Part 2:
After grad school I moved to California in 1986. I loved Austin & the friendly people there. I could not find a scientific (chemist, laboratory,etc).
I hated moving to California but I had a relative that moved there in 1985. The job market was HOT in the Los Angeles area. (LAX,ONT,BUR,SNA,etc) Within a few months, I got my first permanent job at an oil refinery. I did alot of travels by car, plane, etc. I worked at the oil refinery from 1986-1989. I got creative in my travels to save $$!! In the late 1980's, I interviewed for jobs and when an employer flew me out for job interviews, I would ask them (nicely
) to book me on a certain airline. I was still a "rookie" on airline travels but I did my homework to make sure my "airline" didn't cost the prospective employer any more $$!
In 1989, I changed employers to the environmental field. I moved to the FAT area (Fresno, CA) but I was 1.5 hrs outside of FAT. After a year, I did not care for the employer and was job hunting within a year. In 1990/91, the environmental field became the HOT ticket but most employers did not want to pay my wages I was getting with that employer. (note: my wages were just average for chemists at that employer). At that time (early 1990's, I was flown all over the country and I registered for the segment promos that gave me a "boatload" of FF miles plus lots of free travel at that time. I worked 4/10 and had Mondays off. I would offer to the prospective employer to leave on Saturday instead of Sunday to save them loads of $$ (note: at that time, airfares were full price if Sat nite stays were not met
). I got lots of free mini vacations whenever I flew out for Sat-Mon interview trips and the employer did not know I was flying all over the country for job interviews!!). My mini vacations were paid for by the prospective employer!!! I also would have them fly me out of ONT (I had a relative near ONT that I could stay for free & he got lots of visits from 1990-1993!!!). On top of that, I owned an old (1974 AMC Hornet $1000 car with 36K miles that never broke down!!). I got paid IRS mileage (500+ miles RT) rates for driving to/from ONT. (Note: the airfares FAT-XXX were alot more and they ran sales from LAX/ONT-XXX all the time and the employer saved many times what they paid me in mileage rembursements!!). I was super creative and I got to see the sights around the country in my many mini vacations and free tickets!!! I also got to visit Canada, PR, Bermuda, Bahamas, and Alaska for free!!!!
Fast forward to 1993. I secured a chemist position with my present employer--(govt job). I got all this free travel and had to figure out how to use it having no vacation.
As usual, I figured out a way that was win-win for me & my new employer. Needless to say, I got to take every free trip that had an expiration date. (tail end of segment promo #3 with UA & DL).
In 1994, I took my intl trip LAX-ATL-LGW on DL. I paid $400 for the ticket, got a $400 bump and flew 4 hrs later LAX-CVC-LGW securing FC on both legs to LGW. I suffered thru coach on the way back!! I had so much fun taking trains all over England & Scotland. I did it all in 8 days and only taking 1 days of vacation.
During the mid/late 1990's, I flew all over the US, Canada, Mexico, and all over Western Europe. I wanted to see Australia/NZ but that would come later.
In 1999, I used my CO stash I accumulated during the 1980's to visit Australia. I did have fun and for very cheap!! Since that time, I visited several times, (during my time on FT that I will get to!).