United around the World Ticket

It was a very nice, very nice and beautiful place.

As Dianne gently made her way there, the needle's edge felt around the empty room in front of her, without being aware of the miracles that were waiting. A few and a half weeks earlier, David had just got a call from United Airlines Sr: VP of Global Sales with an unbelievable offer:

There are two fares for him and a flight attendant for a round the world flight wherever a Star Alliance member carrier has flown. This was the top award in a raffle that David won as part of the first promotional campaign for the Star Alliance, which celebrates its twentieth birthday this year and whose founder members include United.

"I was more than a little sceptical at first," he remembered, "but after I hung up twice polite and got two phone rings back, it eventually began to dawn on me that it had actually been done. "When Charlie Bucket unpacked the gold ticket, the Lipseys' most wild nightmares were within their grasp. David, a opponent of David's games, kept his agitation under wraps until Dianne's birth date, when he jumped at her in the shape of the above-mentioned iconic Pin-the-Tail-on-the-Donkey ingame.

"We' ve agreed that we're not going anywhere," David said. I had always wanted to go to Cambodia, and Dianne chose Nepal. So we had great boyfriends who lived in Egypt, so that was a simple supplement. At the end we set up the journey around these three stations. Next year, David and Dianne delved into the arts, cultures and histories of their chosen goals.

Also, they tasked a set of small crystal balls by Josh Simpson, each labeled with the words "D and G go around the world, XI/XII 1998," with a scheme to abandon them in the remote places they phoned, concealed for further exploration by other searchers.

The Washington-Dulles International Airport was launched in November 1998 with a United 747 for the first stage to Cairo, Egypt. "This is the most frequently asked by David and Dianne over the last two years. In a philosophical response, David reflected on the virtue of each place and regarded the whole journey as a set of manifestations.

While in a buddhistic sanctuary in north Thailand, a preacher took David and Dianne aside and, not realizing who they were and why they were there, talked about the benedictions that accompanied the nostalgia. David and Dianne eventually spend the last few weeks of December 1998 in a mountain village near Auckland.

" David United is still credited with giving him and Dianne tales that still attract attention at every party, and is delighted to sharpen his cap for the staff of the company whenever he has the opportunity. This journey has made me think I have understood the complexity of travelling and I never ever forget it.

" Over the years since their groundbreaking journey, David and Dianne have traveled much, covered more than 100,000 annual mileage and remained faithful to United and its Star Alliance members. They are still guided by the knowledge they have gained in their adventures around the world. "This journey was something to think about for the life of you," David said.

"In me it strengthened the wish to look further and further and to try to have a constant dialogue with the world around me. "Maybe, like David and Dianne, your mind is migrating in pursuit of something more than the mediocre escape. The Star Alliance will then offer its "Round the World Fare" with 1,300 points in 191 different nationalities.