So if we need to update our "Who We Are", do we do a clean post or do we go back and update the original post or what?

I am not sure what the best way would be, since I am not a moderator and therefore do not have the tools available to me.

Personally, though, I would (and will, if anyone wants) start a brand-new thread — perhaps call it Who We All Are — The Definitive Thread, or something like that, and then have one (or more) moderator(s) combine all of the posts in the previous Who We All Are threads into one. That would be my recommendation.

Because the threads were not active simultaneously, the chronological order of the posts should largely remain intact once combined into one thread.

Of course, one of the MilesBuzz! forum moderators would first have to move the original two Who We All Are threads from the MilesBuzz! forum to the Community Buzz! forum before all the threads can be combined.

Another reason why I thought combining the threads into one would be a good idea is that every issue of TalkMail has a link to this thread. Why not have a link to a definitive Who We All Are thread containing all posts for everybody’s convenience?

I will search harder for the Who We All Are 9 thread, if I can ever find it. I just hope it did not get lost during the transfer from the Ultimate Bulletin Board software to the vBulletin bulletin board software.

Great suggestion, Canarsie.

I think it is a good idea to have one definitive thread. I"ve noticed that TalkMail has started profiling some of our FT members and yet the only profiles that are being featured are the ones on the current thread. We have links to the prior thread, so they should be aware of the old threads... and yet we have so many wonderful long-time posters who really SHOULD be honored with a feature (no disrespect intended for the newer folks featured) but haven't been. I"m personally one of the newer folks (I think I"m on somewhere between 7 and 9)...

I'm thinking members like PremEx are great candidates for a feature. One note to the TalkMail editor... you might want to give some of these longer-standing members a heads-up that they would be interesting features... and let them either edit their old profile - or post an update. I find it positively fascinating to read some of the old (1999, 2000, 2001) profiles and note how much some of our lives have changed - many of us have moved to new cities, changed jobs, had life status changes, and defected from former airline alliances.

I'll chat with the other Community mods and see what their opinion is on consolidating the threads.

I really don't know who I am
 

In all the years I have been on the board I have never posted on any of the "who we all are" threads so here I go.

My name is Cheri and I live in Redondo Beach, CA. I am thirty....... and I work for a mouse and I pour red stuff. :p :D :)

Wouldn't it be "mice." Can't forget about Minnie ;)

Hello, I'm MrsPilot
 

My aka is MrsPilot because CrashTestDummy was already taken! More about that later. We live on a small cattle ranch situated between Houston and San Antonio, the latter where I work as a hospital administrator. Originally born in Huntington, NY, I was recruited to San Antonio following nursing school graduation in 1977. I married a Texas Gentleman who's my soulmate and I still love dearly after all these years. (FYI Ladies: he still opens my car door, gladly gives up his seat for a woman and yes, he does have a brother but forget it because he's happily married, too!) Dave is a firefighter/paramedic by trade which helps to support his private pilot flying habit. Our son, also a private pilot, graduated last month from UND Grand Forks to pursue an aviation career as an Air Traffic Controller.

To say we're a travel-loving family is an understatement! While other families negotiated who would use the family car on Friday nights, we decided who would use the 1961 Cessna 172 that weekend. It only cruises about 130 so we fly commercial for longer distance trips (although there's nothing like a cross country road-trip at low altitude!). I'm not a world-class traveler in that the only places our adventures have taken us outside the continental US are the Virgin Islands, Bahamas, Caymans and Mexico. We're saving the rest of the world for retirement!

Before aviation, Dave and I were avid motorcycle enthusiasts. BMW's were our ride of choice, traveling as many as 800 miles in a single (long) day on that little seat! That era ended in 1997 when I hit a tire re-tread on the interstate doing 70. I tumbled CrashTestDummy style; my bike compacting into an expensive paperweight. Thank God for the best helmet money could buy! Thanks to my husband and an excellent team of healthcare providers, I eventually walked away from that catastrophic accident. Dave sold all our bikes while I was recovering. Shortly afterward, our son began taking flying lessons which led to the awakening of our family's love of aviation. So, here we are, still travel enthusiasts but taking a different ride to get there.

Many people ask me in our aviation travels, "Are you a pilot, too?" It got a little old responding, "No, I'm just his wife." Nowadays I proudly point to my embroidered baseball cap and quip, "No, I'm MrsPilot." We hangar at 1TE4, Zuehl Field, formerly a Randolph AFB reliever airfield. If you're ever in the area, ask for Dave and Carolyn. I believe it was Mark Twain who said there are no strangers, just friends you haven't met.

Onward Thru The FlyerTalk Fog,

mrspilot

Well, after well over 1,000 posts it’s maybe time to introduce myself.

Awareness of flying started at an early age. When I was 4 years old aircraft passed over our house in Bristol, England, to the local GA field and my elder brother taught me to spot the difference between “monoplane” and “biplane” (I’m showing my age here; much of the local training fleet was presumably still Tiger Moths). On hearing an aircraft in the distance I would rush outside and then report back to him with my findings.

For my 8th birthday a friend brought to my party as a gift “The Observers Book of Aircraft”, which his mum had doubtless picked up by chance in a local shop. A little pocket book, one page per aircraft type, it fascinated me, surprisingly since I had no particular interest in aircraft until then. There was the Convair 990 Coronado, so new it was only illustrated by a manufacturers impression. It looked like something out of Buck Rogers (actually it was similar to a Boeing 707). Convair didn’t have much luck, and only sold 38 Coronados, but I always had a fascination for them. I last saw one a few years ago in the museum at Lucerne, Switzerland. I had gone specially to see it, of course. And I’ve reacquired the relevant “Observers Book” in a second-hand book shop. The Convair drawing looks as sleek as ever.

My father worked in the bank all his career, except that when WW2 came along he had been told “you will join the RAF and be a navigator”. They started with Tiger Moths too, of course, but worked their way upwards. After returning intact from his 25 bomber trips over Europe he went out to Burma (Myanmar nowadays) and flew DC-3s up into the hills supporting the troops. After 1945, back to a desk in the bank. But it was obviously the highlight of his life, which he described to me in sufficient detail that I could probably fly from Rangoon to Mandalay nowadays without charts.

I was 11 before I took my first plane flight. Not a Coronado, alas, but Liverpool to Isle of Man on holiday, in Cambrian Airways Vickers Viscount, leaving from the 1930s art nouveau terminal building at Liverpool airport that is now a Marriott hotel (and which I always try to stay in when visiting Liverpool on business). It’s about 20 minutes airborne (think Boston to Cape Cod), for which a 4-engined prop was used ! I watched the inbound aircraft be turned around for us in about 15 minutes, then we were boarded by old style external steps under those big propellers. I got a window seat and I was hooked. I also picked up the airline’s timetable, they had a highly complex series of flights for their small fleet of about 15 aircraft serving all sorts of routes, different each day of the week. By the end of the holiday I had worked out from this exactly how all their aircraft were assigned and used every day. An older, supposedly knowledgeable schoolboy I showed this to said it was impractical to have 20 minute turnarounds because airliners always had to have all their tyres changed after every flight. I remember exactly where we were standing, in the schoolroom, when he said this; it was a signal moment, the realisation that, seniority or not, there are bull****ters in this world.

In 1969 we visited relations in Vancouver, Canada for the summer, in a Wardair Boeing 707. In those days flying the Atlantic was still a novelty (I was the first in school to do so). The trip “across the pole” (actually a long way short of it but still over lots of ice) was a real adventure and started a fascination with effortless long distance travel. First time in the USA too, and after doing most of the states since and living in LA for a year I still have a fascination with Seattle, and Washington state, just like I do with the old big jets like we rode on. Few and far between in Europe nowadays but there was one in Newcastle airport only last week (an MK Air Cargo DC-8) which I watched take off into the evening sky like one of the dinosaurs in the Natural History Museum in London had got up and walked out of the door.

Of course after this trip that stimulated my travel desires there were all the other normal things in life too: school cricket team (alas I was the expert in dropped catches and bowling wides), first car (MG Midget), going to University (Edinburgh, studying City Planning), first “proper” girlfriend, first apartment, first job. At University about five of us ran a student-operated TV station the four years I was there, quite a novelty then, and I ended up doing much of the front-of-camera work. And I had become a literary enthusiast too, and the bookcases multiplied around the various houses. But while the works of Dickens and Chaucer had their place, and the odd university text book too, there were an ever-increasing number of aviation books. There are technical listings of past airline fleets (some of which still come down to answer obscure FT questions), and a particular place for any well-written travel literature describing the part flying played with reasonable accuracy (let’s give credit to Alexander Frater’s “Beyond the Blue Horizon” as being in pole position).

Along the way, at age 18, visiting the US again by Greyhound bus, on a whim while in San Francisco I saw the PSA city ticket office, and bought and paid for a round-trip ticket on PSA to LA the next day, just a day trip to see what it was like. First flight on my own. No one knew I had done it or saw me off. No miles accumulated, but possibly a precursor to a mileage run. Whenever I see the Theme Building at LAX nowadays I am reminded of my first sight of it on arrival. Real Buck Rogers architecture, it should have a Convair standing either side of it.

Not wanting to follow a career in my travel interest, which some advocated, turning down an offer from BBC Scotland, who our TV group knew well, and also turning my back on my planning qualifications, I joined a major computer company, and after a while and a transfer to Head Office in London I started to get some flying done at company expense, almost all within the UK. First ever business trip was Manchester to Glasgow in a BAC One-Eleven, and I saw out the last of the British Airways Tridents too. I remember turning up for the BA Trident to Glasgow one morning and finding they had substituted a brand-new 757 instead, the first of the new fleet.

By the mid-1980s the old big multinational computer companies were in general decline, and a few of us one January 2nd set out to seek our own fortune. Anyone who has ever started their own business knows it is usually hand-to-mouth financially, and there was no prospect of any flights not paid for by the client, and preferably in advance. One year a round trip from Heathrow to Teesside was it ! But with this careful attention to cash flow we are still expanding the business today, with over 100 employees. We got our first real prospect of a major client, in Edinburgh, and would drive from London 4 to a car and share hotel rooms. Our big sales proposal, with 10 copies and various attachments which would fill the back seat of my car, was going to leave our office at 08.30 on the stated day. At 10.00 we were still writing final pages, and at lunchtime it was all hands to the binding machine. The people in Edinburgh (who later told us they had already decided they wanted to work with us, and were smiling to themselves as reports of progress came through, but did want to stick to the delivery deadline) started to ask whatever time I was going to arrive. I looked round the room.

”I could go by plane”, I said.
“Not with all this ?”. “Yes. I can take one copy, get on the 3.00 pm BA flight, be in their office before 5.00 pm, talk them through the key items. The office junior can drive the rest up, I’ll get a hotel for us both, meet him at midnight when he arrives, we’ll take the rest of them in at 9.00 tomorrow morning”.
”But that will cost £200”. “Yes, but it’s worth it”.
”But you need to book”. “No, not on the BA shuttle”.
”Um, how do you know there’s a plane at 3.00 pm ?”. “Well, I just do”.
Silence.

And so BA saved the day, and probably our business. And we went on from strength to strength. Last year I did 49 business flights, as far afield as Australia, Malaysia, Russia and the US. I choose the airline that’s most efficient for the trip, so not much loyalty. A bad FT’er ! Our office in Brisbane, Australia allowed me to square a round the world trip, and another lifetime’s ambition came last year when I got one of the cheap “Goodbye to Concorde” trips sold the day the grand old lady’s retirement was announced. Other trips are less exotic. I live close to London City airport, a favourite departure point I am constantly recommending to everyone for their speed of processing you (I have got from going down the aircraft steps to getting into a cab in less than 60 seconds). Unlike many FT complainers, I like Heathrow too. My car sometimes spends half its life in that big car park you all see alongside the northern runway.

By chance, we opened an office in St Petersburg, Russia some years ago to do programming work for us. Now for anyone who was interested in aviation books there was a always a division between most of the world (lots of material) and the Soviet block (nothing), so I was all eyes on the first trip, right from when the BA Airbus was led in to the terminal by an old Lada car acting as a Follow Me vehicle ! Having read all the old Ilyushin 62s were retired, there amazingly was one taxying out for a stately takeoff, belonging to Kras Air (who were they ? Well I have found out now, of course). And I didn’t close my eyes after leaving the airport, for a relative of our manager over there has since, slowly, and in sensible stages, become Ms WHBM (a title she likes by the way) (Edited 12 months after posting - now Mrs WHBM :) ) which meant several trips to St Pete, or over the border in Finland. The whole of Russia seems to have got the travel bug since they were allowed to go places, so there’s scope for lots more visits round the world.

On one of these trips, Finnair to Helsinki then a rapid connection to a Saab 340 to the small Finnish border town of Lappeenranta, there occurred the one and only occasion when an airline has lost my luggage, in all these years. There were only about a dozen of us that dark and snowy evening getting off the Saab in the middle of the pine forest that is Lappeenranta airport, and there was only one piece of checked baggage in the entire plane – and it wasn’t mine. I had always thought I was immune to this, but I guess it gets us all in the end. The sight of Ms W waiting at the terminal windows was great compensation however. We went to a Hansel-and-Gretel hotel buried in the woods where we seemed to be the only guests, and the bag was to be sent on by later flight, and delivered. On phoning again to enquire it was said to have been left at the hotel entrance as there was no one there. Indeed there now was no one, nor any lights on. It was so dark out there I had to swing the rental car round and round sweeping the trees with the headlights – and there was my case, just sat there on one side of the entrance, with a dusting of snow on it !

I’ve always liked big projects in life. Being in at the beginning of a company was one, going for an MBA was another. A few years ago, wanting to do something worthwhile, and by no means being tired of all this flying, a chance remark led to a trial flying lesson, followed by a PPL and me joining a local flying club, where you can now often find me on Sunday afternoons, maybe just back from a day trip to Le Touquet in France by Piper PA-28, which sometimes pops up in FT posts as “G-WHBM”. Her ladyship’s first ride was a trip to Clacton airfield, a grass strip next to the beach, nice sunny day, take a picnic, swim in the sea, fly home. Never been in a light aircraft before. Indeed it was a sunny day, but with a 20-knot crosswind right on the limits. So I get it in fine, it’s a very short field with hedges at both ends, but I should have thought about what a first time passenger sees in that situation ! All storms nowadays are greeted by a glance out of the window and a comment to me “Ah, Clacton weather”.

We also have an operator at the airfield who has a lovely old Tiger Moth and gives vintage plane rides round the Essex countryside. One day recently a group of young kids from a local Sunday School had come over in their minibus and they were all over the public enclosure getting excited at the smallest Cessna taking off. So a couple of us went over and gave a hand to their poor leaders, and pointed out some things. And I taught them how to spot the difference between monoplane and biplane. I hope for someone it may be a good start.

Wow. When does the movie come out? :)

[QUOTE=techgirl] I find it positively fascinating to read some of the old (1999, 2000, 2001) profiles and note how much some of our lives have changed - many of us have moved to new cities, changed jobs, had life status changes, and defected from former airline alliances.QUOTE]

techgirl -- oh yeah, isn't that right, I just looked back at mine, oh geez, that seems like sooooo long ago!


So, in the spirit of updating things, since my last "Who we all are" posting, I've completed med school, residency, and have joined the Cleveland Clinic Foundation as medical staff, and primarily care for inpatients, however, starting later this fall, I will be opening a Tropical & Travel Medicine travelers clinic at one of the suburban Cleveland Clinic health centers. That said, the things that haven't changed include, still single and looking; no kids that I know of; still travel AA; and still have many friendships and stay in touch with many FTers from way back then!

Great introduction, WHBM, it made a good read!

All about prncess674
 

I guess it’s about time I post to this thread. I joined FlyerTalk in June 2001 when I had an innocent question about Continental Airlines. Another consultant that I was working with couldn’t answer my question and he said to post on the crazy frequent flyer board that had all these gurus. Little did he know that he unleashed me into a whole new crazy world! I got my question answered and started picking up all kinds of tips and tricks that I passed onto my colleagues. I am now the official frequent flyer guru of my group. During our monthly calls I now have to give my tip of the month. I have even had partners at my consulting firm call me with frequent flyer questions. They just think I am really smart. I never tell them where I am getting my info. :D

About 6 months after joining I started perusing Community Buzz and found out that there would be a DO in my home town. I figured what a great way to get to meet some of the crazy people. I figured if they were really weird I could always run home and only be out an hours time! Well they ended up being great people and I met such wonderful people as Techgirl, BingoSF, AnnaS, ljp99 and others I can’t think of right now! I was hooked at this point. Finally other normal people who understood my love of travel and frequent flyer junk!

In the last two years I have met countless people who have enriched my life so much. I have explored parts of the world I never would have without the encouragement and support of this board. In the two years since joining FT I have attended DOs in ORD, PHL, NYC, MCO, LON, DUS, LAS, MSY & SIN. I have also attended countless dinners and nights out all over the globe. There are now several people here that I call my friends, not just my FT friends (DFWTripGuy, wingless, auh2o, Kokonutz, Beckles & IO12609). All of the formentioned people have listened to me cry at some point about life or the he!! that sometimes come with a job that requires travel. Being stuck in ORD for 10 hours and being able to call one of these people to just vent and the fact they too at one time or another have been there too is so comforting!

On a more personal note, As of writing this I am 30 years old I am a born and raised NOLA girl, living in the suburbs of New Orleans in Metairie. I work for a big consulting firm, and travel every week for work. I have had clients as far west as San Francisco and as far east as Manchester, UK. I graduated in 1997 from Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, Louisiana with a BS in Accounting (wow, 1997 seems like ages ago!).

Travel is my passion. Just got back from DUS IV. I can also be happy traveling to places you can reach by car. Anywhere that has a beach is tops on my list! Living in NOLA makes reaching a beach in just a couple of hours by car very easy. My job is very flexible, which is a good thing when you are like me and have the constant wanderlust! I can work pretty much anywhere as long as I bring my laptop! I love sightseeing, amusement parks, fine wines (that's an expensive habit), Las Vegas and many other vices that I can't think of right now. Wine is my other passion. I have quite a collection. Wine is a great souvenir. I am constantly leaving clothes in hotels so I can pack more local wines in my suitcase! If I had to choose a great vacation/great wine or cool new outfit/shoes I am going to choose the vacation/wine! My suitcase is always at the ready for a spur of the moment trip! Also unlike most girls I can be ready in 30 minutes to go anywhere, literally anywhere! The other thing you should know is I always have my digital camera with me! You never know when you will need it. Good thing I had it with me in NYC this March. We went and saw one of the last performances of "The Producers" with Nathan Lane & Matthew Broderick, and then got invited back stage to meet them. Totally cool, and if I wouldn't have had my camera I wouldn't have one of my favorite pics on my website. Check out my picture page!

One rule I live by is "You have to give to get" Take that however you want. Favorite things: Reading the Sunday paper in bed - Calling in sick on a cold wet winter morning.

As I vaguely recall posting on the 1st Who we are thread long ago, and as I have significantly changed my life since then, here is a fresh look at Stimpy. First off, I chose the name Stimpy without thinking as I thought I would only read this board once and never see it again. Boy was I wrong! It's been over 5 years and 5000 posts now, my gosh.

When I first joined Flyertalk, I was living in the south of France working as an Internet/Telecom technology person doing Sales/Marketing/Engineering and mostly Business Development. I soon moved back to Los Angeles and things eventually went to hell when the dot.com crash hit. Yet before that I met AuH20 at a UAL VIP party at LAX. Soon after UAL invited me to be a VIP member at the newly built Staples Center. I jumped right in an AuH20 followed and we had a great 5 year run at that place. Non-stop Champagne, celebrities and countless great memories. It all might not have happened save for Flyertalk. I also hosted some early large Flyertalk events in Long Beach (1999-2001) where I met many of the founding and sustaining members of Flyertalk. I've tried to give back some of what I've gotten from this board.

Starting in 1996, I began heavy international travel. Most years I'd fly at least 250K miles, some years over 300K. Yet it was all in F or C class with fine hotels and meals. That was during the glory years of dot.com. Now I am very happy to have a job and I buy cheap tickets and hope for an upgrade. Yet I've found that after flying over 2 million miles that an upgrade is not quite as important to me anymore. And I don't mind staying at a Holiday Inn or Four Points rather than the Savoy or Ritz. But I still love travel. I've done business in over 80 countries and loved every minute of it. I especially enjoy experiencing a new culture and meeting people on the street. The variety of food is a lot of fun too. I can speak bits and pieces of 24 languages and I always look forward to improving those skills. Direct face to face communication with the rest of the world has taught me that people are the same everywhere you go.

Yet life isn't always rosy. 2002 was a very crummy year as I was (in order) laid off, got a DUI, got divorced and discovered I had cancer. So I pretty much shut things down for a while, developed a Buddhist philosophy and started back up again. I decided to move back to France, this time in Burgundy, and got rid of all my wordly possessions except for a few boxes of clothes and shoes. While things are still tough in the technology industry, at least I have a job and a business reason to travel. I reached UAL 1K in the first 5 months of 2004 and now I'm settling down to a slow relaxing summer in Burgundy. Buzz me if you are in the neighborhood!

Who is QF WP
 

I watched my parents from 1977 travel overseas to far flung destinations courtesy of owning a successful insurance & financial planning firm and having our biggest "supplier" (one of Australia's largest insurers) send them on bi-annual conferences (with every alternate year travelling with friends).

I started work in 1984 straight from school with that supplier, then in 1987 moved into the family financial planning business. My goal was to emulate my parents' travels and through my father's Irish heritage, I was fortunate to acquire a dual passport. I already had the travel wanderlust, gained from my mother's stories of living in London and their trips.

I joined my first FF program in 1987 (Australian Airlines Flight Deck, the precursor to Qantas Frequent Flyer) and my first marriage (1993) was to a Qantas CSA. Whilst it was a short marriage, I learnt a lot about the internal workings of QF, the lingo and staff travel. The divorce only further fuelled my desire to travel extensively. I used to think nothing of flying to see my best friend in SIN for a weekend, flying back overnight and going straight to work.

Like stimpy above, my annus horriblis was 2001, when I was diagnosed with cancer. After successful surgery, my outlook on life changed and I started to live and plan to do some of my "life dreams". So in August 2002, as a 35th birthday present to myself, I took a RTW F (with Concorde LHR/JFK) trip and started to live the mottos "you should live for today"...

I am Certified Financial Planner in my family business, my areas of specialisation being corporate superannuation funds (otherwise known to others here as pension or 401K plans) and retirement planning. I have one MNC for whom I need to visit their offices around Australia on a regular basis. In addition, I regularly travel to Asia/UK for expatriate clients. I have always taken regular overseas holidays to USA and UK/Europe, as I love long-haul travel.

It took me until just before my 2002 RTW trip to find my first travel-related forum (Australian Frequent Flyer) and there, a FT member, thadocta advised me to look at Flyertalk. All of a sudden, my eyes were opened to really learning about the art of flying and all that goes with it (but alas, it was too late to really "squeeze" that RTW trip).

I remarried last year to a UK-born Australian (Mrs QF WP) and introduced her to the FT community soon after we met. In our wedding and honeymoon planning, I involved my FT friends in the QF Forum in helping me with the planning (including getting our Chief Bridesmaid on AA's Platinum Challenge).

I enjoy researching and posting Trip Reports (Ireland/UK Honeymoon, USA, Mileage runs) and through these trips, have had the pleasure of meeting some International FT'ers (like prncess674 above in our USA trip last year!). We also have had the pleasure of dining with John Travolta (courtesy of QF) and attending ozstamp's ozfest 2004 in Sydney.

My main role on the Qantas Forum appears to be the FT meeting convenor, as my name QF WP was born at the inaugural BNE Qantas Club meeting. I love the ability to share trips, tips, flying knowledge and learning from other more experienced flyers.

If you are ever in Brisbane (BNE), let us know on the QF Forum. You'll find a willing group of local FT'ers ready to have a drink with you and I'll organise it all...

..........

Hi!
 

My name is Roy and I'm not sure exactly how I learned about FT but I joined in May 2001 and only have 155 posts, most of them fairly recently. I didn't fly much as a kid and only for leisure until I joined a Big Four accounting firm in April 1999 as a sales tax consultant. I am now a manager with the Firm. I probably lost out on a bunch of miles/points in the two years before joining FT but have been addicted ever since. I don't really travel much for business except for the occasional out-of-town assignment and training. I used to let our corporate travel office pick the airline but now fly exclusively on UA or *A because of their routes, *A partners, and non-flying mileage earning opportunities. I also almost stay exclusively at Hiltons because of their double dipping program.

I was born in HK, raised in the SF Bay Area and now reside in Sacramento with Mrs. Sactoroy and daughter, whom we adopted in Sept '03 from China. I attended San Jose State University and obtained a BS in Accounting in 1987.

My international travel began as I met Mrs. Sactoroy and we decided to visit Thailand in 2000. Since then we have been back to Thailand 3 times, China twice (once for adoption), Cancun, Angkor Wat, Hanoi and most recently Bali. I made Premier for the first time in 2002 and took my first and only mileage run in Dec 2002 to Singapore to make PE for 2003.

As I indicated, I don't fly much so much of my mileage/points earnings have come from cc's, mileage malls, Idine, etc. We have accumulated enough miles in the recent years for 2 business class trips to Asia on ANA and SIA. Which in itself has been worth the efforts. I must give credit to FT which I check multiple times a day for opportunities. Hope to meet other FTer's one day!