THIS WEEK'S JOHNNY JET 12/4/2002
|
AUSTRIA / BELGIUM Web Site Of The Week TSA TIPS Bonus Mile Offers Of The Week SKYMALL / UNITED / SOUTHWEST .... Special Offers Of The Week BRITISH AIR / ATA / BEST WESTERN .... Where's Johnny Jet? CT / NY / WESTERN PA Celebrity Q&A SHERYL FROM BIDDINGFORTRAVEL.COM |
Washington Post USAToday BestFares Other News Yahoo ABCnews CNN MSNBC SmarterLiving |
HOTELS 70% OFF IN OVER 165 CITIES WORLDWIDE!
SAMPLE CITIES:
Paris ..............from $59 London ..........from $79 New York .................from $69 La$ Vega$ ......................from $39
WEB CAMS OF THE WEEK
* *
*
*
*
*
*
*
* **
*
*
*
*
*
* *
*
*
*
*
*
*
* * *
*
*
*
*
*
* * *
*
*
*
*
*
* * *
*
HELP SUPPORT
JOHNNY JET! BOOK YOUT
TRIPS THROUGH US
Hotels.com
|
1800USAHotel
|
Hotwire
|
Priceline
|
Orbitz
|
Expedia
|
Travelocity
***
*
*
*
*
*
*
* **
*
*
*
*
*
* *
*
*
*
*
*
*
* * *
*
*
*
*
*
* * *
*
*
*
*
*
* * *
*
WHERE'S
JOHNNY JET
?
Didn't have a chance
to read last week's newsletter? Click here!
KEY:
BOLD
= PICTURE,
HYPER LINK
= WEBSITE
There's a first time for everything. I checked in for my flight
last week from LAX-JFK at the gate. The agent said the computers are down
right now, so take a seat and we will call you when we get it back up.
A few minutes later the agent made another announcement stating every single
one of United's computers were down not only in LAX but nationwide.
"Holy cow! That's not good" I thought. Surprisingly, they boarded
those who checked in earlier as scheduled and when the computers came back
on 15 minutes later they boarded the rest. The printers were down,
so I received a hand written boarding pass. Even with the 20-minute
late departure we arrived at JFK 10 minutes early because of the strong
tail winds.
You never know who you’re going to be sitting next to on the plane,
especially up in First class. This week's seat mate was a priest
and he and I started talking. He asked me how to work the video
screen, so I figured he didn't fly too much. Boy was I was wrong.
He asked me if I do this flight a lot, and when I returned the question
to him (expecting to hear “once a year”), he said, “every Sunday”.
I said, “Excuse me”? It turns out he lives in NY and flies to LA every
Saturday afternoon to give mass on Sunday morning and then goes back to
NY Sunday afternoon. He is a 1K on United, which means he flies over
100,000 air miles a year, and is usually seated in Business class. Is
that just incredible or what?
I arrived in chilly
Connecticut
late Sunday evening. I was there to do some work and to
celebrate my
brother-in-law; Cam's Birthday
, as well as watch my brother and his sidekick Donny sing some Shaggy
at the Black Duck Café on
Karoke
night. But really, I was there to
drive with my brother
to Western, PA for Thanksgiving. We woke up before the roosters
did on Wednesday and hit the snow filled roads by 6:00 AM. The drive
from Westport, CT to Erie, PA is 475 miles. We were going to fly,
but since it was the busiest travel day of the year and with no direct
flights to Erie, we agreed it wasn't worth it. Besides, for a few
more hours of traveling, we had a car.
I have done the 8-hour drive a few times and have always despised
it because I would rather be in a jet than a car. It started out
like it was going to be really long trip because you know how it is being
confined in a small place for a long time with your sibling! I made
the mistake of giving Frank a piece of gum. How quickly I remembered that
he likes to chomp on it loudly to annoy me. And when I tell him to
close his mouth, he only makes it louder. I just sat there silently
shaking my head and sticking the last 10 pieces of gum in my mouth as quickly
as possible. Then he puts on his Tony Robbins self-help tapes and
said, "You could get a lot out of this…” I felt like smacking him, but instead
I took a nap. About 130 miles later we were in the parking lot of
the famous
Roscoe Diner
(Frank said so). He has been there many times because he
hunts in the area often. Surprisingly (because he's a health nut),
he orders Roscoe's World Famous Deep Fried French toast. I figured
it had to be good, so I ordered the same (just what I needed, huh?).
Well, I don't recommend it because it tasted like they fried it in motor
oil (they probably did). Besides the gnarly French toast the diner
was awesome. I felt like I was in a Twilight Zone movie. Literally,
a minute after we ordered the French toast it was on our table. Then
I ordered some toast and eggs and it seemed it was on my plate 10 seconds
later. The best part was the bill: Total $10.00 for two big meals,
the worst: They had a gumball machine by the door and Frank spotted
it before we got back on the road. Do you know what it's like to have
your brother who’s eight years older than you, sticking gumballs in your
face saying, "Ha-Ha! Looky what I have here".
Having a cell phone has made traveling so much easier. We knew
our sister Georgette was doing the same drive with Cam, but we didn't
know when. Well, it turned out they left 10 minutes before we did, and
were only an exit ahead of us. I told them we were hours behind, and
then we put the petal to the metal and
snuck up behind
them. We followed each other for a while. Then we stopped
for lunch at a great historic town;
Angelica
, NY. Either Angelica or Cuba, NY (which is the next exit
going west on 17) is a fine place for lunch or a break.
We arrived at my sister Carol's house in Erie at the same time as
Georgette, Cam, and our cousins from Chicago (Dennis, Sheridan,
Bea, and Willem
). My Dad was there too, because his girlfriend, Nancy, lives around
the corner. We had a great time
hanging by the fire
,
playing with the kids
, and
playing charades with the family
.
Thanksgiving morning
we woke up to
8 inches
of
snow
. Well, you know what that meant...
sleigh riding
! What's better than taking your niece and nephew sledding?
Playing with the little ones in the snow works up an appetite, which
was good because we had an incredible
Thanksgiving Dinner
. We toasted our host, our health and my Mom, who was with us in
spirit. It's tough having the whole family together and not having
the focal point of our family not physically there. After dinner I
was on the phone with Amber Airplane who was only 100 miles away in Cleveland
with her family. It's a long story why we weren't together, but let's
not get into that. Let's just say she wasn't too happy with me. When
I got off the phone, I walked in the living room and was shocked to see
what everyone was doing...
PM Yoga
. I said, “You guys are joking right”? They looked
at me and said your brother Frank made us do it. Figures.
On Friday, we went down to the
CBS tv studio
to watch Carol do her adopt a pet segment (She also had
Georgette and Sheridan help out). Afterward, we partook in the busiest
shopping day of the year. Although Erie is not known for it's shopping,
they do have the best
TJ Maxx
store around. Carol, who I said last week is the only person
who can out shop Amber Airplane and my cousin Dennis, proved to us what she
could do. Two hours later, TJ Maxx was undoubtedly in the black. Then
we went to Nature Boy Frank's favorite store;
Gander Mountain
. Carol proved once again why she is the champion shop-o-holic.
She even found something for herself in a hunting store, when she walked
out of there with a brand new pair of boots.
My brother in law Tom has an antique Caesar's Palace slot machine,
and
my Dad was teaching
my niece why not to gamble. He must've gone through a bucket
full of quarters and didn't win once. Hopefully, it's not a precursor
to next week's trip. There will be 45 of us traveling to Las Vega$
this weekend to celebrate my Dad's birthday. Look out Nevada here
we come!
WE NEED YOUR HELP! JohnnyJet.com was
founded as a labor of love. To keep supporting this
valuable information please send your friends, colleagues,
and anyone else you have in your address book an email encouraging
them to log on. Make sure you ask them to sign up
for our weekly newsletter, and to book their travel from our site!
Thanks for all your support! Johnny
I know you want a COOL
T-Shirt or Hat.
Click Here for more Details
.
Next Week:
Las Vega$
WHAT'S NEW IN
JOHNNY JET
JET CAPTAINS
QUESTION OF THE WEEK:
On
a recent flight, the airline said my flight was delayed three and a half
hours due to the weather. Once on board the plane, the pilot announced that
he was sorry for the delay but they had to turn the plane around, go back
to the airport and have a fuel gauge that wasn't functioning corrected. Passengers
were all a little annoyed that the airline had lied to us. My question is:
Is it common for the airlines to tell passengers the delay is due to weather
when it is mechanical
SKYGIRLS
QUESTION OF THE WEEK:
At the airline that you work for, what
is the service on domestic flights
Travel Celebrity Q&A:
Sheryl Mexic
GOOD TO KNOW!
If there's one thing
that Thanksgiving always signifies, it is the start of
the crazy Christmas shopping season. And so, with that
in mind, here is a list of the top ten shopping destinations,
courtesy of travel research company DK Shifflet. >From
David M Rowell aka The Travel Insider
10. Phoenix, Ariz. “Boutique malls attract over 10 million
visitors annually to this Southwest mecca.”
9. San Diego “Horton Plaza in the heart of the city’s Gaslamp
District is an architectural maze that includes the Lyceum
Theatre, a prominent live theater that features drama and
musical comedy.”
8. Minneapolis “Home to the Mall of America, the largest such
shopping center in the U.S., children like the action
at Knott’s Camp Snoopy, especially the indoor roller coaster”
7. Gatlinburg, Tenn. “Smoky Mountains serve as a backdrop for
quaint shops filled with wood carvings and folk art.”
6. San Francisco “Ghiradelli Square is more than a miscellany
of brick structures in a touristy part of the city, it
is an enduring symbol of entrepreneurial success.”
5. Atlanta “Lenox Square is the largest mall in the Southeast
and the center for upscale shopping.”
4. New York “From Madison Avenue to Soho, the Big Apple is still
a hit.”
3. Chicago “State Street is better than ever since Marshall
Field’s and Carson’s underwent renovations.”
2. Las Vegas, Nev. "The family-friendly Boulevard mall has the
Big Paw Club for Kids."
1. Orlando, Fla. “Walt Disney World’s Disney Village Marketplace
has something for everyone, including on-the-premises
boat rentals
Travel Portal
All your travel needs can be accessed
from one spot - Check it out because
Johnny Jet Takes
You There!!!
Click Here:
http://www.johnnyjet.com
To unsubscribe
or Subscribe a Friend To
Johnny Jet's
Travel News:
Click Here
:
http://www.johnnyjet.com/folder/signup/signup.html
