The weeks leading up to a big vacation are always such chaos. By the time you hit the airport, you feel like you need a vacation, which is what your doing, yet deep in the recesses of your mind .... Cmon .... We all know how stressful vacations can be. Especially when you have to fly. Even more so when that flight is an overnight international flight. Well, this trip wasn't like that at all. My buddy Tim ... You'll meet him here in a few. He flies ... Like all the time for work flies. He flies more than some pilots I know. No ... Really. He spends so much of his life in a plane, I feel like I should give him a Top Gun type air jock handle like "Shooter" or "Renegade." I know "Cackle" after his infectious laugh ...... anyway. Mine would be "Rambles" or "Babbles" ..... "Rambles" to "Cackles" I have beer in sight ... Anyway .... Thanks to Tim, he was able to, for a nominal price increase, use his flying miles to upgrade Heather and I to First Class. In addition, the guy belongs to the AA Admirals Club where he can bring along 2 guests. Flying in style like this is a game changer. It genuinely removed the most annoying parts of air travel. Well, most of them. You still have the TSA. I could go through security naked carrying an empty brown paper lunch bag and still be stopped. That also gives anyone reading this an image you'll never recover from. You're welcome! So we arrive at the airport around 7am this lovely Sat, Sept 3. And proceed to check our bags AND get through security within 30 min. By the time we got settled in the Admirals Club we still had almost 2 hours till our flight to Philly. I wish I had snapped a couple photos of this place. Let's just say wide comfortable seats, free wifi, a breakfast buffet, and not hundreds of tired ****** off people. So we board the plane to Philly .... First .... Because First\Business class passengers are treated really nice. I believe there was a time in air travel that ALL passengers were treated exceptionally well. Well Business Class passengers are still. One on board, we were promptly given alcohol. Well this doesn't suck. Tito's vodka and orange juice to be exact. Oh, and the Stewardess even laughed at my stupid comment "keep em coming until I forget my name." She made sure I knew that wasn't gonna happen but she still laughed. You say that in coach and it's off to Guantanamo you terrorist. After an uneventful flight, we find ourselves in the AA Admirals Club in Philadelphia. Even nicer than the Pittsburgh one. Since our layover in Philly was about 8 hours we settled in. Heather got the chance to do some serious damage to the 485,000 emails she gets every day. and of course there's more booze because how does and organization say "we appreciate your patronage?" Free alcohol that's how. I kept it at 2 because I know myself and at 49, getting on an international flight hammered is something I'm not trained for. So I had a Bloody Mary to start, followed by the first Manhattan I've ever had. It was ok. Around 2 ph we headed to a place. Called Chickies and Petes for some cheesesteaks, crab fries, and of course and ice cold Yuengling! We boarded the flight to Munich around 6 pm ... First .... Of course. This time we immediately got champagne. Now, I thought first class to Philly was nice. International First Class. Whoa. They have the pods. And yes, they are extremely comfortable. And they give you Bose noise cancelling headphones. And you get a 3 course meal. And then there is obviously more of the free drinks. Wine to be exact. Good wine in an actual wine glass. The seats in the travel pods extend all the way down into a bed. Sleep was light though ...... Restless ....... I was returning to a place that helped define me. To a place which has given me a beautiful daughter, several lifelong friends, and more memories, good and bad, than one could imagine.