Double Miles and Making A Run For Status on United

By woozy | December 15th, 2009 at 1:05pm

Recently my friend Michelle sent me the trailer of a new romantic comedy movie, Up In The Air, where George Clooney stars as a business traveler obsessed with accumulating mileage and points on airlines and travel loyalty programs to obtain status and rewards.  This is totally her.  And so are some of her colleagues that worked for the same global consulting firm.  Since leaving her company in July she’s been traveling a lot less.  With the year coming to a close, she realized she was coming up short in securing the high level status with some of her programs.  How important is status to her?  This Thanksgiving she flew from New York(JFK) to Vietnam(SGN) so she could retain the holy grail of status on United Airlines, aka “1K.”  While she did fully take advantage of her travel to Vietnam as a tourist, her destination choice was influenced by the total mileage (nearly 20,ooo miles round trip), and of course the fare in relationship to the distance.  What’s more is she was credited with twice the mileage she actually traveled due to the double elite qualifying mile promotion. As it turns out, several other frequent fliers friends that did the same thing.

After posting a Facebook status update contemplating one last flight for the year, these friends who are so high on elite status were all over me, trying to convince me I had to have it as well.  Because I had been traveling quite a bit this year I decided to look into it.  Unfortunately, two of my big trips this year were on rewards miles which obviously don’t count towards accumulating miles.  In addition, as more of a leisure traveler, the only thing I had been loyal to was my hard earned dollar, more or less choosing the airlines with the cheapest fares.  As I had suspected, I had spread my travel among the airlines leaving me short on every loyalty program.  I was closest to achieving Elite status on United Airlines, however still needed a good 9,000 miles to make Premier.  From SF, that’s a trip to London and back.  But then Michelle reminded me of United’s end of the year double bonus miles promotion.  With American also running the same promo, you received double mileage (or segment) credit for travel completed by December 15th.  The only secret to this, as with all United’s mileage promo’s,  is that you have to go to their website and register for the promotion BEFORE you book your flight.  And that is regardless if you’re an existing member.  It’s not automatic.

So now all of a sudden a flight from SFO to JFK and back was going to yield over 10,0oo miles!  After I found a flight for $230 including tax, it became a no brainer to book especially with plenty of things to do and people to see in NY.  Last week I completed this quick trip and I now officially have Premier status on United through 2010.

Last week, I had thoughts about trying to level up to Premier Exec after another friend, Lisa (also with 1K status) exposed me to the art of mileage running.  But that seemed to extreme to me and it was too late to employ the tactics.  Most mileage runners fly in and out of destinations and make multiple stops just to accumulate miles.   If I’m spending money on a flight, I’m stopping over and enjoying the destination.  I considered a simple flight to London and back, which would have done it, but despite the reasonable fare I decided the cost would still have outweighed the benefits. I figured I would stand at Premier and spend my money on xmas gifts and gadgets. Maybe next year Premier Exec or 1K!

As of this post, if you’re thinking about making a last ditch mileage run, this is the last day to travel and accumulate double bonus miles!   Good luck!

John Muir Trail Gear: Jetboil Personal Cooking System

By woozy | August 4th, 2009 at 11:50am

In prepping for the John Muir Trail there has been a bit of a debate amongst our group on whether or not to bring a stove. After all, if we’re going to make the thru-hike in only 8 days we need to shed as much weight as possible. Maybe I’m not hardcore enough, but personally I don’t know if I could do it without hot meals. Hot meals not only warm the body but boost the moral after what will undoubtedly be tough days. A few of us are in the same boat on this. Realizing one of the advantages of backpacking as a group is we can share things – the weight of a stove, cookware, and fuel can be split amongst the people in our group. In our case, we will have 6 people and we have finally decided to bring two stoves. The stove? Both Jetboils (Personal Cooking System). As the hot meals we plan to cook are simply freeze dried packaged foods, our primary need for the stove is to boil water. The Jetboil is more than a good choice.

While not the obvious choice for ultralight backpackers at 15.25 oz/432 gm for the cooking system (without fuel canister), the Jetboil has some clear advantages over lighter minimalist systems. The particular system we’re using is with the 1 liter anodized aluminum pot. More like a large travel mug, the pot securely snaps to the stove for cooking. The mug pot is wrapped with a neoprene cozy that is designed to stay on during cooking providing safe insulated handling. It also has a lid that is designed for direct drinking. The stove itself features a surefire Piezo igniter and a burner housed in a windscreen that focuses the heat for efficient cooking (boils 0.5 L of water in under 3 minutes). The stove and 110g fuel canister (sold separately) packs into the mug pot for compact travel/storage. Considering that proper nutrition is critical to the success of any multiday adventure, it is important for us to have a faultless system but also save time and energy in cooking. I think the weight is justifiable for this reason alone especially when depending on getting a majority of your calories from packaged meals.

Alternatively we could use a common ultralight Beer Can Stove system at about 5 oz/141 gm with fuel tablets. The thought did cross our minds. The fuel tablets may be failsafe(?) but the fragile aluminum beer can receptical may not be (for the clutz or stumbling backpacker in us). It would also be frustrating to potentially wait more than twice as long to boil water, and further with even a jumbo beer can (24.5 liquid oz capacity) we’d have to do more boils than the JetBoil cup. I suppose we each could carry a beer can system but then most if not all the weight savings are gone, not to mention pack room. If anything, it would defeat the point in sharing gear and our idea of working as a team and bonding as one.

The other great thing about the JetBoil is that it can be used for more all-purpose camping and backpacking with other integrated products. So if for economical reasons only, this could be the only stove you’ll need to own. It’s already won awards from some reputable industry publications so you know we can’t be going wrong.

It retails for $99 and depending on where you’re loyalties are, you can buy it at
Moosejaw or REI.

Check back in mid September for a full review on how it worked on the JMT…

15% off Regular Priced Merchandise at Moosejaw.com with code CJ15 (Exclusions Apply)

Weighing Everything for John Muir Trail

By woozy | August 1st, 2009 at 1:00pm

Over the past few month or so, my buddies and I have had quite an email flurry going about what to bring for our speedy eight day through-hike of the John Muir Trail. In order for us to efficiently make it through each 25+ mile day til the end, outside of our own training, it comes down to carry weight. A standard backpacker’s rule of thumb is to not carry more than 25% of your body weight on your back. That’s 35-40 pounds for most of us (I’m towards the lower end of the range). But that’s for a more leisurely backpacking adventure. We’ve got to cover ground at a pretty good pace so we’re aiming for around 20%, fully loaded with 4 days worth of food (we will resupply half way). This may prove to be a tough challenge for me as a lot of gear isn’t proportionally lighter. To keep my base pack weight as low as possible, I’ve been doing all sorts of research to see where I can shave weight. Of course in order to weigh my stuff, I need a scale. It could be suffice to jump on a bathroom scale with my pack and subtract my body weight. The problem is determining the stuff I own or thinking about bringing may just be too heavy. Each item needs to be weighed if I’m truly going to determine where I can be saving weight and making my pack as light as possible. Thus, I’ve broken down and purchased a scale specifically to weigh everything individually. To do this, I wanted a digital scale that would be accurate to 1 gram. I found a lot of scales out there that were not only accurate but surprisingly cheap.

Today after much research I decided I couldn’t weight (pun intend) any longer to get this critical part my JMT planning going and bought the MyWeigh KD-7000 scale, a known standard for quality midsize scales used by professionals and hobbyists alike. While I almost settled on a much cheaper scale, it was on sale at Amazon.com for under $40 (MSRP $99) and I could justify the extra cost as I will also find use for it in the kitchen, for shipping, and among other things weighing my bike parts – all for which the KD-7000 is aptly designed. It is accurate to 1 gram and has a capacity to 7000 grams (15 lbs). If you want a fancier one, the KD 8000 is the newer version which has baker’s math/percentage features with a higher weight capacity of 8000 grams.

I expect my scale to arrive sometime next week. Look for a follow up on the scale and the weigh in fun!

Get 10% off Regular Priced Merchandise at MooseJaw.com with coupon code CJ10

Planning for the John Muir Trail Thru-Hike

By woozy | June 26th, 2009 at 5:44pm

I’ve been in San Francisco for about a month now. That might actually be the longest I’ve been home all year! My trip to France for the Tour de France fell through so I’ve had to fill the void for the better part of a month. Not a bad thing considering it’s summertime and there’s plenty to look forward to here in California! I’ve finally been able to spend time riding my bike and doing some hiking – major hiking as part of my training…

Back in February, Kurt, my good friend from Boulder put up a challenge to a group of old college friends to take on the John Muir Trail this fall. The plan was not only to complete the 211 miles (starting in Yosemite Valley and ending at Whitney Portal) but doing it in an atypical eight days. Yes, eight days. Whether it’s doable is not the question so much as if we all will be able complete it at such a pace. Many of us have completed epic endurance challenges (myself being a 6x Ironman, Cape Epic, and BC Bike Race finisher) and have hardcore mountaineering experience. Craig is the craziest having spent summers on the mountain rescue team in the Grand Tetons and currently is in sick shape working for Rocky Mountain Fire. Adam is a former Olympic cyclist who at one point in his career rode 1000 mile training weeks! Along with four others, we have a total of 8 going the entire distance. Hiking with a such a large group is going to add to the complexity of our challenge. There are bound to be casualties.

Typically, to truly enjoy the JMT, you would want to give yourself at least 10-13 days (assuming good fitness). So why only eight days? Simple. Kurt and Craig can only get a week off work. One might question our sanity and motives in trying to blaze the JMT so quickly. After all, the apparent “unsupported” record is somewhere under 6 days. Surely there’s going to be a lot of suffering. Is this our idea of fun? In a sick way, yes.

Personally, I would love to take another week to do it at a leisure pace. But I’m not getting any younger and neither are my friends. We’re not seeing this as a leisurely backpacking adventure but an athletic event and a serious challenge. Am I up for it? Mentally, yes. Physically, I’ve got some work to do.

As a gadget guy, I look forward to not only exploring the latest and lightweight gear but the smartest. And technology? Yes, my Boulder friends laugh at how tech geeky I am (or we are here in SF). Every ounce is critical so I’ll have to leave a lot of things behind, but you can bet I’ll be bringing a couple things with me if not something to digitally document our adventure. Will that include my Nokia N95? Solar charger? GPS? Stay tuned…

JMT Essential! Buy the most recommended Harrison Map-Pack of the John Muir Trail (Package of 13)

Eating, Drinking, Dancing in Camberwell (with supermodels)

By woozy | June 6th, 2009 at 7:15am

Last night I was supposed to meet up with my friends Nicole and Tom in Notting Hill.   When those plans fell through, Giles decided to take me out to the local scene in his neighborhood of Camberwell, a borough south of the river.  I was a bit disappointed at first as I was looking forward to not only seeing these friends but having a “north of the river” experience.   Interestingly enough, the river Thames divides people and their loyalties.  You’re either North or South.  People stay on their side of the river, rarely moving  or even venturing out purposefully to the other side, with the exception of work.   As I understand it, there’s no real explanation, other than they’re loyal to the side of the river they first settled.  But I digress… Continue reading this post »

The RyanAir Experience – Part II

By woozy | June 5th, 2009 at 11:49am

So what is it like flying RyanAir? For one, it’s a familiar pre-boarding experience that you’ll recall from the Southwest Airlines of old – seating is on a first come first serve basis. We got to the gate 45 minutes before our flight and there was already a huge queue.  Past the gate is one of the most ridiculous things I’ve seen as anxious passengers make a mad dash on the tarmac for the airplane to secure their seat.

On board is a totally different experience as well. We already know they’re the “Low Fare Airline.” But how cheap are they? Continue reading this post »

European Parliament Elections – Voting in the UK

By woozy | June 4th, 2009 at 5:30am

This morning my friend Giles went to his neighborhood polling station so he can cast his vote for a UK representative for European Parliament. Curious, I tagged along with him to learn a little bit more about their elections and the voting process. Interestingly enough, the voting process wasn’t too dissimilar from that in the US… Continue reading this post »

Haggling for a Gorrillapod in Rome

By woozy | May 30th, 2009 at 4:00pm

During an off day from work, me and a few mates had a look around Rome as they set up for the final stage of the Giro d’Italia. We spotted a few street vendors and Adrian decided he needed a tripod for his camera. At first he wanted the compact tripod that looked exactly like the one I have which I believe I bought in Chinatown for $1 US. The vendor wanted 5 euros. We advised him on the more robust and versatile Gorillapod, a gadget worthy of any traveling photographer. 8 euros was the ask. The smaller one retails for about $22 US so we knew it was still a good deal. Nonetheless in the spirit of negotiating with a street vendor we talked him down. Here’s the video…

It remains to be seen if Adrian got a lesser quality knock-off but if you’re in the market and near the Colosseum in Rome, you can pick one up for half the price! Or if you want to make sure you get an original made by Joby, you can pick one up at Amazon.com or thru the GadgetTraveler Store.

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