The Snell type of vacation is usually epic. Every minute of every day is planned, packed full of things to see and places to go and yes you arrive home exhausted and averaging 30,000 steps+ each day. Don’t get me wrong getting away is always glorious. We did a lot of traveling last year in the first 6 months, visiting all the amazing wine producing countries. For the last 6 months of 2018 we only had family trips with our Christmas entertaining extravaganza and a New Years trip to Boulder to finish out the year.
Even after all that I was 5,000 miles short for Platinum status on American. After talking to many AA agents I was told that if I completed the 5,000 miles in January (this was already January 6) I could get the status so… I looked at many options and set a budget. Because all the Europe places were too expensive, I decided to go see all three kids for at least 1 night with all flights having a stop over in Dallas. This would attain the most miles and spend the least amount of money. So my multi mile trip started Monday morning flying from Dallas to Detroit, then Detroit to Ontario, California (through Dallas) then from Ontario to Toronto, once again through Dallas. 6 flights in 6 days. I arrived back to Dallas with 300 extra miles! YEAH!!
When I still didn’t receive Platinum I called to find out that I had to have the miles by the end of the year. AA was sounding like an immigration agent. A different story every time you call! I did convince her to enroll me in a status challenge for 3 months to attain platinum. That I could do. Watch after the 3 months we won’t travel and my status will be wasted. It’s all about the win…right?
This whole story takes me to an email I got from AA Monday January 28 with last minute trips to Mexico and Punta Cana…hmmm. Punta Cana was cheaper so I confirmed with Dave’s amazing coordinator Debbie and booked the trip hoping it to be a surprise for Dave. I told him we were going to Peru for the weekend! Yes, a belly laugh. We flew out Friday morning and got back yesterday.
We stayed at an all-inclusive resort with nothing to do but read, eat, drink, get massages and walk the beach. Dave doesn’t like to swim or to get wet for that matter, “I prefer my liquids on the inside.” Yes, another belly laugh. We had a private beach and…Simeon, our own private weekend butler. Paradise indeed. Funny enough the Super Bowl was not the highlight, for the locals or for us but we did manage to catch some ads. Moral of this story…
Don’t think too much. Take the trip, put on the bathing suit, swim in the ocean and drink the margaritas. Oh, also hire a Simeon.