This was my first trip flying as a Platinum frequent flyer card holder with American Airlines. This entitled me and my traveling partner access to the quiet luxury, first class service, and free food & liquor in all the airport lounges. A girl could get used to theis in a hurry!

Cannes, France

Cannes was the purpose of our trip. More specifically the Flyer Talk PiP 2001. PiP standing for "Party in Provence," a annual weekend social gathering for frequent flyers around the world to meet, greet, and be merry. Cannes was an ok place. It's probably a much more interesting place to be during the film festival.

Monaco

We arrived in Monaco on a Sunday when everything but the casino was closed. So no tour of the castle.

We were so not prepared for the casino. We had on jeans we'd wear to the mall and were carting our backpacks when we showed up in the Monaco casino. We so stood out like a sore thumb amongst all the hoidy-toidy rich folks who strolled around. But we got a patio table near the front door and had a great time eating ice cream and drinking champagne wile watching the world's super rich coming and going!

Venice, Italy

We arrive by train in time to see the dawn. Venice was a treasure with no streets, no cars ... just walkways and waterways. Traveling via the waterways is slow and inefficient but absolutely beautiful. Seeing gondola parking lots was a surreal experience for an American urbanite. But even I got used to having no cars around.

St. Mark's Square is just as it is in the movies with all the pidgeons, although it seems smaller somehow. We had the added bonus on seeing it dry one day and completely flooded with sea water the next. A citywide alarm sounded to warn of the flooding giving the locals a heads up to put on their wading boots and a system of planking was used to get people from one side of the square to the other.