My Travels

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