Next Flight Home

Cleveland Rocks!

admin — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:58:09 +0000

Ohio!

Ok now that I’ve gotten that out of the way…

So I recently spent six days in Cleveland as part of my Great Lakes tour, and I have to report that it was much, much, much, nicer than I expected. Of course I’d head disparaging comments about Cleveland my whole life it seems, you know like, “the mistake on the lake,” or like this video:

But suppose you anger someone in control of your scheduling destiny and they send you to Cleveland. Despair not, for I have gone before you.

I'd put the snipers there

I stayed at the Cleveland Marriott Downtown at Key Center which is undergoing a renovation to it’s lobby. It’s a decent hotel, with a small but adequate fitness center, an indoor pool, and because it’s attached to the Key Center has a Starbucks just outside the lobby.

I was in Cleveland to work at the Convention Center, which I understand is scheduled to be demolished to put up a Walgreen’s, or something medical, I wasn’t really paying attention. It’s too bad because it’s really an amazing old hall, but sadly all three of those words, Amazing, Old, and Hall really describe it. It would take a jillion peso’s to restore it to it’s former glory and then you’d have a beautiful hall that would still get no use, except for High School graduations.

But you’re probably not going to Cleveland to go to the Convention Center, because, as I said, it’s being demolished. Whatever you’re reason, Labron, just know that Cleveland has some great dining and drinking options downtown. This by the way puts it far ahead of Dallas in my book.

One popular spot for tourists and locals alike is what the realtors would call “the gateway district.” Everybody else seems to call it the Corner Alley, which is actually the name of an “upscale” bowling alley on the corner, but whatever it’s called you’ll find it at Fourth and Euclid.

Rebound

We ate at the Greenhouse Tavern one evening, which was very well received by the hippie side of our party that appreciated the Vegan fare, and I have to say I also really enjoyed the “Grass Fed Ohio Beef Burger” ($14). The beer list ranges from Blatz ($2) to Moosbacher: Schwarzeweiss ($8). The service on the night we went was on the slow side, but that could have been a reflection on us, as much as anything else. Still if you’re into celebrity chef’s and exotic and/or vegan friendly, give it a try.

More my style was the dining experiences found at Harry Buffalo and Flannery’s. I enjoy a nice hunk of bison now and again, and Harry Buffalo was more than happy to oblige. Occasionally I’ll also tipple a bit of Jameson Irish whiskey, and Flannery’s had the 12 year old, in a two ounce pour, for $9.50 which is the best I’ve found it outside of Cincinatti,

We also had dinner one night a Majorca in the Warehouse district. Not my favorite. Other’s in my group were more impressed by the Paella and the Baby Goat. Whatever. In the Warehouse District I’d rather go to Johnny’s Little Bar, where you can get a great burger and a giant beer without busting the expense account.

Wherever you go in Cleveland have a good time, and I’ll see you on the Next Flight Home!

La Costa Nostra

admin — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 16:59:31 +0000

Don’t Make Me Meditate You to Death Pal

Carlsbad, CA – Sun, (in the afternoon), Sand, (two miles down the road there’s a sandy spot), Sea, (ditto), it’s all here at La Costa resort. The resort features a top tier golf course, (or so I’m told), and is also the home to spiritualist guru Deepak Chopra. The Chopra Center is right next to the main building that hosts hotel registration, the restaurants and bar, etc.

The resort is a mix of condo’s and guest rooms that are condo-like. My guest room would have made a fine studio apartment with the addition of a small kitchen, which would have fit easily into the closet. (Seriously that is a really big closet!)

I’ve been a guest at La Costa a few times now, most recently in July, and everyone at the resort is nice, friendly, easy top work with… except the front desk.

The previous time I was at La Costa, when we went to check out one of my colleagues couldn’t get them to take the parking charges off his bill, even though he had no car there. We’d traveled there together by taxi from the airport, and for whatever reason, La Costa front desk personnel just couldn’t get it.

I suggested that maybe the whole situation could be resolved if they just brought his car around, “I think it’s a Mercedes, or maybe it was a Porsche.” This suggestion was rebuffed as unhelpful.

This time another colleague had battles with the front desk. For some reason they couldn’t book him into the same room for two consecutive nights, so after the first night he had to check his bags at the bell desk until 4 pm the next day, then move to his new room. Inconvenient, but not horrible right?

But wait! Before they would check him into his new room they wanted to put another hold on his credit card. He asked why? They said “it’s because you have two different reservations.”

Colleague: “I didn’t have two reservations, you couldn’t accommodate me for two nights in one room, so I agreed to move for the second night.”
La Costa Desk Manager: “Sir we don’t make the reservations.”
Colleague: “There was one reservation, you people had to change it on site because of your hotel being overbooked.”
La Costa Desk Manager: “Sir I’m trying to help you.”
Colleague: “Then use the credit card hold I’ve already given you.”
La Costa Desk Manager: “Sir I can’t tolerate the profanity.”
Colleague: “Profanity? What are you talking about? Tell me what I said that was profane.”
La Costa Desk Manager: “Sir I’m trying to help you.”
Colleague: “No you’re not.”

That exchange is pretty much verbatim, and I was there as a witness. In the end my colleague let them charge another hold to his credit card because it was clear that the Desk Manager was only programmed to say three things, “Sir I’m trying to help you,” “We don’t make the reservations,” and “Sir, I can’t tolerate the profanity.”

Other than that limitation, she was very lifelike. Kudos to the programmers!

Cool Blue Margarta after a Day Meditating on Golf

Dining at La Costa will costa you some money. (Get it?) The main restaurant on property is the Blue Fire Grill, where entrees run around $30. I also had a bright blue margarita there that was tastily overpriced. And some sort of pork dish that was probably good, but I really don’t remember it anymore.

If you’re not going to La Costa for the golf or the Chopra Center, then I really don’t know why you’re going to La Costa. Our conference was there because so many attendees (doctors) like to play golf. Not too far away there is some ocean kayaking available, and one of my other colleagues did try that and said it was very fun.

In walking distance from the resort is a little mall area featuring an Albertson’s grocery store as the anchor. Near that is Rudy’s Taco Shop, which I highly recommend for a good cheap meal, and the Broken Yolk, which is a great place to grab breakfast or lunch.

Another mile down the road is Cafe Bandini, for a little more upscale Mexican meal than you’ll get at Rudy’s, and a burger place called the Counter that’s got a pretty great hunk of cow, and features “adult” milkshakes. If I ever get back there I’m going to have to try one of those, but we were all too stuffed from burgers to have a shake.

Carlsbad is served by San Diego’s airport, but allow a good 30 minutes of drive time, door to door. I’ll see you on the Next Flight Home!

Are You Ready for SecureFlight?

admin — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 22:06:16 +0000

Probably.

TSA SecureFlight

The Transportation Security Administration, better known as TSA, has come up with a new regulation that is going to make domestic travel in the US a lot safer.

Are you ready for this?

Your name on the ticket must match your name on the ID.

Yup. That’s the new rule.

Now of course the TSA’s agents have been checking ID’s and tickets since they opened their doors to the traveling public, on November 19, 2001. So my question is, what have they been looking for?

If the ID and the name on the ticket didn’t have to match until now, what was all the fuss about? (Actually this does kind of explain how my wife flew on her co-workers ticket by accident last year, but that’s another story).

So look out you terrorist goons! No more tickets in the name of M. Mouse, or I.P. Freely. Unless you’ve got the ID to back it up that is.

Hooray for Hollywood

admin — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 16:39:51 +0000

Florida, that is…

So I recently had the pleasure of spending another week in the Fort Lauderdale area, this time in Hollywood, Florida. I got to spend 8 days at the beautiful Westin Diplomat hotel, see beautiful hotel pictures below.

In Case the Ocean isn't enough...

Blue Lagoon?

One of the great things about hotels with pools as a major architectural feature is the fact that they always have a great pool bar, or even multiple pool bars. The Westin also has a pool bar that seems like it should be adequate to the purpose of having a Margarita in a lounge chair after a long day in a meeting room.

But not so fast! The Diplomat pool bar closes at 6pm. Let me repeat that. The pool bar closes at 6pm. There is no pool service at all after 6pm. The lobby bar will sell you a drink you can carry outside, if you can get it past security (no glass containers poolside of course). But the lobby bar is tiny, usually packed, and half of it has been taken over by a Sushi restaurant.

Not that any of this really matters anyway, because the pools are always crawling with rats. Specifically Rugrats. Even at 11pm it was not out of the ordinary to find 6 or more children under 10 still ~~pissing~~ swimming in the pool.

The pools at the Diplomat look so inviting, but they’ve gone out of their way to make them suck. There is a very nice beach just beyond the pool area so you could at least go out there in the evening, but wait! Not so fast mister! The gate to the beach is locked at dusk.

Dusk.

So you can look at the ocean, but you can’t get to it. You can look at the bar, but it’s closed. You can look at the pools, but unless you feel like sharing with a bunch of diaper clad “swimmers” best not to touch.

But I wasn’t there for the pools, or the beach, I was there to work. The Westin has an attached conference center, along with a generous helping of their own meeting rooms. Our conference was big enough to require space in both areas, which is a little inconvenient because they are separated by the hotel itself, but it’s not too bad.

One thing I can say about working at the Diplomat is the conference set up staff is top notch. They make it a real pleasure to work there. Of course there’s always the random “security” issues, but the actual set up staff do great work, are friendly and helpful.

Security is as security does. Lock a room here or there for no apparent reason. Officious and pompous one minute, friendly and helpful the next. Security at the Westin Diplomat has a bit of a schizophrenic personality.

But let’s talk about time away from work. You need a beer, and some chow after a long day in a conference room right? Well the Westin has that covered. (I’m lying). Just head across the skybridge to their sports bar, Rivals (for the love of God don’t go there!). Enjoy there array of big screen TV’s many of which are tuned to sports channels (but the sound is off so you have to listen to their Euro trash music). Enjoy. (You won’t.)

If you can get away from the Westin, take a cab to downtown Hollywood, it’s pretty fun. There are two main streets that visitors typically enjoy Hollywood Blvd and Sheridan Street. Dining options range from Italian to Transylvanian. Really. Transylvanian. There’s a couple Greek places, Italian, Mexican, and pretty much whatever you’re looking for.

There’s two decent Irish bars, Kelly’s which is kind of a dive, and Mickey Byrnes, which is less divey but still no fern bar (Yelp ★★★★✩). Monday night is “Bet the Boss” night. Flip a coin and if you call it right the bar buys your shot. Tuesday night is trivia night at Mickey Byrnes. I had to work that night so I missed it, but it seemed like the kind of place that would have a good time on a trivia night.

A cab downtown from the Diplomat should run you about $15 with tip, which is more than reasonable, but if you’re up for a walk there’s a few places fairly nearby that are worth checking out. For some Cuban food that would make Castro jealous, check out local chain, Padrino’s Cuban Cuisine, (2500 E. Hallandale Beach Blvd.). Really really good food, mediocre service, but worth it. There’s also a beach side place, whose name escapes me if you just want some bar food and some beer.

Ready for you’re night of adventure? Hop a cab or bum a ride to South Beach. It’s worth the trip, though it’ll set you back $100 for the cab fare easily. I asked these two stalwart travelers what the best thing to know about South Beach is:

But in case you don’t want to pony up the $200 round trip here’s a quick montage of South Beach.

See you on the next flight home.

Travel Tool Time

admin — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 13:46:52 +0000

We are the mighty business traveler. We fly from coast to coast on a moments notice, not to ride Space Mountain or shop at Saks Fifth Avenue, but to do the job, close the deal, save the client, and make the company successful. We rack up frequent flyer miles the way other people rack up cubicle time.

We are… the Road Warriors.

And for you, my fellow road warrior today’s episode of NextFlightHome features my top 3 picks in travel tools. Ready? Well let’s get started.

Number 3 = Google Calendar

Yes I know you’ve already got a Google calendar, or an iCal calendar or a calendar in your Outlook thing that work makes you use, so why do you need another calendar? Because you want to rise above, to be the Chosen One! Or just to simplify your traveling life, which ever.

Looks like this, mmm hmm.

So in your Google calendar, that you’re going to go create right now if you don’t already have one, go to Calendar Settings and choose Mobile Setup. Follow the simple on screen instructions for adding your mobile phone.

Wait a few moments for the text from ~~SkyNet~~ Google ~~has become self aware~~ and enter the code. Blammo. Now your Google Calendar can text you to remind you of important things like, you know, that flight to Seattle this afternoon?

Which leads me to the next tool on my list: Number 2 = SMS Reminders
They are so easy, yet so elegant, like a simpleton at the ball. And they can be set up right in your Google Calendar. OMG, it’s like this whole list is coming together somehow!

Tell it to tell you

All you’ve got to do is tell ~~our overlords at~~ Google Calendar when you’re setting up the event.

I have mine set up to remind me with a email three hours before a flight, and follow up with a text message two and a half hours before. Why do I have my reminders so far in advance you ask?

Well I’m the neurotic type that likes to get to the airport two hours before a flight, so if there’s any difficulty I’ll, and as importantly my luggage will still make my flight. (I can run from gate A2 to gate D32, wheezing all the way, my luggage however is left to the capricious whims of underpaid and under appreciated baggage handlers – love you guys!). So if I’m at the airport at 0700 for a flight at 0900 I’d like my text to arrive when I’m about to get into the cab or, say 0630. Ain’t life grand?

As that great philosopher, John Waters opined:

“Militant time-management will enable
you to ignore how maladjusted you
would be if you had the time to notice
it in the first place. Discipline is not
anal compulsion; it’s a lifestyle that
breeds power.”

I’m not as disciplined as Mr. Waters, but by the Buddha, I’m working on it.

Number 1 = TripIt
TripIt is pretty freaking awesome, and no despite my good looks I’m not a paid TripIt spokesmodel. Below you’ll find an ugly screen cap of the TripIt home page. Right from there, I can see where I’ve been and where I’m going. I’ve only been using this thing since mid March, so two and a half months, but I already find it indispensable. And it could not be simpler to use.

Take the itinerary that the airline emails you and forward it to plans@tripit.com, and within minutes you’ll get a confirmation email back that your itinerary is ready. Kapow! How’s that for awesome? Not enough? Ok, well there’s also a companion app for iPhone and Blackberry that makes it stupid simple to see your upcoming trips on your phone, like when you’re in the cab on the way to the airport and don’t remember what airline you’re on for example.

Ok, so below is the screen cap, but keep scrollin’ on down pardner, ’cause I’m fixin’ to ‘splain what them blue numbers and ovals I put up on there is a for.

Don't be Trippin' -- Without TripIt

1) Well duh, that’s you’re (or in this case my) upcoming trips that you’ve submitted to TripIt. Right there on the Home page, viewable at a glance. Ahhhh, luxury thy name is TripIt.
2) It knows me, where I am, and allows me to add connections. These aren’t flight connections though, these are the social media type connections, so if I’m connected with some fellow workers warriors, and they use TripIt I can see what their itinerary looks like. Maybe we can meet for a drink at O’Hare. (Perish the thought).
3) This is just fun, but hey I didn’t know I’d flown that much in the last two months, because I had to take some time off recently, so that number is actually a good bit higher than I’d have guessed. Well both of them are higher than I thought. Just like my cholesterol.
4) iCal feed? Frackin’ A you Cylon son’s o’ bitches! Having the iCal feed is awesome especially if you’ve connected your iCal with your Google cal and have that all synced with your phone. You do have that done right? Hell I might have to write an eBook about that and sell it here for $19.99 because it’s so awesome. Order now, operators are standing by. (Well not really, I haven’t written the eBook, and if I did, I’d probably just give it away here, because I suck at selling things apparently. Damn.)
5) The little map with the blue and red dots! It’s so cool. Show’s you your upcoming trips in Red and your past trips in Blue. Just more fun stuff, but hey, even Road Warriors need fun stuff right?

Oh, and all that? That’s in the free version of TripIt. I can’t even imagine what the paid version does (I don’t have it), but it probably mixes a perfect margarita and sends it to you poolside. Just guessing.

San Antonio Banderas

admin — Thu, 13 May 2010 19:06:47 +0000

So Fiesta is an awesome time to be in San Antonio. Last year I was there for Fiesta, and enjoyed the music, the parades, the cervezas, the medals, the whole enchilada, if you will.

This year Fiesta rolled around, and I was headed to San Antonio again, but one week too late. Sad face. Oh well, no problem, there’s never a bad time to go to San Antonio right? The River Walk is always fun, great food, stiff margaritas, people watching, it’s a trifecta of fun.

I’ve been to San Antonio for business and pleasure several times, but this time was my first time staying at the Westin La Canterra, a AAA Four Diamond resort, ♢♢♢♢ (<- four diamonds), so I knew I was staying someplace pretty nice, but I couldn't mentally place it in town. There's a good reason for that.

When you leave the San Antonio International Airport, SAT, and head towards town you come to a split in the highway with directional signs pointing left to San Antonio, and right to El Paso. El Paso? El Paso is 555 miles away from San Antonio! As my cab approached this fork in the road, and we subsequently went to the right, I could feel myself sink into the taxi seats' cracked faux-leather. We were heading away from town. My thought process ran like this: 'La Canterra is a golf resort so we're going to be on the outskirts of the city; no riverwalk; no margaritas; no people watching; no fun.'

Rooftops and Texas Hill Country

Screw it! I wasn’t there for fun anyway, I was there for business. I’m a business man. Because this is a business travel blog, and lots of you, my fellow business travelers love to play the golf, I’ll tell you that La Canterra has an Arnold Palmer designed golf course that, until recently, hosted the Texas Open. If you like golf, that probably means something to you.

My idea of golf is Frisbee Golf, and sadly La Canterra does not support this activity.

Oh well, at least it’s a really lush hotel. My room overlooked the patio, complete with ponds, waterfalls, etc. On my first night there, it was also full of loud, drunken securities brokers, at least one of whom was doing an impression of Tarzan being raped by a water buffalo. This went on for over an hour, (note to self, water buffalo have incredible stamina). At 2:00 am, I’d heard all the water buffalo raping noises I could stand so I called the front desk. Here is the actual transcript from that call.

Clerk: “Front Desk, Ramon speaking, how may I assist you?”
Me: “Yes, hello, there’s a water buffalo raping a Tarzan impersonator on the patio.
Clerk: “On the patio you say?”
Me: “Yes, the patio. I can hear them right now!”
Clerk: “I’ll send security right away.”
Me: “Better tell them to bring their elephant guns and tranquilizer darts.”
Clerk: “Of course. Will there be anything else I can do for you?”
Me: “That’s all, thank you.”

The Scene of the Crime

A brief while later I heard the unmistakable “cough” of tranquilizer darts fired through elephant rifles. The first shot apparently went into Tarzan and the second into the water buffalo. The rest of the animals, mostly laughing hyenas, scattered at that point, and I was just two shots of Jameson and a Xanax away from slumber.

One thing about La Canterra, as you can no doubt tell from the transcript above, is that the service is impeccable. I tried pecking it on several occasions but was consistently rebuffed. Everyone from banquet set up captains, to desk clerks, to the guys racking the chairs, was polite, and courteous, and even helpful. I work in a lot of hotels all over the country and let me tell you, that is not the standard. These folks are tops in my book.

The Lobby Area - (Water Buffalo Not Shown)

The Fishing Sucks Here

Bottom line, if you’re going to San Antonio for Fiesta, or just to enjoy the river walk, stay somewhere in town. If you’re looking for a luxe hotel with fancy golf course in the middle of Texas, than by all means let me suggest the Westin La Canterra.

In any event, you can look for me, on your next flight home!

Who You Callin’ a Blimp?

admin — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 15:34:25 +0000

A Friggin' Awesome Looking Blimp - ripped from the online pages of the NYT. Click to go there.

So that Icelandic volcano, Eklziojklazlkjoiawzapoppin, severely upset European and even some North American travel, and that’s got some brainy folks thinking about how to overcome that sort of disruption in the future. I admit that I too thought about blimps during the Pain in the Ash™ event, but not one as cool as the one pictured above.

That thing is an Aeroscraft ML866, which it looks like they were trying to market to the Über Rich. But with a top speed of about 50 mph, sales may not have been too hot since their website hasn’t been updated since 2009.

But do dirigibles make sense in modern times? Mark Frauenfelder, the founder of boingboing.net, thinks so.

“The solution is simple: bring back blimps (and dirigibles). Their large surface area and inherent buoyancy mean they can be run with solar-powered motors, making them eco-friendly.

They are quiet and dignified looking, and passengers who appreciate traveling in such a style will pay whatever it takes to ride in an airship.”

I could see hopping a blimp from say Nashville to Atlanta. Yes it would probably be slower than driving, (50 mph as the crow flies, vs. 70 mph along the Interstate), but not so much so as to be totally impractical for business. I could get a lot of ~~drinking~~ work done during that 4+ hour voyage.

Oh the inflammity! Why does flamable mean the same as inflamable?

How about you, would you hop a blimp? Or would you be all, “Hindenburg!” about it? Let me know in the comments!

But it’s not all just blimps. What about trains? Sure it’s hard to run a train track across the Atlantic, but for goodness sakes if the Chinese can crisscross that big ass country with highspeed rail, (which they are doing by the way), surely to goodness we can do that here.

One final question, will America ever have a nationwide rail system that is practical, fast, efficient and useful to travelers? I’m guessing no, but what’s your take?

Slipping a Mickey

admin — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 17:21:22 +0000

The thing about Disney World hotels, is that there are an awful lot of them. I haven’t stayed at all of them, or even 1% of them probably, but I’ve stayed at my fair share, most recently at Disney’s Coronado Springs.

Coronado Springs is really more like a series of hotels that ring a small lake. Dozens of 2 and 3 story buildings with names like Cassitas, Ranchos or Tacos Grande, dot the landscape with the occasional “neighborhood pool” sprinkled into the mix.

If you’re at the Coronado Springs property to attend a convention at their on-site convention center, try to get your room in the “Casitas” section. Casitas are the buildings closest to the convention center, and therefore you can roll out of bed at the latest possible minute and still get to your meeting on time.

Coronado Springs along Lake Dorado

The sleeping rooms at Coronado Springs are ok. I overheard one guest, a sorority girl, complaining to her friend on the phone that it’s “like a holiday Inn at three times the price.” Be that as it may, the surroundings, the lake, the various neighborhood pools, make up for the sleeping rooms. The Mouseketeers don’t want you spending a lot of time in your room. You need to be out and about, spending ~~that money~~ quality time with the family.

There’s stuff to do, especially for the just over 21 set (and young at heart) check out the Dig Site pool and bar, which is a nice place to people watch and get a swim (and a very stiff margarita for only $15). There’s also a beach volleyball court, that was in use pretty near constantly during my stay, which offers a bit of sporting distraction while you’re sipping your beverage of choice in a nearby lounge chair.

Keep your hands in the boat kiddies!

The property is quite beautiful, with a paved trail that runs around the lake, that’s perfect for jogging or walking. There’s also a nice bar called the Laguna bar where you can enjoy a beer or a Margarita and pretty good pub fare. Just keep an eye on the locals (see photo at right).

All the prices at Coronado Springs are fairly high, but not beyond the ‘resort’ norm. There are bargains to be had, like the refillable cup for $12.99 that you can refill with coffee or soft drinks for the length of your stay. If you’re there for a week, like I was, it pays for itself promptly since a small coffee is $2.50. If you’re like me and drink 3 or 4 coffees a day, the cup will pay for itself in 2 days, and be saving you money the rest of your stay.

Pro Tip: Label your cup, or otherwise mark it, because there are hundreds of these things in use at Coronado Springs every day, and you don’t want to be picking up someone else’s cup and getting mouth herpes or worse!

One of the best things about staying at Coronado Springs is the easy access to Downtown Disney. The nice Disney folks of course run a free shuttle from the property, or if you have your own vehicle on property there’s plenty of free parking at Downtown Disney. Yup free parking. I know. It’s hard to believe.

After a day at the park with the family, you'll be singing the blues here

Downtown Disney, and more to the point, Pleasure Island, is Disney’s nod to the fact that adults must occasionally come to their world without a pack of rug rats in tow. Pleasure Island features an Irish Bar, Cuban restaurant, and numerous dance type clubs, and other grown up diversions.

Try a Mojito at Bongo, Gloria & Emilio Estevan’s restaurant, or enjoy a nice Irish Whiskey or a pint of Guinness at Raglan Road. No matter where you go there’s good food and good drinks, usually live entertainment, and only mildly predatory pricing.

Here's looking at you, kid.

For an upscale evening on Coronado Springs proper, try Rix, which is a theme bar that evokes Ricks Café Américain, of Casa Blanca fame.

I didn’t experience the Rix Lounge myself, but I did see folks enjoying a libation there most of the evenings that I was onsite, so I offer it to you only as an option, not a known quantity. That said it is quite attractive, and your indoor drinking options at Coronado Springs are otherwise quite limited. I suppose on a rainy night the place fills up quickly.

Lastly let me just discuss another Disney World hotel that I did not stay at, but my friends did, the Disney All Star Sports Hotel. From what I heard there are virtually no amenities, no bar, no nothing, and it’s crawling with kids. If the Coronado Springs is a Holiday Inn, the All Star is a Super 8.

If you’re traveling on business, and the up-pricing at Coronado Springs is not a major obstacle, I’d highly recommend it over the All Star property. Just sayin’.

So as the sun slowly sets behind Lake Dorado, it’s time to head to MCO, and get on that Next Flight Home!

Hey! We’re 6 Months Old!

admin — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 16:44:39 +0000

Holy cow! We couldn’t believe it ourselves. We were just having a staff meeting of all the writers, editors, bloggers, videographers, on-air talent, gaffers, and the best boy, here in my hotel room, and it occurred to us that it’s our 1/2 year anniversary.

In blog years that’s like as old as CBS is!

Anyway we’re going to go celebrate now by having a salad. Rock on!!

See you on your Next Flight Home.

Carry On Baggage Fees

admin — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 17:16:38 +0000

The Associated Press is reporting that 6 US Senators are threatening to tax the airlines if they implement a fee for carry on bags.

Unrelated, the airlines have reported that they will charge a new fee for the tax they might have to pay someday for charging fees for carry on bags.