How Can I Help You?

Bear with me, there’s a bit of back story here.  I’m not much for the humble brag, but we’ll get to that in a minute.

In a time when many think the world is full of bad people, there are plenty of good folks.  One of those, who sadly left us sooner than we hoped, was Darren Booth.  Folks who have been in the miles and points game for a while will know Darren, but if you’re new to the game you probably haven’t heard his name.  Darren passed away in January of 2014.  He was a passionate travel geek who penned the blog Frequently Flying amongst other travel-related work.  He had a degree of wanderlust you don’t find in many folks, he just loved so much about the aviation world.  The first line of the profile on his “About” page says it all:

My name is Darren Booth and I love to fly.

That sure does have a nice ring to it.  My name is Edward Pizzarello.  I love to fly.

Darren was blogging right up until we lost him.  Later that year, Randy Petersen initiated the Darren Booth Memorial Award for epitomizing the Spirit of Boarding Area.  The first two recipients in 2014 were the chief bloggers from Running with Miles and Michael W Travels (Charlie and Michael, respectively), both very deserving of the award.

In 2015, it was Shawn, chief blogger at Miles to Memories and a truly dear friend of mine, Jeanne of Le Chic Geek.

This year, I was standing up taking pictures of the recipients as Randy announced the two winners.  Elena Nikolova writes Muslim Travel Girl, and she’s a very deserving winner.  The second winner this year was….me.

There’s that humble brag.  My head went down when I saw my name announced.  I really had no idea that I was a winner.  I don’t really think in those terms.  Helping people is something I love.  Being recognized by others for doing so is pretty great, if a little embarrassing.  Being recognized by my peers, by folks who deal with virtually 100 other bloggers, lots of whom are great people, is especially rewarding.

It’s a pretty cool honor and the trophy is a weighty reminder of living up to the reputation of an award named for Darren.  Which is a great segue to the title of my post this morning.

How Can I Help You?

I’m ready to help.  I’m always ready to help.  Maybe you’ve got a question you think is silly and don’t want to ask.  Fire away.  Something complicated?  I’m all ears.  If I don’t know the answer, I’ll find someone who does.

You can leave a comment here, you can e-mail me at ed -at- pizzainmotion.com.  Tweet me, find me on Facebook.  Just let me know how I can help.

I’ve been very fortunate to meet so many great people over the years, many of whom I call friends.  My travels take me to countless cities where I catch up with old friends or make new ones.  It’s those unexpected “collisions” with travelers I enjoy most.  It was just a couple of months ago that a random Instagram post got me linked up with fellow travel blogger and geek Seth Miller, who writes Wandering Aramean.

Here’s hoping I can meet more of you in my travels, even if it’s for a quick question while we’re grabbing a donut.

This award is a great way to remember a great guy, who cared an awful lot about travel and his fellow travelers.  Help me remember him by letting me help you.

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