A Stopover in Dallas




Before heading out to the Philippines I decided to make two stopovers, in Dallas and in Los Angeles.  I considered booking a US Airways award trip to SE Asia, but US Airways award bookings require a round trip (well it's not required, but the price for a one way versus a round trip is the same).  I wasn't sure how my trip plans would unfold so it seemed unwise to lock in my return flight.

Instead I booked two separate award flights within the US - the first from Columbus to Dallas and then from Dallas on to LA.  Andrew, a good friend from high school, lives in Dallas, and my cousin Leslie lives with her husband in LA.  It seemed a good opportunity to visit both of them before heading on to Asia.  The two flights were 7,500 and 10,000 British Airways miles.  I also found a great deal on a cash ticket from LA to Manila - less than $500!  For that price I wouldn't want to use miles.  The return you'd get on that award ticket would be close to one cent per mile, whereas you can often find value elsewhere for 2 cents or more.

British Airways uses a distance based award chart, and since it's a partner of American,
I can use my Avios (BA miles) to book flights on American airlines.  Dallas is a little
over 900 miles from Columbus, so the award ticket costs 7500 Avios
By signing up for the Chase Sapphire card and meeting
the initial $3,000 spending requirement I got 40,000
bonus Chase points, which can be transferred 1:1
to British Airways miles, among others

Andrew was shooting an ad for Google in Austin, Texas, and didn't get back home to Dallas until Friday evening.  I wanted to catch him over the weekend so I booked my flight to arrive on Saturday afternoon (January 24th).  Andrew still works for Five Stars, a marketing company for small to medium size businesses, but he also does some modelling/acting on the side.  It's nothing big - he's only done a handful of shoots since he began six months ago - but the gigs are a good way to earn extra money.

On Saturday we played basketball at the gym and went out that night to a bar near his apartment.  Andrew lives in Uptown, a trendy area near downtown Dallas.  The night was fun but we both had too much to drink and called it quits before 1 am.  I didn't drink much back home or in Norseman so my tolerance has fallen considerably.  The following day we got some much needed sleep and met Sora, Andrew's girlfriend, for lunch.  On Sunday night we took it easy, watching a movie at his place and resting up for another video shoot on Monday.

Andrew's online profile with Kim Dawson, a talent agency in Dalls

Andrew had a one day shoot Monday for a company called Amway.  I'd never heard of them, but supposedly they have an office in Asia and wanted to shoot something geared toward the Asian market.  They picked Andrew, who is Korean, plus two women of Asian decent for the roles.

I'd never been on a set before, although this one was pretty low key.  They did a short bit at the office and a handful of shots in downtown.  Andrew didn't have any dialogue, and I think it was a small part in a larger video being shot at several locations.  He still got paid $750 for a day's work - not bad!  Plus I got a free lunch out of it.

On Monday evening we visited with Andrew's parents, who also live in Dallas, and knew me back when we lived in Ohio.  It was nice to get to see them and have a home cooked Korean meal!  After another trip to the gym on Tuesday morning we got another round of Korean food, this time barbecue in the Korean area of Dallas, just before heading to the airport for my flight to LA.

Andrew's dad made us pajeon, a Korean pancake with veggies and seafood
He also made us Kimchi Jjigae, a classic Korean stew with
pork, onions, tofu, and scallions (with rice added later)

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