What I Was Left With After I Quit My Job: The Ability to Leave Town

by Dave Clifford

For the last year and a half I worked in business development for a start-up. In March, I gave seven weeks notice and moved into freelance consulting, a fancy word for quasi-employment. An inventory of my non-monetary assets tells the story of why I left:

US Airways Miles: 386,359 miles/Chairman status

The start-up was in Boston. I live in Washington, D.C. I spent over 300 hours commuting from my front door to theirs over the course of a year.

I can fly around the world with 386,359 miles. For 14,000 more, I can do it twice. The best part is the two free first-class upgrades.

United Mileage Plus miles: 141,474/No status

In the middle of last year I started regularly flying to London. At first it was cool. I flew through Philly. It added an extra three hours onto the trip. I started flying from Dulles instead. Dulles is a nightmare in every possible way. United isn’t the best either.

141,000 miles is enough for two Transatlantic trips in coach and almost enough for two First Class trips to Mexico.

Kimpton Hotels: Two free nights/Inner Circle

Kimpton Hotels are the best hotels in America if you are a frequent traveler. They give you free nights based on your number of stays. I have used most of mine and still have two left. Inner Circle means that once in a while they take me to dinner.

I stayed there 58 nights over the last year and a half.

Marriott Hotels: 85,000 points/Gold status

Marriott is a good brand if you’re not in America. 85,000 points is two nights in New York. I stayed at the St. Pancras station Marriott a lot in London because they have a very good bar that I didn’t feel (very) ashamed to eat at by myself.

One time I saw Warwick Davies in the lobby.

Dave Clifford would like you to know that he has had a legal, tax-paying job since he was 14. Currently, he wakes up at 9 a.m. Previously, he tried to fix health care. Before that, he made cyborgs. Photo: Flickr/motavi

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