My Travels

It was inevitable that I would make a trip to the Bay in June. Why? Because of deals... :) I was upgraded to First Class on this trip to SF which helped me survive the weather delay conundrums at the airport. With the recent merger of United Airlines and Continental Airlines, SFO has a dedicated terminal and the next to the International terminal. I checked into the Doubletree San Francisco Airport since I was arriving so late into the area, there was no point in traveling in the middle of the night into the city. This particular Doubletree was my first hotel and started me on as a HHonors member. The cookie was the hook. :) Seriously, I think Doubletree could make money as a bakery with this cookie. Spacious accommodations, the room was perfect for what I needed. Checked into the Grand Hyatt San Francisco the next morning. So here was the cause of the trip, I received a free night coupon from Hyatt to stay in their San Francisco locations but I had only until the end of June. So ...

For the holiday weekend, I'm heading to the capital. I have some flight vouchers and they needed to be used. After bouncing around ideas, found a decent rate to BWI even though it is a holiday weekend and all the unrest in oil-producing countries causing oil to skyrocket in price. I was going to start my trip well when I was notified of being upgraded to first class. Unfortunately, United Airlines swapped planes which caused a seat shuffle and a loss of capacity when I arrived at the airport. I volunteered (for flight vouchers) to fly to an alternate airport since I already lost my first class seat in the plane swap. At the rate I'm going, I will be flying on subsidy due to airline snafus for awhile. I wonder if there is a record for this. :) Checked into the Doubletree Crystal City for the night near Reagan National airport . The hotel offers shuttle service to either DCA airport or the Pentagon metro station . It isn't advertised on the website but it does exist.  The...

Went up to SF for the weekend to visit some friends. I opted to fly out of John Wayne airport since I'm heading to work after I land. The great thing about John Wayne is the ease of getting through the airport, the food outlets are always fast, and the customer service is always pleasant. I was able to get a complimentary upgrade as I was walking into the plane on United Airlines. I am always reminded as the plane takes off the crazy rules in Orange County requiring pilots to gun the planes off the runway. Checked into the Hilton Financial District. Between the two city Hiltons, I think this property edges out the other because of the proximity to Chinatown and the rooms are bigger. Grabbed dinner at My Tofu Place in Inner Richmond. Ordered several dishes to eat family style - bibimbap, tofu soup, daeji bulgogi and korean pancake. Overall, a satisfying meal! After some digesting time, went to Joe's ice cream after talking about visiting BiRite creamery in Mission. I had the ra...

Went out to Vegas on a personal errand and took Lux Bus America for the trip. Normally, driving is the cheapest option but the bus is great is you are travelling alone. Pickups are throughout the major areas of Southern California. Caught the bus at the Anaheim location, the parking facilities does charge $5 per day. Almost like airport parking! The bus was your typical tour bus with TVs interspersed throughout and individual sound ports trays and power ports. Beverage, snacks, and restroom facilities too. In some ways, it felt like an airplane but on wheels. The company must attract a lot of tourists as most of the passengers were from Europe, India or Australia. The bus was packed in both directions even though it was a weekday. Maybe I was catching the spring break crowd. From My Travels The trip does make one pit stop at the Barstow station. I've occassionally stopped in the area because of Popeye's . I've never walked into the station but it is an interesting place to...

With the heavy rains, ran up to Mammoth Mountain resort to catch some spring snowboarding before the end of the season. It also helped that I had to use a discounted ticket. Took off for Bishop after work because I definitely wouldn't have made it all the way to Mammoth and I didn't want to drive in icy roads on the mountains at 2 am. Stayed at the Super 8 Bishop which is my typical spot to stay while in Bishop. The rooms are clean, serviceable, roomy and comes with a mini-fridge. Drove the final 30 miles to Mammoth the next morning. Before leaving Bishop, grabbed some coffee from Starbucks and doughnuts from the shop next at 905 N Main St, Bishop, CA. The donut shop sells jalapeno ham and cheese croissants and were tasty. Not a combination I normally see in this kind of shop. The actual doughnuts, I could have saved my $2 and not bought any. Romped around the mountain for most of the day, conditions were excellent even though winds were strong and the top half of the mounta...

Travelling to Shanghai and checking out the expat lifestyle. United Airlines is advertising direct flights from LAX to Shanghai but I will have to wait until May. On this trip, I had hoped to upgrade to Business using miles but it wasn’t meant to be. :( At least there was free food and booze to make the time fly faster in Economy. It also helped that I didn't sleep the night before which made me super tired on the plane. Pudong Airport is the airport for Shanghai. From my understanding, it is a relatively new airport due to the growing economies in Shanghai. Went through customs fairly easily and the process was efficient. Free wireless in the airport which is great as long as you want to read email only. With the "great firewall", many popular Western websites can be blocked here. Since I was visiting a corporate expat, a driver picked us up and drove out to the Luwan district staying at Legend Apartments, a popular apartment tower with expats and affluent Shangainese. ...

So, it seems Hyatt has somehow targeted me for promotions. I received an offer to stay in Seattle, a two night stay for the price of one, in one of their two new properties. It was a great offer and I scheduled a vacation to snowboard and visit family. After landing into Sea-Tac Airport on United Airlines . I found one thing interesting at Sea-Tac,thus airport is very family oriented. Usually, in women's restrooms you'll find vending dispensers for feminine products or over the counter medicine. In this airport, you won't find either but you will find diapers! :) I was able to priceline a rental car from National and picked out a Hyundai Santa Fe. National allows you to pick a car in a category rather than assigning you one and I can see why people like it. A very smooth ride, I'm impressed with the improvements Hyundai has in its car line up. Not too gas guzzly for a SUV (achieved an average of 22 mph over 700 miles), I found the car very comfortable with enough a...

I'm here for school and opted to stay near campus for the weekend residential. I haven't used points in awhile and used it for this stay. I normally wouldn't but there seems to be a convention and all hotel rates are really expensive in the area. Typically around $100 on the weekends, it was double for this particular weekend. Staying in the Hilton Checkers and it is a roomier stay this time around. I was given a corner room on one of the top floors, the views ain't bad. I really need to start remembering to bring VGA cables with me since hotels are beginning to let you tap into the flat panel TVs. The multi-media port on the credenza would have been nice to watch some DVD movies. I was also surprised to see a welcome snack of petit fours as well as turn down service. I know it sounds strange but I do enjoy having turn down service and have missed it when the hotels starting pulling back these kinds of services. Grabbed dinner with some classmates at Roy's . Star...

Went out to State College, PA to visit a friend. Flew on United through Dulles Airport to State College University Park Airport . With my short layover, I was happy to see that Dulles had an ATT hotspot. Most airports seem to support Boingo or T-Mobile. Being an ATT wireless and DSL customer, it came in handy as I bypassed the internet access fee and surfed the internet while waiting for my little prop plane. Having never been to this part of Pennsylvania, I found State College airport similar to other college town airports. Small but serviceable with people who are super friendly and helpful. After a quick shower and walking around 30 degree weather, grabbed brunch at The Original Waffle Shop . A three store chain, it is wildly popular with the local college crowd. I had the banana pecan waffle and it was made very well. No soggy parts anywhere, it was all crisp with plenty of nuts. :) A word of advice, alot of places are cash only in this small town and no major banks are...

Came out to Phoenix to visit and didn't realize that the BCS Fiesta Bowl is on the Monday of the weekend I'm in town. It would explain why all the hotels are either booked or have really high rates. Due to scarcity, stayed at the Hampton Inn in Chandler . I usually don't stay out this way but the price was right.  Slightly older and located within a business park, the hotel served its purpose. I was pleasantly surprised to find a fridge which worked out well with taking home leftovers from dinner.  The only new thing I noticed was the breakfast. Seems like the waffle makers are becoming popular and they have this batter dispenser which makes it more efficient. You don't have batter sitting out and you don't waste a lot of cups to hold the batter.  Went out to Sierra Bonita Grill for brunch. I had the banana chocolate muffin with my cowboy hash, very yummy. Even swiped some chile verde biscuits from another plate. Apparently, the restaurant is going through some man...

Decided to do a local non-car trip and catch my first professional football game at the same time. Grabbed a roundtrip ticket on Amtrak and took the Pacific Surfliner down to downtown San Diego. The Orange County stations have free parking and it was a very pleasant trip as I was able to enjoy the scenery or work from my laptop without worrying about traffic or delays. Stayed at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina , a very lovely facility. The hotel was very active this weekend as there was a major convention in town and weekend travellers. The weather warmed up considerably and was pleasant at 70+ degrees. The facility had fire pits overlooking the marina as well as a couple of pools. The spa was fairly large as well. Not a bad spot to hang out if you're so inclined. After grabbing lunch at Quinn's, a pub in the lobby, wandered out to USS Midway checking out the naval carrier and planes on the ship. It was interesting to find out that the USS Midway was involved...

I've taken off to Ottawa to visit family. Airfares to Canada has really jumped and I opted to use miles to fly on this trip. It has been awhile since I've been on Air Canada and found the experience enjoyable. The planes are outfitted with individual monitors (typical JetBlue planes) with USB and electric outlet ports. It was nice to power up the phones, laptops, and watch personalized movies. I have to say that I always forget the international standards for passing through security since I tend to remember the American version most and get discombobulated when dealing with the security people. Since Ottawa isn't a typical destination city, I flew through Vancouver en route to Ottawa. The Maple Lounge at LAX was rather small but provided free internet. The Maple Lounge in Vancouver was nice and comfortable but internet was not free. Same provider, different prices. Even more ironic, the airport provides free wireless internet which makes the pay for use internet ...

I went up for the day to San Francisco for a baby shower. It has been a relatively good week of travel since I've been in first class for all the flights so far. Yay! Came into the city later than originally planned due to bad weather which will later turn out well for me. Since I missed my ride to the city, I caught the BART to the city using my new Translink card. I do enjoy that mass transit is moving towards plastic cards that can hold cash value. Makes travelling without cash so much easier... Hung out in downtown for the day and saw some friends. When I headed back to the airport, I was able to volunteer to be bumped off my original flight on United Airlines to a later flight. Garunteed first class seat and $400 in vouchers. So for all the incovenience of the flight delays today, I was happy to get some compensation.

Went to the Windy City fo work, I was able to secure automatic upgrades on United for my trip. A pleasant surprise, I arrived to stay at the Four Points by Sheraton by Midway Airport . A relatively old hotel, it was a pleasant stay with the free wireless internet, nightly water bottle service and the Wall Street Journal newspaper. The WSJ is nice as most hotels only provide USA Today as a reading source. Met up with a friend the first night and went out to Mike Ditka's in the Loop. I haven't been in several years and my friend, who is a local, actually never been. We shared the wedge salad, rib-eye steak, jalapeno hash browns and banana cream pie. The food did not disappoint! And before you think sharing seems wierd, the food portions are large that we were busting out of our stomachs with the food ordered. The next night, I went to Vivo for a company dinner. The food was rather forgettable and I was happy when the meal ended. The appetizers helped stave off my hung...

Looking to use some hotel certificates in hand, I was prompted with the idea of a trip to Germany. Ocktoberfest seemed like a good idea and blazed off to Munich. A couple of firsts for me on this trip. I've never flown on Lufthansa and never been to Germany which is also the most east I have travelled on this globe. At LAX , I normally don't fly out of Tom Bradley International terminal and was pleasantly surprised how nice it was inside. I stopped over at the Star Alliance lounge in the terminal and I think it is one of the nicest lounges at LAX. I'm always a sucker for free booze and the food was filling. There was chicken fried rice and ready-made ramen bowls to be had. Definite asian influence around here.... :) This is also my first time flying on an Airbus 340-600 . I'm assuming it is the counterpart to the Boeing 747 planes. The plane overall felt cramp and I'm convinced that Germans must like really warm weather. I'm not prone to being hot t...