The best planespotting is probably from the fence off the beach at the end of the runway at Princess Juliana International Airport, Saint Martin. Close behind would be sitting down at the outside tables at the In ‘n Out Burger at the edge of LAX. The best view from any terminal has to be the airport in Bora Bora. Like many of the airports in the Maldives you approach by boat. But instead of sailing to the island which houses an airport, the Bora Bora airport is simply its own small island (motu). And the waters are indeed stunning. But here I’m interested in the very best view from an actual airline lounge. And I’d venture to say that honor may go to the Premier Lounge at the Denpasar Bali airport. It won’t be around…
Trip Reports
Category Archives for Trip Reports.
Review of the Andaz San Diego: Stylish, Needs Improvement
I checked into the hotel at nearly midnight. There were a couple of guests hovering around the front desk and there was a bit of a party scene as well. One thing I’ve noticed about San Diego’s Gaslamp region is that it is a going out town — the women get dressed up to party, and the guys with them look like they rolled out of bed in what they’re wearing out (shorts, flip flops). They wouldn’t get into clubs anywhere else. I’ve tried to figure out the economics of it — is there a surplus of women relative to men, so they have to impress but the guys do not? — but I lack the data to develop a coherent theory. The Andaz San Diego has a traditional front desk rather than roving check-in…
Review: Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport (SFO)
I’ve stayed at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport four times this year, and have liked it less and less each time. But while some people have their preferences for Bay Area airport lodging, there’s not actually any hotel option that I’d put down in the ‘really good’ category so I rationalize that I’ve picked up reasonably priced stay credits and progress towards a few Hyatt Gold Passport promotions along the way — all without sacrificing comfort relative to other options by the airport. It’s a big, busy hotel that always seems to have a conference or convention going on in the lobby when I’m there. The basic exterior facing rooms are perfectly fine, and I’ve gotten a good night sleep after a long haul flight here. My best stay was my first one back…
Does the St. Regis Bali Have the Best Breakfast Buffet in the World?
I probably like the cooked to order menu service at the Park Hyatt Maldives and room service at the Andaz 5th Avenue more. The highest quality ingredients I’ve had for breakfast were probably at the Park Hyatt Vendome in Paris. And the buffet (which I understand is no longer as good) that I had at the Le Meridien Chiang Rai several years ago was probably better as well — it wasn’t more extensive, but there were more and more interesting things that would be brought around by servers for you to try over the course of a meal that weren’t on the menu. (The most extensive buffet title probably belongs to one of the many top end hotels in Kuala Lumpur.) But I imagine that the breakfast buffet at the St. Regis Bali is the…
Review: Singapore Airlines “The Private Room” First Class Lounge
My pictures of this lounge aren’t going to be very good, but that’s actually the crux of the review. I got off a regional flight from Denpasar and when I arrived at the train which moves passengers between terminals I realized that I left my camera on the flight. I froze. What should I do to get it back? I hadn’t even paid attention to which gate I had gotten off at, but I could have figured that out. Should I return to the gate? While Singapore flight attendants provide outstasnding service, I find that their ground staff do not always and out of the box thinking isn’t usually a strong suit. I was flying business class for the short hop but connecting to Singapore Airlines first class on an award ticket. The lounge I’d…
Review of the Hyatt Regency Coral Gables, My Current Pick Near the Miami Airport
About a month ago I had to be in South Florida for business and stayed for the first time at the Hyatt Regency Coral Gables. It served my needs perfectly on a one-night stay near the Miami airport and near my morning meetings, and I’ll be staying there again in a few weeks. This wouldn’t be my choice for an airport overnight. It’s not close enough to the airport and there’s no shuttle. But it’s the perfect hotel for me if I need to be in the area of the airport, in and around Coral Gables, the next day. And it’s the perfect hotel for me if I’m coming into Miami late, renting a car, and and have business in South Florida the next day. It’s close enough to the airport, but it’s a hotel…
Embassy Suites Portland: How My Hilton HHonors Redemptions Changed After the March 28 Massacre
It used to be possible to get nearly 2 cents per point at places like the Conrad Koh Samui. This was my best redemption of Hilton HHonors points. Every room is a standalone villa with an ocean view and private pool, so even a general member of the program (no status) gets a good room on points. No upgrades needed. When I first made my booking, pre-opening, it was a category 6 hotel — 40,000 points per night, but with elite redemption discounts just 32,000 points per night for my 5 night stay. The hotel was bumped up to category 7 and I wound up re-booking my award when they were letting redemptions book into a two-bedroom villa. That upped my cost, with the elite discount, to 40,000 points per night (200,000 points for a…
Elephant Jumps Thai in Northern Virginia Getting Even Better With New Dishes
About two and a half years ago I first wrote about my favorite Thai restaurant in the DC suburbs, Elephant Jumps in Merrifield. Regular readers know this place and word has certainly spread. I understand that some of the bloggers from First2Board organized a lunch there before the start of Frequent Traveler University at the end of April. There aren’t a ton of places that age well, and admittedly after it first got popular it had a few ups and downs especially with service (they were learning to staff properly and handle getting busy). They worked through the bumps well, and I kept going back. And going back. I had pretty much everything on the menu except for their Thai-Western fusion dishes which just didn’t appeal to me. This is a hole in the wall…
Why the Hyatt Regency Pier 66 is My Most Vexing Hotel
I have family in South Florida and I visit often, and those trips are very much all about spending time with them and not where I’m staying. If there’s ever a time on “leisure” (pretend those are ‘air quotes’) that I don’t spend much time in the room, it’s when I’ve with family. So it doesn’t matter much that the hotel options in my prince point tend to be entirely pedestrian. I really like the Hyatt Place in Delray Beach as an alternative to my usual Marriott or Renaissance in Boca Raton. And yet I seem to keep going back to the Hyatt Regency Pier 66… and not because I need Gold Passport stay and night credit, either (I’d just stay in Delray Beach). Other family tends to stay there for other proximity reasons, and…
The Best Hand Pulled Chinese Noodles in New York (or Anywhere)
About 10 months back I wrote about some of my favorite food spots in Lower Manhattan. One of those was Lam Zhou Homemade Noodle. The link above is to the restaurant’s Yelp page, they don’t have a website. They don’t have metal utensils. Or air conditioning. Or a credit card machine. Or an A rating from the health department, for that matter. What they do have is the absolute best hand pulled noodles and delicious soup, in expensively. They don’t speak much if any English, you order by number off of the big sign on the wall with pricing and you pay at the end by cash (it seems like they could care less if you tip or not, and the man taking my money recently looked at me funny when I overpaid by about…
