See Willi in the snow
Willi, the Condor Boeing 757-300 chartered for the Mega DO, is enjoying the snow in Oslo.
Pictures courtesy of perlman and nickpiggot via Twitpic.
Fine dining with Star Alliance and Lufthansa
Wrapping up the first day of the tours here in Germany, our group was treated to a meal by the folks from Lufthansa and Star Alliance. The event was held in the main dining room of Lufthansa’s executive offices just off the airport grounds and we were very well taken care of, to say the least.
Good booze and good food flowed, as did good friendship and camaraderie.
Jan Albrecht was present, along with a number of other executives from airlines and the alliance. They were happy to circulate among the crowd and get feedback from our group, with one of them noting rather humbly that they knew that the FlyerTalk community has a more in-depth understanding of their products than even they do and that they depend on us a good amount to know when things are broken.
A few more speeches, including the very appropriate and heartfelt thanks being extended to the organizers of the event.
Lufthansa had some flight attendants at the event as part of the photo shoot and then to be at the party to show off some of the retro uniforms that they used to use. Quite sharp, to say the least.
Boarding passes being distributed:
John celebrating the fact that he managed to lose and find his passport in the 12 hours prior to the departure from the USA. He had great reason to drink and celebrate, not that we really need good reasons.
Getting ready to head out on the first charter flight now.
And The Big Day Begins – Flight DE9254 is ready to board!
Photo courtesy of Perlman via Twitpic:
Mr. DeVille, I’m ready for my close-up
As part of this week’s events a number of reporters have joined the events. It turns out that I know one of them through my brother-in-law (that was a strange coincidence to discover, especially after we had talked for a couple hours) and they are all working the story on various angles. Just who are these crazy folks that love to travel so much? Are there really people who spend every week on the road and then go out of our way to travel more when work stops sending us on the road?
Yes, these people really exist, and they are us.
One of the crews working such a story arranged for a photographer and the associated support staff to be available to shoot a photograph related to their story. I participated in that event and we had a blast. I cannot share the name of the publication or the real details of the shoot as of yet, but I’ve been told to expect the article and photo to be published in the February issue of the publication and you can be sure that I’ll be sharing more of that once it is official.
In the meantime, here are a couple shots of our group relaxing before and after the shoot.
And, just for fun, a cool shot of one of the interior lobbies in Lufthansa’s headquarters near Frankfurt airport.
Lufthansa flight 405 to Frankfurt is now boarding
I’m pretty sure that the Lufthansa folks have never had over 100 passengers show up for the Star Gold boarding line. Yet there we all were, a hundred of us, lined up waiting to board Lufthansa’s flight 405 from New York’s JFK airport to Frankfurt. And we had a ridiculously good time.
We filled up the plane. Literally. We had almost all the seats in business class and a whole bunch in coach, too. The plane was 100% full, plus a couple extras. The Lufthansa employees from NYC coming over to Frankfurt for the event had to ride jump seat rather than even getting seats in coach. There were literally no seats left on the plane.
The good news is that the seats we filled were done so with great fun and excitement. The bad news, such as it was, is that the tailwinds on our flight meant that total flight time was just a hair over 6 hours to get to Germany. That’s really fast. So fast that full enjoyment of the meal service and the Business Class experience and also getting some sleep is really hard to do. Almost impossible, really. But that didn’t stop us from trying.
Here are a few photos from in flight:
And then, before I really had time to understand just how much fun I was having, we were less than 4 hours from arrival in Frankfurt!
Through some means that I have yet to fully understand, one of the folks in our group got access to the flight deck and rode up there for the landing in Frankfurt. Seriously. And he’s given me copies of the photos to prove it!
Yeah, that was our plane coming in for a landing in Frankfurt. Finally, a shot that is often repeated but always enjoyable upon arrival in Frankfurt, the reflection of the plane:
More tours, lounges and incredible fun later in the day on arrival. Those posts to come eventually. Right now I’m too tired and drunk for my fingers to really work any more.
Welcome to the Welcome Lounge in Frankfurt
Our flight was early. Almost ridiculously so. We actually circled a bit near London and slowed down coming into Frankfurt and we were still ridiculously early. What we lost in terms of sleep time in-flight, however, was made up for in terms of time spent in the Welcome Lounge arrivals facility in airport.
For me that meant grabbing some food – I slept through the brekkie service on the flight – as well as a bit of a pick-me-up drink. The bar had all the makings available for Bloody Mary’s, including a nice little setup of Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, black pepper and lemon. But no Vodka. And when asked the agent seemed dumbfounded that such a thing could even be considered. Alas, I was relegated to a glass of beer instead. These are the sacrifices I’ve learned to make for my devotion to the cause.
We managed to be parked at one of the most remote hard stands which meant a 15 minute long taxi and then an additional ride on buses over to the immigration facilities. We spotted the Lufthansa retrojet along the way. She’s a beautifully painted Airbus A321 and looks just as lovely as the Continental retrojet.
Everyone headed off in their own direction at this point, mostly to the hotels to freshen up and prepare for tours of the Lufthansa facilities or other events on-site Wednesday evening, including a dinner hosted by Star Alliance and Lufthansa.
Lounging at JFK
Lufthansa is quite proud of their new flagship lounge facilities at New York’s JFK airport and rightfully so. The lounges are quite impressive. And it really is multiple lounges. Through just one one door there are actually three lounges in increasing levels of quality as you ascend the internal stairs.
The Business lounge at concourse level offers up a large space, phenomenal views of the apron and some pretty good food, along with beer and wine. It is the largest of the three areas and is where our group was based for the evening.
Next level up is the Senator lounge, reserved for Star Alliance Gold elites. It is even nicer, with additional meal options and a full bar. It is quite nice. If you have the means, I highly recommend it.
The top floor is the First Class lounge, with even more booze choices and even more exclusive access. No photos were taken (by me) up there.
There were a few speeches made by folks from Lufthansa and our hosts and then much socializing. With lots of champagne consumed. It actually appeared a bit as though we overwhelmed the staff there but they took it in stride and were were cared for phenomenally well. Did I mention the lots of champagne?
And then our plane arrived. She’s a beauty. Non-stop Boeing 747-400 service from New York’s John F. Kennedy International airport to Frankfurt Main. The flight wasn’t long enough to truly enjoy the fantastic Lufthansa service that we received, but we did our best. 
Oh, and we we actually beat the Van Wyck Expressway. Seriously. We made it from Newark Airport to JFK in incredibly good time.
Welcoming Continental to Star Alliance
Continental Airlines is no stranger to providing quality tours to the FlyerTalk crowd, and the Star MegaDo was no exception. By the time we got to Newark our crowd was about 100 strong. There were three different tours offered, ranging from the maintenance hangar (a 757-300 was having an engine swapped out) to the Operations tower to the catering facility at Chelsea Kitchens.
I got to go on the Chelsea Kitchens tour (a good thing, since I’ve done the other two already) and it was truly amazing. The operations is as much large-scale manufacturing – thousands of pounds of ice every day and millions of dollars of inventory moving through monthly – as it is a kitchen, but that isn’t to say that they don’t run it as a real kitchen. The operations run 24/7 every day, cooking, baking and packaging up meals for hundreds of flights per day.
Leon is one of the shift managers in the kitchens and he was kind enough to walk us through the operation, showing us everything from packaging of ice cream sundaes to the baking of thousands of fresh breakfast muffins daily. And, in case you’re curious, they do bake the rolls for the turkey puck in house every day.
Then it was off to JFK for some partying in the lounge and the not-so-long flight over to Frankfurt.
Flight Status | LH405 The Mega DO Express
Click FLIGHT STATS for information on this flight:
LH 405 Flight Information
| Route: | From (JFK) New York, NY, US to (FRA) Frankfurt, DE | ||
| Duration: | 7h 35m | ||
| Equipment: | Boeing 747-400 Passenger (Scheduled) | ||
| Equipment: | Boeing 747-400 Passenger (Actual) | ||
| On-time Rating: |  2.8 of 5 What’s this? |
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| Codeshares: | This flight is marketed as a codeshare flight by the following carrier(s): | ||
| (ET) Ethiopian Airlines 1611 | |||
| (TG) Thai Airways International 7701 | |||
| (UA) United Airlines 8842 | |||
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FAA Delays
| FlightStats attempts to match up airport delay information that we collect from the United States and Canada with the flights that may have been affected by the delay. This information (if available) is presented in this section.
No delays have been reported for this flight |
Flight Events
| Date | Time | Source | Event | Data Updated |
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| Oct 31 | 8:12 AM | Schedules | RecordCreated | |
| Nov 03 | 2:40 AM | FAA | Time Adjustment |
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| Nov 03 | 10:24 PM | Airline | Gate Adjustment |
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| Nov 03 | 11:25 PM | FAA | Time Adjustment |
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| Nov 04 | 1:54 AM | FAA | Time Adjustment |
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| Nov 04 | 3:08 AM | FAA | Time Adjustment |
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| Nov 04 | 3:08 AM | FAA | Time Adjustment |
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| Nov 04 | 3:08 AM | FAA | Time Adjustment |
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| Nov 04 | 3:08 AM | FAA | Time Adjustment |
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| Nov 04 | 3:08 AM | FAA | STATUS-Active |
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| Nov 04 | 3:20 AM | FAA | Time Adjustment |
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| Nov 04 | 3:26 AM | FAA | Time Adjustment |
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| Nov 04 | 3:29 AM | Airline | Time Adjustment |
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| Nov 04 | 4:17 AM | FAA | Time Adjustment |
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| Nov 04 | 4:19 AM | FAA | Time Adjustment |
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A Lufthansa Gate Agent Shows Her Colors…
… with a splash of Continental as well! Thanks to XYZZY for zipping this photo out during the taxi of the Mega DO Express to FRA.
Moving on to Newark
First flight of the Star Mega Do is now done and it was phenomenal. United was nice enough to up-gage the scheduled CRJ-700 to an Airbus A320 so there was plenty of room for our crowd, with a lot of empty middle seats to make everyone rather comfortable. Plus, free snack boxes for everyone on board so that we were all able to have some lunch in the middle of a ridiculously busy day.
Captain Bob Hart, who stopped by earlier in the day to hang out at the RCC with us and chat did a great job keeping the cabin informed on the couple small delays we had and also had some fun with contests and other bits of information shared over Channel 9. Among other things, we learned that the plane used 4900 of the planned 8300 pounds of fuel during the first half of the flight. I was nowhere close in my guess.
And then the seatbelt sign was off and I wandered the aisle of the plane, documenting in great detail some of the many FlyerTalk folks on the flight. Here are the pictures to prove it:
At one point in the flight I was called upon to perform some Flight Attendant-ish duties. Woohooo!
Randy Petersen, enjoying a bit of reading and some quality leg room in the exit row.
And then there was the collection of luggage and the march over to Terminal C to meet up with the Continental folks for the afternoon tours. Randy even pitched in on the luggage schlep. What a guy.
We’re now boarding the 747-400 (D-ABVR, Koln) for the flight from JFK to Frankfurt. More posts to come once we land!
Operations and dispatch from their point of view
The idea of airport and airline operations seems simple enough. Make sure that the planes, crews, bags and passengers all know where they need to be and that they get there as close to on time as possible. OK, maybe it doesn’t actually seem all that simple. Still, when you learn what is actually going on behind all those “Restricted Access” doors in the airport it introduces a whole new level of respect and appreciation for just how complex it is to run a major airline’s day-to-day operations successfully.
As part of the Star Mega Do we were fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to go behind those closed doors and meet with the folks that make sure everything works the way it is supposed to at United Airlines’s O’Hare facility. And boy did we learn a lot.
One of the elevator rides on the tour. Yeah, the elevators are really big.
First stop for my group was up in the air. We climbed the 59 steps up to the tower perched above the terminal to visit with the group responsible for coordinating the movement of aircraft on the ground. These folks manage more than just the United planes and they do a top-notch job.
Climbing up the 59 steps to the tower (l.); Freddie, Jr. in the tower, helping with dispatch
After that we headed back down into the belly of the terminal to visit the on-site operations center as well as the crew planning and rest facilities. We got to chat with a group of 777-200 pilots who were mapping out their route to Beijing for today’s flight along with several other folks in there.
The crew of today’s ORD-PEK flight, working on the flight plan
Tommy takes a moment to clean up before continuing the tour
A couple of us also stopped to speak with Jerry in the operations center. He was excited to show us how IGAPS works for assigning gates as well as how they use it to monitor flight delays and possible misconnecting passengers. So next time they decide to not hold a connection for you, remember that it is Jerry’s fault, not that of the gate agent you’re yelling at. It is hard to believe that he was not willing to give us his phone number, huh?
Jerry shows us the details of our outbound flight in Ops
A warm welcome at the United Red Carpet Club
The first stop on the official Star Mega Do itinerary was a reception in the Red Carpet Club for the 40-odd folks who made the trip to Chicago. In addition to the usual snack fare there were some additional breakfast options available. Plus some goodies, including luggage tags and copies of the book on the history of United Airlines. All good stuff.
Goodies in the RCC!
We were fortunate to have a number of executives roaming the room, including the folks in charge of the Mileage Plus program and the Red Carpet Clubs. The RCCs are expecting to see major renovations in the coming year or two, at least in the hub cities, to bring them up to the design standard of the new O’Hare B18 lounge. That’s great news, even if it does mean that some of the lounges will be shut down at various points in time.
Graham Atkinson addresses the group
The news from Mileage Plus is equally interesting though I suppose the actual value of the changes will depend both on what they actually are – the execs were quite tight-lipped on that aspect – but they are working diligently with the United IT group to make the necessary back-end changes happen.
The trippy lights in the ORD B-C tunnel
We also got to meet the pilot for our trip – Bob Hart – and chat with him about the flight plan and his job in general. Not to be outdone by one of his colleagues, Captain Denny Flanagan showed up on his day off to socialize with the FlyerTalk group, A group in which he is quite well known as an all-around great guy.
Captain Denny Flanagan with Freddie, Jr. (l) and Captain Bob Hart signing books for the crowd (r)
There was much socializing, meeting of new friends and reconnecting with existing friends. It was also the first opportunity that Randy Petersen, the founder of FlyerTalk and frequent flyer guru, had to meet with the winner of the contest he sponsored for a seat on the trip. Mike Holovacs of New Jersey is the lucky winner and he is joining the party gratis and flying in the front of the cabin the whole way through. Truly an amazing prize to win.
After the meet & greet we headed out into, above and beneath the terminal for tours of the operations and other behind the scenes stuff. Look for that report coming soon!
Checkin for the CO events has begun!
Checkin for the Newark events has begun, with our own CO Insider and his trust sidekick Shannon registering participants. The group is still gathering. We’ll be touring visiting the operations tower, the maintenance facility, and Chelsea kitchens…
FlyerTalk 1
Here’s the aircraft that we are flying, boarding right now. Word has it that the tower will clear this flight as it taxis and takes off as FlyerTalk1. Now, how cool is that?
via First Annual Star Alliance MegaDO
LUFTHANSA LEADS UNIQUE BEHIND THE SCENES LOOK AT THE AIRLINE INDUSTRY FOR 200+ FLYERTALK MEMBERS – WebFlyer.com
From operations to maintenance, catering to crew training, Star Alliance carriers Lufthansa, United, Continental and SAS, along with Airbus, open their doors to Frequent Flyers from around the world in this first “Mega DO” celebration
Colorado Springs, Colo. (November 3, 2009) When Lufthansa flight 405 lifts off from Kennedy airport this evening, the passengers onboard will represent one of the largest concentrations of frequent travellers ever to occupy a widebody flight – until the group triples two days later. Some 60 Business Class and 28 Economy Class passengers representing six different frequent flyer programs and collectively holding over 24 million frequent flyer miles will make their way to Germany today as members of the world’s largest online frequent flyer community, FlyerTalk. By the end of their five-day journey, over 200 members from around the world will have come together to celebrate their love of airlines and flying. Dubbed the “Star Alliance Mega DO”, the trip will offer these airline enthusiasts a behind the scenes look at Lufthansa, United, Continental and SAS, as well as an Airbus A380 being assembled in Toulouse. It will take members away from the familiar setting of an aircraft cabin to meet with executives from the world’s leading international airlines, and explore their worlds from a different angle – and altitude.
“While FlyerTalk has provided its members with other unique experiences, the breadth and scope of the Star Alliance Mega DO is unprecedented in terms of the number of participants as well as the exclusive access afforded by our Star Alliance hosts,” said FlyerTalk founder Randy Petersen. “At a time when the airline industry as a whole is struggling, this event represents a $300,000 cash injection under which our members, and the airlines involved, get to understand one another better and just plain have fun.”
The Mega DO begins the morning of Tuesday, November 3rd with a group of FlyerTalk members touring the United Airlines operations facilities at Chicago O’Hare International Airport. Participants will later fly to Newark, where a larger group will assemble as Continental, the newest Star Alliance member, showcases its Chelsea Kitchens and operations tower. Next is a transfer to JFK Airport for a send-off party at Lufthansa’s new three-tier flagship lounge.
“We’re honored to host such an extraordinary event together with our Star Alliance and industry partners,” said Wolfgang Mayrhuber, Chairman and CEO of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, who will welcome the 200+ members in Frankfurt. “We have great respect for our frequent flyers and high admiration for the FlyerTalk community’s unparalleled understanding of the airline industry. We especially look forward to welcoming Continental’s frequent flyers for the first time to introduce them to our Lufthansa world.”
After LH 405 touches down in Frankfurt, the group will undergo cabin crew training in Lufthansa Flight Training’s aircraft simulators, to prepare FlyerTalk moderators for their role in the next day’s events. In the evening, Star Alliance CEO Jaan Albrecht and Deutsche Lufthansa AG’s Vice President of Marketing, Hubert Frach, will co-host a retro- themed dinner that commemorates the heyday of commercial aviation.
Day three finds the FlyerTalkers jetting around Europe aboard a chartered Boeing 757- 300 Condor plane aptly painted “Wir lieben fliegen” (“We Love to Fly”). FlyerTalk leader Randy Petersen and over a dozen moderators from FlyerTalk airline forums, including Lufthansa forum moderator and DO co-host Oliver Majumdar, will put the previous day’s training to the test when they serve as cabin crew and/or pursers onboard the aircraft. First stop, Oslo, Norway, where 35 additional FlyerTalkers will join the trip beginning with breakfast hosted by SAS executives in the airline’s hangar. Immediately afterwards, the charter flight will depart for Toulouse, France with a full complement of 230 FlyerTalkers and international media onboard.
“Passengers can look forward to an onboard experience unlike any before,” said Tommy Danielsen, FlyerTalk’s SAS moderator and one of the trip’s three co-hosts. Upon arrival in Toulouse, Airbus will provide tours of its A380 Final Assembly Line and Mock-up Center. Guests will get a peek at one of Lufthansa’s first A380s in production. The group’s whirlwind day concludes with a return flight to Frankfurt and evening reception at Lufthansa’s award-winning Tower lounge, offering the ultimate view over the apron.
On the final day of programming, Friday, November 6th, Lufthansa and its partners will open their doors for a full day of tours and information exchange. Participants will take part in focus groups hosted by Lufthansa to debut an exclusive meta-community mobile phone application that will enable the real-time exchange of information and tips, including a location-based feature facilitating spontaneous meet-ups with fellow FlyerTalkers while in transit. To conclude the DO, members will overnight at Lufthansa’s new training and conference center, which is located outside Frankfurt in the town of Seeheim, where they will partake in the ultimate insider experience – mingling with hundreds of Lufthansa staff from around the world.
About Lufthansa
One of the world’s largest and most prestigious airlines, Lufthansa flies to 191 destinations in 78 countries, with hubs in Frankfurt, Munich, and with its recent acquisition of Austrian Airlines and SWISS – Vienna and Zurich. From its 21 North American gateways, Lufthansa serves over 400 destinations in more than 100 countries. An industry innovator, the airline has long been committed to environmental care and sustainability, operating the most technically-advanced and fuel-efficient fleet in the world. Its long-haul fleet to and from North America includes the Boeing 747-400, as well as the Airbus A340-600, A340-300 and A330-300. Currently, Lufthansa has 170 aircraft worth more than $20 billion on order. It will be the largest European operator of the A380 and is also the launch customer for the new Boeing 747-8, the industries’ two most fuel-efficient passenger aircraft. Known for its premium services, Lufthansa is currently investing $190 million in building new or upgraded lounge facilities across it worldwide network. In January 2009, it opened a three-story, U.S. flagship lounge at JFK Airport. For more information or reservations, visit http://www.lh.com.
About FlyerTalk
With more than 170,000 members and nearly 13 million comments posted, FlyerTalk is the world’s largest frequent traveler community. Started by frequent traveler guru and publisher of InsideFlyer magazine, Randy Petersen, the interactive online community has over 150 forums on all things travel – from individual airlines to airports, dining, destinations, earning and redeeming miles, solving problems, and more. For the latest updates from the StarMegaDo, visit the official event website and blog at: http://www.starmegado.com, where pictures and video from the event will be posted. You can also follow the conversation in the Lufthansa Miles & More forum online at http://www.flyertalk.com or on Twitter under the DO’s official hashtag, #starmegado.
CONTACT:
Karen Heldt
Frequent Flyer Services
1930 Frequent Flyer Point
Colorado Springs, Colo. 80915
karen@frequentflyernetwork.com
+1 (719) 597-88
http://www.webflyer.com/company/press_room/press_releases/index.php?art_key=47
Star Alliance Takes Elite Frequent Flyers on a Whirlwind Tour – The Middle Seat Terminal – WSJ
If you spend your life traveling for your job, does a week of visiting airlines in the U.S. and Europe really sound like fun?
It does to a group of road warriors embarking Tuesday on a unique venture organized by FlyerTalk.com, an online community of expert travelers.
The Star Alliance MegaDO (as in a “really big ‘do”) starts with a briefing with United Airlines in Chicago then jets off to Newark, N.J., for a behind-the-scenes look at operations, including the in-flight meal kitchen, at Continental Airlines’ hub there. That night, the 88 participants, who collectively already hold 24 million frequent flyer miles, fly to Frankfurt and join more than 100 more airline junkies in Europe for meetings and briefings with Lufthansa executives.
The following day, a chartered Boeing 757-300 will take the group of 200 to Oslo, Norway, for breakfast with SAS, then Toulouse, France, for a tour of the Airbus A380 final assembly line. Then it’s back to Frankfurt for a stint at Lufthansa’s flight attendant training academy.
Airlines coddle these uber-travelers because they are among their best customers. With business travel in a deep slump, the Star Alliance airlines are bending over backwards for the event.
Stay tuned for updates on the group’s experience.
via Star Alliance Takes Elite Frequent Flyers on a Whirlwind Tour – The Middle Seat Terminal – WSJ.
FlyerTalk, party of 15, your table is now ready
Sure, we do a great job of calculating all the permutations of flight routings and mileage credits, but when it comes to making a reservation for dinner the math skills fall apart in a hurry. That or the reply skills suck. Either way we had about 20 folks show up for our dinner of 15 tonight. Even with the oversell situation we managed to work it out pretty well. We squeezed in extra seats and eventually overflowed into another table to accommodate that crowd.
Delicious food, a few drinks and some great stories of travel and other fun. Hard to go wrong with this crowd. The real party doesn’t start until tomorrow, bright and early at 7:30am. See y’all there!
Tomorrow is the day!!
Well, I’m happy to say that we are as ready as we can be. Just came home after running around all day picking up and dropping off stuff all over Chicago land. 4 huge duffel bags are packed and the biggest suitcase I own is packed. Now to pack my personal stuff :p
If only the Yankees could bring the trophy home tonight, it would make everything complete.
I will see you tomorrow, safe travels!
