Programs: AS MVP (withering away due to insane fares), UA, AA, AGR, NPS passport, Costco Exec
Posts: 5,179
Quote:
Originally Posted by roadtripman
Ditto.....
Realistically, I'm sure my non-stop travelling and MR-ing isn't conducive to a relationship, which is why I remain single - no girls I've met are footloose enough to just lay back and relax and not worry about life like I am, exploring the world and being on the road for about 180 days per year. They see heavy travelling as "irresponsible" and not ideal for starting a family - which is the last thing I want to do right now. I wish there were more vagabond females out there.....they are indeed a rarity.
Uh oh...the PMs are going to start flowing into your inbox now! Perhaps the TalkBoard needs to discuss starting a dating forum...
(This from a young, single guy who shares the same view as you... )
Programs: UA 2MM, DL 500k, SW CP, GP 1M, HH Gold, Miracle Fruit-su Club
Posts: 3,916
Quote:
Originally Posted by roadtripman
Ditto.....
Realistically, I'm sure my non-stop travelling and MR-ing isn't conducive to a relationship, which is why I remain single - no girls I've met are footloose enough to just lay back and relax and not worry about life like I am, exploring the world and being on the road for about 180 days per year. They see heavy travelling as "irresponsible" and not ideal for starting a family - which is the last thing I want to do right now. I wish there were more vagabond females out there.....they are indeed a rarity.
roadtripman, I enjoy your observations. They resonate. Especially this one, and I can certainly document it over many years. Some women like it for a while, then... no. Maybe it's in our jeans (sic) and not theirs. But you know more about that than we do.
And it can probably be said that Columbus and Champlain and Magellan et alet al had problems back home that they were running away from. But I have to plead that it's not my problems that I'm thinking about when I get the itch and start thinking about my next trip, soon after getting back from my last one. In fact, I can get to thinking about my next trip without having any problems (or loneliness or dislike of my pied-à-terre) pending. I guess it did take me until recently to notice that I've never been happier -- since I figured out that this is who I am. It does help to have FlyerTalk, and you, validate it, however, in the face of more "conventional" wisdom... Thank you.
Programs: UA 2MM, DL 500k, SW CP, GP 1M, HH Gold, Miracle Fruit-su Club
Posts: 3,916
Moreover...
I once saw a summer home with the sign Windhover and thought, "Shame there's no place to put a sign on a condo." Small price, when you think of everything it takes to keep up a house, and the time it takes that could be better spent in "..." -- as in...
<==
I'm sure I'm not the only one who accumulates miles and points for economic reasons. They allow me to vacation in a style I can't otherwise afford. My friends, who know my financial state, are amazed at--and jealous of--how I travel. And to answer the OP's question, not for me.
Realistically, I'm sure my non-stop travelling and MR-ing isn't conducive to a relationship, which is why I remain single - no girls I've met are footloose enough to just lay back and relax and not worry about life like I am, exploring the world and being on the road for about 180 days per year. They see heavy travelling as "irresponsible" and not ideal for starting a family - which is the last thing I want to do right now. I wish there were more vagabond females out there.....they are indeed a rarity.
On the contrary there are some of us females who love to travel on MRs. I don't travel for work, and all my miles ytd are leisure/mr. I got into MR after reading about it here on FT in January when a google search for discount tickets led me here. I've only recently in the past few months been able to convince hubby to tag along with me since i started my mile runs in Jan and now he is into the game too. We've got a mini competition going on to see who will end the year with the most miles. We both crashed into platinum this week and its only our first year in this hobby. When we play, we play hard.
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Posts: 1,780
Quote:
Originally Posted by jenniparks
On the contrary there are some of us females who love to travel on MRs. I don't travel for work, and all my miles ytd are leisure/mr. I got into MR after reading about it here on FT in January when a google search for discount tickets led me here. I've only recently in the past few months been able to convince hubby to tag along with me since i started my mile runs in Jan and now he is into the game too. We've got a mini competition going on to see who will end the year with the most miles. We both crashed into platinum this week and its only our first year in this hobby. When we play, we play hard.
You are definitely the exception Most of the females who I've described my excellent MR & mile endeavors to have responded with nothing but rolling of eyes. "You'll need to settle down sometime, you can't expect to raise children with that kind of instability and constant being away from home" has been thrown at me no less than a dozen or so times.
But, when it works (as in you & your husband's case), it works. Now, just to find a like-minded female who enjoys a bit of instability & chaos in her life, so it can likewise work for me.
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You are definitely the exception Most of the females who I've described my excellent MR & mile endeavors to have responded with nothing but rolling of eyes. "You'll need to settle down sometime, you can't expect to raise children with that kind of instability and constant being away from home" has been thrown at me no less than a dozen or so times.
But, when it works (as in you & your husband's case), it works. Now, just to find a like-minded female who enjoys a bit of instability & chaos in her life, so it can likewise work for me.
We are Dinks (double income no kids) and will stay that way. I don't think its a matter of settling down (because we've been married 13 years and feel very connected to our friends and community and are involved) that prevents people from traveling but a matter of parenthood. It's a bit impractical to try to jet set around the world with infants [too tiring i'd suppose] but without them, there is great freedom to see the world sandwiched in between work days and other local committments and activities. But then again i don't see a lot of women in their 40s without kids mileage running either. I don't get it. Why go to sleep on a friday night and wake up in your home when you can go to sleep on a plane friday night and wakeup anywhere in the world ready to see new things and meetup new people and have new experiences? It's a no brainer for me!
We are Dinks (double income no kids) and will stay that way. I don't think its a matter of settling down (because we've been married 13 years and feel very connected to our friends and community and are involved) that prevents people from traveling but a matter of parenthood. It's a bit impractical to try to jet set around the world with infants [too tiring i'd suppose] but without them, there is great freedom to see the world sandwiched in between work days and other local committments and activities. But then again i don't see a lot of women in their 40s without kids mileage running either. I don't get it. Why go to sleep on a friday night and wake up in your home when you can go to sleep on a plane friday night and wakeup anywhere in the world ready to see new things and meetup new people and have new experiences? It's a no brainer for me!
i meant to say a lot of women in their 40s where the kids have grown up and left home. i didn't mean to imply i was in my 40s egads! (I'm 33)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jenniparks
We are Dinks (double income no kids) and will stay that way. I don't think its a matter of settling down (because we've been married 13 years and feel very connected to our friends and community and are involved) that prevents people from traveling but a matter of parenthood. It's a bit impractical to try to jet set around the world with infants [too tiring i'd suppose] but without them, there is great freedom to see the world sandwiched in between work days and other local committments and activities. But then again i don't see a lot of women in their 40s without kids mileage running either. I don't get it. Why go to sleep on a friday night and wake up in your home when you can go to sleep on a plane friday night and wakeup anywhere in the world ready to see new things and meetup new people and have new experiences? It's a no brainer for me!
It's a no brainer for me too - I'm 26, and I agree, it's a great lifestyle as long as you aren't in a rush to settle down and have kids. I know of one hardcore traveller who lugs his newborn and his wife along with him, couchsurfing across the world - I see that as child abuse, so they're right in some respect, my current lifestyle isn't compatible with child rearing (though, I'd like to think it is once the child is 4 or 5 and can likewise have "fun" travelling - but I'm by no means a parenting expert :P).
Females at my age are more often than not (at least in my experience) looking for their baby's father as much as they are looking for their romantic partner/husband. So, the travelling ends up being a deal-breaker - it just seems too irresponsible to them. "Life is one big adventure to you, isn't it? All you care about is seeing the world away from home, but you don't care about the world AT HOME, do you?"
*sigh*
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Posts: 17,794
Quote:
Originally Posted by magiciansampras
Put simply, do you think there is a link between miles and status mania and either emptiness in one's life or psychological disorder?
I don't think so.
I look at it this way: there are things I do every day that can either earn points/miles or not earn points/miles. I can buy a burrito and a Coke for $9. Or I can buy a burrito, a Coke, and 9 Starpoints for $9. Why not accept the nine Starpoints? They're free. (Or, more accurately, they're getting bundled into the merchant's costs of doing business whether I choose to accept them or not.)
As far as acquiring status on an airline, I think it can depend on the situation. In my case, I acquired AA Lifetime Gold because of years of flying to both Chicago and Dallas. Because I needed to be in a western suburb of Chicago for work and then in Irving, TX for work, using WN didn't make sense and using anything besides AA didn't make sense. So...years of Platinum status followed by Lifetime Gold came with the deal.
Likewise, last year I had a mix of cities that collectively were best served by UA. So at the end of it all...1K. I did one trip with a suboptimal routing (time-wise) to ensure I would end the year over 100,000 EQM. I spent maybe four hours "extra" of my life to get 1K. I don't consider that a major psychological disorder to invest four hours to get six SWU's (all six of which will get put to pretty good use).
Mileage Runs...I can't comment because I've never done a "pure" MR. I've taken short weekend trips semi-motivated by EQM's or by a cheap airfare, but they've always been to places I wanted to visit or to see friends/family. I don't quite understand the "pure" MR - to me, the value of my time kills off the value of the MR. Maybe if I was sitting on 99,000 EQM on Dec 31 I'd think differently and bust a quick same-day MCI-ORD-MCI...so far, that hasn't happened to me.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pinniped
I can buy a burrito and a Coke for $9. Or I can buy a burrito, a Coke, and 9 Starpoints for $9.
Just be glad you aren't a disadvantaged Canadian like me, I only am able to "buy" 4.5 Starpoints in this transaction. That is, unless I buy 1,111 orders, then they might give me the other 4.5. But only if I order all 1,111 orders before my anniversary date. If I buy 1,110, I still get 4.5.
Damn you Canada.
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Realistically, I'm sure my non-stop travelling and MR-ing isn't conducive to a relationship, which is why I remain single - no girls I've met are footloose enough to just lay back and relax and not worry about life like I am, exploring the world and being on the road for about 180 days per year. They see heavy travelling as "irresponsible" and not ideal for starting a family - which is the last thing I want to do right now. I wish there were more vagabond females out there.....they are indeed a rarity.
OK, OK, I'm just kidding. But when you "grow up" (read older), I think you'll find a lot more female company. I have two lovely single daughters, neither of which is looking for Mr. Responsible with whom to settle down and start a family, but trying to blast them out of the tiny farm community where we all live is a daunting task.
Me: "Wanna go to Belize next weekend?"
Them: "Nah, I gotta drywall." (or similar)
I, on the other hand, dropped out of college to become a FA, so it must not be specific to the XX. Now, youth definitely in my past, I've found it much easier to find other women to travel with--the men in my life are the ones hard to motivate.
So, back to the topic--am I filling a void with my newly acquired dedication to attempting EXP? No (beyond the philosophical question of life being a void we all fill). It's a challenge, provides a lot of diversion and opportunities to try new things, meet new people. It doesn't cost nearly as much as my horse hobby, and I don't have any responsibility to the components of the mileage quest when I'm off doing something else. And, with the bennies maybe I can induce the kids to get out of Dodge. (My granddaughter is showing much promise )
Thanks OP, and SPs, it's been an interesting read.
)
Put even more simply
Most of the females who I've described my excellent MR & mile endeavors to have responded with nothing but rolling of eyes. "You'll need to settle down sometime, you can't expect to raise children with that kind of instability and constant being away from home" has been thrown at me no less than a dozen or so times.
