Cleared for landing

WENTACHEE, Wash. -- I'm surrounded by some serious natural beauty right now. I'd take a picture, but alas, I forgot to pack a camera.

I'm at the confluence of the Columbia and Wenatchee rivers in North Central Washington State. The Cascade Mountains are off in the distance. It was a 3-hour drive from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to here, along the prettiest Interstate highway that I've ever seen. I'm told the alternate route, along U.S. 2, is even better.

I'll be here until Tuesday, when I will change direction and head down to Corpus Christi, Texas, on my way home to the Western Edge.

The reason this trip is significant is pretty simple: It's the last major trip I'm going to be making for a while. The project in Iowa is winding down. That project is officially the last project to which I'm committed. I will move into my real job full-time: Managing a nine-person team which will do my old job, all around the world.

I'll still be hitting the road occasionally -- I have a couple of one- and two-day trips scheduled for next month -- but the week-long-or-longer trips should be coming to an end. I have two more commitments to the Iowa project, one in October and one in December, but I won't be spinning the numbers on the Marriott points nearly as fast as I have been over the last three years.

I've seen a lot of really wonderful things. Now seems to be as good a time as any for a review, top 3 style:

My favorite places, overall:

Montreal: The best of Europe and North America, all in one place.

Sydney: Getting there isn't half the fun, but it's worth every hour aloft.

Bermuda: Speaks for itself.

My favorite places, domestic (after discovering none of the U.S. stops made the cut):

Bremerton, Wash.: The west shore of Puget Sound provides many options for relaxation. Great people, too.

San Diego: Quite possibly the United States' most perfect city. Ocean on the left, mountains on the right, an international border right there, Los Angeles 100 miles to the north. Oh, and it's 72 degrees every day.

Washington, D.C.: The best place in the world to eat when you're spending someone else's money. Great food and drink from every corner of the world.

Favorite airlines:

Continental: Always clean planes, always good service, and when they're not on time, they tell you why.

Delta: Seriously. Never had a serious problem with them, and I don't find the Atlanta airport to be the hellhole everyone else does.

US Airways: Their lack of competence for handling luggage is offset by the hoops they were willing to jump through to get us to Bermuda. Plus, the Charlotte hub is easy to get around.

Least favorite airlines:

Air Canada: Crowded plane, bad service, connection in Toronto.

Southwest: I love everything about Southwest Airlines, except actually using its product.

United: Doesn't extend Star Alliance benefits to non-United Star Alliance customers. Screw them.

Favorite airports:

Montreal: For all it's trying to do -- Customs, security, getting planes out on time even in awful weather -- it does it very well, in two languages.

Bermuda: Can't forget the island music guy playing in the Customs lobby.

Houston Intercontintental: Good food makes up for long walks between concourses.

Least favorite airports:

Philadelphia: Always steaming hot, lost luggage x 3, rude employees.

Washington Dulles: Grim, dank, dirty.

St. Louis: Dark, rude security, long, long bus ride to rental cars.
(I've never had serious problems at Atlanta, DFW, or O'Hare, which I guess makes me really, really lucky.)

Favorite rental cars:

Ford Mustang: Even the V6 has a wonderful low rumble.

Hyundai Azera: Still the car I probably should have bought.

Pontiac Grand Prix GXP: Supercharged fun, all the bells and whistles; not sure why anybody would choose a BMW 5-series over this.

Least favorite rental cars:

Tie, Chrysler PT Cruiser and Chevrolet HHR: Those cute little retro exteriors hide the two most unintuitive, uncomfortable interiors among any car I've ever driven (including my 1978 Mazda GLC.)Oh, and both are slower than crap, too.

Toyota Camry: A great car for people who don't like to drive.

Pontiac Sunfire: The wrong choice for trying to get around D.C., not that there's a right choice, other than taxi or Metro.

Top 3 things I have learned:

Pack light. Look to reduce weight everywhere. Every ounce counts.

Know who goes where. My knowledge of relationships between airlines and airports has gotten me home when other people took an involuntary overnight. Know when and how to use the airlines' web sites, and if you can't match an airline to its hubs, you're not a Business Traveler.

Being in a hurry really sucks. Do everything you can to avoid it. Being bored once you get past security beats missing your flight, every time.

It's been a helluva ride, it really, really has. I'm now looking forward to getting off. There's an aisle seat available for the next person.