Good to hear. That is quite a story though!

Fortunately my work travel has picked back up. We try to get a lot of value out of those airline miles and hotel points when we take vacations.

My partner says he doesn't mind my work travel, and since we were dating long distance for almost a year, we were already used to not seeing each other during the week.

I've noted a few times when it has come up that on itineraries that I've looked for where I could compare CO and DL, DL has easily been 3x CO's price. The most recent case I can think was PHL-MSY...CO was $236 and DL was over $800, and that was a sLUT fare. Same dates, might I add.

That's insane. But I've seen other examples of similar fare differences.

Mrs. MBM3 loves to travel as well, so she understands my participation in FT and for taking the occasional fun or mileage run. In fact, she just gave the nod to a mileage run this weekend so I can put myself over 100K for the year.

What has made it easier for her to swallow is the benefit that my activities have provided to both of us. The $275 fares to HNL and FCO make it a bit easier....

That being said, I try not to take advantage of the situation by jumping at every opportunity. The booboo fare to Down Under was amazing, but it was still over 1000 USD and that just wasnt in the budget.

Good morning Box.

The sun is finally out. After a day and a half of fog and listening to the fog horn for 24 hours, I am glad to see the sun.

On a better note, I'm on vacation in 15.5 hours for two weeks. Plan on staying at home doing Christmas shopping, sending out the cards (which I still haven't take a photo of the kids yet) and doing nothing.

^ Well deserved time off I am sure! Enjoy!

Enjoy the vacation. I've never understood the "doing nothing" vacation, but I know a lot of people who really like that approach.

I now need to figure out new dates to try to get the super-cheap fare to LIM. I was offered a TCV for the value of my original ticket, which is probably the best I could have hoped for given the circumstances. There are still some X fares out there, but not enough, I don't think to match up an outbound and a return for the correct trip length. And I need to find a sufficiently creative routing for the actual flights to the DO. So much to do, so little time.

What I would really love to do is travel....but two teenage kids and the puppy from hell means that I will be staying home doing the mommy thing. Taking the kids somewhere is not always my idea of a vacation since I'm still "on duty". And of course I will be off from work while they are still in school and taking finals. I don't have enough seniority to get the last two weeks of the year yet.

Ahhh...to be free of responsibilities. :p

No kids nor pets makes it easier for me, I guess.

Haha. No kids here, but we do have cats. Fortunately they're pretty self-sufficient for a few days, and we have friends and neighbors that can come look in on them if we're gone longer.

One of them does like to protest if left alone too long though. He has a habit of making a mess when left alone too long. I walked in Saturday night after they'd been home alone since Tuesday afternoon to find their food dishes spilled all over the floor, and a canister of cooking utensils in the kitchen lying spilled all over the kitchen floor. Nothing major, but still a sign that someone was bored and not too happy with being left alone for four nights.

At least he's been broken of his old habit of peeing on a bed when left alone overnight with the other cat.

I actually performed cat-sitting duty last week for the first time in probably close to 20 years. Neighbors upstairs were gone for the week and I fed the cats on Wednesday and emptied the litter. Apparently they knocked over a lamp at one point after I left, but otherwise no damage. I wsa somewhat surprised that they go days without needing a refill on the food, but I guess that isn't so abnormal.

Cats tend to nibble whenever they're a little hungry, and then move on. They usually won't sit at the bowl and eat it until it's gone, unlike most dogs I've had. Our cats have a feeder with a container on top that will hold about 2-3 days worth of food. They have a similar water dish. Then we've got a couple of standard food/water bowls we fill up too if leaving them for several days. They also have a fountain that recycles the water that they like to drink from, and we set lamps on timers, both to try and keep them from having 18 hours of complete darkness this time of year, and for security.

The worst thing about it is when we come home after both having been gone, they're usually wild and wanting lots of attention. If you come in late, tired, and ready for bed, the cats, especially the younger one, usually have a different plan for you — a plan that involves lots of head scratching, purring, and playing. That's fine, except for when you're dead tired and just want to go to bed. Saturday night I was that way, and they kept me awake half the night running up and down the stairs to our bedroom (the stairs are metal and they can be loud on them) and jumping on the bed.

Actually it works both ways. Sometimes the CO fare is much higher than that of DL. I am guessing that in the PHL situation, CO has decided to defend its hub market area against Southwest, a situation that is only of minor interest to DL who is busy itself defending its own against AirTran.

Home improvement projects sucks. I have been working on demolishing the bathroom for a complete redo. I am going down to the studs to get rid of the sixties pink tile and power blue toilet. I am trying to get this all done by Christmas. Not sure if that is going to happen though. I do know that doing this myself will save thousands. I plan to spend about $1,500 for a total new bathroom ^

I now feel like I have been in a car accident. Everything aches.