A cardboard box or a Louis Vuitton?

Alright.  You're just going to have to give me a moment while I get all philosophical...today is just one of those days.  If you've seen this blog before, I hope you've noticed the quote just to the left of my posts: "don't let your luggage dictate your travels."  I heard it originally when Slam Poet Shane Koyczan  performed the poem "We Are More" during the opening ceremonies at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. It was brilliant.  Canadians must have been bursting with pride all over the place because it really was a beautifully spoken love letter to their country. This particular line, however, became wedged in my head and the more I let it marinate, the more I appreciated it. Perhaps he's saying don't let all your preconceived notions close your mind and heart off to what there is to see & experience. Have an open mind and a good attitude. It could also mean where you've been doesn't have to dictate where you can go. Travel is like that for me.  It's a new perspective, a fresh start, a re-boot.  Every time I go somewhere...anywhere, I come back a little different - I've learned something new, I've met someone new, I've looked at the world with different eyes.  Maybe that's why I love it so much.  Here's the poem in it's entirety: We Are More by Shane Koyczan.

Sheesh... that was deep. Now I'll lighten up...I promise...

Eeeewwww......

Trip Advisor.com just came out with their Top 10 Dirtiest Hotels In America. You get what you pay for, my friends.  

Prepare yourself for a hot shower.....you're gonna need it.

Sexy In The Sky - The History of the Stewardess

After what feels like an entire week on an airplane (6 of them), I suddenly had a new appreciation for the flight attendant.  Even though I was snarled at a couple of times - I'm sure I had it comin'.  

Here's an interesting article about their history from Travel + Leisure magazine. 

P.S.  I'm lovin' this look from the neck down, but those hats make them look like Shriners.

Sweet Home Chicago

I'm back from Chicago ....brrrrr.  Yes, it was bitterly cold....but nice and toasty in Neiman Marcus(!)  The Magnificent Mile really is magnificent, but on with the hotel review. The  Hotel Palomar does so many things right it's hard to know where to start.

Palomar Lobby

Why I'd definitely go back:

• Well, of course it's new, so it has that fabulous new hotel smell. Really.  There was a distinct calming (but not overpowering) scent as soon as we entered the lobby.  Lovely.  
• Spectacular staff and attentive service - beginning right at the front door with "D" the doorman.  He operated above and beyond the call of duty; offering restaurant and nightclub suggestions and even arranging a ride in a Hummer for our return to O'Hare. I love things that are a little out of the ordinary, so we went with it.  Nice ride.
• The heat lamps in the entry way.  Genius.  Kept us warm and happy while we waited for a cab.
• Gorgeous lobby with a flickering fire and funky furniture.  There were several different seating areas.  A big room, but somehow still cozy and intimate.

Art in the lobby.

• The young, good looking staff at the front desk were quick to mention the complimentary wine every night from 5-6pm.  There was something else about hot chocolate and apple cider too, but I was still thinking about the wine....

• There were 3 of us, so we opted for a roomy one bedroom suite.  It had a sizable living area with a sectional sofa, huge desk and floor to ceiling windows with a spectacular view of downtown Chicago. 

• It's a pet-friendly hotel (it makes me smile to see a pooch in the lobby).
• Each room has a safe sized to perfectly fit your lap top (thoughtful).
• A pair of super soft animal print bathrobes (cool).  
• The bathroom was something that all hotel bathrooms aspire to be..Big.

It's a shame, however, to have that HUGE shower and that wee little shower head. The Fuji hot tub made up for it though...

Not just plenty of counter space, but enough room for 3 (THREE) women apply their faces in the bathroom mirror.....at the same time.  Unheard of!  Plus, big plush towels and fancy Etro bath products - it felt and looked like a spa. But, while the ginormous bathroom was the high point it also had the only teeny, tiny negative we could find in the whole room:  the door is a heavy barn-door-like-sliding-thing with a gargantuan full length mirror on the outside. Cool concept, but a little hitch in the design didn't allow it to actually close all the way. It gave you the feeling that you just didn't have all the privacy required to take care of business.

Bathroom door open

Bathroom door when it's pulled shut as far as it will go.

• Great bed and super soft linens.....and oh so quiet....

Love the Chicago inspired art above the bed.

and in the hallways.

The Sable Kitchen & Bar is attached to the hotel through a short hallway.  (Yay! we can go somewhere without a coat!)  We noticed that every time we passed through this particular hallway, we caught a whiff of natural gas. Curious (and frankly worried that we might blow) I asked Charles, the concierge.  Evidently, the restaurant's stove is on the opposite side of the wall and that smell often escapes into the hallway.  He added that they've had a team of engineers working on it for weeks and they're hoping to remedy the situation asap.  I can live with that.  

The Sable works magic with a grilled cheese and tomato basil soup - delicious and full of flavor.  Plus, the cheeseburger with caramelized onions on a pretzel roll was something I'll continue to dream about every time dinner rolls around.  

Sable Kitchen & Bar

The bar scene was casual and lively but not too loud.  In fact, I actually requested that they turn up the music.  Good crowd mix - all ages - and comfortable.  Oddly, the bar lacked some fairly basic liquor choices - Bacardi Rum, and Belvedere or Chopin Vodka.  This put a lot of undue pressure on our hard-working bartender to suggest something new and different for us to try when we really just wanted our faves. 

Overall, The Hotel Palomar is practically perfect in every way.  If you book it, remember that they cheerfully honor their Best Rate Guarantee, so if you find a better rate somewhere else, they'll match it.  Believe me, they did. (See previous posts:  Dialing for Dollars and Facebooking for Dollars).

If you go:  A half block away is the biggest and best omelet at Eatt. 

Good luck finishing this puppy.

Also, do yourself a favor and have dinner at Rosebud.  Italian perfection.  Order the eggplant salad - Oh. My. Word.  It doesn't sound good, but it IS a thing of beauty.  Delicious.

The Empire Strikes Back

 O.K.  I'm back and since I'm feeling all rainbows and sunshine, I'll start with the positives about the Empire Hotel in New York.

Why I'd stay there again:  

• The People. Plain and simple.  Great service, smiling faces, friendly, helpful - everyone was a pro. 
• Fantastic bed.  Fabulous linens.  Perfect pillows.  and Clean.
• A fresh bathrobe waiting for me - although I didn't use it, I love that it's there.
• Free wi-fi
• Treadmills in the workout room with a view outside, so much better than staring at a TV screen or God-forbid - a mirror.
• Great location near Central Park.
• Starbucks right next door and good shopping nearby.
• The loungey-vibe and uber-cool look of the lobby was great in the evening (a little weird in the light of day, however).  Still, I knew I recognized it from somewhere:    In Style Magazine - Empire Hotel is NYC's On Screen Hot Spot.

Why I might not:

• The hotel was kind of like a middle-aged woman wearing alot of make-up - pretty from a distance but when you get up close you notice some age spots and the occasional pock mark (harsh, I know, but I AM a middle aged woman). Although the decor was very stylish and newer looking, there were rough spots: ratty & loose lamp shade, water spots on the ceiling, bad paint job in areas,  a little peeling wallpaper, cords hanging from the ceiling in the hallway...stuff that a little loving (maintenance) could fix.

• Oy - the bathroom.  I guess the teak floor in the shower is supposed to be chic, but it just made me wish I'd brought shower shoes.  How is it possible to get it clean?  Even the soap dish was teak, and it looked - well, ick.

• The engineering marvel that is the half shower door.  I don't understand how this doesn't cause a flood.  It definitely requires expert aim with the hand held unit. Love the rain shower head, however...ahhh...very relaxing...when I'm not thinking about the teak floor.
• No counter space for me to "set up shop" in there.  Zero.  None.  I balanced things on the back of the toilet - which I dislike because of the inherent danger in doing so.
• Bathroom so small that the door wouldn't open completely....because the toilet was in the way.  For real.
• The $17 martini.  It was perfectly made, but ouch. 

My grade?  B+

Puddle Jumper Haiku

Tiny scary plane
Buzzes like a million bees
Jet fuel fries my nose


Stressed flight attendant
Snarls about bags and the weather
Seat vibrates my butt


Landing gear please work
Runway Ice, pilot sleepy?
oh, Shake rattle shake


Get me out.  Now.

Empire State of Mind

Empire Hotel marquee

I'm off to New York for a meeting.  Since it was kind of last minute and not really in the budget, I had to do some serious "deal surfing"...and this is what I've learned:

Expedia, Travelocity, Hotels.com, etc. may seem like they're offering the best hotel rates out there, but before you pull the trigger - check the hotel's own website.  Hotels themselves offer some pretty fantastic last minute sales.  I found a room at a really nice hotel (that I've stayed at before for $250) on sale on the hotel's website for $109.  An incredible deal and hard to pass up, but I need to see something new this visit.

Since I'm traveling solo, I chose a hotel that would probably make my husband's eyes roll.  It's just not his bag, baby. The Empire Hotel is funky chic (check out the lobby) and has a great Central Park location near Columbus Circle.  Perfect spot. The hotel is known for it's spectacular rooftop bar - which I'm disappointed I won't get to see in all it's summer-time glory, but I'll stop up for a cool cocktail anyway...for research purposes, of course.

As I mentioned, I'm in money-saving mode so I'll be flying in a tin can with a stop along the way and staying the the most inexpensive room at the Empire - probably the janitor's closet with a bed crammed in it - most likely NOT this one....

  Can't wait to post my own pictures!  More coming soon....

Pretty....in Portland?

Glamour and Portland aren't usually in the same sentence but, when we're talking about The Nines they absolutely go together.  Who knew?!

The Nines is located in what once was a department store (it's like the mother ship calling me home) in the heart of Portland.  Built in 1909, the landmark Meier & Frank building also housed everything from a pet shop to a radio station and was the location of Clark Gable's last "real" job before becoming an actor in the 1930's. Cool.

Because of it's department store beginnings, the hotel has a "fashion" theme - mannequins in the lobby etc...love the Tiffany blue...

Gorgeous, am I right?  (Sigh) I could post 100 more pictures- it's just stunning.  Even the bathroom is beautiful...

The reviews are excellent as well.  It's also listed in Travel + Leisure's Top 500 Hotels for 2011.  Even better?  It's affordable.  With rooms around $200, even a amateur fashionista can, at least, hang like a pro.

American...stranded.

If you're searching for fares and you use Orbitz or Expedia then you'll have to keep looking to find American Airlines.  After a little tussle with Orbitz, they've decided to end their relationship and in a show of support, Expedia bumped American as well.  For you and I, it just means a few more clicks of the keyboard....or you can just check Kayak instead.  Oh, why can't we all just get along?

If you're one of those unfortunate people stuck in a snowy airport somewhere right now, here's a great article with ideas to keep you busy and out of the airport bar -which is exactly where I'd be.   5 Things to Do if you're stuck in ATL, ORD, DTW or MSP.

Why I will never go on a cruise - Reason #549

Illness outbreak aboard ship forces Florida cruise delay.

An outbreak of intestinal illness among passengers on Royal Caribbean International's Radiance of the Sea cruise ship has delayed the next sailing so the ship can be sanitized, the company said in a statement on Saturday.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40977829/ns/us_news/ 

13 days....

...and I'm off to Chicago.  This will be a new blogging experience for me because I'll be documenting the whole trip in real time (sort of) which might prove to be slightly annoying for my travel partners (sorry, girls - I promise never during cocktail hour, ok?)  Anyway, after hours of exhaustive research, we've settled on Hotel Palomar Chicago.  It's a (Kimpton) sister hotel to the Hotel Monaco- which I also love (see previous posts re: Monaco in San Francisco & Chicago).  The Palomar is in the River North area of Chicago - close to restaurants and .....shopping.  What else would we do in the winter in Chicago?
 

Since it just opened last spring, I'm looking forward to that new hotel smell AND the hosted wine hour in the hotel's living room every night.  It's a shame we won't be able to check out the green (eco friendly-whatever) rooftop pool and terrace -I've heard the view is amazing -  but maybe we'll visit again when the temp is above 30.

The reviews rave about the service. Stay tuned....

Facebook-ing for Dollars

I saw an interview on the Today Show with Matt Lauer and a contributor from Conde Nast Traver magazine about quick 3-day getaways. While her getaway ideas were interesting, I really liked her tip about saving money through social networking.  "Like" your favorite hotels and airlines on Facebook (or "follow" on Twitter) and deals will be sent directly to you.  Gotta love that. I'm "liking" the heck out of things right now....

Today Show 3-day Getaways 

Dialing for dollars...

When it comes to spending money, I'm somewhere in the middle.  I'm not necessarily a big spender, but I have been known to say "heck, it's only money...I'll make more". It does bum me out, however, to spend more than is necessary.  

Take hotels for instance.  I've used travel discount sites like expedia.com to save a few bucks but it always makes me a bit jittery. Your reservation is flagged from the moment you check in and chances are you're not going to get the best room, or the nice view, or the free upgrade or anything else that might be extra special.  If you're not expecting much, than go for it - save the money and take your chances.

But, there are better ways to save some money and still guarantee that you're going to get the room you want.  Look for hotels with the "best rate guarantee" listed on their web site.  Read the rules and work it!  I recently booked a room at the Hotel Palomar in Chicago.  I checked back about a week later and the nightly rate on my room had dropped $20.  I made a phone call and they immediately adjusted my rate.  Days later, I checked expedia.com.  Their rate was another $20 less than my new rate.  Hotel Palomar's Best Rate Guarantee stated that they'd match the rate on a third party site.  I called and a kind gentleman at Palomar happily adjusted my rate and whoo hooo!  My suite for $349 is now $309 and all I had to do was pick up the phone.

Yay!  Now we have some extra bucks for a fancy-schmancy dinner, some additional shopping or maybe, just maybe....some salsa lessons at Rumba 351.  Wait, the salsa lessons are free - but, I'm sure the mojitos aren't...more on this to follow... 

Update:  Well, now we're 8 days away from departure and I glanced at the hotel's website again.  The rate dropped slightly.  I called. They found an even better deal for me at $262 per night!  More mojitos, please...

Top 500 hotels in the world

I'm so excited that my favorite hotel in Cancun was named in Travel & Leisure's Top 500 Hotels in the World for 2011 issue.  See my post from November about the Casamagna Marriott Cancun Resort.

Also, here's an interview with Lester Holt and an editor from T+L on the Today Show. Evidently, according to Mr. Lester Smarty Pants, I've been pronouncing "Casamagna" incorrectly all this time....whoops.

Casamagna Marriott Cancun