I was dropped on the head as a child, that’s pretty clear. I do things most sane people wouldn’t dream of doing. So, when I found out I had four days free over the upcoming holiday, I started looking for new countries to visit to add to my tally of 136 so far. Problem is, most of them are now too far away to consider for a four day weekend.
Backup plan…let’s see how many miles I can earn towards million miler. As a bonus, let’s see how many 787 segments I can theoretically fly now that it’s back in the air. A few days of planning, and insanity was born.
The final plan is:
Day 1: Washington DC, National (DCA) to Chicago (ORD) to Houston (IAH) to San Francisco (SFO) to Los Angeles (LAX) with ORD-IAH on the 787
Day 2: Redeye flight LAX back to Houston on the 787, continuing on the 787 to Chicago, then to Newark (EWR) and finally Panama (PTY) and sleep in a real bed
Day 3: Morning flight from Panama to Washington, Dulles (IAD) then on to Houston on a 767, back to LAX, and finally ending up in San Francisco for a very short 6 hour night.
Day 4: San Francisco to LAX early morning, then on to Houston on the 787, and finally home to DCA.
Final routing, assuming nothing goes wrong, and it almost certainly will:
DCA-ORD-IAH-SFO-LAX
LAX-IAH-ORD-EWR-PTY
PTY-IAD-IAH-LAX-SFO
SFO-LAX-IAH-DCA
I’m pretty sure I’m not going to survive this. By the numbers:
1 redeye
2 countries
3 showers…hopefully
4 flights on the 787
5 widebodies
7 United Clubs (if I can figure out a way to access on domestic days)
8 airports
8 different aircraft types
15 segments
85 hours
16,624 miles flown
So far 14 of 15 segments confirmed in first/business class, with one pending what will hopefully be an easy 1K upgrade on a 757 on July 4th. Time will tell though.
I’ll definitely make a point to pack my Bro Tank in order to offend as many “properly” dressed FlyerTalkers as possible on this most ‘Merican of all holidays.
Stay tuned…I’m pretty sure this adventure is going to have more twists and turns than gumby at a limbo convention!