Life doesn’t suck
I’ve had the opportunity to do some pretty cool stuff in the last few weeks:
First off was the Paddle to the Symphony event. The Detroit Symphony Orchestra played a concert in the park one evening, and a charity group held a dinner and canoe event as a corresponding fundraiser. It was really cool. We had dinner, and then paddled the canoe across a lake. Then, we sat in the canoe while the orchestra played a collection of marches. It was fun to see a symphony in such a relaxed environment.
The day after that concert, I took off for a two week trip to Thailand. I hung out mostly in Bangkok visiting old friends and returning to all my favorite places. Got a nice massage, saw a few movies at the fancy theater with recliners, and ate tons of good food. Walking around Bangkok felt odd because it is so drastically different from America, but at the same time, it felt like home.
I also went to the beach for 4-5 days. I stayed on a small, remote island called Koh Mak. (Koh = island in Thai). The resort was very secluded; it was basically in the middle of the jungle. The beach had the jungle on one side and the ocean on the other. The water was crystal clear as well. I saw quite a few sea urchins when I got in the water though so I didn’t swim much as my previous encounter with that animal was rather painful. I don’t think the island I was on had a hospital either. I would have sucked to take an emergency boat ride with needles sticking out of your body.
I got back to Detroit on Sunday, and then I went to Green Day’s 21st Century Breakdown concert on Tuesday night. Considering my jet lag, it probably wasn’t the wisest decision to go to that concert. I almost fell asleep at the end of it. It was a really great concert though. Billy Joe is a really energetic guy. They played a 3 hour set, and he was going full out for the duration. I was really impressed.
Following my trip to Thailand, I accumulated enough frequent flier miles to achieve Silver Elite status with Northwest. The main perk of this is I don’t have to wait in line any more. I now have access to the first class check in counter and the priority boarding lane. I can get on the plane first when they call for Skyteam Elite passengers, though I have no idea why anyone would want to get on the plane first. I have always felt the last one on first one off is the best policy as I don’t want to be on the plane longer than necessary. I also get complimentary upgrades to first class on domestic flights if that section is empty. I doubt I will see that happen very often, but it’s still cool that it could happen.
Megan said:
Jul 16, 09 at 7:12 pmdo you fly the same airline when you fly internationally?
jared said:
Jul 17, 09 at 2:17 ami still think green day’s show in st louis for the pop disaster tour was one of the better acts i’ve seen. like you said, billie joe is a great entertainer, and it’s nice to see a group that seems to be proud of putting on a quality show.
how did the trip to thailand compare to the trip to italy?
scott said:
Jul 17, 09 at 5:46 amYeah, I fly Northwest most of the time. Detroit is a hub for Northwest, and it just worked out that I had opened up a frequent flier account with them when I went to Prague. Then I got lucky and they merged with Delta, whom I had flown back from Bangkok with last time. They merged my miles, and now I have about 50k.
The trip to Italy was sight-seeing based so it was pretty hectic, but a lot of fun. I was going pretty much full-out for the duration. I had already seen everything in Thailand, though. So it was a much more laid back trip. Honestly, I enjoy both styles of travel a lot.