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Destination Trip Reports North America US, Canada, Mexico

September 2013: Washington DC Trip Report

We arrived in DC on a Saturday evening after a long Southwest Airlines flight from Ontario, California. My parents had arrived from India a couple of hours earlier. Since we were all pretty tired by now, we headed straight for the hotel. We were staying at the Fairfield Inn & Suites, Dulles Airport. Day 1: After getting up early in the morning and having complimentary breakfast at the hotel, me and Karen went to the Dulles Airport to pick up our rental car. This was the only rental booked without points for this trip. We had booked an intermediate car …

Destination Trip Reports North America US, Canada, Mexico

September 2013: DC/NYC/Niagara Trip – Introduction

During the Labor Day week Me and Karen took time off of work and went on a trip covering Washington DC, New York and Niagara Falls. My parents were flying in from India and met us in Washington DC. Itinerary for the trip:  Day 1: Ontario – Washington DC (Southwest Airlines) Day 2: Washington DC Sightseeing (Washington Monument, WW2 Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Capitol Building) Day 3: Washington DC Sightseeing (Museum of Natural History, Holocaust Museum) Day 4: Amtrak from Washington Union Station – New York Penn Station. NYC sightseeing (Top of the Rock, Times …

Hotel Reviews IHG Rewards Club Reviews

Hotel Review: Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites, Henderson, Nevada

Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites, Henderson, Nevada 441 Astaire Drive, Henderson , Nevada 89014 We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Henderson during our last trip to Vegas. Its about 10 miles away from the strip. I have stayed at the strip hotels many times before but this time I had signed up for a few IHG Rewards Club promo bonuses and wanted to get those points at the lowest expense. Since we were renting a car, the distance from the strip was not an issue. Check-in was quick. The front desk clerk recognized my Platinum status and …

Destination Trip Reports North America US, Canada, Mexico

August 2013: Las Vegas Weekend Trip

During the second weekend of August, we did a quick trip to Las Vegas. We had been wanting to see Celine Dion’s performance at the Colosseum in Caesar’s Palace Hotel for a while as we are both big fan of hers. The opportunity presented itself when I had about $165 of Southwest vouchers expiring by September and had to be used before that. Normally we would drive to Las Vegas as its only about 4 hours from our home but we flew instead. Our Itinerary: Fly ONT-LAS on Southwest Airlines Stay 2 nights at the Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites, …

Hotel Reviews Marriott/SPG Reviews

Hotel Review: Courtyard Fort Lauderdale North/Cypress Creek

Courtyard Fort Lauderdale North/Cypress Creek 2440 W. Cypress Creek Road · Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33309 USA This Courtyard is a Category 2 Marriott property located right next to the Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport (FXE) and about 20 minutes away from Fort Lauderdale Airport. The property looked recently renovated with very nice interiors. Check-in was quick and the front desk clerk offered extra bottles of water for Marriott Rewards members. The next day the front desk clerk volunteered information regarding different dining options in the area. The pool area was nice. They had a cabana with wicker furniture. We loved the …

Hotel Reviews Marriott/SPG Reviews

Hotel Review: Fairfield Inn & Suites Fort Lauderdale Airport & Cruise Port

Fairfield Inn & Suites Fort Lauderdale Airport & Cruise Port 2081 Griffin Road · Dania Beach, Florida 33312 USA This is a Marriott Category 5 hotel just minutes from the Fort Lauderdale airport. It is located right beside Homewood Suites by Hilton. Among other complimentary amenities, you get breakfast, parking and shuttle to FLL airport (not to Miami airport though). Check-in was quick. The front desk clerk was friendly and inquired about our stay as well as advised best places to go to see the July 4 fireworks. Room size was standard, no microwave or mini-fridge in the room. This …

Destination Trip Reports North America US, Canada, Mexico

July 2013: Independence Day Weekend Florida Trip – Day 3

This was our last day of vacation and we wanted to spend the whole time………drumroll……. pretty much at the beach :). We wanted to check out the Hollywood Beach and the famous Boardwalk. We packed our lunches and icebox and drove there just past 11 AM. We forgot that it was a Saturday and the parking lot was already starting to get full. Parking entry fee is $8 for the day. The beach was pretty crowded by the time we got there. We were there to spend our day in the water and without much ado, jumped right in. The …

Destination Trip Reports North America US, Canada, Mexico

July 2013: Independence Day Weekend Florida Trip – Day 2

We woke up early and decided to head out for the Keys after breakfast. The rental car agent had told us that it will take us about 5-6 hours to drive down to Key West. Since we were staying the next two nights in Fort Lauderdale, we didn’t know if we would go all the way there because the round-trip drive alone would take the whole day. We decided to get to some point midway, spend the day and return back. The drive is pretty interesting. You get through many stretches of single lane road where there is water on …

Destination Trip Reports North America US, Canada, Mexico

July 2013: Independence Day Weekend Florida Trip – Day 1

We arrived at the Fort Lauderdale airport just before 9 AM after an American Airlines non-stop red-eye flight from Los Angeles. I had 2 AVIS Free-rental-day paper certificates and only after arrival at the airport did I realize that I had left them at home. Bummer !! I knew that the rental rates were pretty expensive here, but remembered seeing better rates at carrentalsavers.com compared to Kayak/Southwest/Hotwire and all the individual car rental sites. So using the phone, I booked a 2 day rental with Budget through that website. After arrival at the Budget Fastbreak counter, we got a complimentary upgrade …

Destination Trip Reports North America US, Canada, Mexico

July 2013: Independence Day Weekend Florida Trip – Introduction

When life gives you lemons, make some hard lemonade !! We had originally planned on a trip to the Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands for the July 4th weekend this year. I was planning on staying at the Comfort Suites, Seven Mile Beach using Choice Privileges Points. Since the booking window for award stay in Caribbean properties for US residents opens 90 days out, by the time the booking window opened, the award flight availability using British Airways Avios points (MIA – GCM route operated by American Airlines) had completely vanished. That meant that we were going to spend our weekend …

Destination Trip Reports North America US, Canada, Mexico

June 2013 – San Diego Zoo Safari Park Trip Report

Last month we went on a day trip to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.  We had never been to this safari park but had heard good reviews about it. There was an Amazon-Local deal where the regular entry tickets of 44$ were on sale for 20$. Obviously Karen jumped on the deal right away and got 3 tickets for us and her sister Danny. The park is near Escondido, which is around 30 miles from San Diego. The park opens at 9 AM and closes at 5 PM – 7 PM depending on the time of the year. After entering the …

Hotel Reviews Marriott/SPG Reviews

Hotel Review: SpringHill Suites Portland Airport

 SpringHill Suites Portland Airport 11922 NE Airport Way · Portland, Oregon 97220 USA The SpringHill Suites Portland Airport is a Category 4 Marriott property located within 5 minutes drive from the airport. This property is located very close to two other Marriott properties: Courtyard Portland Airport and Fairfield Inn & Suites Portland Airport. We arrived at the hotel in the afternoon and check-in process was quick and smooth. The front desk agent explained the amenities (free wi-fi and complimentary breakfast). We told her that our flight leaves late next day and she offered complimentary late checkout at 2 PM. The …

Hotel Reviews Marriott/SPG Reviews

Hotel Review: Courtyard Portland Airport

 Courtyard Portland Airport  11550 NE Airport Way · Portland, Oregon 97220 USA This Marriott Rewards Category 3 hotel is located only about 5 minutes drive (3 miles) from the Portland International Airport. The property provides complimentary shuttle between the hotel and the airport. We arrived at the hotel in the evening and check-in was speedy. The front desk had only one staff (probably being the weekend and hotel having low occupancy). We were offered complimentary late checkout although we declined because we were leaving early next day for some sight-seeing. The room was fairly standard size and looked newly renovated. …

Destination Trip Reports North America US, Canada, Mexico

May 2013: Portland Trip Report

During the Memorial Day weekend, we went on a quick getaway trip to Portland. We wanted to do some hiking, seeing waterfalls, simple outdoors stuff. We flew on Southwest from Ontario to Oakland and then to Portland. For the first time, I checked in online exactly 24 hours early and we were able to get letter A boarding number. I was excited to get exit row seating without paying for Early Bird check-in. Day 1: We reached PDX around 10:30 AM and after getting our rental car from Budget, we were on our way. First up on our list of …

Asia Destination Trip Reports

2012 – Maldives Trip – Recap

Recap of itinerary for the entire trip. Flights (all Business Class): Los Angeles – Incheon : United Airlines (for me) / Los Angeles – Incheon: Asiana Airlines (for Karen) Incheon – Bangkok : Thai Airways Bangkok – Kolkata : Thai Airways Kolkata – Singapore : Singapore Airlines Singapore – Male : Singapore Airlines Male – Singapore : Singapore Airlines Singapore – Incheon : Singapore Airlines Incheon – Los Angeles : Asiana Airlines (for Karen) / Incheon – San Francisco: Asiana Airlines (for me) Hotels: Aloft Bangkok – 1 Night Fuana Inn, Maldives – 1 Night Holiday Inn Kandooma, Maldives – 3 Nights Sightseeing: Bangkok …

Airline Reviews Asiana Reviews

Airline Review: Asiana Airlines – Business Class (Fully Flat Quadra Smartium seats) : Incheon – San Francisco

Flight: Asiana Airlines OZ 214 from Incheon to San Francisco Equipment: B772 LR (Boeing 777-200 LR) Class: Business Seat: 4 A, Window/Aisle Seat Specification: Full Lie Flat, 180 degree recline, Seat pitch: 78″. Seat width: 21 ” Two words. Quadra Smartium.  Since this trip was my first time ever in international business class it was very easy to get amazed by the ample legroom, meal on actual plates, mostly angle and sometimes lie-flat seats and of course access to business class lounges. But even then, something tells me that it would be a while before I am going to have a business class …

Airline Reviews Asiana Reviews

Airline Review: Asiana Airlines – Business Class (Angled Flat seats) : Los Angeles – Incheon – Los Angeles (OZ 201 and OZ 202)

Flight: Asiana Airlines OZ 201  from LAX to Incheon and Asiana Airlines OZ 202 from Incheon to LAX Aircraft: B748  (Boeing 747-800) Class: Business Seat:  9A (Upper deck, Window) Seat Specification: Angled-Flat, 170 degree recline, Seat pitch: 60″, Seat width:  20″ Note: This review is based on flights that Karen took by herself. While returning together from our Maldives trip, we went separate ways from ICN. She took the OZ 202 to LAX and I took OZ 214 to SFO.  Asiana Airlines operates a Boeing 747 in this long haul route. This would be my first time in the upper deck of a …

Airline Reviews Reviews Singapore Airlines

Airline Review: Singapore Airlines – Business Class (Angled Flat seats) : Singapore – Incheon (SQ 602)

Flight:  Singapore Airlines SQ 602 from Singapore to Incheon Equipment: A333 (Airbus 330-300) Class: Business Seat: 12 H (Window), 12 K (Aisle) Seat Specification: Angle Lie Flat, Seat pitch: 60.0 “. Seat width: 24.5 ” Singapore Airlines runs an A333 in this mid-haul route. There are 30 Angle Lie Flat seats in this cabin with 2 x 2 x 2 configuration. After boarding, we were offered champagne/water/orange juice for pre-departure beverage. We were planning on ordering some Singapore Slings after takeoff so we decided to go with water for now. We were also offered the lunch menu choices. Since this flight originated from Singapore …

Asia Destination Trip Reports

January 2013: Maldives Trip Report – Day 4

Since this was the last day of our stay at the resort, we wanted to make the most of it. Because our flight left at around 11 PM, the front desk notified us that we had complimentary late checkout till 2 PM and after that we could leave our luggage at the reception and leave on the last outbound speedboat at 8 PM. We went to the beach early to spend at least 3-4 hours swimming. Pretty soon it was lunchtime. We went back to our room and took a shower and then headed to the Bokkuraa Club. After lunch, …

Asia Destination Trip Reports

January 2013: Maldives Trip Report – Day 3

On Day 3, we woke up early and had a quick breakfast. Karen had signed up for a complimentary snorkeling trip at the house reef . The trip starts at 9:30 AM and snorkeling gear rent is free for the trip. There were about 8 people on the boat plus the 3 man crew and 1 instructor.  It takes only about 10 minutes to get to the house reef which is somewhere between the Kandooma resort and the Cocoa resort. The snorkeling trip lasted about 2 hours and then we were back on the island. We decided to walk some …