american airlines – Intentionally Untitled

I usually love airports. The novelty of the entire flying experience somehow still hasn’t worn off—the wait at an airport bar is always my favorite excuse to eat some garbage and drink some beer and anticipate the adventure ahead. Even just sitting by the floor-to-ceiling windows at DCA and watching planes take off with the Capitol and the Washington Monument in the background is soothing to me. Especially after reading David McCullough’s engrossing biography of the Wright Brothers last year, it’s impossible for me not to marvel at the miracle of what I’m about to do: take flight.

But this week, when I arrived at DCA three and a half hours early for a flight home to New York, it was… decidedly not magical. One might even call it nightmarish. It was more crowded than I’ve ever seen it. After a long week at work, my nerves just couldn’t handle the masses of people. And so it ended up prompting a travel first: in a split second of extravagance and anxiety, I bought a day pass to the Admirals Club. Continue reading “Review: My Inaugural Admirals Club Experience at DCA” →

Almost 8 years after I got my learner permit, I still haven’t managed to pass my road test. Or, uh, bothered taking it. To the shock of some people who find this out, I do manage to function as an adult human despite my lack of a driver’s license, thanks very much.

But when my first holiday season as a cat owner rolled around, I did find one big inconvenience. At the holidays, DC is a ghost town. And petsitter fees skyrocket. And I have no one to care for my cat but also can’t just drive her home like my roommate did with his cat.

And that was how Lily ended up paying the price for my stubbornness/ineptitude and racking up her first thousand miles on American Airlines. Continue reading “Cat on a Plane” →