Here and there but mainly there.

[turtlemichael]

The Hilton Fort Lauderdale Beach Hotel was great.











No upgrade but the room/suite was excellent. It was large, well designed and had a bigger kitchen than home. If only we had needed it. Sadly the weather here was atrocious. There was a howling wind off the sea which meant that you were mildly sand blasted walking along the seafront. The hotel pool was like a Jacuzzi with the moving water.

We ate breakfast and dinner one night at the hotel restaurant, Ilios. Although the service was a bit iffy the food was well above usual hotel standards. As a Diamond we got vouchers for continental breakfast, which was in itself very substantial and good quality, but they did not charge us for the full breakfast upgrade. All up, a very good hotel and we’d happily return.

 

[turtlemichael]

December 1[SUP]st[/SUP], a new Qantas year for me so 2000 SCs went west this morning. This trip, by the time we get home will make a big dint in next year’s requirement. There is absolutely no significance in the mileage run starting on the first day of the new Qantas year.

First up it is FLL-DFW-SAT. The taxi trip out to the airport was quick, being a Saturday morning, but we decided to get there early to avoid the cruise ship arrival crowd. Some nine megaships were arriving into Fort Lauderdale that morning. We failed. We got through check-in and security quickly but the sunburned masses in their straw hats were everywhere. (Oops, we’d been such just a few days ago). It was 4E and 4F on a 737. Lunch was a chicken salad which was quite edible. Arrival into DFW was 20 minutes early so we had time for a quick AC visit before the short hop to SAT on another 737. Service on that flight was “a coughtail of your choice”.

Our conclusion is that San Antonio is a great destination for a few days. We thoroughly enjoyed it. It was not off to a good start however with a crazy taxi driver who drove like a madman and couldn’t stop talking. Were we not on a freeway I would have got out as there was a strong hint of some chemical assistance. In the desire to get out I forgot to get his details.

After a degree of consideration of the considerable number of IHG and Hilton family properties in this city we eventually chose the Indigo at the Alamo. I t was a chance to use us some PC points. I’d not advise anyone to make the same mistake. The brand is meant to be quirk and this was indeed quirky but with a small and unfriendly room, poor service and a restaurant from hell. Food was very poor and pricey. There was no room upgrade but we didn’t expect one. I think we may have got the worst room in the place. It was beside the lift, had a bathroom which apart from the minute shower and the toilet was largely in the bedroom and a view through a narrow window onto a ledge covered in cigarette butts thrown from above. Avoid at all costs.

 

[turtlemichael]

San Antonio December 1-5

Our four nights in San Antonio went in a flash. Friends from Dallas came down for one evening which was great and boozy fun. The River Walk is amazing. It goes for about 13 mile and is a unique tourist attraction. Other highlights for us were seeing Nutcracker at the amazing Majestic Theatre, visiting the Alamo, hiking through the stylish King William District and doing a National Trust house tour, and visiting one of the old missions. The area is full of history and an excellent place for a few days.

The Majestic Theater


The Alamo

 

[turtlemichael]

River Walk, San Antonio

 

[turtlemichael]

Wednesday December 5[SUP]th[/SUP] was the day to move from San Antonio to New Orleans. SAT-DFW-MSY. These two short legs are under an hour in the air each. Nothing really to report other than again flights were on time and straight forward, as had been security and check-in. We had yet another visit to the DFW AC at Terminal D. More Bloody Marys were in order here too.

This was the second time for us in New Orleans. The first time was around New Year’s Eve 1979. The city does not appear to have changed much but I guess we have.

The hotel for 5 nights was the Roosevelt, a Waldorf Astoria. It had been badly damaged by Hurricane Katrina and stayed shut for 5 years. It re-opened as a WA in 2009 after a renovation costing $170 million. Located on the edge of the French Quarter, just off Canal Street, it was all up, a great hotel for us. The room was classical in design and service was great throughout the hotel. There was the basic recognition of HHD status here but no upgrade. We enjoyed a drink in the Sazarac bar, compliments of HHD and particularly liked the restaurant, Dominica at the hotel. In fact, this was one of the best meals (well two, as we went back a second time) we had on the whole trip. Noisy and bustling it was inventive Italian at its best. We also had an excellent meal at Mr B’s Bistro nearby.



DFW








Roosevelt Hotel Foyer

 

[turtlemichael]

It’s hard to believe that it is 33 years since we were here in New Orleans. Most people wandering the streets of the French Quarter this time were not even born then!. The place is a little grubbier and it certainly looks a little more down at heel. It is a poor city in one of the poorer states. However, it is still New Orleans with amazing history, music and charm and would be on the bucket list for most people.

There are at least two parts of the city of interest to us. There is the old French Quarter, the Vieux Caree, dating from the 17[SUP]th[/SUP] century and the relatively newer part, Saint Charles, where the Americans settled after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. We did both parts mainly on foot but also by streetcar. We also did an excellent walking tour called “ Le Monde Creole” which took us into buildings, gardens and cemeteries all over the French Quarter. First the French Quarter.










On the Missisippi.

 

[turtlemichael]

Around the French Quarter.

 

[turtlemichael]

The St Charles Streetcar line, New Orleans. The oldest still operating line in the world.

 

[turtlemichael]

Last day in New Orleans.

 

[turtlemichael]

Today, Sunday 9[SUP]th[/SUP] December, it is MSY-DFW-MIA-SJU. We allowed plenty of time, usually 2 hours, between flights so were not expecting any problems. Weather over most of the US seemed okay so knock on weather delays were unlikely. Still, it was to be a 14 hour flying day.

Check in was quick and the priority line at security was empty bar one customer so we headed up. The non-priority line had a lot of people in it. We were called forward by the one TSA man on duty after the man in front was dealt with and that agitated the guy at the front of the economy queue. He m marched up to the TSO officer doing the initial screening and said “why are you dealing with them (us), as I’ve been waiting 10 minutes.” The TSA man responded laconically “because they pay more than you”. This failed to satisfy the punter who said it was unreasonable and continued to argue. At this point the TSA guy said to move back or he would be arrested. The confrontation was avoided. Threats of arrest seem to work well in America.

The MSY-DFW flight was up and down with a cup of coffee served. After an hour and a half in the Terminal D lounge it was on to the lunch flight to MIA. Lunch was a pleasant chicken wrap. One more visit to the lounge at MIA and on to the SJU flight. This was a full flight and took well over the usual 30 minutes to load because of the amount of hand luggage . Many bags were offloaded to the hold. Something went wrong with the headcount too and it was repeated half a dozen times before someone was called over the intercom to check if they were on board. All up, we were 30 minutes late leaving.

This was the only ordinary crew we had on our numerous AA flights. The meal (another chicken salad –we had the same meal on three flights) was rushed out and the crew were seated 45 minutes after take-off. That is where they stayed until SJU arrival just after midnight about 20 minutes late.

 

[turtlemichael]

For our time in San Juan we stayed, as others have done, at the Doubletree. We found it just adequate and not a good choice (by us!) for a 4 day/5 night stay because of its location. There was an upgrade, a pool view room, but I suspect it was pretty much the same as most other rooms. The pool terraces the floor below us looked better .The room had a good bed and shower and was plenty big enough. Breakfast, included as an HHD, was just adequate. Perhaps we had been spoilt by the Roosevelt in New Orleans but the comparison is of course unfair.

Two things in particular I did not like about the hotel. One was the envelope for the room attendant which appeared on the pillow every day. Second was the near $30 a day “service” or “resort” fee to cover such things as internet, coffee in the foyer and pool towels. The hotel was as near resort as is the old Rooty Hill Holiday Inn. That's a bit unfair. It was comfortable middle level hotel/motel type accommodation but not a resort in my understanding.
Resort fees are the apparently everywhere now in PR.

The location of the hotel was well out of Old San Juan. We had known this of course before we booked but had expected a better public bus service. It proved to be at least hourly and did not appear to have a timetable. The beach was a 10 minue or so walk away but the best parts were a lot closer to Old San Juan and I'd say a 30 minute walk. With a bit of hunting we found a few places to eat within walking distance of the hotel and one in particular was excellent. This was Laurel Kitchen which is part of the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico. The other place we liked was Rao’s around the corner. Not very stylish but decent food. We thought the Asian fusion restaurant Silk, in the matching building next to the hotel, was very poor. If we go back I think we'll try somewhere else.

 

[turtlemichael]

Our time in San Juan was spent in the superb old city, at the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, sitting round the pool and at the beach. The Old city is certainly an easy place to spend a day or more. The restoration is superb and there are a couple of incredible old forts well worth a few hours.

 

[turtlemichael]

The fort.

 

[turtlemichael]

On our last full day in San Juan we went to the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, a 10 minute walk from the Doubletree. It is well worth a visit with some good quality modern Puerto Rican art and a great sculpture garden.

 

[amaroo]

Thanks for the updates.....seems like an age ago that you were posting those wonderful plates from Paris.

Are those bags still under 18kgs?

 

[turtlemichael]

I can guarantee it seems longer to me! 8 weeks since we left Paris.

The hand luggage is now 18 kgs let alone the suitcases !!! lol

 

[turtlemichael]

December 14[SUP]th[/SUP] is to be our busiest travelling day. SJU-MIA-DFW-LAX. But 270 SCs are not to be sneezed at. I’ve generally been a touch cough with connections and have left plenty of time – usually a couple of hours. The one tight one, in my terms, is today as we have an hour between MIA-DFW and DFW-LAX.

Breakfast at the Doubletree was a little frenetic this morning. A schoolgirl basketball ball team had arrived and around 15 of them hit the breakfast room at the same time. One of their coaches told a guest who inquired that the average age was 16. They grow them big in Kansas. These girls were both big and big eaters. The pancakes and bacon and eggs were demolished. Fortunately, we had had a head start.

No problems at the very quiet airport checking in. As usual, we were too early but the AA lounge was comfortable and empty at first. I liked the 767 ride to MIA and the crew was a lot friendlier than the one on the trip over.
After another visit to the lounge near D15, there hearing the breaking news about the massacre in the Connecticut school, we headed down to the gate to board. No movement at the gate, just hoards of people, then an announcement: “The inbound flight has been delayed and we expect it to be an hour before we board!.” That effectively wiped out the connection in Dallas. So we headed up to the AA desk in the lounge and were fortunate to get a really nice angel who managed to back us up on to the DFW-LAX flight an hour later should we not make our connection.

In fact, we eventually boarded after 45 minutes, took off very quickly and got in 45 minutes behind schedule. We checked the departures board and our flight to LAX had been delayed 15 minutes. Yes! So after a mad scramble on skytrain changing terminals we got to the gate with the plane into final boarding and plopped in our seats. We were even more surprised to look out the window and see our bags coming express and being loaded. We didn't need the back-up. I now love AA.

So on to LAX and the good news as it wasn’t chicken salad . We had already had number 3. But it was chicken in a sauce. Ha ving seen the alternative of hummus and salad, the chicken wins. All up not a bad day and all credit to AA.


Quiet SJU


Deserted AC




Bye bye San Juan


Colours of the Caribbean

 

[turtlemichael]

AA meals San Juan to LAX

 

[turtlemichael]

Beverly Hilton
We are in the home stretch of this trip and home is beckoning. But first it’s five days in LA. We had planned to stay in Santa Monica at either the Holiday Inn on points or at the Doubletree. I had booked the Doubletree as a back-up just in case I needed more points/nights/stays to requalify as HH Diamond. In fact I didn’t, having got there a stay or two ago, and given that the Doubletree is apparently nothing special we cancelled in order to use some PC points at the HI.

Then, in the week or so before arrival HH put a spanner in the works with their end of year promotion. I spotted a junior suite at the Beverly Hilton for around $150.00+, or a bit over 50% off. So that is what we went for. We liked the hotel a lot. The room was excellent as was the service, pool and gym. We only had breakfast in Circa 55, included for a HH Diamond, and that was okay. Plenty of fresh fruit. The room was serviced each day while we at breakfast which I appreciated. And its location is okay being up the road from the sin spots of Weho, Rodeo Drive and easy for the buses.
Now all I have to do on future stays is find decent rates.

 

[Shelf]

Fantastic pictures!