My Travels

There was a time that I would visit Phoenix several times a year but since the pandemic started, I have not had a reason to come out this way until this year. Visiting friends both locally and non, I hopped onto a Southwest flight to Sky Harbor International Airport. Originally, I was going to get a car from Turo and I should have stuck with it. I ended up creating a snag on my rental reservation with Dollar and had to rent a day rental from National to bridge the gap. Checked into the Arizona Biltmore  for one night and the hotel has added a few amenities since I've last stayed. I do occasionally miss how Diamond status was harder to achieve which made the hotels actually do something to acknowledge the status. In the new world order, the Diamand food credit is added on top of the resort fee food credit. I didn't eat much at the hotel, spending most of my dollars on pool bar items. Arizona Biltmore King Bed Arizona Biltmore Pool One of the major items I noticed on this trip wa...

Not too often do I opt to stay in LA but on this occasion I stayed at the Conrad Los Angeles . Overall, I found the location and hotel appealing.  Conrad Los Angeles King Room Disney Hall view from lobby bar Rooftop seating area Disney Hall view from room Pros For those who are paying cash rates, the resort fee includes a small dining discount. Likely to encourage you to spend time in their two bars or two restaurants. For Diamond members, you get a $25 per person credit (usually $50).  There is no car service but the concierge will request a Lyft ride for any destination within the area. Probably cheaper for them to request Lyfts than to have a few cars on hand to drive people around.  Public areas are smartly designed to maximize occupancy without feeling too cramped. They have coffee/tea service in the morning in the lobby. They have a make your own herbal tea bar in the Spa. They lobby bar will still serve food until last call. Cons Often, US based Conrads tend not t...

 A first for me, I am visiting Kentucky for a work event. Hopped onto my long flight on United to Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport . I wasn’t sure what to expect outside of what I see on the news. The downtown area seems very quiet when I checked into the Marriott Courtyard Louisville Downtown . It is an easy walk to the Galt Hotel where my event was being held. The Galt Hotel in comparison to the Courtyard is probably three times larger with two towers. The interesting thing about the Galt is that the towers are connected by an over street pedestrian bridge where a coffee shop and bar is located. You can get some nice views with the river. There is a plethora of hotels in the area and I waffled between many. I ulitmately chose the Courtyard because it was the closest to the Galt Hotel but in hindsight, any of the hotels would do. The only thing is that my final day was the day of a marathon which made getting an airport ride near impossible because the Courtyard was ...

I ran to back to the airport after landing from Maui to take a short overnight trip to Seattle. I had mistimed my dates and I wasn't able to get into Seattle earlier on Alaska Airlines . I think this is my first time flying Alaska? For a cost carrier, the flight was good. It is cheap to buy a business seat and get the amenities you need if you wanted to be treated like a high flying frequent flier. Given the quick turnaround, I didn't see much of Seattle but what I did see was very quiet in the downtown and Pike Marketplace area. I haven't been to the city since pre-pandemic and it doesn't have the hustle as before. Even the homeless groups were quiet. I did opt to take mass transit as the cost of taxi/uber was out the door. It ended up working out as the train took about the same time as a car would and I didn't have to sit in awkward silence.  Unfortunately, I had canceled the wrong date of my hotel reservation and the one I had active was for the following day. T...

I normally go to Maui when I'm obligated by a timeshare presentation deal. And so I return to Maui with friends in tow to see the 'real' Hawaii. My friends had not been to Hawaii before and ended up in Oahu six months earlier for a work event. They did not enjoy the curated tourist destination that Waikiki has become and I told them that Maui would be different. After arriving back from Turlock, I jumped onto a United Airlines flight to Kahului Airport . I was able to snag a Jeep rental from Alamo rental. Since I knew that the potential for off-road was high, I wanted to make sure I had a Jeep to navigate the island. Ultimately, I didn't need it as the road to Hana from the west was closed. Westin Nanea Ocean Villas - The Westin is a nice property composed of several compounds. They fairly dominate the footprint in Kaanapali and the Nanea Ocean Villas is part of the Westin timeshare portfolio. Although we enjoyed the space, it was almost convincing to get the timesha...

After much debate, I decided to drive to Turlock, California. It is difficult to get to Turlock and I had a work obligation. Other than flying into a private airport, the travel time by plane/rental car and driving was the same. As a silver lining, I was able to make a pit stop in Yosemite. Hotel Bakersfield Marriott - I wasn't thrilled with the idea of working all day and driving all night to Turlock so I opted to break the trip up in the middle and overnight in Bakersfield. Since I wasn't in town long, I didn't really do much but sleep and go. I did enjoy the light breakfast offered in the lounge and the hotel seemed really fancy for the area. Since there is a convention center attached, I'm assuming this Marriott property is the nicest one. It was definitely priced higher than I was expecting.... Bakersfield Marriott Home2Suites Turlock - There aren't alot of options in Turlock but my host site was wanting to put me in the Holiday Inn and I had debated about ta...