I remember reading Silas Marner in high school about 100 years ago. It was the story of a miser who stores his gold under a floorboard, but is robbed, in spite of it.

The airlines have made "misers" out of all of us, the public. We hoard our miles and we sometimes make poorly thought-out purchases on our credit cards just to get the miles. We can fly anywhere in the continental United States in exchange for 25,000 air miles.

We are not aware of the tiny, miniscule rules that go into effect when you try to use your stored up "gold" miles.

We (Lorraine and I) were planning a trip to Alaska, the 49th state to enter the Union. My daughter and her two children would meet us in Vancouver, Canada, board the ship and cruise to Alaska. Because we were leaving the U.S.A. for a foreign country (Canada? - foreign?), it would cost 45,000 air miles.

Because I only had accumulated 37,000 miles, I would have to borrow 8,000 miles from Lorraine. To do the paperwork, the airline would have to charge me $130. Shakespeare's Polonius says in Hamlet to Laertes - his son is going off to college - "Neither a borrower nor a lender, be." I agree, but it did not make much sense from a financial point of view.

After I agreed to borrow, I had to wait seven days for the airline to complete the transaction. I hoped that their planes moved faster than that. Next came the taxes. Taxes of "Airline Miles?" - Who woulda' thunk it? The taxes totaled $117.60 for the two of us.

Foreign (Canada?) flights demanded you be at the airport two hours before takeoff time. So many rules!

The trip is scheduled for late June 2008. They forwarded the tickets to me on my Internet computer and it seems we are all ready to travel.

I promise my readers that I will give them every detail of our Alaskan trip, now that I have given them every item of our "Mileage" odyssey.

On to Alaska, otherwise known as "Seward's Folly."