Well, let's see...

Meeting my first FlyerTalker, knowitall, a really great guy, and enoying marvelous dim sum with him at Ton Kiang.

Phun in Philly last July - really enjoying Blade, Vulcan, Burkey and Catman's company after a very late flight from Boston (and pleasantly surprised that they would wait for me, late as I was), and a fun walk through Reading Market and historic areas in Philadelphia the next day.

Having the pleasure of meeting Randy and QuantumLeap, Marie,and PG over dinner in Denver.

Showing up at the Top of the Mark, and kind of stammering to the maitre d' "I'm meeting a bunch of people and I'm not sure who they are" only to have her cut me off and exclaim "Rudi?" and point me off in the direction of an exotically dressed gentleman.

Being regaled by Punki's stories of her time in the Marines that same night, and meeting Joe.

Meeting essxjay on one of her weekend jaunts to San Francisco, and just having her hang out with me and my pals on a beautiful day in The City.

A wonderful, intimate gathering with johna, flyme2, and Brigitte the day before New Year's at John's apartment. Getting to know johna, who lives less than a mile from me, as a new friend.

Flying to Tampa for the sole purpose of going to a FlyerTalk gathering. Meeting PremEx and seeing essxjay again. Being entranced by one of Punki's wonderful scarves.

Seeing everybody again (and meeting some wonderful new folks) at the Catman-do 2 in New York. Cell phone mania with AnnaS at brunch the next day. Fun conversation with raeban and onefreeman at dinner the next night.

Showing Catman and wanderlust some of my favorite parts of the Bay Area, and watching Freddie Sr. hug a tree.

Getting together with AnnaS on a regular basis while we both are doing consulting engagements in greater Boston. The feeling of having a friend around even when very far away from home.

Thanks for the nice memories, friends...and yes, I'm eagerly anticipating Montreal, too.

punki, mi luv,

wat about arturo? yu forgit arturo?

------------------
amar, cuidar, honesto, inteligente, con empatia, creador, y dar.

What about arturo? Of course I never forget about arturo, but I have, sadly, never meet arturo so I cannot yet share the great moment of our first meeting. So far my great arturo moments have just been that I send him gifts and have had the great privilege of accepting his FlyerTalk OMNI Award in NYC--one of my greatest honors.

Someday, I hope to post about the great moment of our first meeting.

My favorite aspect is the knowledge bank that exists in the frequent flyer community and the graciousness by which this knowledge is freely shared among us. We are truly a community in the true sense of the word!

The people, including the ones I've met face-to-face as well as the ones I only know through postings and e-mail, and yet I also know they're my friends.

Seeing what a true community this is. For example, some of you may remember my problem with the Swedish cruise company that wanted to charge me $275USD more than their rate in Swedish Kroner (this on a $1,100 ticket!). Kempis came to the rescue: he negotiated with them and let me use his address in Sweden, and I got charged the lesser Kroner amount! I've made another new friend that I haven't met, and he earned a wonderful lunch or dinner we can find in Stockholm!!

And I have to mention flying the Concorde outbound, and First Class return on BA (including viewing the landing from the cockpit), all thanks to whichever FlyerTalker pointed out that round-trip qualifying flights for the OneWorld bonus meant you could earn 100,000 miles x2. I never would have thought of that, and didn't even have a BA mileage account at the time. Thank you, whoever you are!

Being a new member since May 2000 i haven't had the opportunity to meet any fellow FT folks yet but I feel that will be very special. i have appreciated the ones who have responded to the first few posts I have done. A lot of helpful info and camaraderie.i put a post on Itinaries that i haven't had a reply. I'm hoping to meet some of you guys and gals and will continue to post my flights as they come up. I'll be returning from FCO-CVG 10-10-00 and a trip to Maiu 8-28-00 and trip to NGO in October and will post schedules. Hopefully some of you will be in those areas.

I'm a retired business owner but an active investor and I stay fairly busy but my primary passion is traveling, particularly abroad.

I've pondered over how to word this for awhile now, no words can really express how I feel meeting so many wonderful people. I have two things that "have touched my heart", my letter from Catman at the Catman Do 2 in New York (had to leave the room while reading it). The most recent was meeting up with Rudi at LAX. I've been going through some health problems and his big "RUDI HUG" (as I call them) was all I needed. There were no words spoken for at least 10 minutes, just hugs, prayers, and tears. Thank you all for being there for us as we go through this, you know who you are.

I haven't had the opportunity to meet any FT friends in person yet...but look forward to it someday soon; so I would have to say my favorite moment(s) at FT is talking with all of you folks who pretty much have the same interest at heart, traveling.
FFAddict- my husband and I were in Maui last year if you would like any info on things to do there please e-mail me http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
raeban- hope your health issues are resolved, thoughts and prayers are with you!