My Travels

In the area for a friend's wedding and checked into the Hampton Inn & Suites San Luis Obispo . Appears to be a relatively new hotel for the area, the hotel is easily accessible from the freeway but still a five to ten minute drive to downtown SLO. On the weekends, this area must get really busy. After coming back from the wedding, the front desk staff was busy with people trying to find rooms and I overhead the staff telling someone that normal rates for a one night stay was 30% more than my reservation. Yikes! I already thought what I had booked was outrageous for a Hampton Inn. I spent more in the Hampton Inn on this trip than the Westin in Chicago on a one night comparison! Hampton Inn San Luis Obispo Went to Jack House and Garden for the wedding venue. It isn't a staffed venue so the wedding was more like a house party where everyone helped with the serving and cleaning. The next morning, had breakfast at the Madonna Inn Copper Café . I had stopped by this Ca...

For this week, I'm staying at the Hampton Inn LAX Hawthorne . It is conveniently located off the freeway but it isn't necessarily close to LAX. With the shuttle service, it could take about 30 to 45 minutes to get to the hotel. If you have a car, it is a fairly convenient location that isn't AT the airport. A relatively new hotel, the rooms are fairly spacious and the bathrooms are roomy. I am not sure if it was more economical but the bathrooms in this hotel are shower only. No tubs. They also offer snacks (popcorn and cookies) and coffee in the afternoon in addition to the morning breakfast buffet. Since the rooms here come with microwave and fridge, I brought a roast to keep in the fridge and it was dinner for most of the week. After the third day of eating leftovers, I grabbed dinner at Al-Noor . Featured on the Food Network's The Best Thing I Ever Ate for its garlic naan, I found the Indian food comparable to other Indian restaurants. For the price, the quanti...

I stayed at the Four Points Sheraton LAX for a night before transitioning to the Sheraton Cerritos. At the Four Points, I ended up having to switch rooms when my initial room had too strong of a  marijuana smell. Leary of the smell attaching itself to my work clothes, I went back and switched my double room for a king room. Surprisingly, the rooms are not the same size. I'm never sure with hotels if the King rooms are smaller than the Doubles but it appears so with the Four Points. The airport shuttle is shared between the Westin and the Four Points. Even though they say that the shuttle runs every 20, it is more like every 30 given the two stopping points. Sheraton Cerritos Double Room The next day, checked into the Sheraton Cerritos Hotel. This is the first hotel that has asked for my government ID because of the rate I used. So there is someone that checks eventually! Either that or the hotel is looking to maximize revenue by routing out the imposters. I was pleasantly s...

Went from Chicago straight to Sonoma and flew into San Francisco International Airport  via United Airlines . On this leg, my luggage was delayed by the baggage handlers in SFO. While waiting for the luggage at baggage claim, the carousel stopped and no more luggage came out. After talking to the representatives, the luggage was still in Chicago O'Hare since the luggage was not "scanned." Picked up my Kia Seoul from Thrifty and took off for the hotel. It was a nice change from the Yukon. Since it was really early in the morning or really late in the evening (depending on how you want to see this), checked into the Hilton Garden Inn San Francisco Airport North  for five hours to rest up before driving up to Sonoma. Once settled, started a load of laundry with all of the dirty clothes I had because the luggage that did arrive was the one with dirty clothes. I decided to check online on my luggage on www.united.com/baggagecheck and saw that the luggage was at the airp...

Out in Chicago with family in this trip. The logistics involved in moving a large group of people for an event is a little mind blowing. People having different needs and timing can certainly lead to confusion. I flew on United Airlines but I also booked flights on American Airlines directly and indirectly with British Airways via points. Full planes throughout the trip but was able to get upgraded last minute to first on United Airlines to Chicago. Luckily, my companion did as well when someone declined the upgrade and it was given to the next person. Only one of my family members had issues with their flight itinerary which required a complete rebooking. That experience gave me an introduction to the policies of award travel redemption on British Airways and American Airlines. British Airways does not allow redeposit of miles on no show tickets and flights must be booked at least 4 hours in advance when using the travel on a partner airline. I assume partner since I have never ...