Flight 009: Decompression...and another Destination

Because I'm away from home so much, I often feel like I have to make the most of my personal time once I get home. What does that mean? Well, sometimes it just means spending a lot of time at home sleeping and relaxing. More often than not though, it means that I want to go out with friends and stay out late getting drunk and silly. Is it fun? Yes. Is it healthy? Hmm, not sure. I had a big night out on Friday, and while it was a great time and exactly what I wanted, I was more tired and worn out on Saturday than when I initially returned home from traveling. I guess the upside is that I definitely stayed in and did nothing Saturday night except catch up on expenses and watch some good old mind-numbing TV. But the source of wanting to go out really stems from this desire to shake off the work and meetings of the week. It's hard to delineate between business and personal time when you get home from a trip and open up your laptop again in the living room. I find that I need to go out and be away from my computer and emails before I can really shut things down.

I flew first class on United for the first time today out of necessity because there were no other seats left. It was an interesting experience since it's always seemed like such a special treat for the few elite, but in reality, it's not all that different from economy and you're still on a plane for the same amount of time. Now if somebody could make first class go faster, I would definitely shell out more money for that. What I did like was boarding first, getting some free snacks, and getting off the plane first as well. However, combine Southwest's A-List with Jetblue snacks and you've got pretty much the same experience. I don't think I'll ever fly first class domestically for personal travel because I can't see how the perks are at all worth the cost. However, the experience did serve to remind me of just how warm and fuzzy great service can make you feel. The flight attendant who was serving us in the first class area used our first name any time she said anything to us. For example, "Gary, would you like any fruit?" "Tom, are you connecting to another destination today? I can tell you which gate you'll be flying out of." It's such a little touch but it goes a long way in making somebody feel a little more memorable, and consequently, special. I usually try to use people's first names in meetings so that they know I didn't forget them, but I'm going to try a little harder moving forward.

I'm sitting on the ground at Denver airport now waiting for my flight to depart for Minneapolis. I'm conflicted about this airport. The pros are that it's clean, has moving walkways, free WiFi, and many food choices. However, the cons are that it skimps on electrical outlets (thus the sitting on the floor), requires trams to get to baggage claim & ground transportation, has offsite car rental, and is incredibly far from the actual city of Denver. Oh well, just a few more minutes here and I will be on my way to Minneapolis for a whopping 20 hours of fun & business.