I come from a long line of frequent fliers. My grandfather worked for Westinghouse as an engineer and was a FF long before reward programs. He was part of an airline club (forget which airline) that had a special program for people who were on its inaugural commercial flight.

My other grandfather flew for the Japanese army as a reconnaissance photographer and kept flying (thank God!) when he was rejected from a kamikaze squadron because someone had to keep an eye on the Russkies - the rest of his squadron mates met their fate somewhere over the Pacific. He continued to fly (as a passenger) into his 70s.

(OT, but they're interesting grandpas to have. One served in the Imperial Japanese Army, the other helped build the atomic bomb.)

My folks are both frequent international travelers (they live in Japan) and I made gold on NW for the first time last year flying to Japan, Europe, and around the USA.

I grew up in a part of Boston that was very blue-collar, working/middle-class. I'm sure I have lot of grade school classmates who've never been more than 50 miles from home. I hate to sound condescending but I feel sorry for them. They're happy in their bubbles. I could never live like that.