There’s a term in Chinese used to describe businessmen whose families live in the US but who have businesses in Asia, and thus are always flying back and forth. Tai kong ren is a play on words because it sounds both like the word for “astronaut” but also sounds like the words for “No wife” man.
I sometimes feel like I’m married to one of those “astronauts.” Bryan travels a lot for work, and most of it involves airplanes. In fact, my astronaut reached a big milestone last week.
That’s right. He became a million miler on American Airlines. No, he did not get to talk to the pilot, nor did he receive a special black card with his name on it. They did, however, announce it during the monumental flight.
There are some perks to “being yoked to Executive Platinum” (as my friend likes to put it). He has so many miles that you can both fly to Asia for free, First Class.
In First Class you get 2 seats: one for you, one for your Totoro.
But of course, you pay the price by having him away from home, a lot.
I’ve decided to dedicate this post to Bryan in celebration of his Million Miles.
Bryan often will take food photos for me on his many trips. Join me as we take a brief culinary tour around the world, experiencing all different kinds of cuisines from the various continents that Bryan has visited.
Peking Duck from Beijing, China.
Xiao Long Bao (Soup Dumplings) from Shanghai, China.
A fiery hot Sichuan meal from China.
A Chinese Family Style FEAST from Taipei, Taiwan.
Fresh sushi from Tokyo, Japan.
Korean BBQ from Seoul, Korea.
A hot bowl of ramen from Hong Kong.
Ham, bacon, and a poached egg on top of toast from Sydney, Australia.
A burger from Gourmet Burger Kitchen in London, UK. [heh, I actually took this picture because I went with him to London during his business trip]
Momofuku Pork Belly Bun from New York City, USA.
The World Traveler himself.
Hope you enjoyed the tour. Someday I may post more pictures and write detailed posts for some of them. Until then, enjoy these pictures! Have a great weekend.
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The World Traveler himself.
probably the first photo of him in the blog ever =p
Awesome. Keep up the photography as it makes our line chefs drool.
Congrats to Totoro and the World Traveler.
Aww. I am so jealous of all the delicious looking food…maybe I should have chosen a traveling job. =/ Grass is always greener on the other side?
WOW. That is crazy and impressive. My 120k miles seem so palty compared to that! Congrats to your husband, and safe travels.
Awwww thats awesome!!! no pilot or black card =( there goes my goal of reaching a million LOL….
Oh this is sooo interesting! I didn’t know your husband is such a traveler…what kind of job is that? I want his job, lol. It sucks that your husband isn’t always with you…but what a perk to be able to fly first class!
Is ramen famous in HK? Never knew that…I hope he also got to try stinky tofu!
What a cute post! Congrats on a million miles Bryan!
What a fun post! The various food pics are really great. He takes good pictures!
Congrats to the husband!
Million miles are just on AA. When he was a student, he used about 150,000 miles of my miles flying across the US. I guess he developed his love of flying (not as a pilot).
Congratulations!
Old Car
I’m not sure if ramen is particularly famous in HK, but I think HK has a lot of good Chinese street food in general, right? You probably know better than I do since you were just there!
Bryan’s a product manager, so he’s often flying to visit customers, go to conferences, give talks, etc.
Yeah, grass is greener on the other side. These trips were crazy trips, where he would literally spend one or two days in each country before flying to another. It’s actually quite tiring!
Yeah, I only have 200k or so, so I’m also way far from the 1 million mark!
Congrats, B!
I love that you gave us a brief around the world with food! Gosh – and those 1st class seats look like a Manhattan studio apt! =) Congrats Bryan!
no black card?? bummer! i can only imagine how tiring all the travelling is! glad you’ve been able to accompany him on some of the trip s:)
What is that feeling when you’re driving away from people and they
recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? – it’s the
too-huge world vaulting us, and it’s good-bye. But we lean forward to
the next crazy venture beneath the skies.
Only the road and the dawn, the sun, the wind, and the rain,
And the watch fire under stars, and sleep, and the road again.