Bednar.co – My Site – Page 3 – The thoughts of Adam Bednar

First Trips of 2019

This past week I took my first flights of 2019. The first two were non eventful and I took an Airbus A319 and a Boeing 737-800 on American Airlines back and forth to DFW. However, my next set of flights were much better! I got to finally set foot on an Airbus A330-200 and in first class to boot from an upgrade. First time I got to enjoy the lie-flat seats.

Here she is in all her beauty, American Airlines Airbus A330-200 N289AY.

Of course, I had to document my seat experience!

It is going to be hard to go back to economy after this.

The flights back were not as great. The winter weather is in full force and I got stuck in Chicago for a bit. I landed early and decided to take a standby flight back home so that I could get in at a reasonable hour at the cost of my confirmed upgrade on a later flight. Well, my luck had run out as that flight got delayed three hours and we arrived just a few minutes before my originally scheduled flight. At least I know better for next time and to avoid Chicago at all costs during the winter!

2018 Recap

As the year shortly comes to a close, I wanted to reflect on what has happened over the last year because I feel like it has been extensive. My goal for next year is to do a better job documenting these things as they happen so I don’t forget them. Life does come at you fast, so it easy to to lose track of the details and what is really important.

In March, I started a new job. After nearly ten years at my prior employer it was time to move on. This would be my second professional job and a lot of anticipation came with it. I would join a much larger company with many new opportunities.

In April I got married to the love of my life. We had a great time out in Las Vegas. I can’t wait to good back this upcoming April to celebrate our one year anniversary.

During the spring and summer I did a lot of flying with my new job. I tried to blog about these trips, but many were non eventful or I didn’t have time. Through the year I logged 98 flights, just shy of 100. I hope to break the 100 mark in 2019.

In July we went to Memphis to see my sister and also to Minneapolis to see my brother-in-law and new niece! Outside of these trips we didn’t do much vacationing, so I hope to change that next year.

Fall was nothing too special, just the same as the rest of the year. My travel started to curtail a bit, so I wasn’t able to hit Platinum Pro on American Airlines, but hope to be able to next year.

In December, my wife also got a new job. I think it will be a great opportunity for her to grow her career and I am very proud of her for making the jump.

Upgraded ADSB Antenna

After running a small setup for ADSB, I decided that it was time to upgrade my antenna to be able to track more planes. The current setup has been in my office for the last two years with a tiny antenna sitting in a window. This was not an optimal setup, but I had a difficult time trying to find the right time to do it and the right products and place to mount it outside. But the last few weeks I decided to pull the trigger.

Second Trip to San Francisco

My traveling has dropped off a bit the last couple of months and I have done a bad job at documenting everything, but I did capture some pictures for my second trip to San Francisco in as many months. I didn’t manage to capture any pictures of the American Airlines CRJ 700 that I took from CMH to ORD since the jet way layout at CMH is not conducive to grabbing pictures especially at gates B22 – B24. But I did manage to get a nice picture of the American Airlines Boeing 737-800 N847NN at ORD which would take us to SFO.

August Flights

August was a light flying month for me and I only had six flights. I didn’t get on any notable planes, but I did see a couple of cool ones at DFW on my last leg.

First up American Airlines Boeing 787-8 N818AL at DFW. I think this had just come in from CDG.

Starting to feel like Fall

The nights have been cooler and the sky has begun to look more blue as the sun shifts and does not hang around as much as it used to. Soon there will be football again. The rain has picked up and the grass is growing like wild. It will not be too long now until the leaves begin to change.

It has been a toasty summer, so a break to the heat is welcome. It is always nice for a change in seasons so you do not get too used to the same old weather. We will swap out those shorts for jeans and hoodies in probably six weeks or so.

The year is slowly coming too a close. Has it been a good or bad one? Personally, it has been a great one for me especially since I got married to the love of my life. I hope that it continues to a great one to round out the year.

This month has also been light on travel. I will be taking my first flight of the month nearly halfway through. Next month will likely be more busy. I certainly need to rack up those segments and miles!

Busy month of flying

June was my busiest month of flying to date. I had 15 flights during the month – traveling almost every week. July is shaping up to be just slightly more busy. Instead of putting out all of the pictures from the month, I will just share a few of the highlights during my travels.

During a layover at PHL I saw quite a few American Airlines A330s.

Giving Pokemon Go a try

Well, we are only two years late to the party, but this past weekend we decided to give Pokemon Go a try. I think we are hooked – for now. One of the more active places is the Scioto Mile, so we headed down there on possibly the hottest day of the year to walk around and catch Pokemon. We probably spent close to two hours in the sun. I did get some nice pictures. It was a beautiful day even if it was super hot.

We are still getting a handle on how to do everything in the game, but it should keep us active for a while.

Checking out Chicago

I have probably connected through Chicago O’Hare a dozen or more times in the last few years, but have never actually visited Chicago via the airport. Until now.

First up is United Airlines Embraer ERJ-145 N11539 to take us to Chicago.

Back to Memphis

This week, I was headed to Memphis for a few days. One of the downsides of traveling from a mid-market to another mid-market is that there are rarely any direct flights, so it usually means connecting and a great risk of delays or cancellations – especially during the spring and summer months. Well, this week I got bit by the delay bug.