Real quick, and then we’re on to Mexico.
Here’s a one-paragraph credit card update. We just got our 21st credit card. All of that credit card arbitrage stuff continues to go well.
Where? How do you decide, “Where?”
Have you ever asked yourself, “How does Randy decide where he wants to go and what he’s going to do when he gets there?”
I like to link almost all of my trips, both domestic and international, to my trackchasing hobby. That means I would like to see racing at at least one track during my trip. I might go somewhere for 10-14 days, and a race will make up only one afternoon of the entire trip.
First-time efforts.
Another thing I enjoy doing is watching racing in countries where I’ve never seen a race before. So far, out of the 100 countries that I have visited, I’ve been able to see a race in 89 of them.
Did you know this?
By most people‘s tallies, there are 193 countries in the world. Only about 95 of those countries, and possibly fewer, hold any auto racing.
I’ve seen racing in 89 countries. There are only three or four countries where I haven’t been that hold some form of racing. Those countries don’t do that on a consistent and reliable basis. There are really no countries that I know about that race with firm dates without too much fear of canceling at the last moment that I haven’t been to.
I was pretty stoked about Mozambique (hey, I’m from California).
That’s why I was thrilled while conducting trackchasing research to discover that the African country of Mozambique had a racetrack. They held races that count with my trackchasing hobby. That being the case, I went about planning a trip to Mozambique.
Mozambique is a long way from our sleepy little seaside village of San Clemente in California. I wouldn’t want to go to Mozambique simply to see a race for one afternoon.
Last year, Carol, J.J., Dustin, and I all traveled down to Kenya. We went not only to see a race but to go on an African Safari in the Serengeti. That adventure was fantastic. If you haven’t seen my video from that trip, I’d highly recommend it. Here’s a link:
How about another safari?
J.J. and I figured that if we went to Mozambique, we could combine it with another type of African wildlife adventure. We settled on a gorilla trek in Rwanda to follow the race in Mozambique.
We were one day away from confirming and sending in our financial deposits for the gorilla idea when I received some unsettling information. The Mozambique race might not happen. That was truly bad news. I wouldn’t want to go on a reasonably short gorilla trek in Africa without seeing a race in Mozambique. I wouldn’t want to do it the other way either.
But wait, you’re saying there’s a chance? (Dumb and Dumber).
At the very last minute, when I received some lukewarm confirmation that the races would not take place in Mozambique, we also canceled the gorilla trek in Rwanda. I was disappointed, but this is life in the trackchasing fast lane.
No Mozambique? How about Mexico?
Undaunted, off I flew in a different direction. I was headed to Leon, Mexico, in the Mexican state of Guanajuato, to be exact, to see a race there. This would be my 17th trip to Mexico for trackchasing. We’ve also taken several cruises to Mexico. Day trips to Tijuana were frequent back in the day. We used to go camping with the entire family in our Starcraft pop-up camper to the beaches of Ensenada. I’ve probably been to Mexico 35-40 times.
I get a lot of last-minute news.
As I was about to fly to Dallas and then to Leon, Mexico, I received some news from Mozambique. Racing might still happen. But it wouldn’t be in August; it would be the weekend after I was going to Mexico!
I travel light.
For Mexico, my 22” rolling carry-on bag had just three T-shirts and three pairs of underwear. That wouldn’t cut it if I first went to Mexico and then, a weekend later, made my way down to Mozambique in Africa without coming home.
Do you like to fish?
The next step for me was to “run a trot line.” What’s a trot line? It’s a fishing thing. I believe most fishermen are familiar with a trot line.
For the uninitiated, a trot line is a line that might be 30-50 feet long. Then, small, 12-18” lines with hooks are attached to the bigger line. A thirty-foot trot line might feature 25 to 30 hooks.
A fisherman drops his trot line with bait and leaves it there for a day or so. Then she comes back to check the trot line to see what results were achieved.
This is how I run a trot line.
In trackchasing, a “trot line” refers to when I go on Facebook and check to see who has “liked” a message about a specific track or race. At that point, I send out a broadcast message to all of those followers, asking for more information about the track or the race. I expect to receive at least a few responses from people who came back to me after my “fishing” expedition.
Speaking the same language can be a problem.
The challenge with my Facebook trot line strategy is I’m usually trying to communicate with a nation of people who either don’t speak English, or English is not their primary language. Additionally, the Facebook users who receive my message have never heard of me. There is no guarantee that Facebook Messenger will even deliver the message. I might send out 50 messages and get very few responses, but I always get one or two.
However, when I dropped my Mozambique Facebook Messenger trot line, five people got back to me. They sent me enough information to confirm that Mozambique would be racing the weekend following my Mexican trackchasing weekend.
Logistically, it would be a challenge to travel from Leon, Mexico, to Maputo, Mozambique. However, I had five days to make that happen. I figured I would give it a shot.
How about we start with Mexico?
With all of that as background, I’ll tell you how I did with Mexico first. Part two will be dedicated to Mozambique. How does that sound?
Getting to Mexico.
I discovered that I could fly from Los Angeles to Dallas and then from Dallas to Leon, Mexico, in a single day. That would be my plan.
I always like to add a bit of drama to my travel day.
I would be flying standby. When I got to Los Angeles for the Dallas flight, I stepped into the American Airlines Admirals Club. A membership at the Admirals Club costs $850 a year. Normally, I wouldn’t pay that, but I got a special deal.
Recently, Carol and I got our 21st credit card, which is the Citi AAdvantage Executive World Elite MasterCard. That card comes with a $595 annual fee.
Keep an open mind.
I know that some readers would almost lose their dentures thinking that anyone in their right mind would pay $595 as an annual fee for a single credit card. Let me put it this way. This is how things worked, making paying that fee a great idea.
First, I needed to spend $10,000 in three months with the card. Remember, in my credit card arbitrage hobby, I NEVER and I mean NEVER spend any money to get a sign-up bonus that I would not have spent anyway.
I would pay my normal quarterly estimated taxes with a credit card. I overpaid just a little bit, so the amount was $10,000! Yes, using a credit card to pay my taxes would incur a fee of 1.75% or $175. That charge, along with the $595 annual credit card fee, would total $770. I paid $770 to get our 21st credit card! Oh my, right? But wait. There’s more.
Why spend $770 to get one credit card?
Why would I do that? What would I gain from this arrangement?
After spending $10,000 with this card, American Airlines would give me 110,000 frequent flyer miles. I could easily redeem those miles for two cents each and likely more. At a conservative value of two cents, those miles would be worth $2,200.
But wait. I told you there was more. The credit card folks would also give me a complimentary American Airlines Admirals Club membership for me and a guest. That membership costs $850 per year.
The credit card company was offering me miles and a club membership worth $3,050. In the course of my daily travel life, I would use those miles for future airline tickets and the Admirals Club as a place to knock out even more food and drink travel expenses. I wasn’t even counting those savings in this analysis. Of course, when I bought the airline tickets and lounge membership, I would be doing that with AFTER-TAX money. I’m in roughly the 30% federal and state tax bracket. I would need to take out $3,965 BEFORE-TAX to clear the expense of $3,050. That’s the value of what the credit card company was giving me.
I was paying a total of $770 to get what I was getting. I was SAVING almost $4,000 as a withdrawal from my IRA. By paying $770 in new expenses, I was coming out ahead by more than $3,000.
Travel or stay at home?
It’s easy to forego spending $4,000 on travel. You can just stay at home and watch TV. However, travel is mind-expanding. As long as I can, I will pay what some people think are “high” annual fees to get three to four times the value in travel.
Next year, I won’t get the sign-up bonus. If I don’t want to pay the $595 annual fee to get the $850 Admirals Club membership, I can cancel the card. That is probably what I will do. But I won’t cancel before asking the card company for a “retention” bonus. Remember, I am a sales guy!
Walking the walk.
On this trip, I stopped by the Admirals Club in both Los Angeles and Dallas and ate their food and drank their liquor. It would cost me $30 or more to eat and drink each time in an airport. If I used the club 20 times in a single year, and I’ll probably use it 60 times or more in a year, I would recoup the second-year $595 fee just from the Admirals Club experience. That wouldn’t be difficult, plus being in an upscale club is just a nice way to travel.
Choo-choo!
By the way, I just got an Amtrak MasterCard. With that card, the annual fee is only $99. I need to spend $2,000 within the next three months. What do they give me? 40,000 Amtrak points. Those 40,000 points can be redeemed for about $1,500 in train travel. I’ve been wanting to take an overnight train ride somewhere. If I can get $1,500 in train credits for $99, that’s a pretty good deal. You say you wouldn’t want to ride on Amrak? I feel you. No one should ever try to collect rewards they are not interested in using.
Day 1.
Now, back to my air travel from Los Angeles to Dallas today. I was the last of 37 people on the standby list. Initially, the agent stated that the flight was full. I wouldn’t make it. I’ve heard that before. I held my ground. Sometimes people who bought a ticket don’t show up. That was the case today. Time was running out as they called standby after standby with the plane ready to depart.
Randy Lewis? Randy Lewis?
When they called my name, the agent handling the ticketing was trying to print out my boarding pass. At the same time, another employee was holding the door to the jetway to the airplane and threatening to close it within the next seven seconds. It was a real nail-biter to see if the agent could print out my boarding pass before the other employee closed the door with me on the outside. You could see the two of them battling for control of their territory. I made it. It was close. I got the last seat, but I made it.
Midnight in Mexico.
I landed in Leon, Mexico, at midnight. The plan was to get an Uber to my Hyatt Centric hotel in Leon. This is when I learned that Uber drivers are not permitted to pick up passengers at the airport. To meet the Uber driver, I would have to walk nearly a mile out to the road where Uber drivers were allowed to pick up passengers.
It’s midnight. It’s a one-mile walk. I’m in Mexico, but that didn’t really matter. I could be in Chicago or Houston or wherever, and taking a one-mile walk in the dark at midnight wouldn’t be a good idea. Paying a $595 annual credit card fee can be a good idea, but taking this walk would almost always be a bad idea.
The most unusual things happen to me. I can’t make this stuff up.
As I was discussing my options with a Hertz Rental Car agent, a woman listened in nearby. I had no interest in renting a car in Mexico, although I’ve done that in the past. I knew that once I left the airport, I could use Uber for the rest of my trip. Uber would be a lot more convenient and cost less.
The woman listening to our conversation was a civilian. She was waiting in line to rent her own car. She spoke English with a strong Mexican accent.
What do you do when this happens to you?
She walked up to me and started a conversation. She told me that while her husband was getting the bags, she was getting the rental car. She told me she and her family could drive me to my hotel. They knew the Hyatt was near where they were staying.
Be honest. Do you accept this offer?
Let’s think about this. Let’s say you’re in a small Mexican town at midnight. You don’t have any transportation. A person who grew up in Mexico and speaks broken English approaches you and says, “Why don’t you hop in our car and we will solve all of your problems?” How many people reading this sign up for that offer? I did. That’s my lifestyle. I’m here to create a story. As long as I don’t get killed, I’ve got a story. If I get killed, you’ve got a story.
Hola.
Soon, I was introducing myself to “Martha” and her husband “Jose“ and their college-aged daughter “Natalie.” They lived in Southern California, owned their own gas station business, and were headed back to Martha’s hometown of Leon for a quinceañera, a 15-year-old birthday party celebration for their niece.
While we waited to get the rental car, we got to know each other. Then we hopped in the rental car and off we went for a 20-minute drive. It was now approaching 1 a.m.
What could go wrong here?
Along the way, a Mexican police roadblock was encountered. They were checking for drunk drivers. It appears that the Mexican police are taking this problem seriously.
This family took me to their hotel, where they checked in. To make things simpler, I grabbed an Uber from there. I attempted to pay them, but they wouldn’t hear of it. They told me that people helped them all the time, and they didn’t mind helping me.
I’ve bid them farewell and thanked them profusely. My Uber driver was a nice guy, a young fellow. He welcomed me to Mexico, although he didn’t speak much English, but he smiled a lot.
6,000 feet.
At 2 a.m., he dropped me off at the Hyatt Centric Hotel in Leon, Mexico. I thought my breathing was just a little bit off. I wondered why. Then I looked up the elevation of Leon, Mexico. Six thousand feet. That explained it.
I stay almost every night when I’m on the road at a Hyatt hotel. Upon completing my stay in Mexico, I will have accumulated 99 Hyatt stays. It’s only early June.
The Hyatt Centric was a modern luxury hotel. I usually get upgraded to a suite. I didn’t this time, but they gave me an oversized room, which was absolutely beautiful. Hyatt treats me well.
I do this for one reason. I’m looking for the story.
I travel for the story. It’s all about the story. What I’ve just discussed is only the first day of what would ultimately become a two-week trip, as I continue to Mozambique and then to a couple of other special places on the way home.
Where’s Carol?
While I’m gone, Carol and her sister Patty will be making a family visit to everyone who lives in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Austin, Texas. They are riding the train from Los Angeles to Austin. That will take them overnight for two nights in an Amtrak bedroom. I think that will be a fun trip for them.
Day 2.
The next day, I had breakfast at the Hyatt Centric. They made cooked-to-order beef and pork quesadillas for breakfast. With Hyatt, breakfast never costs me anything, but it can routinely cost other guests as much as $40 per person. I relaxed in my room all day, took a little walk to ensure I got my four miles in each day, and then headed into the city centre of Leon.
Most racing in Mexico is held on Sunday afternoons. With it being Saturday, I wanted to check things out, do some people-watching, and have an authentic Mexican dinner before tomorrow’s daytime racing. I’ve done this exact routine all over Mexico.
Not my kind of weather.
Tonight, the weather was hot and humid. As the evening wore on, it never cooled off. Additionally, there was the 6,000-foot elevation. I don’t like hot weather or humid weather, and I’m also not fond of being at high elevations. That’s why I live at the beach, which is at sea level (duh!) and comes with ocean breezes to keep the weather cooler with no humidity.
Interesting kid.
My server at tonight’s sit-down Mexican restaurant was an inquisitive 17-year-old. He had lived in Texas until he was 10 years old. He moved back to Mexico with his parents. He spoke English well, seemed like a smart kid, and had question after question about what I thought would be a good idea for his future. All I could do was ask him what he was interested in pursuing.
Aren’t you scared?
He couldn’t believe that I travel alone to foreign countries. He asked, “Aren’t you scared?” I replied, “Should I be?” I told him I was never scared to do what I do. I’m not scared because I never watch the news, and I’m the most laid-back guy you know. Most people I know who watch the news are scared of just about everything. Sorry, too strong?
As I people watched on a Saturday evening in the center of the city, I was taken by a few things. First, the crowd was well-behaved and consisted almost exclusively of families. I didn’t see any teenage groups running around in packs, intimidating others, like I might in the U.S. I don’t think I saw a single person smoking. Everyone looked to be working-class folks. I wandered into a couple of beautiful churches and watched a wedding take place. I’ve done that a few times in Mexico. I also didn’t see a single older white dude like me. I’m not exaggerating. I didn’t see one single person who looked like me. That’s OK. I don’t travel to foreign countries in hopes of seeing someone who looks like me.
Uber continues to work out very well after the minor kerfuffle when I landed at the airport yesterday. In Mexico, Uber is cheap. The cars are small. They are older, but the driver gets you from point A to point B. Tomorrow is race day, so I’m to bed relatively early.
Day 3.
He who travels fastest travels alone.
I’ll be away on this trip for 14 days. I packed for the trip in less than 14 minutes. I just wanted to ensure I had enough t-shirts and underwear, as well as three pairs of shorts, and my toiletries. Carol continues to be amazed at how quickly I can pack for these trips.
Today’s activity was the reason I came to Leon, Mexico, in the first place. I was going trackchasing south of the border. I would be seeing racing at my 17th different racetrack in Mexico. It took me 17 trips to do it. One track for each visit to Mexico. Only a handful of trackchasers have ever seen a race south of the border, and none of those people has seen racing at more than one Mexican track.
I never would have predicted this.
This would end up being one of my most unusual, most rewarding, and most taxing trackchasing days in recent memory. How is that?
I like talking to people.
I took an Uber from the hotel in Leon to the Autodromo de Leon racing circuit. I had a great 40-minute conversation with my Uber driver. We discussed various topics related to the United States and Mexico. I always enjoy talking to my rideshare drivers. They give me a different perspective on life.
So, how hot was it?
Today was going to be a hot day. I guess I didn’t really realize how hot it was going to be. Anything over 80° feels like blistering heat to me. I live in a world where my ideal temperature is 70° plus or minus 5°. As long as I’m in that range, I am a very happy camper, which is why our modest seaside cottage is located in San Clemente, California.
When I entered the track, I paid an admission fee of 400 Mexican pesos, equivalent to approximately $20 USD. The entire ticket-buying and selling process was informal. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t being overcharged.
Just to be sure, I asked the young man entering right behind me how much he had paid. He told me he was charged 400 pesos for his ticket as well. That made me feel good.
Let me introduce you to Brandon.
I then struck up a conversation with a Mexican who spoke English. Little did I know that he and I would become fast friends for the day. His name was Brandon. He worked as a tire engineer for Michelin in Mexico.
At most race tracks, outside of the United States, there is very little grandstand seating. That was true today. Most fans either stood, brought their lawn chairs, or sat on a makeshift “grandstand” seating area constructed from tires embedded in a dirt hillside. During the day, I found those tires were so hot that sitting on them blistered my butt!
Even though Brandon was wearing a souvenir racing t-shirt and racing hat, he told me this was only his second race he had ever attended. Brandon and I stuck together from 10 a.m. until nearly 2 p.m. That was a lot of time to be in the sun.
Bikes, trucks, and cars.
Today’s racing included several entertaining classes. The first race of the day featured motorcycles. It was exciting to see those riders leaning over on their sides until their knees hit the ground.
Another hit for me was the “big trucks.” These are 18-wheeler-type truck cabs that compete in races. I’ve only seen them a few times, with the first being in Brazil when Carol and I met up with our English and Brazilian friends Jerry and Katia Fisher.
This was a cool experience.
Jerry is from England. I met him and his first wife, who was Russian, on a trackchasing trip to Argentina in Buenos Aires. I thought it was pretty cool at the time to be rushing down one of Buenos Aires’ main boulevards in a taxi cab with an Englishman and his Russian lawyer wife in the backseat of a taxi on the way to see the horse races in Argentina! That’s almost a jet-setting lifestyle! A couple of years later, in Brazil, we met up with Jerry and his bride-to-be, Katia. They hosted us in their apartment with a lovely dinner.
The Autodromo de Leon also featured a series of stock car events and Formula 5 races. For the first time, I saw the British “MG” car brand, which Chinese SAIC Motor owns, win a stock car race. That was something.
I hate umbrellas.
It was hot. How hot was it? I ended up buying an umbrella to defend myself against the sun. The umbrella salesman had a very effective selling technique. With my head being beaten on by essentially an industrial blast furnace, he briefly put the umbrella over my head. This reduced the temperature on my head by about 300°. Sold! For 100 pesos, I was a buyer.
Brandon and I spent a couple of hours standing under a shade tree located right at the fence of the racetrack. That made things much more bearable. However, the uncertainty of the safety barriers, with the cars racing just a few feet away from us, added a new dimension of fragility to my expected lifespan.
Never expected this.
The city of Leon, Mexico, is more of an industrial location. However, right next door (one hour away), sits the city of Guanajuato. This is a city of historic proportions in Mexico.
I had considered touring there. However, with Guanajuato being nearly an hour away and no rental car available, I decided against that visit.
Hey Randy, wanna do this?
Toward the end of the day at the track, Brandon asked me if I would like to join him for a trip over to Guanajuato to see the sights. He told me he would drive us over in his truck. It would be a great time.
Stop! Think! Do you do this?
Let’s have you think about this for just a moment. Let’s say you go against your best judgment and make a trip way down into Mexico. Then you meet up with a local. You’ve spent a short time with them. They invite you to walk from where you’re at to their “ranch”. It’s more than a mile away. Then they want to drive you in their private vehicle to a spot an hour away. Totally unsupervised. Do you do it? I do. That’s how I roll.
Today, Brandon and I walked in the hot sun, after we had stood in the sun for most of four hours from the track to his small ranch. The walk was more than a mile along the side of the highway. Just remember, I don’t exaggerate any of this. I don’t need to. I just report the facts.
As we began to walk, Brandon told me that his place was out toward the water tower. I could barely see a small speck along the horizon. That was the water tower.
Along that walk, we stopped in an Oxxo convenience store. They are all over Mexico. Finally, we reached the ranch. Brandon opened a couple of large swinging gates. With the gates open, I could see a beautiful green landscape that created a tunnel-like effect leading to the house.
Brandon, are you nuts?
When we reached the house, I was introduced to Brandon‘s cousin and roommate, Gael. Brandon explained his plan to take me to Guanajuato to his cousin in English. He asked Gael if he would like to join us.
I wish you could’ve seen the look on Gael’s face. It pretty much said, “Brandon, what the hell are you doing? You’re bringing a tall white dude into our house that you’ve just met and asking me to go along on a trip with you two? Are you crazy?”
I assured Gael that I wasn’t a terrorist. Brandon attempted to do the same thing. I guess Gael was convinced. He agreed to join the late afternoon and evening tour.
I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of Guanajuato, but it is a historic center in Mexico. It was here that the Mexicans defeated the Spaniards in the Mexican War of Independence.
The city boasts a diverse array of unique and vibrant architecture. The streets are cobblestone and uneven, with lots of steps going up and down.
Both Brandon and Gael were serious young men who understood the history of Guanajuato. I felt like I was getting a tour in itself. These two were very knowledgeable about a wide range of subjects, especially finance.
Making new friends.
I always say that you’ve never made a friend unless you played a round of golf with them or shared a meal. The three of us shared a lovely Mexican dinner that was probably beyond any Mexican feast I had ever encountered. Brandon ordered an entrée that consisted of one pound of meat with assorted tortillas, peppers, and vegetables. We made our tacos from this stack of food. It was all delicious, as were the margaritas that came with it.
Following dinner, we continued to explore the city, purchasing flan from a street vendor and a few other souvenirs along the way.
The funicular.
A highlight was riding up the side of a mountain in a “funicular.” This took us to an elevation with a commanding view during the day, and as the sun set, an even more stunning view emerged in the evening.
I can’t beat these experiences.
While we were enjoying the view, we encountered a couple of other travelers, one from the United Kingdom and the other from South Korea. We spent half an hour discussing the global events of the day with these individuals. I wish that every person who thinks they have a good grasp of the global perspective could sit in on conversations like these. The viewpoints expressed were almost 100% counter to what some people consider the prevailing attitude of the world toward the United States in general.
Six miles at six thousand feet.
As we headed down the mountain, out of the city, and back to the hotel, I noticed that I had walked more than six miles that day. The heat at the racetrack was beyond brutal. However, the company with Brandon and later Gael was outstanding. It was fun to sit in the shade, drinking margaritas with these young fellows. They were young enough to be my grandkids, but Brandon guessed I was only old enough to be his father. I’ve made so many friends this way during both my foreign and domestic travels. I would say that most of these people, many of whom I remain in contact with today, are in the 35-45 age range.
If I don’t….
If I didn’t travel to Mexico and didn’t engage a foreign person in conversation, I wouldn’t have had this experience at all. I’m glad I did all of that. It was the highlight of the trip so far and one of my major highlights of my trackchasing hobby. I ended up getting back to my hotel at 1 a.m. Brandon had to go to work at 7 a.m. the next morning.
I will always comment on the unusual.
I’ll make one other comment. During my five hours at the race track, I only saw one white dude, and that was when I looked in the mirror. I mention this fact for one reason only. The situation was obviously unusual. It would be the same as if I mentioned I only saw one 7-footer or one person with two heads. In all likelihood, seeing a seven-footer or a person with two heads or a seven-footer with two heads would be most unusual and worth mentioning.
Day 4.
Mexico…Mozambique…and also Manhattan.
Today, the objective was to get from Leon, Mexico, to New York City. I wasn’t feeling exactly the best. I had just a little bit of diarrhea and a headache. I didn’t know if the water from the frozen margarita caused that or what. It wasn’t that bad, but it was a little distracting.
I’ve been using the American Airlines Admirals Club a few times during this trip. I just got a membership after applying for and being accepted for my 21st credit card. That card includes a complimentary membership to the American Airlines Admirals Club.
100!
When I arrived in New York City this evening, I would be staying at the Hyatt Regency JFK hotel. Notably, this was my 100th Hyatt frequent stay night of 2025. I may be traveling too much. It’s essential to remember that I don’t “travel” unless I’m going somewhere I want to be.
I think that Brandon was especially amazed that I could “come and go as I pleased.” I’m pretty amazed by that as well. I’m happy about it too!
Persuade, convince, and maximise.
It is one of my life missions to persuade and convince people to join me in making my life easier. Isn’t that a nice way to convey the idea that I want people to make my life easier?
Tonight, when I checked into the Hyatt, I reminded the front desk clerk that this was my 100th Hyatt stay credit of the year. He was all set to give me a regular room when I showed up. With the new information from me, he excused himself to go into the back room to see what “he could do for me”. He emerged with the good news that I was being upgraded to one of the hotel’s best suites. That happens to me all the time. Persuade, convince, and maximise. Remember, I am a sales guy.
Day 5.
It was nice to wake up in a suite at such an upscale hotel as the Hyatt Regency at JFK. I discovered another benefit of being in the hotel.
Riding the New York subway.
It would be an easy ride on the subway from the Aqueduct Racetrack train stop into Penn Station in the middle of Manhattan.
That being the case, I decided to go to New York and spend a few hours just walking around. I had promised Brandon I would send him a picture of me from Central Park.
I get to New York City on average about twice a year. I’ve been doing that for 50 years. New York City is my favorite big city in the world. I classify the cities of New York, London, Tokyo, and Shanghai as the four most interesting large cities that I have visited.
This plan didn’t work out.
I had intended to store my luggage somewhere around Penn Station, but the place I had in mind seemed to be out of business. That being the case, I started my walk with my rolling 22-inch bag and computer case, which wasn’t difficult to include on the walk at all.
Seeing the sights and getting a sore neck looking up at the tall buildings.
It was enjoyable just taking in the sights along my walk from Madison Square Garden to Central Park and back. Of course, I had to stop for a slice, which gave me a great view of the Empire State Building, and I was back in time to take the New Jersey railroad train from Penn Station out to Newark Airport. The charge for me was only 12 bucks. The ride took only 20 minutes. What an easy way to get in and out of the city from the Newark airport.
15 hours, baby. Try it sometime.
Tonight, I will be flying from Newark to Johannesburg, South Africa. That’s a 15-hour flight. I have a simple strategy for long plane rides. I get on the plane, sleep or entertain myself during the flight, and when the plane lands, I get off. I told you it was a simple strategy.
We’ve just finished Part 1, the trip to Mexico. My next newsletter message to you will be Part 2, Mozambique, and more of Africa. That will be a fun story!
Thanks for reading.
Randy…heading to Mozambique…in Africa.