in the middle of January of 2008 I got a phone call from Adam at Business Traveler magazine, telling me that I had WON the contest for airline tickets around the world in Business Class! for those who know me at all, this is the absolute best prize I could possibly win - in fact, when I was on Who Wants to be a Millionaire in 2000 (didn't get into the hot seat though - that was back when we had to go through the 'fastest finger' round to get to sit with Regis and start making money) they asked what we would each do with a million, and my answer was 'go around the world in first class'!
and here was my dream come true! (because i couldn't think of too many - well almost any - people i could travel with for that long without one of us murdering the other, i asked if i could swap the 2 C class tix for 1 in FIRST - and Star Alliance very kindly agreed!)
since then I've been drooling even more than usual over trip reports from those lucky ones who've gone on Singapore Airlines in first class, and now I can picture my own self being pampered within an inch of my life - and I like it! I'm a Libra and we do love our luxury very much
Adam and Business Traveler invited me to the awards dinner they had coming up in LA the next week for Best Airline, Best Hotel Group, etc. and I went with my great friend from high school Dos and her husband Bill, and we had a great time enjoying the wonderful dinner - i got extra special thrills from being congratulated by EVERYONE, including airline employees (I used to be one myself and contrary to some civilians' beliefs, airline employees do not find ourselves being wined and dined all the time on our fabulous free trips - in fact I always said it was feast or famine on non-rev trips - you either were treated very nicely and yes sometimes got upgraded to Business or even First class, but sometimes you get treated like a bum - partly depending on how heavy the load is on that flight, but often at the whim of the staff you deal with that day - pray that they got a good night's sleep and haven't been chewed out by nasty pax in the hours before you check in)
since January I played with many possibly itineraries and had big fun doing so - so many possibilities! there were some limits but they're pretty easy to work with - a max of 16 flights and going in only 1 direction eastbound or westbound (altho i did get around that a bit on my BKK/SIN connection through Tokyo - to fly on the incredible new Airbus A380!)
in my next post I'll show what I finally chose as my itinerary and why
