2024, I saw that Pearl Jam announced a stop at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday, June 29. As it so happened, The National had also announced a date in London for around the same time, on Friday, July 5 at Crystal Palace Park. Also, in between would be the first few days of the 2024 Wimbledon Championships. So, I figured, why not go to London for a fourth time in less than four months time!?
Tampa, June 7-8, 2025
This is actually my second trip to Tampa this year so that puts in in the same category as London, right?
Okay, not really. It’s nowhere close to London and the only similarity on a personal level is visiting a city more than once in a year but there is one thing Tampa has over London… a Major League Baseball team.
London, June 7-10, 2024
We’d known for some time that the New York Mets would face the Philadelphia Phillies in the London Series. We just didn’t know when (for sure). When the 2024 MLB schedule dropped and we saw where on the calendar when it would fall, plans were set in motion to make sure we got there.
Bangkok, Seoul, Taipei, May 23-June 2, 2024
This trip was a year in the making. Quite literally.
It all started with my wanting to take EVA Air Premium Laurel Class from TPE to anywhere in the States so I could experience business class on the Taiwanese carrier with catering coming from Taiwan. Understandably, business class, especially on an Asian carrier, can be quite expensive in cash so I scoped out ways to book it using one of my points currency. After some research, I settled on using Air Canada’s Aeroplan as I already had 50K certificates on hand and I could do a redemption using one of those and top it off with however many points it would cost to get me anywhere in North America. Further research showed it would be difficult to get a flight to JFK so narrowed my focus to either ORD or IAH and just deal with booking a flight onward to NYC from Chicago or Houston afterwards. On June 13, 2023, 355 days out from my return flight from Asia, I managed to snag TPE-ORD for one 50K cert + 25K additional points. I’d book a flight home on Delta for the next morning as the flight wouldn’t get into O’Hare until past 9 pm, well past the last flight out, after clearing customs and immigration.
San Juan, May 1-5, 2025
You’ll never guess why I ended up in San Juan, Puerto Rico for a long weekend. If you think it has to do with, yet again, airline credit/perks, you would be absolutely right. I had a Delta Companion Certificate, good up to Domestic First Class (basically anywhere Delta flies where First Class is the highest available so not quite domestic) and I had never been to Puerto Rico before so, why not?
Northern California, January 1-4, 2025
I’m gonna make it three for three when it comes to trip reports that come about due to an absurd airline credit/perks reason. Remember how I ended up in Seattle (then Vancouver) because of expiring Regional Upgrade Certificates (RUC) that had to be used. Yeah, so I had four of them to use or lose and this round trip that began on New Year’s Day from JFK to SFO in Delta One was how I used the first two.
I live a hard life, I know.
Paris, August 8-12, 2024
Date: March 7, 2024
Subject Line: Ton dossard pour le 42,195 km du Marathon Pour Tous Paris 2024
Subject Line, Translated: Your bib for the 42.195 km of the Marathon Pour Tous Paris 2024
Me: OMG OMG I think I think… is this real!?
London, February 14-18, 2025
What’s this? Another trip report so soon!?
What can I say - I’m on a roll!
This is yet another trip that came about for an absolutely absurd reason - I had originally booked a round trip on JetBlue (B6) Mint to Seattle (outbound in cash, return on points) in August 2024 to see the Mets when they were in town. Except! I booked it for the wrong fucking weekend. By the time I realized my mistake, the fares went up by a ridiculous amount so I cancelled the trip knowing I had until mid-October to use the cash credit. In a fortuitous coincidence, I would end up needing that weekend freed up so I could run some race in Paris (that trip report is coming - it’s in my backlog, I swear).
Pacific Northwest, January 16-20, 2025
Hey, a trip report! It’s been a hot minute, I know.
This trip came about for an absolutely absurd reason - I had Regional Upgrade Certificates (RUC) from Delta that were use it or lose it by January 31 and I sure as hell wasn’t gonna lose them after spending an equally absurd money with Delta in 2023. But to actually use them had proven harder than I had anticipated, with several waitlist attempts in 2024 going by the boards. Finally, I settled on finding Delta One or First Class experiences I wanted to try in January, reasoning that the Main Cabin MQDs would get me going on the next status quest for 2025.