Hyatt summer promo invitation!

I was very happy to receive an update from Hyatt about their summer promotion called "Sweet Dreams, Sweet Rewards".  At first the registration link was not working for me, but a recent email link proved to be valid!  The offer I received is below:

In particular I like that it gave me 5 night increments again - very doable for my stay schedule.  I'm not sure if I'll have enough stays again by September 30, but I like having the option just in case.

Hope everyone else was able to get a similar offer!

Countdown is on

The countdown is officially started for my July 4th weekend vacation.  I'll be managing to get some time out and about (using AA miles, thankfully) and am looking forward to once again visiting the mountains, getting some hiking in at Gimmelwald, and spending an evening at the Park Hyatt Zurich!  The weather so far looks fantastic for being up on the mountain.  I'm also going to try a new approach and only take a backpack - this should make my transfers easier and will allow me a bit more flexibility in moving around.  Hopefully I can get everything in that I need!

And I have all this to look forward to...

UK Registered Traveller Service: Worth it?

I recently received an email from British Airways highlighting a new program they have in the UK called the Registered Traveller Service.  It sounds very similar to the U.S. Global Entry program, with promises of expedited security screening and no landing card requirement.  Here are the details:

We wanted to make you aware that, as a national of Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand or the USA, the recently updated Registered Traveller Service https://www.gov.uk/registered-traveller offered by the UK Border Force could give you an easier and faster arrivals experience.
As a member of Registered Traveller, you could speed up your UK arrivals process. You will no longer need to complete a landing card and, better still, you will be able to use the UK/EU lanes and the UK ePassport gates with your biometric passport (where available). Later this year, 15 of the newest generation gates will be added at London Heathrow Terminal 5.
Becoming a Registered Traveller is easier than ever before. You can apply online at https://www.gov.uk/registered-traveller . It costs £70 to apply to use the service for one year. If your application is unsuccessful, you'll get £50 back.
Currently the service is available at Heathrow, London Gatwick, London City, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Manchester, and will be rolling out to more UK airports during 2015. For further information, click here

Is anyone else signed up for this?  Does it work well?  I chuckled when I saw that you only get 50 pounds back if you aren't approved...fees!

Badger Boys State is underway!

Greetings from the 2015 Session of Badger Boys State!

We're already into the Monday schedule (time sure flies when you're having fun) with most of the citizens already at various schools of instruction for the morning.

A quick recap from arrival through yesterday:

I finally made it.  It seemed like a possibility that for whatever reason I was destined NOT to get to Wisconsin after the craziness of the 48 hours leading up to arrival.  Between Thursday afternoon and Saturday morning I managed to (a) spend the night on a gate bench at the Phoenix airport when ATC caused me to miss my connecting flight to San Diego; (b) take a morning flight to SD to regroup and hopefully jet out on a redeye through LAX; (c) have the LAX connecting flight delay and then cancel but worked with a phone agent to change my flight to the SAN-ORD direct flight; (d) arrive to ORD on the redeye with an upgrade only to have my flight to Milwaukee cancel due to a missing Captain; and (e) took the megabus from Ohare to Milwaukee since the flight would have made me late for registration but didn't get a voucher and had to pay out of pocket.  Suffice it to say...I'm very happy to be here in Ripon after all of that fun!  Now onto BBS...

Saturday's registration and initial rehearsal+assembly went without a hitch.  I'm always a little worried about the first sitdown, since I don't know how many boys are going to sign up and how well they can read the pieces we need to play.  But I've once again got a fantastic group of juniors/now seniors and our rehearsals have been very smooth.  Last night's performance went well and included a new number in our library.

My total registered citizens in the band: 102

We'll have our Monday rehearsal this afternoon followed by another assembly and performance tonight.  Looking forward to more fun in between the thunderstorms!

Looking forward to a June of fun

At least, that's what I'm hoping for at this point.  : )

This coming week I'll be jetting off again toward home (WI) and volunteering my time at Badger Boys State in Ripon, WI.  This annual week-long experience in leadership and government for high school juniors is something I've always enjoyed being a part of, and I'm looking forward to seeing how many guys I'm able to get in the band this year.  I have always believed that the WI BBS experience is unique compared to all other states, as we boast of the largest contingent of program alums as counselors and director staff.  It's amazing that we're able to guide the boys in creating all facets of government from the ground up culminating in a fully functional 'state' by the time we're done - in one week.  I'm looking forward again to the leadership experience and sharing in the fun with all of our WI American Legionnaires assisting! 

Stay tuned for future blog posts once I'm onsite.

Hyatt's New Summer Promotion

Sweet Dreams...Sweet Rewards!

That's the name of Hyatt's new promo for this summer, running through September 30.  You can register for it here.

There are several different offers available, but the correct one for your account will load when you register.

I'm not sure yet that I can do as many as 15 nights by the end of September but it would be a fun goal to try if I had some upcoming stays.