At noon I arrived for my 1:45 flight. The attendant asked if anyone would give up their seats for a free roundtrip flight to use later in the year. Knowing that I could get on the 5 o�clock flight, I ponied up my seat for the taking.

I paid $320 to fly home for Thanksgiving, so I might as well get a little something extra for the expense.

By time the 5 o�clock flight came around, it was also overfilled. I went ahead and gave up my seat so someone else could get home at a decent hour. Again, I got another roundtrip flight comp-ed.

I�m so so nice to have given up my seat, huh?

Well, here I am in my freebie room, about to go downstairs to the restaurant for my freebie meal before head to the freebie Jacuzzi and then sleep until my 7 a.m. flight to take me home tomorrow. I�ve already let the people at work know that I was going to be in a measly hour late.

So now for my original $320 I�ve got a flight to Houston for the holiday, two roundtrip vouchers to go to one of the 8,000 graduations and weddings I�m attending over the next year, dinner at a hotel restaurant, a stay at a fancy hotel with little bottles of Bath and Body Works aromatherapy products that I�m most-definitely going to steal on my way out.

It was well worth the wait, even if I�m exhausted from my day of waiting. And that is exactly why I deserve to splurge ten bucks on Internet access to my room. �