In order to book an upgradable fare on United you have to buy a ticket in fare class W or higher. Here are the fare classes above W.
V
Q
H
U
E
M
B
Y
Only airlines could convolute something so simple as the ordering of the alphabet.
In order to book an upgradable fare on United you have to buy a ticket in fare class W or higher. Here are the fare classes above W.
V
Q
H
U
E
M
B
Y
Only airlines could convolute something so simple as the ordering of the alphabet.
Introduction
SLS Hotel at Beverly Hills
Cooks County
The Wednesday event was in the beautiful new digs of the United Talent Agency in Beverly Hills. My favorite hotel in Beverly Hills remains the Beverly Wilshire Hotel – though I’ve only stayed there once. I love the location of the Beverly Wilshire as you spill-out onto Rodeo Drive. It is an easily walk to restaurants, (window) shopping, and great “people watching.” I was unfamiliar with the SLS Hotel and felt like the location isn’t perfect when it comes to walking to nearby restaurants. But it was clear the moment I arrived at SLS Hotel that the hotel itself IS the destination.
The property opened in the Fall of 2008. Here is the New York Times review of the property from 2009. While the property has been open for four years, it has done a good job of maintaining a hip (near contemptuous) feel. There is a great outdoor waiting/lounging area outside the front door and I can imagine it is a good place for people watching on any given day.
Introduction
SLS Hotel at Beverly Hills
Cooks County
As I previously wrote about, last week I traveled to Los Angeles to support an event promoting Entertainment Matters at CES. As I wrote about in my last post, I’m attempting to get better at (or rather start completely) writing about some of the places I stay at and places I eat at while traveling. According to my United account, I’ve flow 59.5 year-to-date premier segments and since not all flight segments count as premier segments it is safe to presume that I’ve flown over 60 flight segments in 2012 with a few more to go before the year closes. I’m on track to fly roughly 150,000 miles this year. I’d say almost all of these flight segments and nearly every single mile is indistinguishable from each other so I won’t spend a lot of time reviewing flights. I fly coach and almost always on United so I’ll focus on where I say and where (and what) I eat.
I travel to LAX a few times a year so this route mapping is not atypical. I typically either leave on a very late flight or a very early flight when I’m traveling to the West Coast and with this short trip, I left on a relatively early flight. The flight was uneventful. With that, I’ll continue to talk about the hotel and the restaurant where I had dinner.
I have always traveled. I grew-up an Army Brat (Horrah!) and it just felt “natural” to move every few years. We often moved from place-to-place with a classic American road trip to our future assignment. My parents (and especially my mother) always wanted (and encouraged) me to take advantage of opportunities. Regardless of where we lived, we did things, we saw things, and we generally got out. As I’m sure it is with most, many of the trips I took as a kid have stayed with me as some of my fondest memories and now I seek to do the same thing for my kids.
I’ve always embraced the philosophy that the joy (and the adventure) is in the journey and not necessarily in the destination. After graduating from college this nomadic sense stayed with me. I completed my freshman year of college in Hawaii. I then deferred two years of college to served as a volunteer representative for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I lived in six cities in the Netherlands and traveled throughout the Netherlands and Belgium. Upon returning to the U.S. I attended Brigham Young University for a semester before jet-setting to the Middle East where I studied in East Jerusalem and traveled throughout Israel, Jordan and Egypt. Following my semester in the Middle East I spend 2+ months traveling through Eastern Europe. The traveling continued, but I’ll cut the log short here.
Fast forward to today and I’m fortunate to work for a great organization and frequently represent them by speaking at a myriad of conferences around the globe. This year I’m on-track to log about 150,000 miles. Through these adventures I often find myself eating interesting things and staying in interesting places. At the same time, I follow a few travel blogs and it occurred to me that I too could participate in this conversation by writing reviews on hotels or restaurants. In all of this, I’ll attempt to hold true to my mantra that the adventure is the journey.
With all of this said, I’ve been taking photos at places I’ve eaten or stayed over the last six months, but just haven’t found the time to write much in this domain. I’m 24 hours out from a trip to Stockholm and I’m flipping through the photos of random hotel rooms I’ve stayed at over the last 6 months. Hopefully I can catch-up (or at least start).
While in Japan last week, I happened to notice Kit Kats everywhere. Here’s an explanation of the huge success of Kit Kat in Japan.
I recently discovered the Travelers’ Century Club which was first organized in Los Angeles in 1954. In order to be a member, you have to have visited 100 territories. Here is their full list of 321 territories. Here are the seven rules for inclusion. As a comparison, there are 193 official UN member states.
I’ve (mostly) kept track of the places I’ve been through whereivebeen.com. Here is my map:
Two great posts on the 50 (and 50 m0re) most famous landmarks on earth.
Here are the first 50. I’ve bolded the 22 I’ve visited:
Earlier this month I was in Hong Kong for a few days. Hong Kong is one of those classically fabulous international cities. Here are a few of my favorite things from past trips:
Taxi ride from the airport: The second I arrive at HKG I look forward to descending the ramp to the taxi stands. The red cabs signaling Hong Kong Island, the green for Kawloon and the new territories and the blue for Lantau are the first signs that you are in Hong Kong.
Custom tailors: I had my first custom suit made in Hong Kong on my first trip to the city. Everyone should have a Hong Kong tailor and you really can’t come to Hong Kong without leaving with custom clothing.