The TSA is A-OK

Well...I did it. I finally joined to world of blogs. Rather than sitting idly on the sidelines, stalking certain blogs on a semi-regular basis, I'm jumping in, head first, not knowing what to expect from my latest attempt at a hobby.

No, I don't know for whom I'm blogging just yet. I don't quite know exactly what I have to say nor what I seek to reveal, but am aware that I must have some strokes of brilliance passing from my mind through the eight fingers I regularly use to type (I'm not without pinkies...they just don't pound the keyborad much).

Why now? As many know, I travel for my job. Often. 150+ hotel nights per year is a badge of courage. It's nothing one should be proud of. In Airworld (and it's cousins Hotelland and Rental-Car Alley), business travelers hold their frequent flyer statuses high, expecting to receive anything and everything for their regular patronage. Frankly, I find the entire game comical and concurrently pathetic. But...I play it too. And I laugh at others who think they play it better than I.

I am a travel snob indeed. But not your typical snob. It does not consume me. I once viewed business travel as an endless race to a bounty of frequent flier miles. Connecting flights? No problem - more segments, more miles, more status! Rent with Budget two nights in a row twice during the qualifying period to receive 2 pounds of Dunkin Donuts coffee? Check. Mile run to Dublin to hit Platinum Elite on Continental for year-in-a-row number 5. Done.

While my new job has temporarily reduced the frequency and breadth of my business travel, life in airworld will continue. It always does. It's an alternate reality, similar to those multiplayer real-time computer games. People behave irrationally in airworld. Weird things happen. Part of my intent here is to comment on my relationship with airworld, and to prevent it from breaking me.