Oh yeah, traffic here BLOWS as bad as everyone says.

Did some international travel last week. The newer Sky Club at MCI was awesome! The one in Atlanta was crazy, but that’s to be expected. Delta One is pricey but for a flight to Germany, well worth it to us. Getting to fully lay down and relax is worth its weight in gold on a long flight. Austria and Czech Republic for a week (highly recommended). Then flew Prague (didn’t love that airport, it was okay just not my cup of tea) to Amsterdam. Schiphol airport was easy to get around but huge! Enjoyed our couple of hours there. KLM back to Atlanta. What a great airline! Phenomenal service, relaxing flight, cool perks, I would definitely recommend them for international travel. All said, outside of our trip being delayed a day due to the German airport strike (we flew into Munich then drove to Salzburg) it was a really stress free and good travel experience.

Clubs, IMO, are well worth the cost. I've done Delta's, American's and (obviously) United's, and all do a pretty darn good job. The son and I did that non-airline club in Brussels (I forget the name) and it too was awesome. I'd say lounges are a must if your layover is 3 or more hours.

I got a Venture X a little while back and I'm aiming for a first class flight to Europe late next year, at least one way... I don't think it's something I'd personally pay for, but at the same time would be pretty ****ing sweet to do at least once.

Did you do any train travel along the way? I've never been to central Europe and would one day love to meander across several countries.

How r the hookers in A Town?

No but we were there with my 16 year old’s HS choir so as a part of the package we had tour buses do all the transportation. It also included guides who were expats living in Austria. They were awesome as were the buses and drivers so we really felt it was done right all the way. The kids absolutely crushed their performances (4 in total) which made it all the sweeter. Since it was a musical group trip, we did all the music stuff. Toured Mozart’s apartment, saw all the Sound of Music shit, visited Beethoven’s grave. On top of the normal castle and church tours. It was really quite amazing. Even got to hit a pro soccer game in Prague.

Wow, sounds amazing!

I do the United Quest (Chase) card and I've been wondering about going the Capital One route and not being tied to an airline. I've be interested in hearing how it works for you in terms of gaining points, status, lounges, and ease of booking. I DON'T think United has been really awesome, but once you have status it's hard to give up, but between Capital One and, perhaps, moving over to Delta, I'm starting to see how challenging the process will be.

C1 is great for lounge access...if you frequently travel through one of the airports where they have their own. Priority Pass lounges sound nice in principle, and they do have SOME value, but with every major travel card giving Priority Pass access, those lounges are often crowded and rarely anything too exciting.

There's not a ton to get excited about in terms of status. It does comes with Hertz President's Circle status, but I personally haven't found that to be very valuable.

I do like the flexibility of the card, though. It's effectively a $0 annual fee card assuming you're willing to book travel through their portal to get the $300 credit back.

It was one that we will never forget!

God damn 1st leg home flight to DFW delayed 3 1/2 hours. JFC. First it's was all my delays through Charlotte and now 2 for 2 in Atlanta.

Too many people and too few planes.

ROFL

Standard response around work whenever someone proclaims something, along with the accent and followed closely by his next line.

WOOOO Phoenix Sunday!!!!!!

Yeah, I looked at their lounges and they just don't seem to have too many so you're left having to either not use lounges, or use the lounge of the airline you flying, with its cost of entry. That said, I have traveled a lot in the last year, but I expect that to slow down in the coming year so keeping status with United is going to be difficult.

Thanks..