dulciusexasperis

I agree not everyone shares the same opinion. However, mine is ALSO no less valid whether it agrees with someone else's or not. It is nonsense to suggest one person arguing for their viewpoint means they are 'forcing' it on anyone. Try making a rebuttal, that's what debate is about. Debate the issue, not the person.

david_oz

I booked my first mileage run to reach 1K status on labour day 2015. I did the math, realized I could make it work and booked a trip YYC-SIN leaving 3 days later with a total of 6 hours in Singapore (midnight to 6am). I made it to the merlion and got an awesome tired merlion selfie at 2am.

The trip was 100% worth it. The next year I got 8 business class long haul upgrades (incl 2x op ups) and have had my most fun and busy travel years since then.

I continue to book flights spontaneously when flight specials are released (and then tell my girlfriend where we are going afterwards) but haven’t don’t any true book and go within 2 days type trips since that Singapore one.

invisible

Finishing one right now. Two weeks ago it became clear that first time in last seven years I would not qualify even for Gold with UA. So, after some search booked a flight KUL-NRT with one night stay in Tokyo. The whole logistics were not straightforward - from Singapore go to Johor by bus, from Johor fly to KUL on local LCC outbound to KUL return to SIN while having 12h/6h layovers between flights to/from Tokyo on ANA.

I've been in Tokyo several times on business, and it was first time I had time on my own. Directly from airport went to Ameyoko Market and bought rice crackers there for 5500Y, booked one night in a hotel which actually was cheaper than I spent on crackers. After checking in went to Shibuya and had probably the best udon in my life in a small corner shop on second floor. Went outside and for 45 min was watching people on Hachiko crossing. Next (this) morning went and strolled at Imperial Palace park, then walked at Omotesando and Takeshita st, went back to hotel, picked up my stuff and headed back to NRT.

Writing this from a deserted (three people/guests including me) lounge at KUL's satellite terminal. In 20 min I am heading to KLIA2 to catch my return flight to SIN.
Being a budget traveller I spent about $600 on this MR/1.5 days, which is more I and my wife spent couple of month ago for a week trip in Vietnam, all flights/expenses including, but MRs from SIN with UA/Star Alliance is rare bird, if not impossible.

Either way I do not regret any second spending that money to be able to do this - upon deciding just travel 3500 miles away. And not have job/health/citizenship/relationship/life/financial restrictions is a big privilege and I understand that 95% of people on Earth won't be able to do the same.

jrl767

^ good story

sethb

One day last summer, the weather forecast was for about 95 degrees. We had only one wimpy window air conditioner, so we decided to go someplace cooler. A movie would cost around $10 each for maybe 3 hours of air conditioning, not a great deal. The first thought was just to hang out in the airport (Sky Club), with free food, booze, and air conditioning. But I had a better idea.

We flew Delta One to AMS, spent a couple of hours in the airport (and bought some duty-free scotch and chocolate), and returned.

TravelerMSY

Plenty of trips for the next day, usually on short AA nonstops paid with Avios. Might see a museum or something I want to see in the city, and fly it the next day. I get up too late for same-day spontaneous domestic.

I’m not counting tickets booked at short notice to return when already on a trip. I’ve booked award space while in the car to the airport, but that’s more like a change than a spontaneous journey.

Badenoch

Late 80's at the usual Friday after work drinking session with a few colleagues. As we enjoyed a beautiful July evening on a downtown Toronto patio a discussion ensued on how much better bars and patios were in Montreal. A suggestion was made, cabs were hailed, tickets purchased at the airport and a couple of hours later we were there. We drank until closing, found an all-night restaurant, ate smoked meat sandwiches and were on the first flight back to Toronto Saturday morning. Good times.

JayhawkCO

Not exactly on the same scale as a drunkenly planned trip to Mozambique, but I flew into Jakarta with the plan to fly to Yogyakarta later that night as, at the time, it was very difficult to book domestic Indonesian trips outside the country. When I got to CGK, all the flights were sold out for the day, so I figured I'd get a hotel and take the train in the morning. I went to the train station 2 hours early and all the trains were sold out too. Looked in my guide book and there was a bus station not too far away, so hailed a cab and went there. There were no daytime busses to Yogya, only overnight, and I really didn't feel like staying in 'The Big Durian' for a whole day. I saw a bus start to leave, looked at the sign on the window and it said "Semarang", I quickly glanced at a map, saw it was in the same general direction and ran and jumped onto it and figured I'd sort it all out later. Managed to finally get to Yogya the following morning.

Chris

84fiero

I'm afraid I have no real spontaneous trips - much less exciting ones. Not for lack of willingness to take such trips, but certain personal considerations have made it difficult for most of my adult life. Though that may be changing in the years ahead so I'm looking forward to the possibility.

But it's cool reading some of the ones here - the Mozambique NYE trip may be my favorite so far.

lostinlondon

Not quite so exciting, but submitted a summative essay last January on a Thursday. Was working on something else for uni in the department common room when I turned to my friend and asked what she was doing at the weekend. 20 minutes later, we were booked on Saturday AM flights to Nice. A great weekend in one of my favourite cities in Europe and such a change from my usual months of planning.

BuildingMyBento

A few years ago, I went to AMM for the return flight to DOH, but decided to buy a r/t to BEY instead. Having since been to Doha, it was...a vastly superior choice.

GetSetJetSet

Is Tofo that fun? Have been considering it as a NYE stop for a few years.

KDS777

If I lived in Europe I'd fly somewhere every single weekend.

darthbimmer

I'm both spontaneous and not. My wife and I travel often, like twice a month, though mostly on short trips. We'll go for a weekend or a long weekend. Having full time jobs is the main limit there. Roughly twice a year we take a longer trip, a week or 10 days at a time.

Our weekend trips tend to be spontaneous, in the sense that we often only firm up plans 24 hours or less before leaving. For example, a few years ago we had a 5-day trip to Seattle planned. We cancelled it less than 24 hours before leaving because were too tired out from work at the time to enjoy it. We converted one of the vacation days back to a working day, leaving ourselves with a four-day weekend Friday through Monday. Friday morning we went to a movie. Afterwards we said, "Y'know, we should still go somewhere this weekend." Within an hour we'd picked a destination with interesting activities 250+ miles away, booked a few nights of hotel reservations, and packed the car to go.

Bluehen1

Okay, here's mine. Early 2009, I had laid off looking for MRs on FT because I had been laid off but took a new job in CA. Decided on a Friday afternoon to look at the site after getting home from work and found that LAX-SYD was going for $640 RT and had double status mile promotions. Looked at the UA site and pulled the trigger on the UA flight leaving LAX at about 2045 getting into SYD on Sunday morning then turning back around for the return about 9 hours later. Got pulled aside at Australian Immigration as I think I was one of the first to do this run (which I proceeded to do three more times) but once they talked to me, I had no issues. When the UA and CO programs got combined, those bonus status miles put me over the top for my MM status.