My Travels

This past week was good for snowboarders. Mammoth Mountain received about two feet of snow which compelled me out of my home for a quick one day of boarding. Since the trip was going to be short, headed up in the afternoon towards Bishop. On the way up, passed a billboard touting Nadia's Cakes which was a winner on Cupcake Wars. Intrigued and conveniently located off the freeway, I exited in Palmdale to try these cupcakes. I will say this is the first time I've been able to visit a contestant of the show. I have enjoyed watching the series and was curious of the quality level. For the most part, I'm an avid fan of Sprinkles and have found few comparable competitors. I bought the strawberry champagne, peanut butter, salted caramel and red velvet. My favorite was the strawberry champaign and I will make it a point to stop by if I'm in the area. I checked into the Best Western Plus Holiday Spa Lodge . It has been over a year since I was last in Bishop. For a sm...

I'm making a trip to Seoul. I was hoping to catch a flight to Korea on the Boeing Dreamliner but it was grounded after battery issues. United Airlines subbed out the Dreamliner with a 777. I did try to get United to switch my itinerary because of the plane change. I could have gotten into Seoul earlier than 9 pm if I chose to go through SFO rather than Narita. The customer representative couldn't do anything over the phone but suggested I send an email to corporate. I did but the response was no dice. :( Although no Dreamliner option, I did get an offer to upgrade to First for $399. I'm curious as to how the offer is made when you checkin online. If I was staying longer in Narita, it would have been easier to convince me to upgrade. The United Club lounge is split between regular and 1st class by an elevator. The regular United lounge is usually packed so the 'extra' perk would have been nice. For my meal options, I went with a Japaense set menu since I was on...

So my last hotel stay of the year is at the Doubletree Downtown Los Angeles for a wedding. Ironically, my first stay of the year was for an indian wedding and I'm ending the year with another. :P The hotel was an independent hotel and was recently converted. I remembered it as the Kyoto Grand Hotel where a friend was married at the hotel. In this particular trip, the wedding was at a local church and the reception was held at Union Station in downtown LA. The hotel was busy with several weddings when I checked in but the front desk was still nice enough to put me in a corner suite. From TripAdvisor, the reviews were hit and miss but I found the hotel well furnished and stylishly decorated. If you do stay here, the breakfast buffet has one of the best croissants I have ever had in a hotel setting. I snaked one out on the way out; it was that tasty. :D

Headed out to Shanghai via United Airlines . On this particular trip, I was looking forward to pleasant temperatures similar to home. This time of year, Shanghai's hot and humid summer temps have passed. The fall is actually quite pleasant being in the 60s and 50s with no humidity. I was cracking up that all the Chinese people on the plane were already suiting up in parkas. For some reason, I assumed that the Shanghainese can weather colder weather given that the winter months rival NYC weather. You don't hear New Yorkers exclaiming how cold things are yet....except this year with superstorm Sandy. I used the last of my global certificates for this trip and was able to confirm upgraded seats a few weeks before. I was actually surprised that the flight was not 100% occupied. I didn't anticipate that there would be empty seats in each class. Mental note: choose the rear facing seats as that is less likely to get chosen in business. It would have been nice not to have a nei...

Headed out to Chicago for a personal business trip. It was a quick in and out type of affair but I was able to stay at The Tremont Hotel . Unfortunately for me, Chicago weather decided to turn on the full charm in my brief stay. There was a wind storm when my United flight was landing at the airport which made it turbulent at the end. I believe it also caused delays in and out of O'hare Airport .    The wind storm made the day pleasant if you were walking around the streets of Chicago. It was a very balmy 65 degrees when I popped out of the L train ( CTA ). By the way, there is a handy smartphone/tablet application which I used to navigate the L trains. The weather was only for the day as the temps dropped fairly quickly once the sun set and it started drizzling. The next day, the high was 38 degrees with chance of snow flurries. Talk about mercurial weather. I was not sure what I would find at The Tremont given the various online reviews. It was so mixed. I did find th...

I came up to Santa Clara for a personal business trip. It was a quick trip but I did stay at Candlewood Suites Silicon Valley/San Jose.  The hotel is an extended stay type. Not my typical choice for hotel lodgings but I did find the experience serviceable. The room was spacious and the kitchenette was well designed. There was a strong bleach smell in the bathroom but I did feel confidence that the bathroom was clean. :) The hotel doesn't have transportation despite being right next to the San Jose International Airport . There is a free city bus shuttle that runs around the airport and ends at the Amtrak station. Conveniently, the hotel is right next to the Amtrak station. The downside of being next to the train tracks is that the rooms are not as noise insulated as it could be. If you're a light sleeper, ask for rooms that is furthest from the tracks. The one perk I liked about Candlewood is that there is a DVD collection available for all hotel guests. I guess that mak...

 My last full day in Barcelona! Going out with a bang!!  Exterior La Sagrada Familia Interior La Sagrada Familia  Interior entrance area La Sagrada Familia  Ceiling of La Sagrada Familia The plan was to head out to La Sagrada Familia at the crack of dawn. Well, I didn't manage the crack but it was within the first hour of opening. The line was still around half the block but the line was moving faster than the previous day. Outside, La Sagrada Familia looks amazing. It was hard to know what to expect inside but I was blown away from the design inside. The main room was designed to look like a clearing in a forest. The building pillars mimicked tree structure to give that natural design. Gaudi never completed the church design in his lifetime.The city has revitalized itself to complete the work. There are parts of the cathedral that is under construction and off limits to the public. It is slated to be completed by 2026. The fact that in today's t...