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Destination Trip Reports North America

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

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

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 …

Trip Summary

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

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

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 …

Trip Summary

2013 January: 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 …

Asia Destination Trip Reports

January 2013: Maldives Trip Report – Day 2

We woke up early and Karen decided to make some freshly brewed coffee using the french press in the room. The resort is pretty expensive when it comes to food. We brought some breakfast snacks like cake, dry indian sweets, chips, crackers for breakfast supplies for the 4 days we were here. We only ate at the restaurants for lunch and dinner.   After breakfast we decided to walk some more around the island. After walking and taking lots of pictures for about 2 hours we decided to go to the poolside. Karen had signed up for a complimentary basic …

Asia Destination Trip Reports

January 2013: Maldives Trip Report – Day 1

We arrived at the resort by speedboat from Male around noon. After an expedited check-in we were shown our sea-view beach house. After freshening up we decided to do a quick tour around the island. You can walk around the entire island in about 20 minutes. Since we are after all in the tropics, pretty soon we were dying to get into the water to cool off. The water is warm and clear with almost no waves in the swimming areas. After spending about an hour or two (who counts time during vacation? :)) we decided to move to the pool. After …

Hotel Reviews IHG Reviews

Hotel Review: Holiday Inn Resort Kandooma, Maldives

Holiday Inn Resort Kandooma Maldives Holiday Inn Resort, Kandooma Fushi, South Male Atoll, 00000, Maldives We stayed for 3 nights and 4 days at this Holiday Inn resort using our Priority Club points. Following redemption options are available for stay with points Free award night – 25,000 Priority Club points (currently devalued to 35,000 points/night) Cash + Points: 30,000 Priority Club points + $30 USD or 25,000 Priority Club points + $70 USD per night The resort charges $189 USD + taxes /person for shared speedboat round-trip transfers to the resort. Upon arrival at the airport from our overnight stay at the Fuana …

Hotel Reviews Independent Reviews

Hotel Review: Fuana Inn, Hulhumale Island, Maldives

Fuana Inn Hulhumale’ Beach Road Plot No.10107, Hulhumale Since we were arriving at Male International Airport  (also called Ibrahim Nasir International Airport) close to midnight on our Singapore Airlines flight, we had decided to spend the night at a local hotel and then go to the Holiday Inn Kandooma resort next day. Searching through Tripadvisor and Hotels.com, I came across this small hotel approximately 15 minutes from the airport. For 1 night, I would definitely advise all visitors to stay on the same island as the airport rather than in Male. You would have to take a ferry to the city …

Airline Reviews Reviews Singapore Airlines

Airline Review: Singapore Airlines – Business Class (Angled Flat seats) : Singapore – Male – Singapore (SQ 451 and SQ 452)

Flight:  Singapore Airlines SQ 452 from Singapore to Male and Singapore Airlines SQ 451 from Male to Singapore Aircraft: 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 operates Airbus 330 in this mid haul route between Singapore and Male with flight duration of around 4.5 hours. There are 30 business class seats in 2 x 2 x 2 configuration. To view the cabin layout and seat pictures, here is the flight review for the Singapore Airlines CCU – SIN flight with same Airbus 330 cabin and …

Asia Destination Trip Reports

January 2013: Singapore Transit Trip + Flashback from 2007 Singapore Transit Trip

On our way to Maldives we had a long connection in Singapore. Since we had already taken advantage of the free guided tour of Singapore arranged by Changi airport in 2007, we decided to venture out on our own. This time we wanted to see the Skypark at the somewhat recently opened Marina Bay Sands Hotel, billed as the most expensive standalone casino property of the world. We found out that one of the best ways to get to the MBS is to take the East – West line (in green) from Changi Airport and then switch to Circle line …