Dilemma #1 - To Give or not Give

I figured several dilemmas would start cropping up along the trip, reason why I have decided to label this #1. Here is the situation:  I purchased our tickets to San Francisco separately, Courtney’s was purchased with miles and mine was a free ticket I was awarded by United for my continued loyalty.  I booked the tickets separately and by the time I booked the second ticket, I wasn’t able to get two seats next to each other. At the time I didn’t think it was a big deal.

Last night, I checked-in both of us for the flight and I noticed that I had been upgraded to First Class.  Unfortunately, since Court’s ticket was purchased with miles it cannot be upgraded.  So now, we are not sitting together and I am sitting in First Class while Courtney will be sitting in 22D, pretty far back.  My initial thought was: I have earned this upgrade and I can’t wait to have free Bloody Marys’…Yes! And to make Court feel good about the situation I could send her one of my free drinks.  PERFECT!!! ….well, not too fast. I quickly realized that I had a couple more alternatives:

Alternative #1 – I could give up my seat to whoever is sitting next to Courtney on the plane. This way we would fly together on the first leg of the trip.  It would be the ultimate sacrifice, neither one of us gets the First Class seat but we get to sit together.

Alternative #2 - I could be the loving husband and give up my seat to Courtney.  She could enjoy First Class and maybe she could send a drink to the back of the plane for me.  Additionally, I could also gain some brownie points, which I could exercise at some point in the future.

I kept this information from Courtney, so she was not aware that I had been upgraded. I am curious to hear from all of you what you would do if you were in my shoes and what you think I did. I will let you know what happed in a future post. 

Welcome, Bienvenidos, Welkom, Bienvenue

Welcome to the Tobons Around the World Blog! Over the next twelve months we will be traveling around the world, visiting over 100 cities in over 30 countries and we wanted to give you all some insight as to why we are doing this.  To be honest, this trip has been a pipe dream for both us and we thought that it would never materialize.  Let’s face it, we aren’t trust fund babies and we aren’t getting any younger.  However, our love for travel, our parents’ inspiration, and our desire for adventure has helped us overcome any obstacles.

We are super excited to embark on this adventure before life gets too serious with kids, a house, PTA meetings, minivans, dinner parties, or even more importantly deciding if we go with a beige or crème ottoman for the living room (this already happened!).  We have been saving for this trip for four years.  Some sacrifices have been made, such as Courtney going from buying Manolos to not buying Manolos anymore.  In all seriousness we have had to make life adjustments, but they have all been worthwhile. From learning how to cook at home to wearing extra layers during the winter months, every penny, hotel point, airline mile has helped towards making our dream come true.

 We want to thank our amazing friends and family who have supported us during the planning process of this trip and who have encouraged our every whim. We welcome you to follow us on our adventure and we look forward to hearing from you all or seeing you somewhere in the world!

Five days until our freedom date…….Woo Hoo!!!!