I was writing trip reports that I was posting on airliners.net, a large and, IMO, very well constructed website that is geared more toward the airliner enthusiast as opposed to the mileage junkie. On one airliners.net posting, someone mentioned that there were good trip reports on this site called flyertalk.com, so I figured it was worth checking out. It did not take me long to realize that the quality of the reports on flyertalk were far better than those on airliners.net, so I decided to post some on FT.

At the time, early 2001, I was living and studying in London and, having done a lot of European flying on British Airways (well at least more than I had ever done previously), was starting to get interesting in mileage accumulation. FT came into my life at just about the perfect point.

I will never forget following tfung's trip report of his Oneworld Explorer, which he posted in July/August 2001. It convinced me that I had to do one after I took the Bar Exam that next summer. If not for FT, I would never have realized such a thing as a RTW ticket existed. Having just finished my second RTW, I know my life would be no where near as interesting had I not found FT.

I like to think that my exposure to some of the talented trip report writers on FT has greatly improved my own trip report writing. I know it has made me a much smarter traveler.