View of the beach in Poipu from the Sheraton property. We were originally planning to come to Kauai on the Marriott Vacation promotion, which included 5 nights at the Marriott Beach Club in Kauai. We wanted to extend our stay, … Continue reading
We’re back from our two-week trip to Argentina! We had a wonderful time and can’t wait to share what we loved best. We started our adventure in Iguazú National Park and stayed inside the park at the Sheraton (only hotel … Continue reading
Overall I was very happy with our hotel (and ryokan!) choices in Japan. You’ll notice a theme in this post and the posts about Kyoto – we didn’t have as much time to plan, so the research wasn’t as thorough … Continue reading
Once we chose Barranco has a home base, we quickly narrowed in on Second Home Peru as the place to stay. It was a great choice! The owner, Lilian, was so helpful and not only provided fantastic restaurant recommendations, but … Continue reading
We’re fortunate that we don’t have a tight budget for our Italian adventure, but that doesn’t mean I want to splurge on hotels for no reason. I’ve been particularly surprised by the higher-priced hotels in Rome — yes, there are … Continue reading
I was not surprised when Arthur Frommer included “renting an apartment” in his talk about travel trends. It’s becoming easier and easier with websites dedicated to just that (many of them were mentioned in Frommer’s talk). Renting apartments while … Continue reading
My pre-trip worrying was pointless. We arrived at the Park Lane Hotel a little before noon and we were given a choice: did we want the free upgrade that we qualified for (finally!) that was not quite ready or did … Continue reading
The Westin Palace offered a Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) “Cash & Points” rate during our weekend in Madrid. SPG’s “Cash & Points”, which allows a combination of points and currency to be used to pay for a stay, often provides … Continue reading
Located a convenient 10 minutes away from the Alhambra and tucked away from the town center with commanding views of the city, Carmen de la Alcubilla del Caracol is a perfect choice for a small bed and breakfast stay in Granada, Spain. … Continue reading
Unusual circumstances landed us in the Hotel Amadeus in Sevilla, Spain. Normally, we are able to book our “top choice” hotel based on our research, because we allow for plenty of lead time. However, our plans for Andalucía solidified much … Continue reading
The eye-catching, sail-shaped hotel at the very edge of the Barceloneta neighborhood is where we decided to stay for our 3 nights in Barcelona. The W Barcelona was very luxurious, but felt worlds away from the rest of the city. … Continue reading
Amateur traveler reviews are often instrumental in trip planning. Actual experiences and undoctored photos have proven much more reliable than short descriptions in guidebooks or glamorous hotel websites. Accordingly, we wanted to share our own impressions of our hotel choices … Continue reading
We are able to make this trip to London, which is our second trip to Europe this year, because we are using Starpoints for our entire hotel stay (hotel = completely free). From time to time I look at hotels … Continue reading
I want to start this post by mentioning, in case we haven’t already: we are not budget travelers. Do we like to save money? Yes, of course, but at this point in our lives we can afford to spend a … Continue reading
Right after we booked our plane tickets to Portugal and Spain, Ryan and I went crazy looking for hotels. Ryan found the Hotel Casa 1800 – one in Sevilla and one in Granada. Both have great location (we think) and Ryan was … Continue reading