Hello everyone.

I'm Mario, known here as the Phoenix. I've lurked the forum for a while but only joined last month. Some of you know me as mirrodie on airliners.net.

I come from a family where 3 aunts work (2 recently retired) for AA, so I have always been partial to AA.

I grew up around JFK and was lucky to be able to watch planes take off and land right from my front yard. There my love for travel started.

In high school, I wanted to fly Air Force planes ,but upon taking the ASVAB (sp?), they said I would be great in the cockpit, but in the back seat, like Goose, from TOP GUN. Why? Although I have perfectly healthy eyes and vision, I wear contacts and glasses. And back in '93, LASIK was not an option.

Uh, hello? Goose dies?! not a great selling point there buddy ;-)

So I researched Embry Riddle and realized that flying would not be in my best interests as I am too social and wanted something require more face to face time with people.

So I earned an honors degree studying Evolution of Vision in Primates in College and went on to Optometry school.

Graduated an O.D. in 2001 and been practicing ever since. Amazing how one limitation opened another door, isn't it?

Unfortunately, I have always been a lurker here. My AAunt tries to throw mileage tickets or D-3's my way, so my fiancee and I, while lucky to have gone to Australia and now to Hawaii, have flown for very cheap but lost out on those miles. Oh well, I can't complain.

I love soccer and was lucky to play in a few tournaments in Europe when I was younger.
Bayern is one of my faves as well!

I love music of many types, expecially good percussion. I try to have a glass of red wine once a night. Also, I am a big movie buff.


Up until Oct 24, 2003, I used to fly solely for the purpose of being on certain planes. I love Concorde and also loved the 727s and DC-9's so I would route myself around to get onto these a/c.

But once I flew Concorde, that all
changed.

The retirement of Concorde has been a major tragic distraction on my life this past year. In fact, over the last 3 years, the only 3 inert ties to my childhood were taken away.

-First, our local railway retired its golden age diesel fleet (as a toddler, my mother worked where the fleet was maintained).
-Then, in April 2003, my dream to fly Concorde was fulfilled (thanks Fairy Godmum and Hub), only to hear that 2 days later, she would be retired. All those years of watching Concorde ended on Oct.24.
-Lastly, WLIR 92.7, the radio station I grew up, with closed shop last month, to give way to Spanish music. <b>I'm so distraught, I can't even have salsa with chips anymore.</b>


DIVINE INTERMISSION
Lord,...no more trains to watch.....no more concorde to watch....Did you have to take my radio station too?!! Now, only now, do I feel old.
end DIVINE INTERMISSION here
April 2003, my dream to fly Concorde came to fruition. And would you believe that, on the flight, Marvin Gaye's song "FLYING HIGH" was in the IFE?


My last bachelor dream was realized (the wedding is this May). And what an experience it was. For once in my life, I was not that child looking up as she seared the sky. As I hoped, prayed and worked for, I was now looking outside of her.

I savored every part of it. My cohort from airliners.net wanted to know what it was like. So I wrote about it here:

http://www.airliners.net/discussions...d.main/31702/4

Some months later, I was contacted by a production team doing a show for the Travel Channel. They read my article and wanted to interview me. (Seems they had never interviewed a supersonic wingnut before )

So I've been interviewed for the following show. Now I can get on with the less important things, like wedding plans, buying a house, etc. ;-)

http://travel.discovery.com/schedule...7566&gid=12045

Concorde: The Final Flight

is due to premiere here in the US on Febuary 16 at 9 PM, Eastern Standard Time. Repeats will air on Feb.17@12 AM and Feb.22 @ 6 PM. (For our friends in UK, Australia and worldwide who may not have access, we are working on that.)

The show will cover the weeks and days leading up to the final scheduled passenger service on British Airways Concorde.

Now that you know the title, please check local listings OR The Travel Channel Website for any up to date changes.
Don't forget to set your VCR's! Also, the website has a nice reminder feature.

So you might get to see who I am on the Travel Channel in the US.


Now that this chapter of my life has closed, my goals are different.
We are planning the wedding at full throttle right now and also looking for a place to call home.

I now want to grasp the most out of all our travel experiences. So on flights less than 4 hrs, I go coach MRTC if possible and I try to go to bus or F on longer trips.
I've learned not to try to route myself on diff. a/c merely based on your comments on service and seating, etc.

I've learned a lot, in fact, just got another 10K bonus of AA miles today and things are great.

I really appreciate all I have learned here.
My fiancee thanks you too, as she reaps the benefits as well. She is a great gal, think of someone with a beautiful smile and a great loving heart.

Thanks for being a welcoming community! I have met and made good friendships with many wonderful folks at airliners.net and concordesst.com and I hope to do the same here.

Thanks for reading!

[This message has been edited by the phoenix (edited Feb 09, 2004).]

[This message has been edited by the phoenix (edited Feb 09, 2004).]