Tag: AYCJ

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All You Can Jet

Day 5: Just Call Me David Lee Roth

After our walking tour of Portland, we went back to the apartment to rest up a bit, where I consumed the second half of my Willamette Valley Pinot Noir. We had dinner at the 5th Quadrant where I ordered more local beer along with a beer and cheese dip. It was a little more spicy than I’d expected, but delicious.

The night proceeded onward to a place called Alibi, where I got Shane to do karaoke for the first time in his life. Of course I did a Van Halen song— Ain’t Talkin Bout Love. The bar hated us. We were not good. At all. I jumped around and just yelled the lyrics, because at that point I was aT LEAST  15 drinks in for the evening. As if I weren’t sufficiently humiliated the first time, we decided to go back up a second time and sing “California Love.” Turns out, the only words both of us knew were “California loooove” at the very beginning. Full-length video to come!

We went back to the apartment with a case of PBR and finished the night New York style. Meaning we stayed up until about 5am. Probably not the smartest idea the day before a miniature road trip up to Seattle.

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All You Can Jet

Day 5: A Cheap Walking Tour of Portland

After eating what seemed like pounds of gooey, melted cheese, we went on a walk downtown to work off some of the fatty goodness we had just consumed. One of my “must-see” places was the Wieden + Kennedy headquarters, because I’m a dork like that. For those of you who aren’t aware, Wieden + Kennedy is an independently owned global ad agency based in Portland, Oregon. One of their founders, Dan Wieden, wrote the “Just Do It” line for Nike. More recently they’re responsible for all of those Old Spice ads with Isaiah Mustafa (I’m on a horse for those of you living under a rock). A guy standing out front of the agency told me that they were shooting a tv show all day, so I could at least peek my head in and see what the lobby looked like.

Then we walked over some bridges, and I took about 8347 pictures of the city. One of my favorite, cheapest ways to explore any city is by foot. You’l discover so many new places, and every step provides a new perspective for taking photos.

Finally, for the most beautiful view of the trip, we drove up to Joseph Wood Hill Park at Rocky Butte. The view of the city was gorgeous, but the views of Mount Hood and Mount St. Helens were absolutely breathtaking.

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All You Can Jet Food + Drinks

Day 5: So Much More Than Your Average Grilled Cheese

Saturday we started off the day in the most perfect way possible: enjoying the sunny skies while devouring some absurdly delicious grilled cheese. We went to The Grilled Cheese Grill which is yet another food truck in Portland. Except this one is way cooler. They have optional “indoor” seating inside of a school bus, and Trivial Pursuit cards to pass the time at each picnic table. For those of you in Portland, it’s located at 1027 NE Alberta Ave, at the corner of Alberta & 11th. I ordered the Gabby- four cheeses: cheddar, swiss, colby, jack, and mozzarella on white bread, and a cup of tomato soup.

Jessie & Shane both got the Jalapeno Popper with roasted jalapenos, colby jack, cream cheese, and tortilla chips on grilled white bread.

Jalapeno grilled cheese

Ruben got the Cheesus Burger, which was essentially a cheeseburger with two grilled cheese sandwiches on each side as the bun. I’m sure it’s been featured on thisiswhyyourefat.com. But if not, it will soon.

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All You Can Jet People

Portland People

So let me introduce you to the fine people who let me crash with them in Portland:

Jessie. I thoroughly annoyed her in 6th grade until she became my friend. Unfortunately I haven’t seen or spoken to her much since I moved to New York over four years ago, until this trip.

Jessie’s boyfriend, Ruben. I met him for the first time this weekend, and found out that he’s on track to becoming the next dog whisperer. And he likes AC in the car when he’s hungover.

Ruben’s brother and their roommate, Shane. I introduced Shane to the wonderful world of karaoke via Van Halen. Poor guy had never done it before in his life, and we certainly weren’t the crowd’s favorite.

Maya. The cutest little dog in Portland who can’t go more than four steps without someone stopping to pet her.

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All You Can Jet Press

Check Out Just Visiting at the AYCJ Launch Party

The people from jetBlue interviewed me during the AYCJ launch party at JFK on Tuesday, and included part of it in this video clip. Check it out above at 54 seconds!

 

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All You Can Jet

Day 3: 4 Airports

It’s day 3 of my 30 day journey, and I’ve already been to JFK all three days, which is an hour and a half commute (each way) from my apartment in Manhattan. After going to bed at 230a last night, I left my apartment this morning at 7a EST, and I won’t get to Portland until 9p EST. I just landed for a quick stop in Washington DC, then it’s on to Long Beach, and finally a transfer to Portland. Oh, and did I mention I have a middle seat? It’s going to be a long day, with a very sore neck. But I’ve never been to Portland or Seattle before, so I’m very excited! Plus, three different flights means three rounds of free snacks and drinks. That’s great news for someone whose food budget is basically a bag of quarters.

The Long Beach airport was a joke. Seriously I think there were about 3 gates, all seated in the same area. We had to walk outdoors to get to the ramp up to the plane. There were two brown sparrows hopping around that apparently “lived” in the airport. Bizarre. I think my parent’s 3 bedroom, 1 story ranch was bigger than this portion of the airport.

The Long Beach area from the airplane.
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All You Can Jet

Day 2: 10 Hours in NYC

The rain held off for my second day in Houston. As much of a random stop it turned out to be, I’m glad I was in Houston and not some of the other parts of Texas. According to The Weather Channel, Houston got about 3.6″ of rain on Tuesday (which only delayed our flight about 20 minutes as we circled in the air waiting for the storm to move through). Other cities in Texas saw up to 12 inches of rain with severe flooding, wiping out and damaging houses and cars. Dallas even saw a few tornadoes pass through the area.

I checked out of the Days Inn on Fountain View Drive and had a 30 minute conversation with the manager Nuhron Raniga. If you’re ever looking for a basic, affordable place to stay in the Houston area, I’d stay here just to have another chat with this guy. He was born in South Africa, and has spent time living in cities and countries all over the world. Yet another great aspect of travel: meeting people from all over the world and realizing how truly diverse we all are in our daily lives.

Sam picked me up and we had lunch at Wings and Things, which I’m pretty sure was a chain restaurant. It wasn’t anything spectacular inside, just what you’d imagine from a small chain named Wings and Things. Good wings though. We ordered 10 wings, a water, and a coke for $12 and some odd cents, so I didn’t break the bank treating Sam to lunch for all of his generosity. And for the record, I could really get used to these prices outside of New York.

Since jetBlue doesn’t fly from Houston to Portland, I took a flight back to JFK before heading to the Pacific Northwest. I met some more awesome people in Houston, unfortunately a little too late since I was minutes away from leaving the city, probably never to return. Two jetBlue guys, Timothy and Ozzie, were jealous of my All You Can Jet jacket at the gate. They hooked it up with some contacts and tips on how to look for hotel deals in some of the cities I’ll be visiting. They also told me about Terminal Man from last year who slept in airports along his journey, and in each city the jetBlue employees would try to outdo the last one with accommodations.

Bottom line, I haven’t met a rude jetBlue employee yet- unlike so many other airlines whose employees  have an attitude every time you ask a question. Another jetBlue guy, Bill, snapped that photo above of me, Timothy, and Ozzie before boarding the plane.

Bill ended up getting on the plane in the seat behind me— which I didn’t realize until he tapped me on the shoulder as we were pulling away from the gate and said “smile for the camera! That guy, Timothy that you took a picture with is taking a picture of the plane. Wave!” I couldn’t see him because the wing was in the way, but sure enough, by the time I landed in New York, I had these pictures in my inbox, along with a new Facebook friend.

I landed around 730p, and made it home by 9p. I had a lot more stuff to do than I thought- finish packing, pay bills, print more business cards, and of course watch the latest episode of Mad Men, so I didn’t make it to bed until close to 230a. Now it’s on to Portland! Stay tuned for much more interesting updates and pictures from the Pacific Northwest.

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All You Can Jet Food + Drinks

Day 1: Houston, We Have a Problem

Day 1 of my 30 day adventure saw a bit of turbulence, both in the sky and on the ground. But I must say that I’ve never had so much fun in an airport. As I’ve mentioned, this is my first experience with jetBlue, and so far they’ve been amazing! After passing through security at JFK, I grabbed a Sharpie and stopped by the “give us the scoop” wall to promote the blog:

I was even interviewed on video about my trip by some of the jetBlue staff. Maybe they’ll put it up on their website? Then I grabbed one of the free, comfy, AYCJ jackets, and a free donut before heading off to my gate. Free is my favorite price, especially when it’s actually cute and/or delicious!

Once on the plane, I enjoyed the luxuries of even more free stuff that jetBlue offers- a Doritos snack mix, Welch’s orange juice, and DirecTV. I didn’t have to pay for a legit meal until 6pm today!

About two and a half hours into the flight, I flipped past the weather channel to see that a tropical storm was tearing through Southern Texas, and the weather for Houston was looking similar to what I’d imagine tornado season in Kansas is like. The descent down to the airport was a bit bumpy, but thankfully the worst of the storm was on its way out of the area. Seriously though, where the hell did this Tropical Storm Hermine come from?

After landing safely in the pouring rain, I called my friend Matt to pick me up from the airport. He lives in Boston but was traveling for work so we decided to meet up down here in Texas. Somewhere along the line, after several discussions about airports, hotels, and cities, there was a miscommunication. He was in Austin, not Houston! I couldn’t believe it! After freaking out for a minute, I was able to quickly get in touch with a friend back in New York who used to live down here. Thankfully his friend Sam agreed to come pick me up and take me on a tour of Houston both by car and by foot. He made it to the airport in 45 minutes, and we spent the entire day driving and walking around in and out of the rain, checking out the city. The two highlights of my trip so far were 1) seeing the old Enron building:

and 2) the view from the Sky Lobby in the JP Morgan Chase building:

Sam set me up in a hotel for the evening, and is coming back in the morning for us to stop by a few more places before heading to the airport. I’m a girl on an extreme budget— so extreme that I’ve packed instant oatmeal and granola bars for the majority of my meals. I’ve already spent about half of my initial budget for the entire trip on this unexpected hotel room tonight, so I’ll really have to keep on eye on my spending for the rest of the month! Stay tuned for money-saving travel tips, and please, feel free to share some of your own!

We stopped for a drink at the Armadillo Palace, where I paid only $2.25 for a bottle of Lone Star. Then we had dinner at a Tex Mex place called Cafe Adobe, which quite honestly wasn’t anything special. Sure it was good, because I don’t think I’ve ever had any form of Mexican food that wasn’t good. But it wasn’t any better than some Tex Mex food I’ve had up in New York. I had the cheese enchilada, queso and guacamole tostada, along with refried beans and rice, and fried ice cream for dessert. I order fried ice cream any time I see it on a menu, so believe me I’ve had my share. This dish had pecans rolled into the mix, so that was a bit of a welcomed twist. Different, but good.

So far, Houston isn’t really what I thought it would be like. I think it resembles Florida in many ways, and Detroit in others. It’s a different kind of city than what I’m used to, especially New York. It’s very spread out, with lots of integrated neighborhoods. The ghetto isn’t necessarily sectioned off into one small area, neither are the super nice areas. It was hard to take pictures in the rain today, but I did manage to snap a few. Check em out here on Flickr.

Back to JFK tomorrow to get ready for Portland, Oregon!

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All You Can Jet

AYCJ Itinerary

jetBlue AYCJ destinations

30 days. 11 cities. Will I be coming to a town near you?

9/7 NYC to Houston, Texas
9/8 Houston, Texas to NYC
9/9 NYC to Portland, Oregon
9/10 in Portland, Oregon
9/11 in Portland, Oregon
9/12 in Seattle, Washington
9/13 Seattle, Washington to NYC
9/14 in Montauk, New York
9/15 in Montauk, New York
9/16 Montauk, New York to San Diego, California
9/17 in San Diego, California
9/18 San Diego, California
9/19 Greyhound from San Diego, California to Los Angeles, California
9/20 in Los Angeles, California
9/21 in Los Angeles, California
9/22 Driving the PCH from Los Angeles, California to San Francisco, California
9/23 in San Francisco, California
9/24 in San Francisco, California
9/25 San Francisco, California to Montego Bay, Jamaica
9/26 in Montego Bay, Jamaica
9/27 in Montego Bay, Jamaica
9/28 in Montego Bay, Jamaica
9/29 Montego Bay, Jamaica to NYC
9/30 NYC to Naples, Florida
10/1 in Naples, Florida
10/2 in Naples, Florida
10/3 in Naples, Florida
10/4 Naples, Florida to Salt Lake City, Utah
10/5 Salt Lake City, Utah
10/6 Salt Lake City, Utah to NYC

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All You Can Jet

Around the Country in 30 Days

Since living in New York, my “professional” life has basically been one low-paying freelance job after another. (There was a two and a half year internship thrown in there, but that’s a whole story in itself.) I’ve been without health insurance for over a year now, and I’m pretty sure I could be on some sort of government funded program for the poor. But aside from living in one of the most expensive cities in the world, somehow in the last year alone I’ve managed to spend over a week in Las Vegas (complete with champagne, jacuzzis, and limousines), five nights in San Francisco, and four in Tampa. I even spent a few weeks in Ohio over the holidays, all on my own dime and without charging a single dollar to a credit card.

In February 2010 I landed a temporary position that lasted six months. The workload had really slowed down during those last few months, so I began to prepare for the inevitable and plan my next step: back to working in retail. Or maybe I would try walking dogs? After thinking about it a bit, I figured since this was my first time ever being able to collect unemployment, why not ride it out for a few weeks and enjoy it? It seemed like the perfect opportunity to spend some time on the travel/food/culture blog I’ve been trying to create for the past few months. Then I turned on the computer to see the perfect excuse for me to take a month off work and give this new blog 100%: the jetBlue All You Can Jet pass.

This is the second year in a row jetBlue has offered their AYCJ pass. For those of you who are unfamiliar, the All You Can Jet pass is good for unlimited flights to any jetBlue location in the USA and/or Caribbean for 30 days beginning September 7th, 2010, and ending October 6th, 2010. The $499 pass lets you fly any day of the week excluding Fridays and Sundays, while the $699 pass is good for every day of the week. When I read about this deal at 3am, I mapped out all of the possible cities I could visit, got in touch with all of my friends around the country, and slept on it before impulse buying. I could only sleep three hours though, and after I got a few more things cleared up financially, I purchased the $499 pass and started planning my trip!

That was only about two weeks ago. Since then I’ve basically been a hermit in my room, building this website and finishing up other odds and ends before leaving town for 30 days. Apparently two weeks wasn’t enough, because I spent all of today running errands and packing, and even creating my own, ghetto Just Visiting business cards the old fashioned way:

This should be an amazing adventure, and an excellent way to launch this blog. I’m looking forward to seeing some old friends, meeting some new ones, and visiting some of the most amazing cities across the United States (and Jamaica)! I hope you enjoy following my journey, but more importantly I hope that you find the information along the way useful. By the way, I’m still job hunting so if you’re looking for a copywriter, blogger, or just all around awesome person, I’m your girl!