Un-f*cking-believable

Two days and nights touring, eating, and wandering around Brazil: $0

One night and day hanging out on spectacular Maho Bєach in St. Maartєn: $0

Getting treated like a VIP and breaking all the rules while flying a brand new jet back from Brazil: priceless

I don't care what you say. A company that pays for you to go on a week long trip down to Brazil to pick up a brand new jet and party all the way back to the States is one worth working for. Sure, lots of companies shower their employees with great perks, but this was strictly for employee appreciation, not just frivolous spending. How do I know? Well for one, our company is so cost conscious that we don't even allow people to order pens. Two, this trip was upper management's idea, and they didn't even come along. In fact, our senior directors that flew down with us to Sao Paulo to go on this trip ended up flying back early because they felt a duty to get back to the office to work. None of them suggested that we go back with them either.

So, why was this trip un-f*cking-believable? It actually has very little to do with hanging out in Brazil or St. Maartєn. Sure, we toured, shopped, and gorged ourselves on mountains of the most delicious meat, seafood, and desserts (you name it, we ate it). But, the part of the trip that blew my mind was being on the jet.

I don't know if you realize exactly how sexy jet planes are until you tour a factory like Embraєr's in Sao Jose dos Campos. We got to walk through all kinds of jets in various stages of completion for a variety of international airlines. I have always thought sports cars were hot, but standing in the middle of the factory hanger, I realized that there is nothing sexier than a brand new jet plane. It's the perfect combination of power and style on a grand scale - truly awe inspiring.

On Thursday, we hopped on the brand spanking new ERJ 145XR and flew to Belem, Brazil before heading over to St. Maartєn. In the morning, we hit Ft. Lauderdale before landing back in Houston.

With 10 people + 2 pilots on a private flight, we got to do whatever we wanted on the plane... run up and down the aisles, lay across the rows, fool around with the PA system, and play CD's in the cabin. Plus, the Embraєr people had stocked the plane with enough food to feed an army... sandwiches, fruit, cookies, chips, chocolate, nuts, yogurt, and a gazillion different kinds of drinks. It was fantastic.

Since we weren't what they call a live commercial flight, we got the private charter treatment. This means that everywhere we landed, we got to sit in the VIP lounge and were shuttled around wherever we needed to go. The driver in St. Maartєn said he just picked up Tommy Hilfiger the other day - that's the kind of treatment we were getting. Immigration was also more relaxed... or should I say... almost non-existent. They didn't bother to look at us or even count the number of people onboard... we just handed someone a stack of passports everywhere we went - they would take them away and stamp them, then hand them back. Hell, St. Maartєn didn't even bother to do that when we left. We could have smuggled anything into and out of the country if we wanted.

On the plane, we broke every rule and company regulation. The pilots tried to keep it interesting. They did the steepest takeoffs they could, which felt exactly like it does when you go around a loop in a rollercoaster. They even let us take turns flying the plane. Unfortunately, the guy who went before me made everyone sick (we were screaming "autopilot" by the time he was done), so I didn't do anything when it was my turn. I also got to jumpseat (sit in that one extra seat in the cockpit) on one of the takeoffs, which was also incredible. All in all, it was a once in a lifetime experience - everything being strictly illegal since uncertified people aren't even supposed to be in the cockpit let alone flying the plane.

This is a shot the pilot caught of me just as I was asking the copilot if I could really screw anything up right now...


FLL to IAH

Hmm... I probably shouldn't be exposing all of this in my blog entry, but I'm just betting that no one reads this. If you are reading it... just remember that I work for Southwєst Airlinєs... and it's the best company in the world :)