in the world’s longest line. We’re flying US Airways from DCA to FLL this morning. We muddled through the crowd to find the First Class/Star Gold queue to find the line snaking back towards the next counter. One agent was working. After not moving for 10 minutes, I decided to try the SkyCap. Long line there too, but it was moving every so often. After 20 minutes, I finally figured out that if we were to have any chance of getting our bags checked in the next hour, I would have to flag down one of the SkyCaps and ask for assistance while waving money. And that I did. Bags checked in under 5 minutes. Some poor coed was in line ahead of us, and obviously didn’t travel very much. We flagged down another SkyCap to help her, and then we were on our way. As fate would have it, the TSA was the smoothest operation on the airfield this morning, and we were through security in 5 minutes. I’m writing from the DCA US Airways Club, our flight is on time, and here’s hoping our bags make it!

Well, Lady Astrojets and I have completed our online check-in for both the plane, and the ship! Our bags are almost packed, Boston Coach is scheduled to pick us up at O’Dark Thirty tomorrow morning, and we will be on our way!

I’ve not been this ready for a vacation since the last one! After spending tomorrow evening at the Renaissance Fort Lauderdale, we will board the beautiful Radiance of the Seas on Sunday for our 6 night cruise. Our ports of call are Key West, Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and Montego Bay along with a day at sea next Friday. We’ve been to all of these except for Montego Bay, but….WHO CARES?!?!?! It’s a cruise!

I’ll have the laptop with me, but I’m not making bets that I’ll turn it on. Details when we get back. Have a great Thanksgiving!

Old news by now, I know. But I had to say something. Frankly, I was caught off guard by this. Not by airline consolidation, but simply by USAirways attempting to acquire Delta. Granted, the political climate has been fairly hands-off in regards to mergers and acquisitions of late, but I can’t help but think that there are numerous anti-trust issues standing in the way of this merger.

USAirways’ largest hub is in Charlotte while Delta’s is in Atlanta. If this deal actually happens, I expect the USAirways presence in Charlotte to diminish markedly. And I can’t even begin to imagine the nightmarish logistics of merging disparate aircraft types, employees and computer systems, especially since USAirways in already in the midst of this with the USAirways/America West merger. All of this is rampant speculation for now, of course. But it’s surely going to make for an interesting several months ahead.

If I haven’t told you lately, I love cruising! Cruising happens to be the preferred way of vacationing for Lady Astrojets and myself, and we love turning new people onto cruising!

Top Five Reasons to Take a Cruise

1. You only unpack once.
2. It’s a good value for your vacation dollar. (Compare to hotels and meals on some island, and you’ll see why.)
3. You get to visit multiple places (while only unpacking once).
4. Almost without fail, the staff onboard the ship of most any cruiseline will wow you with impeccable customer service. (Why can’t airlines do this?)
5. You don’t have to drive the ship, so party on dude!

There are a multitude of choices out there of cruise lines. Some better than others. I have a couple of favorites, Royal Caribbean and their sister line Celebrity. More on why later. But I’m sure you’ll enjoy your next cruise no matter which line you choose. Check out Cruise Critic for some great information on cruising.

As I’d expected would happen, airlines have again attempted a fare increase. This round of increases was initiated by American and Delta, and has been matched by Continental so far. We’ll see if United, Northwest and US Airways get on board with this one. United has increased its last-minute walk-up fares. I’d expect that they go along with this $5 dollar increase in other fares.

Things went well on the road this week. I’m just back from Dayton, Ohio and Huntington, West Virginia. The hotels were fine, especially in Dayton as I posted about below. My only choice was a Fairfield Inn in Huntington. Actually, the hotel itself was located in Ashland, Kentucky, just across the state line from Huntington as I could not find a room at the US Government per diem in Huntington. My flights on United and US Airways were all on time, and my bags arrived in good working order.

This trip will likely wrap up the traveling portion of a fairly high profile project that I’m assigned to at work. In other words, this probably concludes my business travel for the remainder of 2006. But this is where the fun part begins…vacation!

Leaving for a cruise 2 weeks from tomorrow. I’ll be sure and post the details. Cruising happens to be our chosen preferred method of vacationing, and I’ll surely enjoy writing about cruising in the very near future.