QF009 visits the US of A [dedicated to taipeiflyer and HUGE AL]

[Keith009]

W San Francisco
181 3rd St (at Howard)

WoW. Just WoW. C'mon say it with me - WoW!!

We'd booked a Wonderful Room with 2 doubles, but were upgraded to a Fantastic Suite on the 24th floor! There was a bit of confusion at first as our reservation reflected an upgrade to a Fabulous Room, and we were told we had a 'Fabulous Suite' (a non-existent room category!) at check in. But the description of our suite matches that of the Fantastic Suite on spg.com. These spanking pads have a bedroom which contained a king sized Wonderful Bed, a separate lounge room with a Murphy Bed, and 2 full bathrooms (ie TWICE as much Bliss Lemon+Sage!!)! My parents took the King bed, whilst I had the Murphy Bed - which turned out to be very comfortable. Considering that there were very few Fantastic Suites in the property, this was a great score! There was ample space and privacy for 3 people, and the furnishings just felt so warm, soothing and relaxing. The very homey feel made us feel...uhh...very much at home!

Bedroom

Lounge room

 

[Keith009]

Bathrooms

I was relieved that they hadn't meddled too much with the traditional stark and dark W look in the Fantastic Suite with their recent refurbishment. With the Fantastic Suites all that's changed is a lighter-coloured bedspread. I'd seen the refurbished Wonderful and Spectacular Rooms through other people's holiday photos and hadn't liked the general trend from stark and dark to bright and lily white.

Hallways had a very Californian feel, but again dark is good and I prefer the dim hallways at places like W Chicago-Lakeshore or W NY-Union Sq. Dim hallways add a very sensual edge to a hotel. The hallways here were just a tad too bright for my liking. They felt pretty 2-dimensional and can be a rude shock to the constitution in the morning. They had these cute fortune cookie quotes hanging outside every room door - cheesy, but cute.

Of all the Ws I've stayed at, the W San Francisco has perhaps the best Living Room of them all. The crowd was at times a wee bit business-y/suit-y due to the hotel's proximity to the convention centre, but on the whole there's such a cool and trendy vibe about the place that one immediately feels welcome and settled upon arrival. The Living Room, decor of which I'd describe as radical Asian with splashes of white, purple and blue and framed by a generous dose of black, is anchored by its circular bar. Adjacent to the bar are heaps of comfy couches, and a fireplace. They also had a DJ every evening, spinning some very chilled out House. There was a good crowd no matter what time of the day it was right up till the Californian 2am liquor embargo. There were also usually random staff members doling out free stuff in the Living Room - be it free Bliss Spa amenities or vouchers, or free vodka jelly shots (here's where I gave in to temptation a few times...).

The bar served up some very good martinis - my martini-mad mum certainly enjoyed her evenings at the Living Room, as HUGE AL can attest to... They were also quite adept at making me Virgin coughtails. I wasn't quite prepared for how spicy Virgin Marys taste though.

Living Room by day

 

[Keith009]

Welcome desk

...and by night

There was also free wifi in the Living Room.

The service here was generally decent. Everyone was super efficient and friendly. And good looking. Concierge was generally of a high standard, except one of the night shift staff who gave HUGE AL and I the runaround town to a 24/7 diner that no longer exists.

The hotel's restaurant XYZ serves up some lovely Californian fare - the chef's menu paired with wines is highly recommended and is of fantastic value. With some serious eye candy to boot. There was another bar on the 2nd floor, XYZ bar. I didn't hang around there too much, except to attend a free wine tasting on the 2nd day during which I once again gave in to temptation (i know, i know...) and had a few sips (ok 2 glasses... but hey I'm still alive!) of some lovely Californian wines.

The W is located about a 15 minutes' walk to the shopping at Union Square. And 15-20 minutes' by cab to Fisherman's Wharf. Immediately surrounding the hotel is the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, some nice restaurants (my favourite was Two), as well as a Peet's outlet which was handy for soy lattes when needed. Nightlife isn't too far away either, whether by cab or tram.

I thoroughly enjoyed my stay at this W. There was just such a welcoming vibe about the place. I was truly sorry to have to leave by the end of my visit to SF!

Next: San Francisco

 

[Keith009]

San Francisco!!

SF is physically very similar to Melbourne - compact, and they had trams. There were also some very cool, non-chain coffee shops - again very Melbourne-esque. And it had a similarly chilled and relaxed pace.

Great shopping around the Union Square area. I like the Kenneth Cole outlet here most - they seemed to have more stuff than elsewhere, even the ones in NYC. Everyone bags out the Fisherman's Wharf area as being a tourist trap but I personally thought it was nice - pretty relaxing.

There is also a rather 'alternative' and hippy element to the city, especially the neighbourhood where friends of Dorothy hang out, and the adjacent neighbourhood. It either felt like people spent a lot of money trying to look grungy, or they simply didn't care about dressing up or styling their hair at all. I was also offered illicit drugs - twice!

Fisherman's Wharf

Resident sea lions of pier 39

SF skyline

 

[Keith009]

Golden Gate Bridge

Alcatraz

Union Square

SF Fire Brigade

Next: AA178 SFO-JFK F; W New York-Union Square; NYC: Scenes of Freedom

 

[Keith009]

Sector - SFO-JFK
Flight number - AA178
Class - First
Seat - 3B
Aircraft - B767-200

AA operates SFO-JFK with a mix of 2 class F/Y and 3 class F/J/Y services. A DONE4 entitled F travel on 2 class services domestically. I'd picked this flight as it was originally a 2 class 763 service, which I'd hoped to be fitted with the angled flat NGBC seats. But shortly after I'd ticketed my booking, an EQP CHG occurred and AA had decided to operate this flight as a 3 class service. So I'd scored American Flagship Service, AA's enhanced transcon services ala UA's ps, in F.

My parents had inexplicably changed their domestic flights from F to whY at the last minute. I tried every trick in the book to get them out of whY. Unfortunately I couldn't use my 500 mile upgrades as they weren't ticketed in the correct class of travel. The age old method of giving up my seat didn't work either - they wanted to be seated together, and there was only 1 of me but two of them. I tried...

We'd turned up to the airport extraordinarily early. Even though I was flying F on this transcon I didn't have lounge access, which was only given to those ticketed in F or Z classes; I was ticketed in A per DONE4 rules. And unfortunately my PLT status did not allow lounge access when on solely "domestic" itineraries. The only way we could use a lounge was AC membership or a $50 day pass. Rather than spending $50 each to get into an AC, we'd decided to sit down at a cafe.

It was fun watching the upgrade list in action - epitomising the concept of upgrades being expected rather than the exception on US carriers. Boarding was hindered by an overwhelming number of gate lice. We flicked them away effortlessly and proceeded to our seats in respective cabins. I was urged by a number of people to go for seat 2D, a solitary seat in the middle of the cabin cutely nicknamed the Captain Kirk seat, but I thought it lacked privacy and I wasn't the biggest fan of isolated, single seats. FEBO logic meant that I ought to pick a seat in the first row, however the bulkhead row seems to have less legroom than the subsequent row. So an aisle seat in the 2nd row it was.

AA's AFS F cabin with Capt Kirk seat in foreground

Menus were handed out and I was offered sparkling wine when I took my seat - it happened to be a rose. With great difficulty I had to turn it down due to my month-long involuntary abstinence and went for some water instead. There was lots of space, and quite a bit of legroom.

The doors soon shut and we began taxiing for takeoff. It's always nice to visit NYC (though I'm not sure if I'd actually want to live there as it is so expensive and the pace is too fast for my liking), and even though this isn't my first time I began to get a sense of excitement as we were rolling down the runway, knowing that in under 6 hours I'd get to be in NYC again.

Personal entertainment unit

Bose headsets and portable DVD players were handed out after take off, and our orders for lunch were taken. I had some warm nuts with another glass of water. My seatmate chose to dip his dreadlocks into my nuts at this time. He almost made me regret not going for the Capt Kirk seat, but despite that initial hiccup - he turned out to be quite a nice guy and we had some rather interesting convos on the way to JFK.

Lunch started with some lovely mushroom soup, which was immediately followed by some salad. The main course was a choice between a cold platter and a chicken sandwich - I picked the sandwich but I couldn't eat more than a few bites of it as the sauce was exceedingly spicy for my palate despite the lack warning about the spice. I'd have normally washed down the spice with some bubbly or white wine, but did so with Coke this time. I declined dessert, and asked for some water to go with my pills. The AFS service was meant to be an international standard service, but I felt that apart from the champagne, menus and perhaps an additional course - the offerings felt no different from regular domestic F. The choice of main courses were especially uninspiring. I'd have felt rather cheated had I actually paid for full fare F.

View full menu here.

 

[Keith009]

The crew was pretty good on this flight - friendly, chatty and obviously loved their job. They were also quite nice about sending rose back to my parents.

The rest of the flight was rather uneventful. I watched a couple of TV shows, and checked out Elizabeth: The Golden Age which I quite enjoyed despite several creative liberties (which are of course to be expected). I thought Cate Blanchett's performance was brilliant and rather deserving of her Oscar nomination; a pity she was beaten to the golden statuette by the chick who played La Vi En Rose and probably deserved it equally. I hate it when there HAS to be winners and losers!

We made a punctual landing at JFK, and had a longish walk to baggage reclaim. Our bags were first on the carousel, and we were soon braving the cold - quite a difference from the weather in California and Vegas! But all that didn't matter for a visit to one of the greatest cities in the world. I don't think one can ever get tired of visiting NYC.

Next: W New York-Union Square; NYC: Scenes of Freedom

 

[simongr]

NY NY - so good they named it twice!

Question how can they have Saks Fifth Avenue in SFO - there is no Fifth Ave? SHouldnt they just call it SAKS?

 

[Keith009]

Question how can they have Saks Fifth Avenue in SFO - there is no Fifth Ave? SHouldnt they just call it SAKS?

No idea - they're named Saks Fifth Avenue all over the place.

 

[Keith009]

W New York-Union Square
201 Park Avenue South (at 17th)

This seemed to be a rather inimate, boutique-style W. They had a smaller Living Room than the other Ws I've stayed at (except perhaps W Chicago-Lakeshore), which was segregated from the Welcome and Whatever (concierge) desks. The Welcome Desk was pretty cool - very green. I'd thought it was faux grass till I actually touched it.

The Living Room here seemed smaller (seating was scarce on a busy night! Well, every night!) than most others, but it has perhaps the best crowd of all. They also played the most genres of music, there was techno, R+B, house, funk, rap and even top 40 - other Ws simply concentrated on either House or techno. Unfortunately I couldn't drink the lychee martini that the Living Room Bar of this property is famous for. They made me a non-alcoholic version but it just tasted wrong without all the booze. Underbar, another outpost of Rande Gerber's nightclub empire like Whiskey Blue, was simply heaving on weekends.

There was a Beaux Arts and sorta avant garde theme running through the hotel, which was designed by David Rockwell and happened to be the landmark Guardian Life building. I loved their hallways which were nice and dim. There was something cool and mysterious about them.

 

[Keith009]

We were upgraded 2 categories from a Wonderful Room to a Mega Room, the biggest room they had with 2 double beds. It was nice and big by Manhattan standards and came with a fax machine. But for a W I felt that there was nothing special about the design, and in fact parts of the room seemed worn. It actually felt like I was staying in any other hotel. The leather headboard was nice to feel though.

The hotel housed a Mediterranean fusion restaurant on the ground floor, Olives by Todd English. The service was excellent, but unfortunately the same could not be said about the food. There was nothing wrong with the food, but nothing spectacular either and for the same price there were much better dining options elsewhere in Union Square.

The location of this W simply cannot be beaten. IMO it is the best located W in NYC. The Union Square/Gramercy neighbourhood had a lot to offer in terms of food and nightlife (and Chelsea was only a short walk away), and had much more character and sass than the midtown area. There was great shopping just 2 avenues away on 5th, and Union Square market is always a sight to behold. My favourite neighbourhoods, the Meatpacking District, SoHo, the Village, Alphabet City and Tribeca were all easily reached within a few stops from the subway station across the street from the hotel.

Me outside the W Union Square - with newly acquired pair of 'Floyd' by Badgley Mischka

The service was also immaculate. Whatever/Whenever truly delivered with astoundingly quick responses to our requests. The concierge team were superb. I'd liaised with them before arrival for assistance with restaurant reservations, and not only did they booked what I'd wanted but they'd also came up with a list of 'must eat' or in SQTalk speak 'die die must try' places in Union Square and NYC generally, and even took liberties with making tentative reservations for us at some of the busier restaurants. Upon hearing that it was my parents' first time in NYC, they'd immediately suggested things that they simply had to see (some of which I'd missed on my last visit), and were most helpful in organising itineraries and booking tours. Special cheers to Heather, George and Aisha if any of you happen to browse this forum - you rock!

I felt the W Union Square's strengths more than made up for the deficiencies I'd noted. The rooms aren't the sexiest, but this is NYC and we were too tired to notice when we came back after a long day (and night!) anyway. The in-house restaurant isn't the best - but its location meant there are SO many other awesome restaurants to choose from. Throw in the fantastic service, great crowd and great music - there's not much else to ask for.

Next: NYC: Scenes of Freedom

 

[Keith009]

NYC!!

Always great for a return visit. Along with LA and Dubai, NYC probably ate up most of my (and parents' ) shopping budget. It was nice to check out things I'd missed on my last visit. I also had a chance to catch up with SeeYa again, who I last saw in Malta.

Visiting NYC is also about discovery - there was something new to eat, drink or do all the time. Just gotta find it - like this great coffee shop that I found in Meatpackers' on 8th near 13th. Sadly I can't remember the name but if you ever chance upon it - ask for their soy chai latte with honey. Sen-sa-tio-nal!

Madison Square Garden with Empire State Building in the background

I'd also like to reaffirm all the good things that's ever been written about La Bernadin - some of the best seafood and service to be found here. At a reasonable price too! You get 3 courses and dessert at a fixed price, with supplements for the more expensive stuff like lobster and caviar.

First course - Raw

Caviar for moi, crab cake for dad, I can't remember what mum ate

 

[Keith009]

Second course - Barely touched

Scallops for both mum and dad, stuffed tuna for moi

Main course - can't remember what the heading was

Wild Alaskan salmon for me, lobster for them both

Dessert

Mum had panna cotta; I don't know what happened to the pic of the chocolate platter Dad and I had

 

[Keith009]

Scenes of Freedom

They say that whenever an event of significance occurs in any part of the world, you'd know it in Times Square. I was privileged to bear witness to the wild celebration and massive outpouring of joy that occurred in Times Square after Kosovo's declaration of independence. Freedom had never looked so good.

It's hard to leave NYC, and I always feel like I haven't spent enough time in the city even though I'd always scheduled the longest amount of time for NYC. Before arriving, my parents had thought that 6 nights was far too long for any one city - but they'd changed their minds when it was time to leave. The whole place was one big shopping, eating and chilling out mecca. Though I still maintain that LA still has the sheer edge in the trendy and glam factors. I also wouldn't actually live in NYC as the pace is a bit much - but at the same time it's a fantastic playground.

Next: AA423 JFK-MIA F; Four Points by Sheraton Miami Beach; Miami

 

[Alanslegal]

You missed out on a quick visit to Scores nightclub which was made famous (or infamous - depends on which way you look at it) by our Australian PM.

IME @ USD$30 to enter for very little show did not prove good value other than great photo opportunity to say I've been there and provide a big tick off my "checklist" for NYC things to see / do.

 

[Keith009]

I did visit quite a few nightclubs, but they're mainly for ...ahh...happy people and friends of Dorothy.

Oh and being sober is totally overrated!!! I felt utterly obliged to help this dude home cause i'd been with him all night and plying him with alcohol. I was off the bender so living vicariously through ppl I hung out with. We were out in Alpha city and for some reason it was hard getting cabs anywhere. We must have been in some godforsaken corner. He lived around anyway. And he was like....'i can't even stand, i'm feel like dying etc etc.' So it was either letting him sleep on the streets and freeze....I ended up piggybacking him home! :shock:

 

[Keith009]

Sector - JFK-MIA
Flight number - AA423
Class - First
Seat - 2G
Aircraft - A300-600

We'd have flown LGA-FLL except that it'd have created yet another surface segment on the DONE4 (JFK//LGA) and AA considers same city airport change to be a surface segment for the purpose of the overall segment limit (yet QF doesn't - manyworlds indeed!). So the plan was to fly JFK-MIA, drive over to Fort Lauderdale and back. Then we got lazy and after being persuaded against going to Fort Lauderdale and since it isn't Spring Break anyway, we'd decided to cancel our hotel stay in Fort Lauderdale and spent all 4 nights in Miami.

This flight was a little earlier than the other ones on the trip (1130 dep; our other flights were 1330ish), and so we'd turned up to the airport bleary eyed after some yummy W Hotel room service brekkies. AA has a separate check in area for premium and elite pax, which was very nice and tranquil unlike the main check in area. One of my bags had exceeded the 50 pound limit due to all the shopping, but the AAgent let it slide.

We then proceeded airside for some much-needed caffeine, and had decided to head to the gate early to watch the upgrade list despite not having use for it ourselves as we'd found it rather entertaining. Yes we were that bored...

Boarding was rather orderly, and we were soon strapped into our seats awaiting departure. I quite liked the smart-looking beige seats on this AB6 compared to the blueish ones on the other ac. The legroom was more or less the same as that on the S80 or 737, then again I'm probably not big enough to notice any small differences if any.

The crew was rather lackluster on this flight - the standard throw food at pax, collect, and hide in the galley routine. Surly too

I had warm nuts again, with Coke this time. Then a sandwich was served - it actually tasted really good, much nicer than it looked. And finally the freshly baked cookie - which I could smell and made me hungry when I was going through the nuts.

We landed ahead of schedule into the flea pit that's MIA.

Next: Four Points by Sheraton Miami Beach; Miami

 

[Keith009]

Four Points by Sheraton Miami Beach
4343 Collins Ave

I'd gone against my better judgment and ignored the reviews, and booked this property as it was the only SPG at Miami Beach and I'd needed the nights' credit.

The nice lobby (for a 4P) was deceptive as to the actual quality of the hotel...

First the good bits - The Four Comfort Beds were comfy, the location was good - right on the beach and reasonably short cab ride to shopping at Bal Harbour, and the nightlife at South Beach. Free in-room wifi and free bottles of water - par the course for 4Ps.

Got upgraded to a Junior Suite. I'd thought it was a regular room at first till I looked at the floor plan and peeked into a room down the hallway which was literally a shoebox. Room was tatty with chipped furniture, and the bathroom doorknob was broken. Bath amenities weren't replaced with fresh ones daily. The amenities were said to be by Caswell Massey but weren't very good, and on closer inspection appeared to be manufactured in China. So once again it was Bliss to the rescue!

 

[Keith009]

Service was so-so with mainly clueless concierges (who double up as porters).

Actually the less said about this property the better... except the reviews aren't wrong.

Next: Miami

 

[Keith009]

Miami!!

Miami was like a totally different country to the rest of the US. It was very Spanish-speaking, and had a big Latin American population. Climate was HOT, and I'd managed to get a good tan. Praise be to streetside coughtail bars!

We spent all our time at Miami Beach or Coral Gables.

They had the most beautiful shopping malls I've ever seen - we spent lots of time in both Bal Harbour and the Village of Merrick Park in Coral Gables.

The beaches were great - very noice views (whatever that means...wink). As was the nightlife - pumping every night till dawn.

The beach in front of the Four Points

Harbour cruise