Previous Installments: Introduction and Trip Planning Etihad Lounge, Washington Dulles Etihad First Class, Washington Dulles – Abu Dhabi Etihad Business Class Lounge, Abu Dhabi Terminal 1, and Abu Dhabi – Chennai Business Class Park Hyatt Chennai Eating South Indian Food in Chennai Etihad has one flight a day in and out of Chennai. It arrives and departs in the middle of the night, scheduled for just over an hour on the ground. It departs Abu Dhabi from a bus gate, and perhaps that’s why the flight perenially runs a few minutes late and squeezes the turnaround time in Chennai. And as a result if leaves Abu Dhabi a bit late too. That’s interesting to me not because the flight is unreliable, it isn’t, delays tend to be short. But because in the Middle East and…
Trip Reports
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A Quick Jaunt to Southern India: A Taste of South Indian Food and My Hero, Park Hyatt Assistant Duty Manager Arun
Previous Installments: Introduction and Trip Planning Etihad Lounge, Washington Dulles Etihad First Class, Washington Dulles – Abu Dhabi Etihad Business Class Lounge, Abu Dhabi Terminal 1, and Abu Dhabi – Chennai Business Class Park Hyatt Chennai Chennai isn’t a tourist city the way that Delhi or Mumbai are (not that those are primarily tourist cities). Nonetheless there are certainly things to see and do there, a former colleague from there flagged especially Mahabalipuram a UNESCO World Heritage Site an hour and a half outside the city center, 11th century temple Varadaraja Perumal temple, 7th century temple Kapaleeshwarar,m and 8th century temple Triplicane where you’ll see elephants as well. Marina Beach in Chennai is the world’s second longest, and there’s Ashtalakshmi Temple which is on Besant Nagar beach. There’s plenty of shopping for silks, handicrafts, and…
A Quick Jaunt to Southern India: Park Hyatt Chennai, the Best Value Hyatt in the World?
Previous Installments: Introduction and Trip Planning Etihad Lounge, Washington Dulles Etihad First Class, Washington Dulles – Abu Dhabi Etihad Business Class Lounge, Abu Dhabi Terminal 1, and Abu Dhabi – Chennai Business Class A Park Hyatt representative was waiting outside of baggage claim. I walked up and he immediately rang to summon our (complimentary) car to the hotel. The car itself was an interesting experience — the back of the vehicle had tons of room, and was cut off completely from the driver. You could push a button to speak to the driver, though. And since you couldn’t see out the front of the car, there was a large video screen displaying the view from a camera. The drive to the hotel was only about 15 minutes. I was thoroughly exhausted at this point, after…
A Quick Jaunt to Southern India: Etihad Business Class Lounge in Abu Dhabi and the Flight to Chennai
Previous Installments: Introduction and Trip Planning Etihad Lounge, Washington Dulles Etihad First Class, Washington Dulles – Abu Dhabi After walking from terminal 3 to terminal 1 as a transit passenger, I arrived at the terminal 1 business class lounge. I would have been entitled to use the first class lounge, but there is no first class lounge in terminal 1 where my flight would be departing from and I preferred to be closer to the departure gate. There’s no security or passport checks heading from terminal 3 to terminal 1. Security is done at each bank of gates, rather than for the terminal as a whole. (Since there’s one screening as you enter terminal 3, you do go through security when transiting the opposite direction from terminal 1 to terminal 3, before getting to the…
A Quick Jaunt to Southern India: Etihad First Class, Washington Dulles – Abu Dhabi
Dec
31
2013
Previous Installments: Introduction and Trip Planning Etihad Lounge, Washington Dulles I flew Etihad first class earlier this year both New York JFK – Abu Dhabi and also Abu Dhabi – Dusseldorf. In some ways this Etihad first class flight was better than either of those, though my return flight to DC would be better still. Etihad’s premium cabin award availability, certainly booking far in advance, is amazing. At times they’ve seemed to go through cycles where their entire first class cabin or at least the majority of it on both the New York and Washington DC routes has been open for awards. Most of the time there are 2 first class award seats. And from the US they partner only with American, which means the bulk of demand for the seats comes from American’s frequent…
A Quick Jaunt to Southern India: Etihad Lounge, Washington Dulles
Previous Installments: Introduction and Trip Planning The Empire CLS car dropped me off at Dulles airport and I went to check-in with Etihad. Etihad’s counters are on the backside of the main terminal, and signage isn’t great, so it’s worth knowing this in advance. There was a big posterboard advertising onboard internet, but the poster was turned to the side which was my first indication that this flight wouldn’t have internet. I was flying out on a Sunday night, so wouldn’t be missing much work by not being online, and it’s no longer free for first class passengers. Not a huge loss, but Etihad has internet now on a large chunk of their long haul fleet (I had it flying Abu Dhabi – Dusseldorf back at the end of February). There was one person in…
A Quick Jaunt to Southern India: Etihad First Class and a Park Hyatt Chennai Suite (Introduction)
Dec
28
2013
I recently spent four nights in Chennai, India flying Eithad first class (business for the regional flight) and staying in a suite at the Park Hyatt there. On the surface it may seem strange to fly to India for just four nights on leisure, as well as to choose to travel to Chennai as a tourist. But it made sense to me for several reasons. I have way too many miles. With large balances in both US Airways Dividend Miles and American AAdvantage, my points stash will become even more concentrated. Despite three international first class award trips in 2013, I end the year with more points than I began. So my willingness – and even eagerness – to spend points is high. Though I’ve been to India, I’ve never visited Southern India. Chennai is…
How I Confused a Hotel into Giving Me a Free Suite Upgrade
An interesting thing happened on a recent stay at the Hyatt Regency Austin. I wound up with a ‘free’ upgrade to a suite with view of Lady Bird Lake and a patio. And I almost got kicked out of that suite! I’m not going to do a full review of the hotel, as I’ve already written about this property here and here (so didn’t feel the need to write about it after several subsequent stays, natch). Hyatt Gold Passport offers complimentary upgrades to Diamond members, but those upgrades exclude suites. Some hotels will give out available suites to diamonds if available anyway, but the program doesn’t promise it. If a Diamond wants a suite, they can confirm one at time of booking four times per year (for up to 7 nights on each stay) using…
Westin Austin at the Domain I Guess is Kinda Sorta in Austin
Westin Austin at the Domain isn’t downtown. If you need to be in Downtown Austin, you don’t want to stay here, you would face a 20 minute drive without traffic and heading into the city at peak business times it would be much more. But if you need to be north of downtown, it’s a good hotel that often prices much less than downtown alternatives. This four year old hotel is at the back of the Domain outdoor walking mall. There are plenty of restaurants, there’s shopping, and the staff are quite nice. In some ways it’s fairly non-descript, with standard Westin rooms. Here was my view waking up in the morning: The parking lot though gets very full, likely juiced by non-hotel guests. (Parking is free for everyone, as is internet.) Many readers know…
My Favorite Noodle Shop Now Has an A Rating from the Health Department — But is Still Good
I’ve written before about Lam Zhou Homemade Noodle on the edge of Chinatown in New York (here, and here). On a recent visit I was very nervous. The front window now displays an “A” rating from the health department. Ruh-roh. Was it going to be any good? What’s more, the refrigerator with drinks was no longer sitting outside. It was now actually in the restaurant. Not to worry, the interior of the restaurant looked as it ever has before. There’s still the same guy pounding noodles on a table between the dining room and kitchen with his bare hands. The menu is up on the wall. Very little English is spoken, but everyone knows what you mean when you ask for “Number 2, and a Number 11.” The nooodles – both as soup, and on…
