Viewing by month: August 2008

Tips for getting a great hotel room -- Part 1.

An old real estate adage says to buy the cheapest house in a great neighborhood. And while that might be sound advice for house hunters, those looking for the perfect hotel room would do well to ignore it.

You want to be in a great neighborhood, that much is true. But getting the cheapest room you can find is probably a mistake.

If you've spent any time reading traveler reviews on sites like tripadvisor, you know that even the best hotels have some unhappy guests. Read between the lines and it's almost always clear that the poor sap who had a bad experience booked the least expensive room.


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Posted by Virginia Saunders on 08/28/2008 at 3:21 AM | Categories: Hotels - Accommodations -

LAX nonstops redirected.

The last several times we’ve flown connecting flights to Europe, it hasn’t been a great experience.  Last year, we flew Delta to JFK where we were supposed to connect to another Delta flight to Rome.  

We arrived 50 minutes late, despite having a tail wind that was supposed to save us an hour.  When we arrived, we asked the agent at the gate which flight our connection left from and she said she had no idea because the flight was “closed.”  We told her to figure out the gate, call them, and tell them we were on our way.  

We sprinted to the gate listed on our boarding pass – which was printed at LAX nine hours before – and made it by the skin of our teeth, though our bags didn’t catch up to us for nearly a week.
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Posted by Virginia Saunders on 08/22/2008 at 1:56 AM | Categories: Transportation -

Great restaurants in Yountville.

The Napa Valley town of Yountville has the distinction of having more Michelin stars per capita than any place in the world. French Laundry leads the pack with three stars - one of only six restaurants in the United States to have earned that distinction.  Bistro Jeanty, Bouchon, and Redd each have one.


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Posted by Virginia Saunders on 08/15/2008 at 2:40 AM | Categories: Food and Wine - USA - California - Dining -