Ski weekend – Stowe Vermont

Background and Introduction

As my partner says constantly in the last couple of months, “I want my winter!” it is clear that there is no winter around. Which is just fine with me, I rather have a nice warm weather any time. However, I do appreciate a nice winter getaway.  Not that I am much of a skier, but there is a lot to be said to be sitting in the hot tub with the snow falling around you, or sipping some hot chocolate in front of the fire place.

Last year we went to Stowe for a ski weekend. And by went I mean drove up to Stowe. 11 hours. Each way. In a car. In the dead of winter. As you can imagine, the decision was that this year we are going to fly. US Airways has a direct flight from DCA to Burlington VT (BTV) which is only about 45 minutes from Stowe, and despite the added expenses, the sanity of not having to spend two days driving in the winter is worth the expense. The empty snowed stretched of roads might be someone’s dream – but it is sure not mine.

We are staying at the Stoweflake resort. We stayed there last year and it was just OK, nothing special. But, as it is part of the organized ski weekend, we will stay there again. This time we booked a larger room, as last year, their basic room was so small and crammed that one could barely move around. Compounded with the lack of storage space, it made for a very crowded room – with ski equipment, luggage and clothes all around. The report is about 10 minutes drive from the actual slopes. One can drive it or take the Stowe regular shuttle service.  

First trip of the year

As 2011 ends and 2012 starts I have been looking back on my previous posts and realized they lack the details that most readers would want to know. Not that I have any readers, but I that is not the point. As my gift to myself this Black Friday was a new iPad 2 (with 8000 bonus miles with Chase Ultimate Reward), it is easier to write the trip reports in real time. It has been a struggle to remember what I want to write by the time I get to actually sit at the keyboard, and I hope that writing them at somewhat real-time will improve the reports.

New way of writing trip reports

My first report for the year will be a short, one night, business trip to Huston Texas. Now don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against Texas, as strange as it is, but Huston just does not impress me. Maybe because I always come for short trips, but it just not a place I can imagine myself staying any significant time in. This trip is complicated as it is because our travel requirement is to go on United. Alas, our travel department still is not aware that Continental and United are one company now, so the direct flight to Houston, even when marketed as United, does not count for the purpose of the travel as United. Which means I have to fly through O’Hare, in January, one way on a tight connection. Oh, the joy. The only bright side for this predicament is that I will be so much closer to obtaining the *G status on A3.

United offered to buy up to first class on the DCA-ORD and ORD-DCA for $175 which a little too rich for my blood. On the IAH – ORD section the allow buy up for $150, which I actually considered buying – but then again, does UA first class for 2:30 hours flight worth it? Continental allows me to upgrade ORD – IAH for 7,500 miles, which is not a bad deal, but still too rich for my blood. I rather use my miles for international J or F redemption.

UA 0627 DCA – ORD, connecting to UA 1729 ORD – IAH

Checking in was not easy as it should have been, as United and Continental do not seem to have their act together yet. My first leg is combination of United flight and Continental flight. While I could get a boarding pass for the UA flight, for my connection on Continental I only received instructions on how to get a boarding card in Chicago. Not a good start for a long travel afternoon.

Couple that with the fact that my taxi driver was late, my flight is currently (boarding time) delayed by 30 minutes and still there is no plane at the gate - things are not looking good. At least I have a two hours connection in Chicago to sort all those problems out.

Sitting at the gate at DCA make you appreciate the amenities of the airport. Despite having to right to exist (apart from being convenient for members of Congress) the airport is my airport of choice. It is on the Metro which means it is easy to get to. It is spacious, provides free charging stations, free wireless and all in all small enough to remain pleasant. Of course if your flight leaves from the old terminal you can forget all that I have said as the old terminal is probably one of the worst in the world. Think of a third world country airport and take it down couple of notches.

Now UA 625 connecting to CO 1729

Luckily for me the previous United flight to Chicago was delayed as well. The plane is practically half empty so I easily changed my flight to UA 625 which left DCA almost at the time that the original 627 should have left (but still was not at a gate).

The flight was uneventful. The Airbus 319 had enough leg room even in economy minus and with a chair empty next to me it was quite comfortable flight. Service was good for economy with the flight attendants attentive and providing a service with a smile. All in all not a bad flight.

No Economy + for me

 

In Chicago I managed to finally get my Continental boarding pass from the Chicken machine. Why it could not have been done in DCA is beyond me.

Curtsy of American Express Sky guide Executive Club which refunds me up to 12 visit to airport club a year for the sum of 2.99 for the first two months and then $30 for the rest of the year (Amex will bombard you with offers like that at the moment you will open a new card) I purchased my 50$ day pass to the United Club at B17 even though it was far from my gate. I like the new design and open air atmosphere at the club. The food and drinks are typical United Club and nothing to write home about. I did manage to get my boarding cards for the return tomorrow and put A3 number on them through the nice lounge agent.

The B17 United Club entrance

CO 1729 was a pleasant surprise. This the first time in quite a while, that I have been on a Continental flight. While boarding was hectic at best, we all got to the plane in plenty of time prior to the deadline. I had an exit row all to myself, and on the Boeing 730-900 it meant that I could actually have both leg space and a "ghetto" bed to myself. The DirectTV personal IFE was a little annoying but once I've discovered how to close it off the iPad provided the entertainment for the flight. All in all it was a nice flight. The only problem with getting so late to IAH was to find a taxi (even if I disregard that the signs do not lead you to the right place to find them).

Exit row leg space

Hilton Houston Medical Center

Checking in at the Hilton was a breeze once someone was nice enough to open the door at midnight. For my total surprise my online check in had stuck (the first time ever) and I even got to keep the room I've checked. I was upgraded to a suite, not that it mattered for one night. I was just told to come down to the restaurant for breakfast and no coupon was given (more on that later).

The room itself is dated, but nice and big and would just do for one night. No view to speak off but this is about Houston not about the hotel. Unfortunately it seems it was not thoroughly cleaned as one of the trash can was not empty. I've discovered it only in the morning.

After consuming breakfast at the restaurant they have told me I should have gone to the "special room" and not the main restaurant. I was not charged though. So if you are here just pay attention.

All in all, a perfectly acceptable visit for one night.

UA 230 connecting to UA 629

On the way back I used the United Club again - this time an old Presidential Club which is much nicer than the old United Club (though the old RCC at ORD B17 still wins on design). About the same spread of food, free alcohol (are you paying attention United) free WiFi (and no password) and the view of the runway. The lovely lounge attendant had tried to find all the ways she can to let me in without paying:

“Are you on International Business or First class today?”

“No.”

“Are you a star Gold member?”

“No.”

“Did you came on a Continental flight”

“Yesterday, but that does not count, does it?”

And so it continued. It was quite comical really.

All in all a nice experience, much better than the one I am used to on the RCC when the fee to get it is reimbursed.

UA 230 was delayed coming in, and therefore late getting out. With only 45 minutes to connect in Chicago things could have gone sour real quick, especially as UA 629 was the last flight of the day to DCA. My only recourse would have been the flight to IAD which leaves 20 minutes later. However, not only we managed to get back the 30 minutes delay, we also managed to get in earlier. The flight was totally packed to the gills, unfortunately with not so frequent flyers which means deplaning took much longer than it should. I have managed to get my connection to with some time to spare. The flights themselves were uneventful. I was happy to get home sometime after midnight.

Some thoughts on miles as the year comes to an end

The last couple of days made me think about my travel pattern. Nothing really big or bad happened, just small changes that I can see becoming a trend of the future. My beloved bmi was sold to IAG. I say beloved even though I never step on one of their planes. It was the easiest program to accumulate miles through hotel staying (1000 miles per night in Hilton, up to 3000 miles, plus many multiplier promos). It is also the easiest and most flexible program to redeem miles on (India call center or not). However, now my almost 80K miles sitting there have not so clear future. I would like to use them for Australia and New Zeeland trip planned for 2013 (enough for one way in business class), but by the time I’ll need to book it, who know what would happen to those miles. Most likely, they will become Avios which will be useless for long range travel, but could be useful for a short range hopes to Canada, as the pricing of those in real money is too high for my liking.

I am glad I’ve changed my strategy to obtain *G with A3 instead of bmi. I should be *G by March, as suddenly  January and February became heavy travel months after a very slow year.

Then, Delta seemed to change their rules so that no stopovers are allowed on an award ticket. Following some MR Amex points transfer and my merged NWA and Delta account, I have some 140K miles sitting there. I was hoping to use it for a trip back home to Israel and with a stopover in Paris or Amsterdam. Now it seems to be impossible. Delta's miles are pretty much useless to begin with and with this devaluation they have become even more so.

I still have around 380K miles in UA/CO which I have found to be the best value for redemption for me. With 120K with Lufthansa and around 50K with US Airways I have plenty of miles on Star Alliance – which suits my travel patterns pretty well. In American about 75K miles are sitting as well. Another 80K of UR points could be converted if needed.

But all of that got me thinking. Things are going to get worse, not better. UA/CO will probably become less of a value post-merger. The utilization of miles for award travel will become much more difficult. In addition, in my personal life, I am in a different place then was I was when I’ve started the miles games just a few years ago.

So, my strategy for the future will include:

 

1.      Get my *G with A3 and maintain it. It is the best deal around, and as I am not flying enough otherwise in any given year to even obtain the low status in any US based airline, it is the best option for me, even if it means that some flights on UA/CO will only occur 50% of the miles (blasphemy, I know).

2.      Use my miles smart – on long range business or first class flights that otherwise will be out of reach.

3.      Pay my way for domestic flights and suck it up in economy. Exception might be to use Avious (if bmi will go there) for short hopes to Canada.

4.      Pay my way for business class travel to Europe and/or Israel, if the flight is too long. It is double the cost, but it is not as expensive as going to Australia or Asia. I wish I had the time to utilize RTW tickets – but that just not going to happen.

5.      Burn my miles as soon as possible as their value only diminishes in time.

As for hotels, I really do like Hilton. However, I am tracking the premium reward problem. If it will prevent me from using the points where I want to, than another chain will get my business. I am waiting for Hyatt promo that would allow me to match easily before I’ll make any move.

While miles were great in my last phase in life, I think I am beginning to be in phase I will pay for premium travel if I need to go.

A short weekend in Philadelphia

The week had gone by amazingly fast. Stepping out from a boat on Monday, only to be leaving again on Friday was pushing it a little at work, but thanks to the early start of the holiday season I managed to catch up on all what I needed to do in time for our noon departure to Philadelphia. Well, noon departure was the plan – it said so on my nice outlook invitation that my partner sent me. But of course, we did not leave the house before 2:30. Someone was late – again.

Traffic on the beltway and I-95 was not bad at all. We only had some traffic slow down toward the entrance to Philadelphia. For some reason, the GPS decided to take us through the “scenic route” of south Philadelphia before hitting our hotel for the night: the Doubletree Philadelphia Center. I have stayed in the hotel before on a business trip to Philadelphia, and I was not impressed with the service that time. However, because of the Hilton Q4 Promo, we will switch hotels and get one free night certificate which I am planning to use for the W-A in New York later this year for my birthday trip. So I figured how bad one night could be, considering the price was right (even with the $25 parking fee).  

I was surprised to see that the service was improved tremendously. Following a little mix-up at check-in with our breakfast coupons (which was not really the hotel fault – they only prepared voucher for one person, as I always book for one person even when my partner joins me as part of the Hilton “spouse stay free”), we were upgraded to the full breakfast menu (as Hilton Gold only continental should be given). The room we had was furthest away from the elevator, according to my profile, but had a very strange layout. It was on the small side, but totally adequate for one-night  stay.

Standard DoubleTree room

We met a friend for dinner at the White Dog Café. While the food was not cheap (nor terribly expensive) it was excellent. Clearly, one of the best meals I had ever had. It was so good we came back the following night for late night snacks as well. If you ever in Philadelphia it surely deserves a try. Service though was a little confused and unfocused (such as brining food items at the wrong time), but the food quality surely made up for that.

The reason we went to Philadelphia was that my partner’s son dance troupe was performing, and it was a good chance to see the show close to home. We’ve met with son that evening and hit the local bar scene for a while before calling it a night.

The next morning, after our full breakfast (don’t get excited, a typical hotel fare and nothing to write home about – I would not pay for it), we drove the leisurely 5 minutes drive to our next hotel – the Hampton Inn Convention Center. Parking at the hotel is on a close by lot (at the end of the street). Check in was fast and courteous. It seems that they were really happy to have us in the hotel, and it was not a fake enthusiasm – something one rarely see these days in a five-star hotel, not to mention the Hampton Inn. Warm cider and Philly’s Pretzel were offered as well as a welcome package, including water and some snacks. The room was a standard Hampton Inn room – nothing more but nothing less than expected.

We took a leisurely stroll to the Independence Park and even got tickets to the Independence Hall tour in two hours time. We took the time to see liberty bell and walk around. The tour was interesting and informative, though the building itself is nothing to talk about, as many of the buildings of the time are. We rested in the afternoon and then met our friends that were also coming from DC and went to see son’s performance. I am not a big fan of modern dance, and the last time I’ve seen a show, I was bored to my teeth, but this performance was extremely good, and I have enjoyed it very much.

The next morning we all met at Hawthornes for brunch. It was a very popular place, and he waited about 45 minutes for a table. Brunch was good, but nothing spectacular. I would come back here, but not sure if I’ll wait next time. A quick tour of the Italian Market followed (skip it, nothing wroth while), before we took the 2:15 hours drive back home.

In short, it was a really nice weekend in Philadelphia. I would consider doing it again.

Enchantment of the Seas - Cruise Report

 It was a hectic morning, even though, or probably because the port is only 45 minutes drive away from the house, my partner decided that important remodeling decisions need to happen this morning. Once that crisis was over, Richard, our neighbor and his daughter who are also going to be on the cruise drove to the port. For Saturday after Thanksgiving, the drive was uneventful – no traffic problem in sight. 45 easy minutes later we were at the port, parking the car. We did have luggage tags, but once we figured that out (courtesy of a nice parking attended who went to bring them to us) we started the check-in process. Being an elite on Celebrity cruises has its perks, and I am a Platinum of Royal Caribbean because of that. That means I had priority check-in and fast boarding. The waiting area in the terminal is nothing to write home about, and they very very sensitive about the use of cell-phones, for some reason. Be it as it may by 11:45 I was on board. By 12:15 all of our party was on board, and we went to have a lunch at the Lido. Enchantment of the Seas was lengthen some years ago (yes, they cut it in half and stuck a whole new middle section in). But as the number of cabins increased, there was no increase in the number of seats in the restaurants or the theater. On embarking day it showed as the Lido was packed to the gills. By 1:30 everyone was allowed to their rooms. Unfortunately, my luggage had not arrived yet. We went to the sail away; we went to the gym ruffle; we walked around a little – and my luggage is nowhere to be found. Going down to the confiscated luggage area did not discover the luggage (as expected). It was 6:00 already, and no one could tell me where the luggage is. The front desk was useless, so I resorted to the time-proven  tactic of making a pest of oneself. I just plumped my ass on the stairs on floor one where the luggage is brought in and looked everyone in the eyes. It was very uncomfortable 45 minutes for me, but much more for senior staff that was around that started to make phone calls to discover where my luggage is. It has arrived around 7:00 in the evening. Now that is what I call totally unacceptable. My neighbor’s luggage had arrived before 3:00 and it was on the same cart. I completely do not understand how the system works. In order to save money I guess there is no bar-code system so no one actually knows where one luggage is.

We ate dinner every day at 8:00 as part of my-time-dining option. We had probably one of the best waiters on board Ehran from Turkey. The man is a ball of energy and fun. Unfortunately, the my-time-dining for two is very limited in its sitting area which are not that desirable at all. Very close and confined by the service station that leaves the whole section feeling crumped and uninviting. Food in general was good. Major disappointment were the desert. On the 11-day  cruise, there was only one day that the deserts were extremely good. Other days they were barely passable or worse.

Now having getting back from all-gay cruise couple of weeks before, it was a strange cruise indeed. All my previous none charted cruises were on celebrity, which has quite different demographics. Maybe it was the port of call, maybe it was the ship, maybe it was the cruise line – but this cruise was not even comparable to celebrity cruises. In addition, the two days sail from Baltimore, and the two days sail back to Baltimore were too much. This is strange, because on the charted cruises they are my favorite days. Maybe it was the weather; maybe it was the rough seas, maybe because they were just boring.

One thing that did surprise me for the better was the quality of the singers and dancers on the ship. Usually, the level is just barely adequate – but this time most of the singers could really sing quite well; most of the dancer could really dance (and you could see the classical training they had). The troop put on two shows, which are the standard Royal Caribbean shows, but they were quite good and entertaining. The other acts on the boat were not technically good, but they know how to grab the attention of the crowd which made the show as a whole entertaining.

The ports of calls were the usual Caribbean variety – San Juan, St. Thomas, Samana and Labadee. The only problem with San Juan was that we arrived only in the afternoon. The ship was cleared around 4:00-4:30 which left a very short daylight time to enjoy the city. In St. Thomas we took an excursion directly to St. John and spend a couple of hours on the beach which was just what I needed. A perfect day and a nice beach to boot.

In Samana, we took a private excursion through Tour Samana with Terry. Despite being suspicious that this port is probably the worst one ever, it turned out to be one of the best excursions days ever. Terry was a pleasure to deal with through e-mails and the guys were waiting exactly where they said they will be. Terry was in the port as well greeting the guest on the different excursions. We chose to take the horse ride trip which was a blast. After about 45 minutes on the horse we stopped at a local hut/shop, where local food was presented for tasting plus information given on it as well as local merchandise. It was very low-key and no pressure to buy anything. Following the stop we continued for about another 60 minutes on the horse, alongside the river, crossing the river multiple times and even a short while in the river. The ride ended with galloping on the beach with the sea in front of us – perfect. Following the included lunch, we went to the waterfall for a quick swim. On the way back to the ship money was collected – up to this point no money exchanged hand and no deposit was required. All in all, a perfect day.

Labadee is just one big beach, after a couple of hours on the beach I opted just to get back to the ship. I could skip Labadee altogether.

There was a big mix-up with the gratuities. As my time dining it was supposed to be paid. Every time I checked with guest services they said it was not, and every time I’ve submitted the form they said it was. What they did in the end is to charge it to the credit card with which I originally paid for the cruise, and not the one that was given at check in (it never showed up on the bill). Which is not the way I wanted it to happen. No one there could seem to give me a straight answer of what is going on and what had happened.

All in all, it was OK, but just OK vacation. Will I do it again? Probably only on Celebrity.