The Things They Carried

I know...I know...you want to know where we ended up after Las Vegas, right?  Well, those photos aren't quite in order yet, so you'll just have to sit tight for one more day.  In the meantime, let's discuss what we brought with us.  I'd like to introduce you to our traveling companions--from left to right they are:  The Red Barron, The Little Red Caboose, and Golden Boy.

When participating in the Non-Rev Challenge, it is ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL that you do NOT check a bag.  After all, what if you check your bag to Omaha but get into your journey only to find that the flight to Omaha is full and now you've switched gears and are trying to go to the Dominican Republic instead?  A lot of good your bag is going to do you sitting in Omaha!  Another ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL thing is that your carry-on MUST be able to fit under the seat in front of you, and not only in the overhead compartment.  Here's why:  Non-Rev employee travelers often have to wait until the last minute to know whether we are cleared to board or not.   And often, by this point, the overhead compartments are full.  If your bag does NOT fit under the seat in front of you, it is gate checked to your final destination and has to be picked up IN BAGGAGE CLAIM.  This can spell DISASTER for the Non-Rev Challenge!  After all, we are strategically zipping from flight to flight, making last minute travel destination decisions close to departure times.  If we have to stop to go PICK UP a bag in baggage claim, then go ALLLLLLL THE WAYYYYYY back through security...well...you don't even want to KNOW the wrath of the "weedy eye" you will get from your teammates!

And what to bring?  Very little!  After all, the more you bring, the more you have to carry.  This is what I found to be necessary:
1.  Laptop computer (for checking flight loads and making reservations.  Plus, the charger)
2.  Cell phone and camera (plus the chargers)
3.  Notebook (for jotting down notes, directions, names, and to give out our Blog address)
4.  Hat (crazy, dirty hair days)
5.  Change of socks and undies
6.  Very basic toiletries (toothpaste, face soap, lotion, lipbalm.  Hygiene is pretty much out the window   on the Non-Rev Challenge)
7.  Wallet and PASSPORT!!
8.  Jacket or fleece (doubles as a blanket when sleeping)

So back to our journey.  When last we left our mighty travelers, Krissey was researching flight destinations while sitting on the floor of the Las Vegas airport.  We booked our employee reservations and headed to..........

Vegas Baby!

With the Las Vegas flight being wide open, Caitlin, Krissey, and Megan booked their employee listing and made their way over to gate B1 to await the verdict.  Not only were we cleared to board, the Salt Lake City Delta gate agent graciously seated us all together.

We arrived in Las Vegas and made our way toward the baggage claim area to see about a shuttle or car rental to complete our next task.  It was only by FREAK accident that we ran into a completely unexpected task to complete!  A tile mural on the wall by the tram to baggage claim turned out to be a BONUS point photo opportunity--the Non-Rev Challenge has some bonus point opportunities where you have to figure out exactly WHERE the bonus photos were taken, and then GO to that location to take your photo.  We just happened upon this particular one in Las Vegas and we couldn't have been more excited!  We pretty much did a lot of screaming and hugging before settling down to business to get our photo taken (point value: 31, photo credit to random Delta passenger, Cindy)

We continued to ride the high of our good fortune, and went to inquire about transportation options to our next task.  We received the most helpful information from Tony at Alamo Car Rental, who could not believe what we were doing.  He gave us an excellent deal on the car (since we really only needed it for about 4 hours), loaded us up with maps and directions, and bid us farewell.  Thanks for all your help, Tony!

We hit the road in our shiny, silver Nissan Sentra (aka "the silver bullet") and took a beautiful, warm, sunny drive to the Hoover Dam.  What an amazing feat of engineering!  At the Hoover Dam, we were able to complete task #47 (straddling the Nevada/Arizona border at Hoover Dam, point value: 23, photo credit to random tourist, John).

We hopped back into the Silver Bullet, and headed back to Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas.  We  walked around for a while, enjoying the sights and sounds.

Krissey and Megan had their photo taken with an Elvis impersonator (no point value, but SHOULD be! Viva Las Vegas factor: 100),

before we went to an authentic Lappert's to enjoy an ice cream cone (task #45, point value: 18, photo credit to Connie, the lady in line behind us).

At this point, we had completed all we had set out to do in Las Vegas.  It was time to return to the airport, return our car, and figure out our next destination.  Krissey hunkered down on the floor of the Las Vegas airport lobby and did some expert sleuthing of possible destinations.

The verdict?  Stay tuned.....

....and we're OFF!

We began our journey on a beautiful Bozeman day.  The first step, naturally, was to board a Delta Connection flight to Salt Lake City (task #21, point value: 9, photo credit to our co-worker Brynn).   From top to bottom, we are Caitlin, Megan and Krissey.  You will see a lot of us over the next few posts:

We arrived in Salt Lake City after an uneventful (but completely thrilling to us!) 50 minute flight.  While in the Salt Lake City airport, we rode an escalator (task #12, point value: 9, photo credit to Deb the random Delta passenger),

located the C Concourse terminal map (task #89, point value: 31, photo credit to Delta employee Michael),

and had our photo taken with a Delta Red Coat (task #20, point value: 9, photo credit to Delta employee Troy)

Now we had to figure out where to go from Salt Lake City.  The thing about non-rev (which stands for "non-revenue" since we ain't generating a dime for the company by sitting in one of its seats!) is that we fly ONLY if there is a seat available on the flight.  And since all three of us wanted to get to the same destination, we looked for flights that had plenty of open seats available.  Caitlin and Megan spent some time searching through the Delta flight loads:

and we came up with our next destination.  The winner?  Well, I guess you'll have to wait and see.....

Task 6--In a Dentist Chair

Candy bravely completed Task 6 for us.  Total points earned:  10.  Thanks, Candy!

What we're doing....

Welcome to the Blog of the Big Sky Bozoners!  We are a team of 5 fabulous Delta Air Lines agents in Bozeman, Montana who are participating in a globe-trotting adventure.  The 2010 Non-Rev Challenge is a fundraising event for Delta Air Line's partnership with the United Way.  Employees within the Delta system compete in a photo scavenger hunt using our "non-rev" flight status (that means we fly stand-by on a space available basis) to take creative photographs of ourselves in a variety of places all over the world.  Photos range from the mundane (on an escalator) to the historical (in front of the Liberty Bell) to the fabulous (at the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul).  The five of us will try to do as many of the 100 tasks as we possibly can (the contest runs from September 1st-November 1st, 2010.)  We don't all have to be in the photo at the same time, but the more of us in the photo, the more points we earn for our team.

Tomorrow, three of us embark on our first flight adventure.  We don't know where we are going.  We don't know where we will end up.  We DO know we will have a great time doing it!