Stats and More Stats (But Who's Counting?)

Our 2009 United Airlines EQMs (Elite Qualifying Miles)* to date:

Kathy – 201,450 (Kathy buys our flights on her UA card and earns additional miles)
Brian - 195,297

*This becomes complicated since UA is now running the second of two “double qualifying miles” promotions. During the first promotion we flew to Australia so we earned a lot of bonus “qualifying miles,” which are credited to our accounts only to achieve status, not to use as “points” for flights. Complicated? A bit, and that’s why we spend so much time on FlyerTalk learning how to maximize the benefits from United’s Mileage Plus program. At last count our actual miles flown total well over 120,000.

We've also flown 66 flight segments or legs on UA - those are actual flights from takeoff to landing and business flyers who make a lot of short flights are able to earn their status through segments, which is why UA provides those stats. For example, SEA-SFO-ORD-LHR consists of three flight segments. In other words, we've taken off 66 times and landed 66 times so far in 2009. We're so happy those number match up so well.

We also just requalified for Diamond status with Hilton, earning us bonus points and giving us access to lounges, usually quite lovely places in foreign Hiltons, if not so much so in the U.S. Even when we stay on "points" the stay counts toward the total, which helps us to amass numbers.

Updating one of our early posts here - how many countries we've visited - using the criteria laid out by the Travelers' Century Club, our new list is below. As of mid-September 2009 we've visited 73 (and been "in transit" in two others), but as we said the first time around, hey, who's counting?

Pacific Ocean
Australia
Hawaiian Islands
New Zealand
Tasmania
North America
Alaska
Canada
Mexico
U.S. (continental)
Central America
Costa Rica
Guatemala
Panama
South America
Argentina
Brazil
Colombia
Uruguay
Caribbean
Antigua & Deps. (Barbuda, Redonda)
Bahamas
Barbados
Belize
Cayman Islands
Dominican Republic
Leeward Islands, French (St. Martin)
Puerto Rico
St. Barts
St. Kitts
St. Lucia
St. Maarten (formerly Netherlands Antilles)
Turks and Caicos Islands
Virgin Islands, U.S. (St. Croix, St. John, St. Thomas)
Virgin Islands, British (Tortola, etc.)
Atlantic Ocean
Azores Islands
Bermuda
Cape Verde Islands
Iceland
Europe and Mediterranean
Austria
Belgium
Balearic Islands (Mallorca, Minorca)
Czech Republic
Denmark
England
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Ireland (Eire)
Ireland, Northern (Ulster)
Italy
Luxembourg
Malta
Monaco
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Russia
Sicily
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey in Europe (Istanbul)
Vatican City
Wales
Africa
Egypt
Morocco
Senegal (sitting on plane during refueling)
South Africa
Swaziland
Middle East
None
Indian Ocean
None
Asia
China, People's Rep.
Hong Kong
Japan (in transit only)
Singapore
Thailand
Turkey in Asia

The RCC at BOS

If you're not up on your abbreviations, that's the Red Carpet Club at Boston's Logan International Airport, our first visit and a very pleasant place to spend a few minutes early one morning prior to flying BOS-SFO-SEA.
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Yes, the snorer in the middle of the picture apparently did wake up in time to catch his flight. And no, that's not Brian. Brian is much more slim (well, a bit more) and hasn't sported a beard for 25 years or more.
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Two pleasant flights and 3382 EQMs later ("Elite Qualifying Miles"), we drive back to Birch Bay on a beautiful day.

Yes, it's always nice to come home for awhile.

Wrapping Up Boston

Taking Jack's advice, we decided to see just a couple of nearby places of interest, including the Old North Church... One if By Land, Two if By Sea...
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and Paul Revere's house...
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Now it's time to take the T back to the closest station to the Hilton (it seems more of a railway underground than an actual subway)...
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pick up our luggage, take another T out to the airport shuttle and then to the Airport Hilton, where we can enjoy the view of Logan Airport - BOS - from our room...
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and another beautiful Boston sunset from the Executive Lounge...
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Lunch at Ristorante Fiore in Boston's North End

One goal remained in in the early afternoon of our second and final day in Boston: a meal in the North End, Boston's Little Italy. Nothing like an ocean cruise (okay, a harbor ferry ride) to whet your appetite, so off we walked from Long Wharf, only getting lost a couple of times before reaching Hanover Street in the middle of the North End.

We'd read that the restaurant standards are high, so rather than looking for any restaurant in particular we wandered for a bit before entering Ristorante Fiore.
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After the fact, we found out that Fiore (yes - he's the owner) and his restaurant have won their share of accolades, but for now we were looking for a good lunch. No, we were not at all disappointed.

We opted to sit outside in a charming little patio at a table fronting the sidewalk. Through the wrought iron we could gaze across at that retro neon sign over Modern Pastry across the street.
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That cab, by the way, sat outside the bakery for upwards of a half hour, waiting for the delivery boxes eventually placed in the back seat. The other, perhaps even more famous, pastry shop, Mike's, is just up the street, but the meal we ate at Fiore's led us to dismiss any thoughts of dropping by either place for some cannoli to go, despite the lack of long lines that are characteristic of both shops.

Our waiter was Jack, who proved to be both a pro and a great guy. He was a seminary student at one point in his life, he's also traveled to Italy, and it was a great finale to our visit to Boston to talk travel with him.
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After looking over the lunch menu we went with a couple of Jack's recommendations. After a shared plate of antipasti (outstanding) Kathy ordered Lasagne alla Bolognese and Brian chose the Macaroni al Forno, with sausage made in-house. Mangia! Yes, they know how to cook pasta here, and both dishes were fantastico.
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We enjoyed a bottle of an Italian Merlot, Fiore's recommended "house wine" this month. If we're so lucky as to be eating in a great independent Italian restaurant, we'd be fools not to try the reasonably priced Italian wine they've chosen to feature.

When we mentioned to Jack how much we enjoyed the bread basket, he mentioned that Fiore even baked some of his own breads in-house, despite sitting adjacent to two of the most famous Italian pastry shops in Boston. He then brought out some truly delicious pizza bread for us to sample and presented us with a to-go box as we left.
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What a fantastic dining experience we had, agreeing that this was a highlight of our culinary highlights - in fact, the best single meal on our entire trip!

Before leaving, at Jack's invitation we took a quick tour of the premises and snapped some photos of the interior and their "rooftop garden."
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Mille Grazie, Jack. Felicitazioni, Fiore, an independent restaurateur delivering great food and a great dining experience.

Boston Inner Harbor Boat Ride for $1.70

An employee at the Charleston Navy Yard pointed us in the direction of a harbor ferry that would take us back downtown so off we walked in that direction. We thumbed through our Frommer's Guide to Boston (borrowed from our local library and renewed online-how's that for a budget travel tip?) and were quite pleased with the positive comments, so we cheerfully waited for the next boat to arrive.

Our short ride from the Charlestown Navy Yard to Long Wharf left us with the same impression as these reviewers: a lovely way to get from Point A to Point B, especially on a beautiful September day.
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Good Evening Hockey Fans...
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Boston Day Two

We enjoyed gazing out our window at the view after a good night's sleep. A busy fire station across the way seemed to send out one or two trucks a couple of times every hour. Fortunately, the hotel is nicely soundproofed and the sirens didn't wake us up during the night.
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There were also the early-morning racing sculls out on the Charles River...
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Now it was time for our visit to Old Ironsides, the USS Constitution. After all the walking we did yesterday, we figured it was time to take the "T."
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We still did a fair amount of walking from the T over to the Charlestown Navy Yard, where the oldest commissioned ship in the US Navy is berthed. We took the interesting tour conducted by members of the ship's crew. Although the ship is currently undergoing a heavy program of restoration, with masts down and tarps and a temporary plywood cover on the top deck, it was still impressive.
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One last view of a couple of painters at work as we leave...
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Strolling Around Boston

Or, as the natives seem to pronounce it, more like Bwaston.

It's a beautiful city, surprisingly compact, and quite beautiful on the sunny days we enjoyed on our first visit to Beantown. We didn't make it to a baseball game, but we had a great view of the oldest park in the Majors, Fenway Park, from the window of our 25th floor room at the Hilton Back Bay.
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We also enjoyed a great view across the Charles River.
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As we walked toward the Freedom Trail after a much appreciated early check-in, we enjoyed the sights.
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The gilded dome of the Massachusetts State House shone brightly on this sunny day.
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After walking from the hotel over to the Freedom Trail and covering a fair amount of historic ground...

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It was time to check out another of Boston's famous attributes, seafood. A McCormick & Schmick's filled the bill nicely.
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Hurray! Fresh Maine lobster is on the menu.
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After a thoroughly pleasant lunch we walked a little longer until retreating to the hotel. It was a warm day to have walked at least four miles while dodging large crowds of other tourists and locals.
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Benjamin Franklin's statue was only one of many we saw during our visit.
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A couple of old teachers couldn't notice the site of the Boston Latin School, the first public school in the U.S. (and still in business), without taking a picture of the sidewalk marker.
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After a little relaxation back at the hotel, we wandered over a light dinner of appetizers at a nearby branch of the legendary Legal Seafoods. After all, we hadn't had a thing to eat since that lobster at noon.

Then it was time to enjoy the views from the hotel's Executive Lounge, a little perk of our Diamond status with Hilton...
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