Doing the (Mega)DO

i bit the bullet and signed up for this year’s star alliance megado (both the international and domestic portions). billed variously as:

[T]he ultimate aerophile adventure — a week’s worth of trans-Atlantic jetting with 200+ fellow frequent flyers

and

A once-in-a-lifetime field trip for the world’s ULTIMATE travel junkies

it will have me going from home (SF) to LA to frankfurt to zürich back to san francisco to houston to chicago (and back home) all in the course of one week, getting a special behind-the-scenes look at some of the airlines that make up the star alliance along the way.

International portion in red, domestic in green. Map generated by the Great Circle Mapper – copyright © Karl L. Swartz.

i am horrendously intimidated by this, mostly because a) it’s pricey and i have to take an entire week off of work (eep) and moreover, b) i will be surrounded by people who know each other from previous events and make my aviation geekiness and frequent flying look infinitesimally small in comparison. keep in mind this is the first year i’ve ever made it past the first tier of elite status (i’m currently united premier gold) while i’m sure most of these people have more than surpassed the million-mile mark. i’ve done a couple flyertalk/milepoint events before and had a blast, but nothing so exclusive and fancypants.

despite the drain of a lot more money than i had planned on spending for fall/winter travel, i’m sure this will be worth it! (it’d better be and will be, if any of the past megados were any indication!)