The Garden State

NJ is surprisingly beautiful, at least in the northwest area near Basking Ridge. There natural landscape is lush and green, and there is far more of it than I would expect. I like how they take deliberate measures to keep development from destroying the view of the trees and the grasses. Buildings are kept low to the ground and trees are maintained to camouflage the man made structures. Now, closer to Newark is a whole different Jersey!

I have taken at least a dozen flights in 2008, probably more if I really sat down and counted. Most have been on United. I can recall one of those flights that wasn't oversold. Every other flight is oversold, overbooked, and looking for volunteers to be bumped. I don't remember it ever being like this in the past. It's been a few years since I flew extensively, but 10 years ago, an oversold flight was a rarity. And it was something you kind of hoped for, especially when you had a lazy flight home, so that you might take advantage of a free first class ticket anywhere the airline flew, plus food vouchers, hotel rooms, etc. Now you're lucky if the offer is for a $200 travel voucher. Where are you going to fly for $200?? The airline industry is incredibly lame.