With my friend Sawkia and my brother Maxwell, and a creepy looking guy behind us,
for the Oregon at Stanford game!
Hello everyone,
Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers! It is a little hard to believe that my JetBlue "BluePass" adventures are over (the last day was Tuesday, November 22nd). I have thousands of pictures to sort through, and there will be multiple entries forthcoming on the stops in Miami, Oakland, Barbados, Puerto Rico, and Boston, as well as some more general thoughts. Hopefully I can get through all of them before leaving for Vietnam on December 3rd! However, since this is Thanksgiving, I felt like I needed to express how thankful I am for the incredible gift of travel that JetBlue provided for the last three months. Here's a map (including the $220 round trip to Hawaii on Delta in September) of all my travels since August 22nd:
Courtesy of Great Circle Mapper.
Overall, it was 80 flights (not the 79 I originally thought it was, because there was an error with the Bluepassers.com - which, by the way, I topped the leaderboard of - tracking engine for my flights down to Costa Rica from Boston), and 88,972 miles. I visited six countries (+ Puerto Rico). I only had two middle seats the entire time.
I was able to see many friends and family, all throughout the Western Hemisphere. I also was able to go to many different sporting events, as well as visit countries I have always wanted to see. Here is a short list of everything I did in three months in chronological order, from August 22 to September 22:
1. Visited my friend Ryan in the Dominican Republic, surviving an East Coast earthquake in the process. Stayed in a villa on the coast, made more friends, generally had a blast again.
2. Endured Hurricane Irene in Washington DC with my friend Erin, and going to the National Zoo the next day.
3. Saw the first two days of the US Open tennis championships, including Roger Federer on opening night.
4. Went to a New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox game at Fenway Park in Boston with my friend Max.
5. Visited my brother Maxwell in Chicago and helped him move into his new apartment, watching Oregon vs. LSU on TV and conducting our fantasy football draft in the process.
6. Trekked to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston.
7. Finally got to see the US Open Men's Singles Championship match, after missing the same matchup due to rain the year before. Thank you, Matthew Lumby!
8. Had my inaugural visit to Jamaica when I went to Montego Bay for two nights.
9. Caught a Chicago Cubs vs. Houston Astros baseball game at Wrigley Field. Extra innings, too!
10. Helped Maxwell set up two TVs (after the first one was broken), memorably driving a U-Haul with him locked in the back.
11. Saw the US Women's National Soccer team in Portland, meeting Stephanie Cox in the process.
12. Went to Hawaii for a weekend, relaxed in Waikiki, enjoyed the incredible scenery at Diamond Head, returned to Pearl Harbor after almost a decade (being sure to take plenty of pictures this time), and hiked through a tropical rainforest to see Manoa Falls.
13. Saw my first ever regular season Philadelphia Eagles game, by going to Philly (via Washington DC and hanging out with Erin again - as well as seeing the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial for the first time) and having a "Philly Taco" - a cheesesteak and slice of pizza. Unfortunately, the Eagles lost to the 49ers, but it was fun to go!
14. Went to every Oregon Ducks home game (except Missouri State) this year.
15. Returned to Buffalo, New York (after going the first year of All-You-Can-Jet) to stay the weekend with my awesome relatives. Attended another Eagles game, vs. the Buffalo Bills. The Eagles lost. But, I did get a Bills hat from two cheerleaders, and picked apples with my family at a upstate New York farm!
16. Flew to New York for a night to see the US Men's National Soccer team play Ecuador in a friendly at Red Bull Arena. The US lost, 1-0. Sense a theme? Again, fun to go!
17. Visited Pittsburgh for the first time, enjoying my stay with airbnb.com hosts. Loved the Heniz History Museum, walking around the city, and going to a Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Washington Capitals ice hockey game. The Penguins lost in overtime. I thought it through and decided the Capitals home experience was better.
18. Was delighted to go to my first ever Egyptian wedding, in Portland for a member of my mom's staff.
19. Flew out to Washington DC again, for my first ever MLS match, between my Portland Timbers and DC United. The match had been postponed because of Hurricane Irene, and it was great to be able to just fly out again to see it. It ended in a tie, 1-1, which was bad for both teams. I had a blast standing and chanting in the Timbers Army section, though!
20. Traveled to Aruba, and saw all sorts of iguanas, lizards, tropical rain, interesting museums and sites, and white sand beaches.
21. Went to hang out with my brother in Chicago again for two nights.
22. Had my 100th lifetime flight on JetBlue, which was Chicago (ORD) to Boston (BOS), Flight 922 on October 24th, 2011.
23. Helped out former students in the Portland area multiple times, and saw co-workers at multiple sites. Also, met up with @ExpertDan, another bluepass holder in Portland.
24. Spent an unforgettable week in Costa Rica with my friend Tyler Dodge and his mom, Diane. My Spanish was put to the test and it passed! Runs in the park, walking around the city, visiting a volcano and waterfalls, a coffee plantation, and eating amazing food.
25. Went to my third Eagles game of the season - Monday Night Football in Philadelphia, another loss, this time to the Chicago Bears. It was more fun than the other losses, though! Plus, my brother's favorite charity got $20 out of the deal.
26. Spent another fun night at Hostelling International Washington DC, the best hostel ever.
27. Flew to Fort Lauderdale (a new airport for me!) and spent two nights in South Beach, Miami. It was amazing. The beach was just, wow. Ate a ton of Cuban food. On a more somber note, went to a really interesting Holocaust Memorial, and returned later that night for a Kristallnacht commemoration.
28. Went from Miami to Oakland in one day, staying with my friends from graduate school, Terrell and Noelle. Had fun exploring a farmers market. Had even more fun going to the Oregon vs. Stanford game, which Oregon WON (thank goodness). Maxwell and my friend from high school, Sawkia, flew down to watch it with me.
29. Enjoyed another new country: Barbados. It was very hot, then rainy and windy, but such an interesting time. Visited George Washington's house (where he stayed for a month and a half, his only trip abroad), historic downtown Bridgetown, Harrison's Cave, and the phenomenal Barbados Concorde Experience. The pictures will blow your mind.
30. Overnighted to Puerto Rico, where I stayed for two hours before flying right back to Boston. Enough time to note how well developed San Juan was in comparison to every other Caribbean city I've ever visited.
31. Spent three or four good layovers in Long Beach, California, walking to get food away from the airport.
32. Finally, spent the last two days of the pass flying out to Boston to see Kanye West and Jay-Z's "Watch The Throne" concert. Wow, was it worth it.
There you have it. Thirty two (tied with 64 as my favorite number) reasons why the BluePass time period of August 22-November 22 was totally unforgettable.
Thank you, JetBlue Airways, for being super consistently awesome, for free snacks and drinks, for free checked bags (even though I never use it, it is nice to know), for having a great amount of legroom in any seat, for 36 channels of live DirecTV, for having any problems cleared up by friendly servicemembers, for responding and communicating via Twitter so often, for the idea of unlimited travel passes in the first place, and for just generally being such an amazing company! I have flown 127 lifetime flights on JetBlue now, and I certainly hope there are many more to come.
Thank you everyone for following along! I promise to be along with totally outdated pictures from my travels, as soon as I can.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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