I made my original plans for the Big Walk back in August of 2021 using 119,000 United Frequent Flyer miles I had acquired while a road warrior in the 90's and 00's. Due to the pandemic and reduced flights, despite it being 9 months away, the route selections were not good.
Note: I have over 160,00 miles left with a life time accrual of 505,047 miles to date.
In the past when flying from California I had several standard routes to choose from
When I went to United to search I could not see these routes. Using the planning calendar and selecting business class for the "over the pond" leg, I was able to book the following flight path:
In December I got notice that my departing flight from San Antonio would be an hour later, but everything else was the same, no big deal.
Note: I have over 160,00 miles left with a life time accrual of 505,047 miles to date.
In the past when flying from California I had several standard routes to choose from
- San Diego-Denver-London-Aberdeen
- San Diego-San Francisco-Frankfurt-Aberdeen
- San Diego-Chicago-Amsterdam-Aberdeen
- Or some combination of these.
When I went to United to search I could not see these routes. Using the planning calendar and selecting business class for the "over the pond" leg, I was able to book the following flight path:
- Flights out: San Antonio to Chicago to Zurich to Oslo to Aberdeen
- Flights back: Aberdeen to Oslo to Frankfurt to Washington D.C to San Antonio.
In December I got notice that my departing flight from San Antonio would be an hour later, but everything else was the same, no big deal.
Then yesterday I received another email form United about a flight change. When I looked the new flight paths going and returning had a new stop AND I was departing from Stavenger, on this new leg, BEFORE I ARRIVED - WTF!!!!
- Flights out: San Antonio to Chicago to Zurich to Oslo to Stavenger (Norway) to Aberdeen on the way over.
- Flights Back: it would be Aberdeen to Stavenger (Norway) to Oslo to Frankfurt to Washington D.C to San Antonio.
Later, I called back and explained the situation to the (new) agent and got her to agree with me that the new flight plans were rather impossible to do. I then explained that I can't cancel the trip but I could, with her help shift departure and return dates only one or two days as there were things that would happen while in Scotland that could NOT be changed. So she started looking at options and she even got a supervisor on the line to authorize a few things that I assume I the agent could not do nor would I have been able to do via the website.
The result was new flight plan leaving a day later and with less connections. Then we moved on to the return flight which caused more issues but a flight was found out of Edinburgh - which would mean I would have to take a train from Inverurie, which is the closest station to where Elisa lives.
I said "Book it Dano!" and I was put on hold so the agent could first confirm the new flights and connections. THEN she canceled the other flights; she didn't do that first JUST IN CASE.
For the return flight I depart of Edinburgh around noon so I decided to take the train down two days early, arriving in the afternoon. My hotel is near the train station so I can easily get back to the train station (Waverley) to get the tram to the airport. my first afternoon will be wandering the city and visting the Weaving Center as well as DoveCot Studios to see an exhibition on William Morris. Then on my full day there I will visit the Scottish National Museum.
I have been to the museum, which was just the Natural History Museum in the early 2000's with the shop elf. It's a great Victorian building with balconies and wrought iron railings, glass skylights, decorative tile floors. We went to see the Gem & Mineral collection. Then in 2004 we planned another visit as a side trip to Elisa and Mike. Unfortunately when we arrived at the museum we found it has closed THAT DAY for a massive renovation as part of the merger with the Art museum to make it the National Museum; parts of the museum where reopened in 2011 with it being fully completed in 2019. This time I will visit the Arts & Crafts, Pictish, and Mineral collections with lots of pictures to share with the shop elf.
The other big change is that I now do not have an overnight layover in D.C. so I won't see my sister. We will plan a visit for that later in the year when the world calms down more.
The result was new flight plan leaving a day later and with less connections. Then we moved on to the return flight which caused more issues but a flight was found out of Edinburgh - which would mean I would have to take a train from Inverurie, which is the closest station to where Elisa lives.
I said "Book it Dano!" and I was put on hold so the agent could first confirm the new flights and connections. THEN she canceled the other flights; she didn't do that first JUST IN CASE.
- Flights out: San Antonio to Chicago to Frankfurt to Stavenger (Norway) to Aberdeen on the way over.
- Flights Back: it would be Endinburgh to Washington D.C to San Antonio.
For the return flight I depart of Edinburgh around noon so I decided to take the train down two days early, arriving in the afternoon. My hotel is near the train station so I can easily get back to the train station (Waverley) to get the tram to the airport. my first afternoon will be wandering the city and visting the Weaving Center as well as DoveCot Studios to see an exhibition on William Morris. Then on my full day there I will visit the Scottish National Museum.
I have been to the museum, which was just the Natural History Museum in the early 2000's with the shop elf. It's a great Victorian building with balconies and wrought iron railings, glass skylights, decorative tile floors. We went to see the Gem & Mineral collection. Then in 2004 we planned another visit as a side trip to Elisa and Mike. Unfortunately when we arrived at the museum we found it has closed THAT DAY for a massive renovation as part of the merger with the Art museum to make it the National Museum; parts of the museum where reopened in 2011 with it being fully completed in 2019. This time I will visit the Arts & Crafts, Pictish, and Mineral collections with lots of pictures to share with the shop elf.
The other big change is that I now do not have an overnight layover in D.C. so I won't see my sister. We will plan a visit for that later in the year when the world calms down more.
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