My Travels

Last minute changes gave rise to an impromptu mini vacation down to San Diego and LEGOLAND. It seems I'm on a theme park kick this year and checked into the Doubletree San Diego-Mission Valley . The hotel is under some minor upgrades (namely the elevator) and it was generally quiet at the hotel. The mall and lots of other types of restaurants were either adjacent to the plaza of the hotel or the next block over. If you were staying here for work, it is a nice location for eateries as well as hotel amenities. Having had a very late lunch at Brewbaker's  and bought some snacks from the grocery store next door to munch on. The next morning, grabbed breakfast before heading out to LEGOLAND. The breakfast options were nice and I enjoyed the granola. LEGOLAND tickets are available at local grocery stores and the prices are better than at the actual ticket office. My park hopper (aquarium but not the water park) was $50 less than the posted rates. Overall, the theme park was pre

Went on United Airlines to Washington DC for a conference. I gave up my upgraded flights to fly direct into Dulles and attempted to get in earlier than originally scheduled. It didn't work out that way and received 10,000 points from United for the delays. I don't know if I was thrilled with getting 10K in points but I'll take it. I had a friend who lives in DC and she graciously picked me up from the airport. We had dinner at the Carving Room . It was featured on Diners Dives and Drive Ins but I was ok with the restaurant. Afterwards, checked into the Washington Hilton  and grabbed gelato at  Dolcezza . It appears to be a local chain of gelato stores owned by Brazilians. The next day, the conference had a reception at the International Spy Museum. It was a nice enough location but nothing I would want to go pay for to visit. The Shake Shack was next door and I grabbed a late dinner before heading to the next reception at Bobby Van's Steakhouse. The next day, I

Flew out to Orlando for a conference on United Airlines . Since I was attending as a panelist, the conference organizers put me up at the Disney Yacht Club & Resort for two nights. I have never stayed at a Disney resort in my previous visits to Orlando. On this trip, I decided I would see what the theme parks are like given my stay at a Disney resort. The first thing I received was notification that I was supposed to get a Disney magic band. It wears like a Fitbit but asks as a hotel key/ticket pass/access to charge everything to your credit card wearable accessory. Pretty smart to make it that easy for people to spend. I customized mine by ordering the red one but you get them automatically at the front desk if you didn't preorder. It is ideal that you do since it helps with the Disney Airport Transportation. I didn't know how it would work but it appears you should already wear your magic band before leaving the plane. Asking the representative to find me took longer