My Travels

In general, I don't usually talk about my return flights as they are usually uneventful. On this particular occasion, I went through an extra layover due to the airplane crash at SFO. The crash shut down the airport for half a day which created havoc for lots of people including yours truly.  My original flight was DPS to SIN and overnighting at Changi for 8 hours. I opted to avoid getting a hotel room and hung out at the Kris Lounges. Since I was now on a Star Alliance flight, the folks at the lounge allowed me access. Singapore Airlines has several lounges depending on class of service. Gold is for the Star Alliance Gold folks, Silver is for the Business and First Class passengers. The Silver Lounge actually segregates Business and First Class passengers from the Economy Class passengers. They also segragate the Singapore Airlines First Class versus Star Alliance First Class passengers as there is a segmented part of the Lounge for those folks. After wandering into the Gold

My only goal in this trip was to go snorkeling. With the weather being unpredictable, it was difficult for me to figure out if it could be done on this trip. Windy cloudy weather is not a good environment for snorkeling. So I opted to spend the day relaxing at the hotel and enjoy the amenities. Breakfast is typically buffet style. There are several restaurant locations that will serve breakfast and I opted to go to Suku because it seemed to offer the most options with great ocean/pool views. Regarding the food, it seems people in Asia like their bacon crispy. It almost had a smoke taste to it and I really liked the bacon. It's a big thing since I typically don't eat bacon. Another item that caught my attention was the pancakes and waffles. Many times, pancakes and waffles tend to get soggy but the waffles were super crispy (almost cookie like) and the pancakes had a good crisp edge. The Conrad staff were great and their English skills are very strong from the maid service to

So I am off to Bali for vacation. It isn't so easy of a destination on Star Alliance for some reason despite the heavy number of Asian partners. I ultimately chose to fly United Airlines to Singapore and then switch to Garuda Indonesia from Singapore to Denpasar. I made pit stops at SFO and HKG en route to Changi Airport . Luckily, my longest layover was at Changi Airport. My SFO layover was 3 hours but I intentionally booked it that way in case there were delays getting into SFO. With the weather conditions in that area, it is always 50/50 if flights can land into the airport. On this trip, no delays getting into SFO meant I was in the United Club lounge for most of the time. Not a bad spot to be if you have to wait in the international terminal. At one point, United Club advertised that there were meal options available for purchase but it must have failed. When I walked in, there were the same typical snack options available. At least the booze was an amenity they kept.

The last time I was in Vancouver, I was doing a cross border run to renew a visa stamp for my aunt. This time, I'm here for a work conference. I flew United Airlines up to Vancouver. It has been awhile since I've flown a regional jet plane especially for three hours. I was upgraded to "first" but it really is only slightly better than Economy Plus on a bigger plane. Since I knew that the plane was going to be small, I opted to bring a regular sized suitcase and checked it in. I was taking a mid-day flight and forgot how quickly one can get through the airport when no one is really flying. I'm not sure if I broke a world record by traveling 20 miles from work to airport, parking facility, checking in, getting through security and in the Club Lounge with drink in hand in under an hour. If it isn't, I sure hope that it is a close second. I will say that I had the advantage of going through TSA precheck helped cut the security wait down. One of the new benefit

For breakfast, the hotel offered a full breakfast buffet in L’Uliveto which overlooks the pool area of the hotel. As swanky as the rest of the hotel, the breakfast was satisfying and filling. I wouldn’t recommend it for normal dining as the breakfast was $50 US per person. So if you can include breakfast in the room rate, I would advise doing so. Since it was our last full day in Rome, the group split to get their own wants accomplished. I spent the day relaxing at the pool (indoor and outdoor). For dinner, I suggested Antico Arco because of the great experience a few days earlier when I had split off from the group. On the way to the restaurant, we opted to go to a roundabout up the hill from the restaurant that overlooks the Orto Botanica. It was a great vista point if you wanted a 360 of the cityscape. The roundabout had a very large statue in the middle of Vittorio Emanuele II d'Italia. Afterwards, walked down the hill to enjoy my last and enjoyable meal in Rome.

The next morning, grabbed breakfast at the lounge before heading out to Naples. I had read that Naples would have the best pizza in all of Italy and I wanted to see if it would be true. It was not true and I can’t even remember the name of the restaurant. We went there because a friend of the group recommended the pizza place. I can only say that it was a popular destination as there were many people waiting to get seated. At least the pizzas were cheap. On the bright side, I was able to pick up some lemon drop candies as it became apparent to me that this part of Italy was known for lemons. I also came across a new dessert, rum baba, that was displayed in many of the bakeries on the streets of Naples. Plain, the baba was not particularly good. When it was all decked out with cream and strawberries, it was like having a richer strawberry shortcake. So do not buy a plain one, always get it with the cream and fruit! Sweets from a Naples bakery Clambered back into the van an

The next morning, I got up at the crack of dawn to pick up a 9 passengar van for an overnight trip to Sorrento. The goal for the day was to see Pompeii and visit the Amalfi coast. Unfortunately, I underestimated Roman traffic and was not able to get out of the city for a good solid two hours during morning traffic. By the time I was able to get to the Pompeii area, the lateness of the day and the cloudy weather did not make it viable. The only days it rained when I was in Italy was on my road trip days. Sigh. I will say that the drive is pretty easy once you get out of the city. The freeways in Italy appear to be toll highways. I guess many Italians do not travel by car. I only realized afterwards that there are speed sensors placed throughout the highway and I’m crossing my fingers that I didn’t get a ticket. View from executive loung at the Hilton Sorrento Family Suite The road to Sorrento off the highway actually reminded me of my Maui trip and the road to Hana. Onc