I saved money on my car insurance by switching to Geico.



Just kidding. The good news is that Nomar Garciaparra is now a Chicago Cub! Yipee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well heck, why not post a few words about myself, now that I'm actually participating in this thing.

So, hi, my name is Sergey. I live in the NYC suburbs and work in Manhattan. I just turned 28. I joined a few years ago, as you can see, but didn't get actively involved in the forums until recently. I do enjoy travel quite a bit. My very first flight in F was on my first business trip -- JFK-SFO on TWA. Back then my company was willing to pay full coach prices, and on TWA that meant flying in F. Needless to say that flight spoiled me rotten and I've been addicted to points, miles and upgrades ever since. Now my co-workers come to me for travel advice. I should be charging comission, damn it!

My dream is to start an airline of my own. Of course since I work in IT, have virtually no business experience and no money, it is only a dream... But if *I* was running an airline....

Yes?...

Well, Canarsie, if I was running an airline, there would be no coach as we know it, for one. It would have better service, better interior layout and more comfortable amenities than we currently get here in the USA. The food would be better. The IFE would be better. The people would be friendlier. The FF program would be better designed, of course. The fare structure would be simpler. The web site would be more powerful, so people wouldn't have to spend 30 minutes on hold with CS. I could keep going...

Hey, anyone want to give me $$$ to conduct a business study to see if my airline would fly?

Click on the word �Yes� in my last milepost if you have not already done so, sxpsxpsxp. It is a link to a thread in which I thought you might be interested...

Ya, didn't figure that out until after I posted my message. Shall I add to your thread?

That is entirely up to you.

For now, though, let us (including me) please leave this thread to those who want to post who they all are...

Hi everybody! My name is Greg and I work in Equity Research on Wall Street. I'm almost 30 here in Chicagoland and I'm in the process of moving to NY. I learned about FT while reading the WSJ sometime over the past year, addicted ever since. Friends and family now think I'm a little nutty but I have FT people to console me. I've always loved flying and seeing new places.

I'm actually considering a career change to find a job that will require a lot of travel I like seeing places outside of the US and I can't wait to go to some places in Asia ^ I'm going to get myself to a DO eventually. Looking forward to meeting everybody!

^

Hi all! I'm Valerie. I'm 28 and live in the DC area (Dumfries) and work in D.C. I learned about this site from the great techgirl. I am in awe of all you on this site. I travel mostly for leisure but with some business trips thrown in there for good meaures, I mean mileage. Now it's back to the United thread to see what other goodies I can find. Thanks for all of your travel knowledge!

Valree, welcome to FT! One of the true strengths of FT is we learn from each other for we can't count on the hotels, airlines, ships, airports and rental car agencies to always get it right, straight, or out there. Also, we all started in the same boat as you once: new to frequent travel. Welcome, and we're happy you joined this sharing, inclusive community.

Thanks for the welcome, Ocn Vw 1K! I'm learning so much here!

VaVa!!!!!!!

(Tell the truth... you just want to figure out how to get that suite at the W.... )

Hello! My name is Jassy-50 and I'm a travel junky. It started at an early age -- one of my first memories is of flying on AA from Oklahoma City to SFO with my mother and my 6 week old baby brother. I was 2 at the time (my poor mother!). It was such a wonderful adventure! I loved it. I still have my Sky Cradle Club Certificate of Membership from that AA flight -- it is over 50 years old, so that tells you how important flying has been to me.

My entire family has been airplane-oriented. Both parents were career civil service with the USAF and I grew up outside of Travis AFB, my brother was a loadmaster (AF) on C-141s, my uncle was a pilot instructor in WWII. Father, brother, uncle and cousin have all been private pilots. I, however, prefer to be a passenger and let others do the driving while I watch the world go by below.

So, as to the personals: I am past the half-century mark and am an attorney specializing in patents and trademarks. After many years in the corporate world and the successful IPO of the company where I was Patent Counsel, I decided to "semi-retire" a few years ago and started my own law firm. The semi-retirement was wishful thinking, as I am as busy as ever. The difference now is that I am my own boss, which is a wonderful thing. I can fly any time I want anywhere I want now - woo hoo! I am married to a wonderful man and we have a slightly strange but very loveable cat. It took me a while to get hubby traveling far and wide (it took 10 years to get him to Europe the first time ) but he is now a tried and true frequent traveler. He still doesn't quite grasp the necessity of mattress runs and mileage runs, never mind questioning the sanity of it all. But he does enjoy the upgrades to C and F and the free hotel stays in wonderful, expensive locations around the world.

I first discovered FT when I read somewhere about the Bhat Run. I had to check that out! And I was hooked. I discovered a terrific forum and an awesome community of like-minded folks. The things I have learned from you all have been amazing. FT has definitely enriched my life (not to mention my mileage and hotel points accounts ). Thanks so much!

After nearly 3 years of reading and posting, it's my turn.

My name is Geoffrey. I'm 25 years old and I live in various Starwood hotels. When I'm not traveling, I vacation at my apartment in lovely Battery Park City, Manhattan.

I first visited Flyertalk when a friend directed me here for information about United's Mileage Plus program. I've been hooked ever since!

90% of my travel is work-related. I work in sales for a large software company as a Technology Specialist. Basically, when selling software to large corporations, there are three people involved. Account Managers manage the overall relationship and uncover opportunities. Then, solutions people delve into the opportunities and try to hash out the business needs. Eventually, you have to call in someone who knows how the software actually works and can keep the sales guys honest - that's me.

I work in the Media and Entertainment Group and travel around meeting with various people in various departments of various subsidiaries of various media conglomerates. 75% of my work-related travel is back and forth from JFK-LAX, 15% split evenly between ATL and IAD and the remainder at random places including recent trips to CID and AUS.

I fly primarily on United where I'm a 1K, but my company prefers me to fly on American, where I maintain a lowly gold status. I prefer Starwood properties, but will stay in a Hilton property when needed. I rent cars from National exclusively.

I'm fortunate to have great management who understand that all work and no play make Geoffrey a very dull boy. This means that I take two extended vacations each year and burn all my miles and points. This spring, I visited SVO, WAW, PRG, BTS, BUD, VIE and MUC over a three week period. My next pleasure trip is a 40-day jaunt through SE-Asia, visiting SIN, BKK, REP, PNH, SGN, RGN, NYU and a side trip to DEL.

So there you have it - nice to meet you all. If you see me around, say hi! I'm guy with the yellow Flyertalk tags on his bags.