I had a pretty crazy schedule coming home from Hong Kong on my way back to Columbus, Ohio.

The last sector of my check flight was from Manila, Philippines, back to Hong Kong. Within an hour of arrival, I was scheduled to get on the flight to Vancouver, that then continued to New York. A nice little touch was that I was able to get first class on both flights, from Hong Kong to Vancouver (YVR) and also on to New York (JFK). (Click the photo for a virtual tour of their first class product) Then I was just able to make it over to LaGuardia to catch a flight to Charlotte, NC. I had to make that stop over because US Airways doesn’t offer direct flights to Columbus on Saturdays, and US Airways is the airline I have some travel benefits with. As I ran up to the gate, they were calling my name over the PA to assign me a seat. Talk about timing!

A flight attendant on that flight noticed that there was one more first class seat available and waved me up from my economy seat to sit in first — three for three on sitting in nice first class seats! Finally, the trip up to Columbus from Charlotte was uneventful (no first class, but there were no first class seats installed in this all-economy seat regional jet).

It was a whirlwind trip, taking me to six cities in 30 hours: Manila, Hong Kong, Vancouver, New York, Charlotte, and finally home to Columbus. Whew! I’m certainly glad to be back in my own house again . . .

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