While I generally reserve writing on this blog for my international adventures I could not resist sharing some of the things I learned during my month spent flying with JetBlue. At the end of August JetBlue sold an "All-You-Can-Jet" pass for $600. Basically for a month you could fly anywhere JetBlue goes and I decided why the heck not take advantage of this. So over the course of a month I was in 6 different cities (one trip was with work but since it took place during my month of flying I'll count it) and spent over 54hours in the air. I went to each place with little to no knowledge on what to do there and since I was alone it made it a little more difficult.
Below are some of the things I learned on my trip in no particular order
- Bellhops are cool people - they know where the local stuff is and are used to answering stupid questions
- Stay away from tourist bars at night - asking the Bellhop for a dive is the best way to meet locals
- There's no such thing as street meat outside of NY, your typical drunken munchies is Subway sandwiches, gyros, or pizza.
- Vegas is huge and trying to walk the strip leads to dehydration and death
- The Vegas monorail is cheap, fast and a great way for getting around and seeing the entire strip without death by dehydration (see #4) but does NOT run 24/7
- Seattle has awesome coffee and it's NOT Starbucks - the local stuff makes Starbucks taste like sewer water and dirty socks. Top Pot and Peet's Coffee are superior choices
- The Space Needle is not that great, neither is the Music Experience museum - they're both pricey and overrated
- Real donuts rock - TSA tried to hijack my 2 dozen Top Pot donuts on the way home
- Wine tasting in Ghiradelli Square (San Francisco) is fun - the wineries are local, the guys know a lot and are great teachers, just don't get suckered into buying a case of wine
- Ghiradelli Square does not have that much Ghiradelli chocolate - just two identical stores
- Bus tours are a great way to get around larger cities and get a lot in in a short amount of time
- Dealers in Vegas are very nice, a lot of them will take the time to teach you the game and won't get mad if you make mistakes or break rules - the dealers at the Hilton are the nicest
- Between 5am and 2pm is when everyone is sleeping in Vegas
- Gambling loses it's magic after 24 hours.
- Being in Vegas on the night of a big boxing match leads to meeting a lot of interesting characters. At 5am I met one of the only female boxing critics/radio personality.
- Don't pass up the waitress when she comes by asking if you want a drink while at the tables, chances are she ain't coming back for a good 40 minutes.
- Tip that waitress a couple of bucks (though it prevents you from gambling that money) and watch as the drinks magically appear in your hand every 10 minutes.
- The Golden Gate Bridge is pretty and cold as a mofo
- Sourdough bread from Boudin's bakery is the best, and you can watch them make it
- Jack in the Box - 'nuff said (actually got off the tour bus just for this one)
- Homeless people on the West Coast run rampant, but aren't generally as crazy as those on the East Coast
- As Anchorman has taught us there really is nothing in San Diego beyond the zoo
- San Diego wins as the cheapest place to get drunk - everywhere has dollar beer, all the time
- The best seat on the plane is actually the middle. The window is claustrophobic, the aisle busy and abusive. And I'm no twig either.
- Leg room actually matters. I spent over 54 hours listening to Jet Blue brag about having more legroom and thought who cares. A week later I flew on American and dreamed of the days when I wasn't forced to fly like a pickle in a jar.
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