spontaneity fueled by desperation

UPDATEThe original thing is back on. . . but thanks for all the help and suggestions. I think the next project I want to work out is an emergency escape plan in case I find myself in this situation again.

Have you ever needed to get away so bad you showed up at the airport with a few hundred dollars and asked for a ticket as far away as you could go and if you did how did it turn out. Was supposed to do something later this week, after waiting for this thing for 4 months, it was cancelled in an unexpected and weird way and I can't stay home and dwell on it. HALP

These things never go well. Save that few hundred bucks. I mean, who the heck ever had a good time on an impromptu trip to Hoboken, Lincoln, Tallahatchie, or any of the other mundane places you can go for 200 dollars?

You may pay the $200 to get out.. how bout getting back?

I feel that way every day. Living in Bulgaria will do that to you.

Back when I was in high school (a long long time ago), Continental Airlines ran an ad to the effect that for $10 (ten bucks) they would put you on a flight to "somewhere" then bring you home. It was a way for people who had never traveled to experience an airline flight at a cheap rate, using seats that would otherwise be empty.

I hung out with a platonic male friend in those days, and he saw this ad. He called me and said "Let's do it!".

We lived in Wichita, Kansas, at that time. We went to ICT dreaming of exciting destinations such as New York or Los Angeles. We got to the ticket counter, money and coupon in hand, and waited to hear where they would send us.

Tulsa.

Yep, for our $10 ($20 for two) we got sent to Tulsa. We had lunch in the Tulsa airport, then flew back.

Bruce, if you're reading this, yep, you know who you are.

itasoftware.com might be useful for this, taking out some of the
spontaneity but at least getting you to another five letter word
other than Tulsa.

I discover, for example, that I can leave the house here,
immediately get on a USAircraft, and turn around in Tampa
(or stay there some days, my choice), 4 segs and 2500 miles
for $205 all in, not exactly mileage run material, but for 2 hr
in advance it's pretty decent.

You don't want to go to the airport for this. What you want to do instead is look up some prices online. Find a cheap destination and off you go.

KLM did these too, out of the Netherlands. They were a barrel of fun, and a great way to fly to the US for a couple of hours. Sadly, in most cases, the flight back was just two or three hours later, so leaving the airport was not an option. Still, it was fun to "travel the world" at 15.

Bulgaria, Third World America, that is. At least you don't have people in your face all day telling you how incredibly blessed you are to live there, lying to your face about the economy, your freedom (or lack thereof), making war for oil, the hypocrisy, the celebrities, etc.

Or maybe you do. . . I guess I wouldn't know.
Thanks for your reply

Well, it does sound like you had pretty cool adventure for $10

Will check it out

I'm doing Tampa for lunch in about two weeks for a year-end-top-up-to-get-*A Premier mileage run. I used a brute force approach to find the cheapest flight that gave me just enough miles. Tampa won at $188, and with a two-hour turnaround, I've already picked out which restaurant I'll be eating at in the terminal

According to an article in a recent Smithsonian magazine, Elvis Presley in 1970 needed to get away so badly that he drove to MEM and asked for a ticket on the next plane to anywhere (no private jet! ) This was the beginning of a rambling cross country odyssey that ended in Washington D. C. with the famous photo op of The King posing with President Nixon, who gave him a federal narcotics agent badge. I'm not sure what this proves, except maybe that travel can be an adventure even if, or maybe especially if, you are Elvis.

Elvis did his best to keep Memphis drug free.