Looking Rich

[boont]

Later this month I'm going to be taking a private jet across the country. It belongs to a billionaire and I will be traveling with a few other acquaintances whose last names are stamped on some of the most famous products in America.

We all belong to an organization that they support with funding, and that I support with good will.

This is a fun story to tell... except. It is very easy for people to get the wrong impression. I told my wife I was looking to find a few people I could tell the story to. What fun is it if I can't tell anyone?

There is one guy in particular I want to try it out on. When every we meet we talk business. He is a very good business man. When we talk we are competitive, at least, according to my wife.

So I decided I'm not going to bring this special flight up. Except, I think I should be allowed to at least mention to him that I am flying to New York next Thursday.

My guess is, when I state this, he is going to launch into a discussion on the difficulties of airline travel, currently.

I then feel it is going to be fair to say, "Well, no, because I will be traveling on the **** family's private jet.

Of course my spoil sport wife then said, "That's a trap."

Well, it may be but I want to have some fun anyway. Is this a trap?

boont

 

[rogersteciak]

If you are in a playful mood, you could follow through with your idea and then say you can't wait until you take delivery of your own private luxery jet so that you don't have to fly on the **** family's private jet anymore: http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid203719194/bclid132209461/bctid1493704379

 

[Texas Proud]

Yes it is..... but sometimes it is FUN anyhow....

Let me give an example... My company was paying for me to have an apartment in Manhattan... but, then they wanted me to go back to London for a couple of months to do a cost analysis... and I still had my own house in Houston...

The company flies you 'business class' which is first class on some airlines... there was this jerk that was talking about how 'important' he was and it got kind of tired... So I had to throw it that I had an apartment in the high rent district of London, Manhattan and had just went down to 'vacation' at my house in Houston... kind of shut him up... it was fun...

To bad it was 'not mine'... but who cares about facts

 

[Rambler]

Sometimes those of us who are normally humble LBYMers do actually end up working in high positions and with acquaintances who are "high society" or pretend to be. When the pretenders come out, sometimes it becomes irresistable to toss your hat in the ring. That's when I toss in the flights with my multibillionaire CEO (my boss) on his private jets, a variety of stays at some of his interesting private venues, or my two "vacation" homes (yeah, right , I only get to see them when I'm on vacation) in California etc.

Anyway, I don't think it is much of a trap...especially if he is one of the pretenders. Even if he is not, I don't think it would harm anything to toss that out. Flying on a billionaire's (or otherwise) private jet is an experience that is interesting, unique, and something that is a fun topic for conversation.

R

 

[donheff]

It is such a unique experience that you can't help talking about it (obvious lead in to here we go ). Back in 2000 I flew down to Cape Kennedy for a shuttle launch on a big NASA Gulfstream with the Administrator and the lead scientist for the flight. Flew back on a smaller NASA jet. Both trips were once in a life time events for an average Joe like me. I kept photos and (obviously) still talk about it.

 

[W2R]

Yes, it's a trap!

Be sure to take a camera and take lots of photos. That may not seem too graceful, but as DonHeff said, this is an experience that you will remember for years! See if you can get someone to take at least one photo showing you on the jet, and one showing you standing in front of it, too.

 

[socca]

Folks who buy fancy cars because they believe that they are showing off their wealth are actually showing off their poverty - of character. Don't forget the Elizabethan saying : "An ass is still an ass although laden with gold."

 

[unclemick]

Folks who buy fancy cars because they believe that they are showing off their wealth are actually showing off their poverty - of character. Don't forget the Elizabethan saying : "An ass is still an ass although laden with gold."

Rats! I was going to mention possibly shopping for Carhartt Brown Quilt-
Lined Duck Bib Overalls but you burst my bubble.

.

heh heh heh - I'm am prone to brag a little - inclined to toss that in with my male hormone/individual stock theory, but i have to think about it.

 

[Walt34]

Not a trap. Have a fun trip.

As the others suggested take pictures.

 

[HFWR]

Well, I met a guy who knew someone's second cousin's brother-in-law whose neighbor once had a Big Mac several days after Brittany had driven by that McDonald's...

Top that!

 

[Jarhead*]

Well, I met a guy who knew someone's second cousin's brother-in-law whose neighbor once had a Big Mac several days after Brittany had driven by that McDonald's...

Top that!

That's impressive. (Can't top that one).

But just for the flow of conversation, I remember in l961, single at the time, driving to Vegas in a $l,000.00 car and coming back home in a
$89,000 Greyhound.

 

[REWahoo]

I remember in l961, single at the time, driving to Vegas in a $l,000.00 car and coming back home in a
$89,000 Greyhound.

Just for the sake of further conversation, I'll bet you were "chauffeured" on your ride home and didn't even have to do your own driving!

 

[Gumby]

Yes, it's a trap!

Be sure to take a camera and take lots of photos. That may not seem too graceful, but as DonHeff said, this is an experience that you will remember for years! See if you can get someone to take at least one photo showing you on the jet, and one showing you standing in front of it, too.

I have to respectfully disagree with the photos. A phrase that has been attributed to many college football coaches, including Joe Paterno and Darrell Royal, seems apt for the occasion:

"When you get to the end zone, act like you've been there before."

 

[Nords]

What fun is it if I can't tell anyone?

The real fun lies in either doing your own flying (like Philip Greenspun) or else staggering onboard, nodding to everyone before muttering "Man, what a night", and sleeping the whole way...

 

[cantlogin]

It isn’t a trap. It’s a strategically orchestrated conversation.
The coincidence here for me is that I had a similar conversation a few days ago with a friend who told me about is ride home from Vegas on his friends charter. It’s nice to be able to be agreeable and say “yeah, I know what you mean”.

 

[Jarhead*]

Just for the sake of further conversation, I'll bet you were "chauffeured" on your ride home and didn't even have to do your own driving!

No doubt about it, a nice benifit. (Leave the driving to them).

Just make sure that there;'s not an empty seat next to you when the new passenger shows up with a wire cage full of live chickens looking for a spot to settle in.

 

[youbet]

Nothing like [-]listening to the fantacies[/-] reading the posts of LBYM types who would like to, just that one time, live like the spenders!

 

[clifp]

Go for it. Hey who doesn't brag when you get bumped to first class...
My best friends, brother is a famous and rich architect, they alway brag about the over the top spending that his brother arranges when they visit him.

 

[Alan]

Have fun, and enjoy your bragging rights.

I had to fly to Mumbai last year (business class) and just before take-off on the 17 hr leg of the journey the flight attendant stumbled and tipped a tray full of champagne and orange juice all over me. She was devastated but I thought it was hilarious and could already envision being able drop this titbit of information into conversations....

 

[Nords]

Nothing like [-]listening to the fantacies[/-] reading the posts of LBYM types who would like to, just that one time, live like the spenders!

Are we still talking about Greyhound chauffeurs and cages of live chickens?

 

[kumquat]

Have fun, and enjoy your bragging rights.

Shortly before I ER'd last year, I flew to the Caribbean on a private jet. I love to tell people that I ER'd because it couldn't get any better. If fact, the plane was corporate (but damn nice, CEO's toy), the island was not (it was dirty, industrial and unsafe) and all I did was work. Great story though.

 

[hankster]

My brief few minutes of looking/feeling rich came in the mid-90s when my company sent several of us on their private jet to Reno for meetings on a potential merger. I and my co-worker Frank were the first to walk down the stairs at the airport. The airport workers had actually rolled out a red carpet for us to walk on as we stepped off the plane! I guess they figured private jet = whales. Little did they know that Frank and I were both cheap b*stards. We spent $30 gambling between the two of us!
Hee hee!

 

[enfp]

I do think it's a trap, but it's hard to resist. I did it last week when I emailed my grad school roomate a birthday card. She wrote back several days later telling me all about her birthday trip to China with her family and all they saw and did. They're wealthy germans and travel all the time.

I wrote back and told her DH retired in Dec.,(at 40) and we're loving it. I would have told her that at somepoint in an email, but it was nice knowing she had to go back to work after her great vacation.

 

[armor99]

Interesting.... I would think that most folks that are fairly wealthy would never really want anyone to know how much money they have. You become a target of scam artists, etc.
I have spoken with many people that have gone out of their way to give the appearance that they are wealthy, when I know in reality they are not at all. A friend of my Uncle's family has a son that is bragging all the time about his house, car, etc. I am foced to listen to it every year at family functions. Now do not get me wrong.... his house, car, etc, are all very nice. Although I had heard what he did for a living and wondered how he could pay for it all? I got curious one day and checked the GIS maps here to find out more about his house. Interestingly enough.... his name does NOT appear on the deed... in reality it is his father's house.
It will give me great pleasure asking him about it the next time I see him...

 

[waltwill8]

Oneupmanship

We had a good laugh in March. We went to the barrel tasting weekend in the Sonoma valley. You buy a wineglass for charity, then drive around to all the winerys and taste for free. Amidst all the stretch limos, was an old bread truck with a big sign on it "Tijuana Express"