Upgrading

Upgrades can be a good thing.

One of the good things about this job is that I get to keep any perks I can earn through the airlines and hotels. I haven't used any sky miles yet but I have used some free nights at hotels for my personal use.

For Continental Airlines, I am now what they call an Elite member. This just means I have more than 30,000 miles logged. That's a lot of miles for someone that not all that long ago was afraid to fly. What does Elite mean to me now? It means my bags get special handling, so they are one of the first to come off of the plane. And, I get to get in a shorter security line. That is really a bonus. So far, that's been the extent of my Elite upgrade.

We are staying at a Hilton Garden Inn. I am a Hilton Honors member. I think the most common hotel we stay in are the Hampton Inns. So, my bonus points build up pretty quickly.

Some bonuses to being just a regular Hilton Honors member is that I have two bottles of water and a pack of Oreo cookies in my room waiting for me when I check in. C'mon now! Oreos? How awesome is this? If only one of the bottles of water was a bottle of milk! But, I'm not complaining. The water and cookies are definitely used up by the end of my visit.

This week I checked in and there was a bonus in the envelope that they hand me that holds my room key. The bonus was four coupons for free breakfast at the restaurant here at the hotel! Hey, I will partake in a free continental breakfast, but I refuse to pay $10 for breakfast when all I can eat is some cereal and a banana. The next time I was at the front desk, I asked what I did to deserve this special gift! I thought they just liked me! Well, they do in a way. I found out I spent so much money with the Hilton chain that I have been upgraded to a Gold membership. The Gold membership comes with free breakfast! Sweet deal! Now I don't feel guilty about spending $10 for a bowl of Special K and a banana.

Those are the good upgrades. You know for every yin in my life there is a yan. The downside to my upgrades came when I picked up the rental car for the week.

This week we have three of us on the audit site. Luggage takes up an awful lot of room in a car. Since we rent to often from Enterprise, we can generally upgrade for little to no cost when we need to. They had one vehicle ready for me and I just wasn't sure we were going to get all of our luggage in there let alone three people plus luggage. So, she said she'd give me a bigger vehicle that would definitely fit everything. Next time I hear them words, I need to remember to ask more questions before I sign the papers.

For less that the cost of a compact car, I am driving around in a 2007 Dodge Durango. Does anyone have any freakin' idea just how BIG this vehicle is? We park in a very narrow parking lot at the job site. Almost every car in this parking lot shows signs of people not being able to park. The back corners of bumpers are all dinged up or the back doors are damaged from cutting into spots too soon. Yeah, people have trouble in this lot. And here I come in my 2007 Dodge Durango. It's not even funny!

Parking at the hotel isn't much better, but I do have a little more room to negotiate. The only problem I have in trying to navigate this bus is I have no idea where the front end is believe it or not. I am ok backing up, but when pulling in, I have absolutely no depth perception. I have pulled up to cars or to walls, and I stop where I think I am good.

Then we take bets.

Guess who loses??!! ME!

I stop when I think I am 6" to 8" away from my target. Then one of my associates will rappel out of the vehicle and check my distance and usually direct me the rest of the way into the parking spot. So far, my worst has been 2-1/2 feet. Yeah, I suck at this.

Upgrades. Gotta love them!