Weekend Blitz

Hyatt Midtown Atlanta – Hyatt Category 3 125 10th St NE, Atlanta, GA 30309 Award Redemption: 12,000 pts or 6,000 pts + $75 Normal rate: Varies b/t $179-$239 average around $219 + tax Hyatt Gold Passport Points return: 1.7 cents points – 2.7 cent/point = below average – average return

I booked a Standard King room about a week out using a corporate rate. The rate was appx 40% less than the standard daily rate at the time. In addition to the favorable rate, Hyatt was running a promo which gives 1,500 bonus points for Atlanta stays using the “ATL15” promo code. I think this promo has since expired.

We arrived at [...]

W Hoboken Hotel – Starwood Category 5 225 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030 Award Redemption: 12,000 pts or 6,000 pts +$110 (very limited Cash & Points availability) Normal rate: Around $269-350 avg, ranging from $224 – $414 Starpoints return: 1.88 – 3.45 cents/point – Average to REALLY GOOD

I had a last minute-ish stay required in New York and it happened to be on opening day of the United Nation General Assembly in Manhattan. As a result, all hotels were fully booked in New York, so the best I could do was Hoboken, New Jersey. I booked a “Cozy Room: King Bed,” and, despite the busy week, I was able to get a pretty good rate. On my [...]

Ok, so, admittedly, we looked forward to dinner all day long because it was a good excuse to get out of the freezing cold. We pulled up Urbanspoon and found that Le Hobbit Bistro was a good mix of everything we were looking for: good French food, a walkable location, a lively atmosphere, not too cheap and not super expensive. We made reservations but when we arrived we noticed that we probably didn’t need them.

We walked from our hotel to the restaurant. While very walkable, it was outside of the walled city and a decent ways up Saint-Jean. Although Urbanspoon qualifies it as “late night,” we noticed that it was only open until 10pm on the [...]

On a recent visit to Paris, we wanted to splurge for a night and found some pretty superb value in using Hyatt points. Because I had no hotel points, I knew I wanted to transfer points from either Chase or AMEX– check this guide on the best value hotel in Paris using points in either of those programs: Paris, France: Best Hotels for Free Using Points. This was my first time transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards points to a hotel partner and, in fact, my first ever stay at a Hyatt.

Booking/Check-in

We booked about 2 months out for 22,000 Hyatt Gold Passport Points transferred from Chase at a 1:1 ratio. Since then, however, this property has gone up [...]

479B King American $$$$ – Plan on dropping some cash here Part of Indigo Restaurant Group: Includes Oak Steakhouse, O-Ku, & The Cocktail Club

The Macintosh is one of Charleston’s highest-rated restaurants on Urbanspoon. Coming in with a 90% rating, you’d expect the food to be good.

The good news is: you’ll be right. It may very well get my vote for the best dinner in Charleston. At the very least, it’s secured a top-three rank. And, in 2012, it earned a nomination from Bon Appetit magazine as one of the 50 Best New Restaurants in America.

Located on Upper King, the big glass doors showcase the inside [...]

Amtrak Acela Express 2168 – First Class Car Review

I needed to get from Washington-WAS to New York-NYP and had already decided I was taking the train. But, instead of a Northeast Regional train (which has appx 1 departure every hour), I wanted to try America’s one and only “high speed” train.

The Acela Express train isn’t cheap, especially when considering that it’s not so much of a “high-speed train” than an “Express Train”. The Acela will typically save you about 35 minutes when compared to the slower Northeast Regional train, but tickets can cost as much as 80% more (cheapest rates on the [...]

Basilica Cistern – Yerebatan Sarayı – “Sunken Palace”, or Yerebatan Sarnıcı – “Sunken Cistern” Address: Very close to the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque in the old city of Istanbul. Alemdar Mh., Şeftali Sk No: 6, Fatih, Turkey Price: 10 TL (~$4.50 USD) – a bargain, totally worth the admission price. Hours: Daily.  April-October: 9am – 6:30pm; November-March: 9am – 5:30pm

After touring the Hagia Sophia (click for post) with the other 6 billion people that morning, we headed just across the way to the Basilica Cistern. When we saw the crowds there, too, we were so over crowds and ready to walk around the city that [...]

The St. Regis Atlanta – Starwood Category 6 Eighty-Eight West Paces Ferry Road, Atlanta,Georgia 30305 United States Award Redemption: 20,000 pts or 10,000 pts +$180 Normal rate: Varies b/t $385-$485, average around $450 + tax Starpoints return: 1.9 cents points – 3.0 cents/point = below average – average return

I booked the base “Superior Room” at appx 2 weeks before check-in and received a corporate rate of $275. When we arrived, the check-in agent was very polite and extremely enthusiastic and happy to see us–a great trait to have as an employee that has dozens of check-ins/check-outs per day. He confirmed that we were in [...]

Price: 25 TL (~$11.50 USD). It is also an included attraction with the “Museum Pass İstanbul” (cost of 85 TL). Hours: Closed on Mondays! Open from 9am – 7pm during summer season and 9am to 5pm in the winter.

Our very first stop in Istanbul (after eating extra-tasty Turkish food, of course) was the Hagia Sophia, a prime example of Byzantine architecture. After sleeping off jet lag, we headed to the museum/church/mosque first thing in the morning. Luckily, the line wasn’t too long because it was early, but I’d suggest planning to spend a little while in line.

The Hagia Sophia is right in [...]

308 S Hunter St, Aspen, CO Lunch, Dinner $

While staying in Snowmass, CO, we caught the free shuttle bus from the “downtown” area of Snowmass to Aspen one evening. More about the free shuttle at the end of this post.

Because our stay in Aspen was very short – only a couple of hours – and it was a freezing cold January night, we decided to do some quick research and pick a restaurant near the shuttle bus stop and one with some atmosphere. After a search on Urban Spoon, we headed just down the road to La Palapa, advertised as an authentic Mexican food joint.

Because we’re from SC, we wanted to try some Mexican food in [...]