2nd Year: In Review

You may remember my post last year telling you where we went during Jason's 1st year at Southwest Airlines. Now, it's officially been 2 years since Jason started and we've definitely continued to take advantage of the perks. In addition to the US travel, we did a LOT of international travel during the past 12 months. We are pretty much pros at flying standby on other airlines. Also, we've mastered the art of packing in carry-ons (even for a 17 day SE Asia trip).

By the numbers:

10 countries visited

57,468 miles logged

130 hours in the air

2,886 pictures taken

20 bags of honey-roasted peanuts eaten

I've added a new tab ("Where We've Traveled") to the top of the blog so you can see everywhere where we've been, so I won't be repetitive here. We've gotten pretty used to being on flights and even better at traveling together in general. We've had some great flying experiences and a few not so great ones, but the trips have always been amazing and more than make up for any annoyances. We always fly standby and didn't encounter a full flight or anything that prevented us from making it back home. We've had some serious close calls, but we've been pretty lucky so far! I feel like I could write a whole book on surviving the non-rev system...

Plans are still up in the air (yes, pun intended), for Jason's 3rd year at SWA, but we have thrown around the idea of going somewhere in Central America or Mexico with the Gold Passes or AA points. We're also planning to make a trip to England and Scotland. There will be plenty of US travel mixed in there too (including 3 traveling weddings). In addition to the confirmed trips we are taking, you can also see our wish list for all of the trips we eventually plan on taking on the "Upcoming Travels" tab.

Whale's Tail - Belize

Isle of Skye - Scotland

Big Ben - London

My next trip is to Orlando, FL here in a few days for a work conference. I'm so excited about checking something off my bucket list - visiting the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I'll let you know how butterbeer tastes! I'll also be swinging by Magic Kingdom for a night. After that trip, it's mainly traveling to weddings to round out 2013.

Well, I'm off to plan our trips for year 3. I'm sure it will be just as amazing as this past year. Here are some of our favorite moments from Jason's second year at Southwest Airlines:

Sound of Music bike tour in Salzburg, Austria

Aggies at Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany

 Picnic at the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France

Walking the Lavaux terraces in Montreaux, Switzerland

 Dinner along the Danube in Budapest, Hungary

In a tuk-tuk exploring Angkor in Siem Reap, Cambodia

Cruising through the karsts in Halong Bay, Vietnam

Tasting the sour mash at the Willett Bourbon Distillery in Bardstown, Kentucky

Boulevard Brewing Company behind the scenes tour in Kansas City, MO

Feet in the sand in Key West, FL

Visiting the Temple of the Reclining Buddha in Bangkok, Thailand

On top of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in Sante Fe, NM

 Hiking in Deep Cove in Vancouver, Canada

Cheers to Southwest Airlines in Koh Samui, Thailand

Budapest, Hungary

Day 9: We started our day en route to Budapest via Easyjet. This was a great process overall...it's a discount airline, but everyone was still very nice (v. RyanAir). No horror stories here.

Budapest wins the award for: Cheapest City, Most Interesting Spa Experience, Most Beautiful City at Night

We arrived to Budapest in the afternoon and made our way to our luxury accommodations at Hotel Palazzo Zichy. This place was incredible! We wandered to a little area of outdoor eateries close to our hotel for a quick drink. WOW, we definitely got our money's worth here. It was a little less than 2 Euros for a liter of beer (compared to the 10 Euros we would pay at Oktoberfest). After having a few drinks, we were pretty hungry, so we walked to this cute Greek place - Taverna Dionysis. The food was absolutely delicious and they even gave Mallory and I roses :) We then walked along the Danube river for a while...Budapest is the stunning at night! Note to self: Don't drink the ouzo! I don't care if it's free, it's not worth it!

Day 10: Budapest is definitely the city of spas and we wanted to see what all the fuss was about! This was the day we went to the Szechenyi thermal spas, a Turkish bathhouse. I've had a lot of time to reflect on our trip here and I still can't decide whether or not I liked it. To start, you just need to go in with the mindset that you WILL see things you don't want to...yikes. (Mental image - 400+ pound guy in a banana hammock.) Beyond that, it was a nice, relaxing afternoon. It's definitely a way of life there. Putting that aside, the water is supposed to have healing properties. I'm a little skeptical considering Jason got sick the next day...but I'll tell that story later.

The pools outside

Hanging out in the baths

Later that night, we decided to walk around to see Buda Castle, Danube River banks and the Parliament building at night. It started to POUR on us, but we were persistent. We grabbed a quick drink and waited it out. Once the rain let up, it was absolutely gorgeous! After the trek up to the castle, we walked across the famous chain bridge and made our way to Borkonyha Winekitchen for a cheap, wonderful meal.

Us and Parliament - right before the rain started

Buda castle

Parliament building on the Pest side

Buda castle

Running across the bridge - windy and COLD!

Overall thoughts on Budapest: It was a little behind the times. The subway system, while functioning, sounded like it would break down any second. There are young people EVERYWHERE...it seemed like the youngest city we visited. Also, the roads are insanely confusing and I'm glad we didn't rent a car here! While it was fun, I think we were ready to head to Germany for Oktoberfest.

Up next though, our short day trip from Munich: Salzburg, Austria!

In the NEXT year...

Exciting news in the non-rev world. Jason is a rockstar and won Internal Audit employee of the quarter. Along with the title comes...2 GOLD TICKETS! (I'm feeling a little like Charlie.) Gold tickets mean that it's a guaranteed spot! What do you mean Christy? You don't have to get to the airport at 4am to catch the earliest flight? Or sit in the middle seat because you're boarding last? You get a boarding pass the NIGHT BEFORE? Madness! With our impending Euro trip and my new job, I don't have any remaining vacation this year, but we will definitely put that to good use.

So, you guys have read where we've BEEN in my last post, now look where we're (tentatively) going! As always in the world of standby, these things can change. On our list for Jason's 2nd year at SWA (mid 2012 - mid 2013):

Euro Trip with John and Mal: Tickets have been purchased and it's insane how cheap they were. Thanks to airline partnerships, they were only $240/person roundtrip! We ARE paying for some airfare around Europe, but the prices were really good (Like $40 a person good)!

France (Paris, Normandy, and Burgundy)

Switzerland (Geneva)

Hungary (Budapest)

Germany (Munich...for Oktoberfest!)

Austria (Salzburg)

Czech Republic (Prague)

Weekend Trips - still up in the air:

New Orleans, LA

Boston, MA

Portland, OR

Boise, ID

Reno/Tahoe, NV

And the part I'm jumping for joy at...2 weeks of backpacking through Southeast Asia! I convinced Jason to go with me on the condition that I plan everything. What's new? Ha. 

Places we'd like to go:

Thailand (Koh Samui, Bangkok, Chiang Mai)

Laos (Luang Prabang)

Cambodia (Siem Reap to see Angkor Wat)

Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur)

Singapore

We also have a 3 year plan that includes Australia/New Zealand/Bora Bora, going back to Hawaii (Big Island, Molokai), and another couple of trips back to Europe (England, Ireland, Scotland, Netherlands, Turkey, Croatia, Greece). Gotta get while the getting's good, right? Cheap flights can't be beat (except by free ones), and the only responsibilities we have involve our pup.

OH! And a big thanks to Southwest Airlines for providing Jason and I with over $5,500 (!!) worth of free travel so far. After our Europe and SE Asia trips, that number is sure to skyrocket.

Stay tuned for more travel adventures :)