My Travels

I'm here for a wedding and am now a firm advocate that people should not marry at a time when inclimate weather will affect people's travel plans. I have family coming in stages throughout my time in Seattle and have decided to switch hotels to accommodate the growth and shrinkage of the number of people staying in the city. The first day, I was essentially stuck at LAX. For some reason, the plane I was on had to return back to LAX to resolve some mechanical problems. I wished the plane had dropped us off at SFO instead of LAX as it would have been infinitely easier to get to Seattle from SFO. Instead I was guaranteed a flight that would leave 9 hours later..not so appealing. After navigating the standby scenarios, I made it to Seattle within 12 hours after this whole crazy day started. At least I saved myself 5hours as the guaranteed flight would have gotten me to Seattle at 1 am. Blech. My sister, on the other hand, landed on time in Seattle and went around the city while wai

In Phoenix for some R&R. I originally intended to be here for work but I've turned it into a personal weekend getaway. I'm staying at the Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak Resort for the night. I stayed here a couple of years ago and the property is still as I remembered. A very family oriented resort in Phoenix, it has a miniature golf and water slide pool setup here. I'm in a "casita" on the property. They have a mix of regular hotel rooms near the main lobby entrance and townhouse style apts in a side area. The casitas are a perfect place if you want to have a house party without it being at your house. Spacious living room and bar area downstairs and private bedroom and patio area upstairs. Went to NOCA for dinner in Phoenix. I had a very lovely meal, very retro style and retro desserts. As an appetizer and as part of an entree, had the pork belly confit and it was fabulous. A very nice restaurant despite being located in a supermarket plaza. It is the f

Spent a quick weekend in Vegas in October, decided to enjoy some downtime since I'm free from the trappings of employment. I stayed at the Hilton Las Vegas, it has been about five years since I last stayed here. The rooms haven't changed but the casino floor has changed and the food has dramatically improved. Although the Star Trek symbols is still part of the design element on the marquis, they've changed the actual space to the monorail station. I guess they found more value to turn it into a people mover area rather than a show. I can't say that there are alot of Trekkies going to Vegas. The one big draw the hotel has compared to others is the Sports Booking area. I have never been to another casino that has the kind of amenities the Hilton does for the Sports Book. I can see why my best friend's husband likes to hang out here on the weekends to watch football.

Another weekend foray courtesy of my old employer, I crashed at my friend's parent's condo in downtown Chicago. The building is very reminiscent of a hotel and I almost felt that I was staying in a hotel except for the full kitchen. Spent most of the time watching the 'SC game but was able to grab dinners and play catch up with some friends.

I'm free to roam as I have left my employer. With a paid airfare to New York, my friend graciously lent her living room in Brooklyn Heights for my weekend foray. Having only spent brief moments in Brooklyn, it was nice to see another side of the Big Apple. I had pizza from Grimaldi's and enjoyed a very tasty thin crust NY style pizza. I've also discovered really good pepperoni, not the thick soft slices of meat you see on pizzas normally. These were very crisp (almost bacon like) and have great flavor. I think it was better than Lombardi's in Manhattan.

Time to go home. Our foursome is about to split, the other two people are staying in Hong Kong overnight before heading home. Luckily, I was able to find a hotel last minute. After settling them into their hotel, we went out to Wan Chai and went to an Irish pub. Irony. We also had one of the best burgers Asia could offer. It was nice to have at the end of our trip together. I'm staying at the Conrad Hong Kong on Hong Kong island. Compared to the Intercontinental from a week earlier, it is a very different feel. The room is smaller but nicely done. Very British feel with all the Chinese people have British Chinese accents. I love their afternoon tea service, very good scones! Finished up leftover business - namely my custom tailored suit. Only here for 36 hours and we (now only two of us) leisurely explored Hong Kong island. Alot of high end shopping around here and trendy night scene. On our last night, we went to the trendier area, Lan Kwai Fong. It was a cute area a

On my final leg of my trip through Asia, I decided Phuket would be a good resting place before the transition to home. I'm staying at the Hilton Phuket Arcadia in the southwestern part of Phuket Island. The property has beach access to Karon Beach and is sandwiched between Kata and Patong Beach. The facilities here are amazing and the room rates can't be beat. At about $100 US per night, this facility has several pools, beach access, soccer facilities, mini-golf facilities, spa, several restaurants and still conveniently located to some local nightlife. My little ragtag group is quite happy to sit and relax in this amazing place. On our first night, we went to Kata Beach which is a little beach town about 10 minutes walking distance. The little stretch of restaurant/bars has an eclectic collection of locals and tourists. My little group came upon an area where we have now nicknamed "Hooker Heights" because there are several little bars crammed into this communa

I'm back in Vietnam. This time, I'm with friends and have decided to tone down on the spending and be more frugal. Our little entourage picked up a new person to make this a five person group. We parted ways with one person from our travels to date. We stayed at Bich Duyen hotel, it is in the backpacker district. Not quite a hostel, not quite a hotel, it still suited my needs just fine. Stayed for about $10 US per person per night. Prices like that can't be beat. My family was kind enough to take my friends around the city most of the time. Luckily, I was visiting the country when the fruit season is at its peak and stuffed myself with mangosteens, mangoes, and lychees. Caught up on all my favorite foods and got to see some family too. My friends couldn't believe how far the US dollar went in Vietnam. I think everyone tried to consume as much as possible. Of course, a visit to Saigon isn't complete unless you've had pho! It appears that the economy

I'm going to be in and out of Hong Kong alot as the city is a destination as well as a hub for my future travels. Hong Kong is very much like New York City. Very cosmopolitan. If you have money, you can enjoy the city very well. If you don't...., well you enjoy being there but working harder to stay afloat. For those who don't speak any Chinese, Hong Kong is very easy to navigate given the British influence. I stayed mostly on the Kowloon side in this stopover. I was housed in the Intercontinental Standford Court hotel in Kowloon. The hotel seemed a little bit older and smaller than the Grand Hyatt in Guangzhou. Given the space constraints and history of the city, I'm not surprised. The breakfast buffet was good, definitely catered to the Western taste. The transit system in Hong Kong is amazingly fast as are the people movers. I don't think any city in the world can beat the speed and efficiency of Hong Kong's system. People around here don't mes

Not much to the city, probably due to the time I had in this town. I was put up at the Grand Hyatt Guangzhou. The hotel was very nice, it is the only fully built building in the immediate area. From my understanding, the city is building an economic zone where the Hyatt is located. Because the government is developing an economic city center, the hotel is fairly isolated from the rest of the city. It also means that the heart of the city is a five minute taxi ride away. On a bright note, the Hyatt has very nice facilities. I didn’t have the chance to visit the pool or spa facilities but I heard it was really nice. I'm convinced that new Asian hotels must love the modern decor look. This hotel room had sliding walls everywhere which could open up the bathroom and leave it very exposed. I was surprised at the class level of hotel given that we are here for school. AND they love white alot! I didn’t do much sightseeing. The only afternoon free in my schedule was sapped up

The group was faced with an arduous task of transversing multiple modes of transportation to get from Tokyo to Guangzhou. We lost one person who was going home instead of travelling with us to Guangzhou. Lucky him!! (or not...) We woke up at 5 am to take a taxi from the hotel to the city bus terminal. Narita is about an hour outside of Tokyo, similar to Dulles and DC. Unfortunately, a direct taxi is about $250 USD. Yikes! Caught the 5:45 am airport bus and got to Narita. Suprisingly, the airport counters were only beginning to open and we had to wait in line. We were travelling on the Star Alliance Asian Airpass. Unfortunately, the direct flight to Guangzhou was not an option with this particular program. We were going to have two flight segments and pssing through Beijing. Ironically, all our picture shots look like we are in the same spot. I guess airlines and buses have the same seat configuration! We went through security and got on our first plane segment to Beijing.

Checked out what Tokyo had to offer. It took me time to understand the subway system and has become easier to navigate once entrenched in the system. Visited various parts of the city. As we only knew general areas and not specific street directions, we wandered aroun alot to figure out where we wanted to go after emerging from the subway stations. At least there were general maps of the immediate area nearby. Visited the Tsukiji Market near the hotel. Like any other wholesale market, the place was a madhouse and I'm sure everyone wanted the dumb tourists our of their hair. It was interesting to see all the hustle and bustle of the market. Nearby, there was a farmer's market style of shopping and I consumed as much sushi as possible. For traditional sushi, this has been one of the best meals in Japan and probably sushi eating, in general, for me. Akihabara is the mecca of all things anime, videogames, and electronics. It was interesting to see all the 'otaku' ro

For a three hour bullet train ride, it felt that it took all day to get to Tokyo. Before we left Kyoto, we found out that Kyoto is widely known for their green tea. Of course, this meant an expedition before getting on the train to find the "best" green tea in Japan. With a sick member in the group, I dragged everyone to the area in Kyoto Station where it might be sold. In the meanwhile, came across one of the food courts in the station. The whole complex was impressive and I was able to buy an assortment of sushi that was extremely tasty and reasonably priced. When we got into Tokyo in the afternoon, I think most of the group missed Kyoto. We left a very intimate, friendly, navigable city to a big metropolis with an amazingly confusing subway system and ornery folk. I take my earlier comment about Japan's transit system back. Yes, in places it is easy to use. When it comes to Tokyo, the city planner's must have done a brain fart. LA has different municipalit

With little snafus, my group made their way to LAX and boarded the United Flight to Tokyo. Our little group was scattered throughout the plane, couple of us was in business class, one in economy plus, and rest in economy. I snucked back to the other sections of the plane to give my friends the little alcohol bottles and ghiradelli chocolates. I've never been to Japan (if you don't count the number of layovers through Narita in my previous travels). Went through customs and got my first Japanese visa stamp. True to the stereotype, even the visas are 'advanced.' No stamps, stickers with some type of barcode. Got to the train station easily enough. I have to admit, mass transit is easy in Japan. Took a bullet train to Kyoto, it reminded me of a very upscale and cleaner version of the Amtrak system. After getting into the Kyoto station, we traversed miles of stairs both up and down to get to the subway station to get to our Ryokan. I was initially worried that our late arr

In the midst of great work and school drama, I'm in Vegas. As I begin to pull the hair out of my head, I am staying at the Westin Casuarina - slightly off strip. Relatively young, it is a nice enough Westin. The pool could be bigger but the hotel itself seems OK. I'm not particularly wowed by the room but it meets my expectation of a Westin. The one thing I don't like, they charge a $10 resort fee. I don't know if they can justify it since some of the "amenities" would be considered part of any hotel rate for a Vegas hotel. The resort fee gives people access to the spa facilities such as sauna, pool, gym, bottled water, parking, bottled water, incoming faxes, notary public, local calls, and ability to print your boarding pass. If it had included internet access, I wouldn't mind so much but it doesn't and the fee for that is about $14/day. Who in the world pays for parking, gym access, pool, or pay to print their boarding pass in a Vegas hotel?

Went to Santa Clara University for work, it is a nice and simple campus. Stayed in Sunnyvale at the Sheraton Sunnyvale. It seems like a recently purchased property. The building is apartment style with the pool in the center of the property. I wouldn't be suprised if this was renovated from a previous development. It is a very nice Sheraton, has a very modern feel and decor. Probably due to the proximity of Silicon Valley and all techies must love modern decor. :D Not sure if I'm catching all the Sheratons in the down season or the industry is down. I'm no longer any type of status with Sheraton except for the American Express. I've noticed that I've been upgraded this year more so than in the years past. In this particular stay, I was given the Club level room with "amenities." Amenities include a breakfast (buffet style at the hotel restaurant), bathroom robe, and upgraded toiletries. I just might have lucked out as the hotel doesn't seem

Got an evening flight out of Denver and landed into Atlanta nearing midnight. After a shuttle debacle, finally made it to the Hilton Atlanta Airport hotel. Got a nice corner room and felt alot better after I cranked the AC to get rid of the humidity. How is it possible to be so muggy at 1 am?? Had brunch with a local friend who recently had twins. Took the MARTA to navigate around and have decided that Atlanta's transit system is worse than LA's. Suprising! A day pas cost $8.50 versus $5 in LA. At a base fare of $1.75, one would have to take more than 4 trips on MARTA to make it worthwhile. How often does that happen? Due to the shortness of this trip, didn't leave the hotel much. For a change, ate at the hotel restaurant, Andiamo, and actually caught the appetizer hour in the executive lounge. It is the first domestic executive lounge where I found the found quite tasty. A selection of normal sized sandwiches (although not a fan), crudite, and this hot snack whi

I'm overnighting in Denver visitng University of Denver. I think I'm on the outskirts of the city as I've never really been where my hotel is located. I'm staying at the Hampton Inn Denver Cherry Creek. Standard Hampton as always. Although they seem to have problems with their TV signals and wireless internet. Thank goodness for the Blackberry. Got my car rental and the guy gave me various SUV options. I guess Denver doesn't really believe in small cars. The rental agent said that Denver is a "SUV-rich" city. I guess it makes sense given the area. One of my choices was a H3 but I opted for the Ford Edge. Didn't really feel like driving a Hummer. Tried a Vietnamese restaurant nearby, Grilled Skewers - http://www.grilledskewer.com. They mostly do grilled meats, typical dishes are the Bun (meat variant) nuong. The spring rolls are ok. In general, it was pretty tasty and nice decor. Encountered something new at Denver International. Free Wifi

This week has flown by but I scheduled a weekend out of LA because I knew the last day of the week had potential to deflate any good feelings I have. Unfortunately, the potential was realized and I flew to Phoenix for a spa weekend. Since it is the low season, I got a ridiculously low rate at the Arizona Biltmore, a Waldorf Astoria collection hotel by Hilton. It included one spa treatment for each night. Screaming deal made easier by a Southwest award ticket. I have to say, Southwest's motto of available seats anytime for the award travel has drastically changed with the implementation of all the new policies. Barely could find a flight out of LA using that award ticket. The Biltmore is very impressive. I hadn't realized the history of this hotel, built in the 1920's. This is also a Frank Lloyd Wright inspired design and every president since Hoover has stayed at this hotel. Very impressive facilities, at least the lobby, restaurant, bar, and conference rooms.

Usually in DC in July for work but this year's event was scheduled a month earlier than usual. It has been suprisingly mild, the humidity wasn't around much. Watched the Nationals at their new stadium. Stadium was nice, seats we had had a good view of the game even though we were somewhat far. The stadium food wasn't really that great, at least in comparison to other baseball stadiums. Stayed at the Capital Hilton. Got a corner room, the bathroom was interesting. Separate tub and shower. The tub was a whirlpool but the fixtures were gold. That's definitely old school. Was tempted to use but the medal fixtures looked like it hadn't been cleaned in awhile. Also rented a car, a very compact Hyundai Accent. I have to say, Hyundai is making some appealing cars these days. The Accent was small enough to navigate downtown and fit into tight spaces and was comfortable. At least for me...

Visiting my brother and his wife. She is expecting within the next few months and wanted to see them before my travels (work and personal) got in the way from visiting. Luckily, they've said they'll come out to LA early next year with the baby. Wierd to finally be an aunt....Visited the Canadian version of Ikea and I am happy to report that it looks the same as the US versions. My brother is convinced that having a baby isn't that expensive. I guess if you're shopping at Ikea and Costco, it isn't. Tried a new dim sum place in Chinatown. Pretty tasty to me but my brother felt it was average and better to be had in Richmond Hill. I'll trust his judgement as the local. Of course, since I was in Canada, I also went a little nuts and bought some mangosteens and dragonfruit. Apparently, Canada is more trusting of Asian fruit than the US. Saw some other touristy place of Toronto - St. Lawrence Market and The Beaches. St. Lawrence was pretty cool, it is an ind

Drove north from Ithaca to Toronto via Buffalo. It was a very scenic drive as always. The only positive of my day after finding out money was taken out of my wallet. Got a Sebring convertible from Avis. I figured it be a more comfortable ride than the Hyundai Elantra. I must say I'm impressed with the current model, vast improvement. Mercedes Benz was a good influence on Chrysler, too bad it didn't work out. Couldn't figure out Niagara Falls on the US side, so I saw it on the Canadian side. Ironic, eh? Get it?!? Pretty awesome sight, I'm very impressed by the sheer magnitude. No piddly waterfall will ever come close to that. Made it to Toronto as the sun set at 9 pm. I've heard of long days but this is pretty impressive.

On my way to Ithaca, NY for a conference at Cornell University. This will be the first time I'm flying into Ithaca airport. Not an easy airport to get to from California but I lucked out with a reasonable fare this time around. Or has airfares risen so much that it looks reasonable? I'm flying on US Scare aka US Airways and have a short layover in the Philadelphia airport. I am staying at the Hilton Garden Inn in downtown Ithaca. I am returning to this hotel and am given a suite in this hotel. I don't think they get many diamond members in this property. :D I certainly appreciate the two room suite and separate shower and tub. I'm tempted to use the whirlpool tub. The pub downstairs makes suprisingly good food and priced well. Famous sighting of the day: Tyrese Gibson. Only realized who he was when some people wanted to shake his hand and talked about the Transformer movie. Wherever he was flying from, his destination is Miami today. Visited a local winery wit

Decided to fly in and out of Ft. Lauderdale and am overnighting it here for my very early morning flight. Staying in an airport hotel, Hampton Inn, and had a very pleasant meal at Antonio's. They claim to be a true Italian pizzeria and seemed authentic enough to me. Great garlic rolls, the pizza was a very think and crispy crust. I'm not usually a fan of thin crust pizza but I would eat here again. On the way back to the hotel, I came across Jackson's Ice Cream Parlor, http://www.jaxsonsicecream.com. Very yummy and a great way to end my dinner. If you've ever visited a Cracker Barrel, Jackson's has a similar theme. Instead of a country store, it has a feel of a carnival with the popcorn machine and toys you would find at a fair. They serve your typical hamburger and hot dogs but the ice cream is a draw. Freshly made, the ice cream was very tasty.

I've been here for most of the week for a conference. I've passed through Naples before but I've never been to Marcos Island. It is interesting that the Florida keys or islands are still connected to the mainland. I suppose it is due to the marsh terrain of Florida. Extremely muggy, the weather was nice with off and on thunderstorms throughout my stay. The conference was at the Marriott which seemed to be the largest hotel compound in the immediate area. Very nice rooms and decor. My friend got a full ocean view room on one of the top levels of the tower. I stayed at the Hilton half a mile down the street. It wasn't as large of a compound but I found its smaller size much more intimate and cozier feeling. It also helped that I didn't have to go through hordes of colleagues through the lobby. The hotel seemed somewhat dated but still nice enough for my tastes. They were in the midst of building a full service spa as well. Ate at a very good American bist

Haven't been in this city for almost 10 years. Alot has changed since my last visit. The town was in a "revitalization mode" last time I was here and just opened up the aquarium. They've seemed to build themself around the antique arts theme. In general, a cute enough town. Stayed at the historic Sheraton Read Hotel in downtown. Very nice, I dig the traditional wood and trim styles typical of the South in the 1800s. The room w as very nice, was given a suite. Chattanooga seems to be a hotbed for weddings as there were about seven weddings going on this weekend in various hotels in the city. Had some very tasty breakfast at Aretha Frankenstein's, the best breakfast potatoes - they used garlic and jalapenos in the mix. Also, I've actually found scones!! Well, they called them biscuits but they looked and tasted like scones from the UK except they were the size of my fist. I also wondered through a fair and found some cool chicken sculptures from Hammock Ironwork

For a change, I'm staying in Denver for more than a day. NAGAP is having a conference in Denver and I'll be in town for 4 days. Unusual, since I only visit Denver to go to UC-Boulder and that is usually an overnight trip. I stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn near the Convention Center. Very nice hotel, unlike any other HGI I have stayed. Full bar and restaurant and the decor is very modern. They've strayed away from the typical HGI layout. The rooms have your typical amenities of microwave and refrigerator but the decor is far nicer than I've experienced. The hotel is very new and the inner workings show it but they try and I will give them that credit. Lately, I've noticed the online Hilton reservations website isn't as good as it used to be. This is the second time where I've had a different room rate in the hotel's system versus what I booked online. I typically make reservations far in advance and check the hotel rates intermittenly to see if the ra

Here for work and extending out the stay. I stayed at the Homewood Suites in Salt Lake. Apparently, this is a relatively new hotel and the room I have is very very spacious for the price. Two bedroom two bath, it rivals with my room on the Big Island except it lacks the expensive master bathroom amenities and full size kitchen. Typical Homewood amenities, full refridgerator, stove top range, microwave, dishwasher, etc. Decor is very traditional, good place to go if you're going with a large group. There is another group of friends who decided to stay at the Sheraton, I think they are missing out plus they don't get free breakfast. The hotel could have tried harder to add dampening between the flooring as the Amtrak is nearby and you can hear people stomp around. Got a quick bit at Caffe Molise, nice enough place. Has great potential for receptions or lunches for yield events.

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