It's also a red eye on both sides.
Yep. I don't think I can do it. I analyzed all the pairings, I'm too junior to do the fun ones... i.e. 4 day/48 hr layovers. And even those, that's a lot of life-force and mana drain on either end of the trips. If I was in base, that's one thing. But, I live on Cali time. That's my red-eye survival mechanism. Red eyes are pink eyes. The back end of all of the Euro trips are no-kidding red eyes for my body clock. The 24 hour layovers are also so anti-fatigue science.
My bid will be as follows:
LA CA
JFK BUS CA
and a whole bunch of other stuff as a backup, but I'll hold JFK, so it's just filler.
I'll have to eat crepes in PUJ and UVF instead of Paris.
I'll get my 15 year pin a little bit after the "official" effective day and I'll be back on the transcon commute.
I also know that compared to my azulNorte siblings having to choose which base that "isn't home" where I can basically be a CA lineholder anywhere is a total 1st world problem. It just sucks because I've been quite happy in my little corner over here, bidding reserve, the occasional line, and driving to work. It really has been "livin' the dream."
It’s not fun. I don’t envy you this at all. Bidding SQ, I hope? That’s commutable on both sides isn’t it?
Naah. Domestic. I soooooo want to do Europe. Badly. It's new. It's a box that I've wanted to check for years. Beantown would be my best bet, but the commute is no bueno. The living situation is no bueno.
I think that I'm gonna buy a place in New York. Buy quality of life off of the E-Train. Forest Hills maybe? Join a co-op cult. I sort of saved up for it the last time I was in JFK, then I got out.
I'm sure that the industry won't remain static, but the snapshot math of me getting back in to my present domicile is this: At the seniority that I'll be able to get back in, being the plug, I'll be able to hold 2 weekends off, all 2-3 day, all island/all-inclusive trips, all holidays. I'll also have 4 weeks of vacation... and be able to hold 2 full months off/year under the current model. A "desirable" month... summer/holiday and a medium trough month. So, it becomes different math then once I've been doing the commute again for the next 5-7 years.
Once I've tasted "the good life" - it'll be hard to go back to being junior RSV. But who knows.