In late July, Cecilia found an airfare to Brazil so cheap that she was convinced it had to be an error in the Orbitz system. It involved a change of airlines, but for the price she got the ticket for and the generous layover times she was allotted, she booked the ticket. I went to LowestFare.Com and promptly found a ticket all on United Airlines with less generous layover times in Miami.  And did I mention that it was about $30 less?

Now my ticket pricing structure was an error as I learned when I tried to actually book the ticket. I had to call up the live person number for LowestFare.Com, and after only a 2 minute wait, talked to a travel agent. I e-mailed her the screen capture that I had taken from their reservations system earlier in the day when the ticket was $200 cheaper. I don't quite know how she did it, but she managed to get my fare back in her system and I booked my ticket.

Now some people might question the wisdom of taking a different airline to Brazil than Cecilia did, given that when I got off the plane, it would be only my instincts and my vast knowledge of Spanglaguese (Spanish + English = Spanglish, Spanglish + Portuguese = Spanglaguese) to see me through. But, it is important to remember that I was going to receive 8,358 Mileage Plus miles more than she did. Those miles have now pushed me up to the point where I'll fly international for free the next time I skip the country. My logic also said that there is less of a chance of my plane leaving without me or my luggage getting lost if I stuck with one airline.

The events of September 11 wreaked havoc on my itinerary. I had to re-work my ticket three times as the result of their constantly changing timetable. It took me about 30 minutes to pack my stuff. It took Cecilia about 30 days. Now my things took up about the space of a small suitcase or a medium duffle. By the time Cecilia was done loading me with gifts, etc. to take with me, I was up to a large suitcase and the duffle.

"Did you pack these bags yourself?"
"Yes, sir."