Been MIA.....but I hit my spend on the CIP w/ a quickie trip to FL last week.
As a teacher, as soon as I was told MI was closing for 3 weeks, I joked w/ my students that I would be online teaching from the beach. Little did I know, I'd be able to pull it off. I managed to get 3 RT flights on Delta from DTW to MCO for $150 (was $300 but used $150 in Delta GCs from the Aspire/Delta cards). I got an AirBNB for $900 for the week, we had a pool. My daughter's 15th bday was St. Patrick's day, we ventured to the beach. We were NOT like the spring break photos you saw. We set up far from the college kids, or really anyone else. The rest of the time we were at our house, hanging at the pool.
While everyone back in MI was in a panic, my kids were in the sunshine and a corona-free bubble, as Orlando/FL was much slower to shut stuff down. We came back on Monday night, to the shelter in place in Michigan. Our flight to MCO was maybe 50 people. Shockingly on the way back, the flight I tried to change to was cancelled. The one we flew back on was nearly completely full.
I know A LOT of people think I'm insane. Outside of the airplane, my kids were just as isolated in FL as they would have been in MI. Being away was great for both of their mental health. And I guess, since I'm dating a pilot, I've been exposed to all the germs he is being exposed to for months already. I honestly think we both had this back in Jan, and my son had it shortly after that. We all had a terrible cough we could not shake for weeks.
Now with that said, I have a flight to FLL next week but I am cancelling it. It's very tempting to still go and isolate there. The pilot I'm dating has said Spirit is flying planes with as little as 10 people right now. He's said as of now, the airlines will continue to fly until the government shuts them down. As soon as I get the voucher for FLL flight, I want to try and rebook while the prices are low (guessing when in the future we might be back to "normal"). I also need to rebook my April flights to RDU on Delta. I'm hoping to take the vouchers and turn 2 tickets into 3. My daughter and I were going in April to see Jimmy Buffett. He's now moved his concert to June, so that's what we'll be trying for.
It will also be interesting to see how the school year plays out in Michigan. As it stands right now, any online learning we do can not count for "seat time". There is of course petitions to get our legislature to change that considering the situation. As of now we're out 4 weeks (until 4/13). Next week is our spring break, and initially we were supposed to return after that. Now we honestly don't know. I will say, it'll be interesting if I have to finish the year online w/ my students (seeing as I teach Engineering and Architecture, and they need certain software they can't all get). Right now everything teachers are doing in MI can't count for grading. It's "enrichment".
And in credit cards news...since I hit my CIP spend, I have no spends to meet. I'm not sure what card I want to look at next. I guess it's time to start looking.