In an unfortunate turn of events, Ryan Dyer, my teammate, has suffered a broken collar bone while training in Finland. With Ryan sidelined for the next event, I received a phone call yesterday from my coach. It was plane (no pun intended) and simple, if you can get to France, a World Cup start is waiting. Well, for some that sounds easy enough, but with a 72 hour notice and holiday season travel, getting there is not easy. First you look at the logistics of even getting a ticket, connections, times etc. When you have determined your arrival and departure times (keeping in mind that you must meet your team for further travel) then you can start pricing a ticket.
The first ticket came back at around $1,900 which is actually not that absurd of a price considering the fact that it is over the pond, on short notice AND holiday season. I put that on hold as it matched up 'relatively' close to my needed travel times and then moved to pricing out a Delta Sky Miles ticket, which alleviates the need to use cash. This would prove to be a very difficult task and I will spare you most of the details. In short, I researched departing and arriving at a total of ten DIFFERENT airports to try and satisfy my travel dates and times while trying to use the least amount of miles.
In the end, I settled on departing out of Great Falls MT, which is a three hour drive from where I will begin my travel in Missoula MT. On the return however, I will be flying back into Missoula. Rather than fly in and out of Geneva CH where the rest of my Team is traveling in and out of, I was able to save a large amount of miles and streamline my itinerary by flying in and out of Zurich CH. I will use Switzerland's advanced train system to get me from the Zurich airport to Geneva, eventually meeting up with the rest of the Team. One thing is 'almost' certain, the Swiss train system is always on time, making for sound travel planning.
The train ride from Zurich to Geneva is just over three hours and my flights match up 'relatively' close to my Teams travel arrangements. One other caveat to traveling on this itinerary is that I must depart a day later than everyone else, which actually worked out for the better, saving me 27,500 miles!! I canceled the full price, revenue ticket and settled on this Sky Miles ticket below...
I am looking forward to the opportunity of skiing in France, this will be my first competition since my injury in 2009. I have given my mind and body plenty of rest since my knee injury in December 2009, which sidelined me in my bid for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. I have learned so many things in the long road to recovery, some good, some bad, but all teaching me valuable lessons along the way. I am at a point in time where I know I have prepared myself both mentally and physically for my return to competition and I cannot express in words how excited I am to be getting back in the gate!! Be sure and visit my Facebook page for a little game/giveaway about my upcoming trip to France. I will be giving away a prize to whomever guesses the closest number of Sky Miles I used in booking my trip.
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