Tag Archives: Accommodation

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Hotel Review: Residence Inn Seattle

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Residence Inn Seattle: A great choice for families.

I’ve driven past the Residence Inn by Lake Union in downtown Seattle a hundred times but it was only when Marriott invited me to come visit the hotel at a mom blogger’s event that I got a chance to explore this property. I’m happy to have done so because now I know that this hotel is a perfect choice for budget-conscious families visiting the Seattle area.

Residence Inn Seattle: Location

The hotel is north of the city’s downtown core but close to the Seattle Center. There’s also a small playground across the street. This area, South Lake Union, is currently undergoing an extensive redevelopment. A number of Seattle’s technology companies have moved in to new office buildings here bringing a ready market for the restaurants, bars and cafes that seem to have popped up like mushrooms where before there was literally nothing. The South Lake Union Trolley runs from SLU to Westlake Center in the heart of downtown from 6am to 11pm most days.

Residence Inn Seattle: Rooms

The Residence Inn is not a stylish luxury hotel but it is bright, open, clean and comfortable. The rooms are spacious. There are studio, one-bedroom (450sq ft) and two-bedroom (770sq ft) suites. All rooms have fully equipped kitchens, sofa beds and wifi.

I stayed in a one-bedroom suite with a view of the lake. My boys are now 12 and 16. They’re big. I am on my way to being the smallest person in our family. This room was one that I felt could easily accommodate all of us – not a mean feat for four adults who like a generous amount of personal space.

Residence Inn Seattle: Family Friendly Features

Three things make the Residence Inn a great choice for vacationing families: the full kitchens, the large rooms and the fact that buffet breakfast is included in the room rate. Food can be a hidden cost for families that can make or break a vacation budget. Eating out is expensive, eating all meals out for a number of days in a row adds up really quickly. I’ve found that having the option of self-catering is a fail-safe way to keep under budget and this hotel makes it easy to do so.

The other nice thing about the Residence Inn Seattle is the guest laundry. The washing machines and dryers are coin-operated. There’s also a small gym and an indoor pool. The pool is about 5m x 10m so not really suitable for laps but a fun place for kids to play in after a busy day’s sightseeing maybe?

Disclaimer: My stay at the Residence Inn was provided by Marriott Hotels however the views expressed above are all my own with no input from the hotel or Marriott.

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Hotel Review: Westin Verasa Napa

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Westin Verasa Initial Impressions

On arrival at the Westin Verasa in Napa, Murph and I both remarked on the similarity of the hotels’ exterior to properties we’ve stayed at in various ski resorts – not what we’d expected on arrival in California wine country. The earth-toned colors used in wall coverings and carpeting extend a great outdoors feel through the hotel hallways. Most of the rooms in this 180-room property are suites which made it feel even more like a ski lodge – but that might be just me since most of the all-suite hotels I’ve stayed at have been ski lodges. I walked into the hotel expecting a quiet, serene National Park-like feel which was unfortunately dispelled immediately by the lively chatter and music coming from Friday evening revelers at the Bank restaurant and bar. I didn’t have a chance to lament…
“They play good music here”
Apparently we were traveling with a music critic (BigB). Who knew?

westin-verasa-living-room

Westin Verasa Rooms

Our two-bedroom suite in the Westin Verasa might be the largest hotel room we’ve ever had. I’m serious. The living room and kitchen area seemed larger than our first apartment – with plenty of room for at family of four to hang out in comfortably. The room also had fabulous high ceilings which added to the overall airy, spacious feeling. Just to be clear here, I think one of the biggest challenges for traveling families with hotels is having enough space. The large suites at the Westin Verasa are a huge bonus and one reason why we’d certainly consider returning here.

The xbox 360 in the living room got a big thumbs up from BigB. I was impressed at this as an in-room entertainment system option, one which is particularly welcome for families like mine, traveling with tween and teen boys. Murph was thrilled to see that the Westin has selected the product he’s been working on since 2002.

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The bedrooms themselves are moderately-sized and the decor is simple – possibly even a little too sparse – but it does lead one to focus on Westin’s Heavenly beds which isn’t a bad thing at all. BigB practically fell into his bed.

Our two-bedroom suite had two bathrooms, one master, both spacious with piles of fluffy white towels, complimentary Heavenly Bath toiletries and inviting double-headed showers.

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Westin Verasa Location

The following morning we walked the short three blocks to the Oxbow farmers market passing the station from which the Napa Valley Wine Train departs and the enticing smells of fresh-baked goodies coming from Model bakery. We stocked up on treats and headed off for a fun day cycling and visiting vineyards.

I’m sure there are people who are passionate about the optimal place to stay when visiting Napa Valley. Personally I’ve been here on day trips (from San Francisco), stayed in St Helena which is at the northern end of the valley and now here, in Napa, at the southern end. As a weekend visitor, coming from a Bay Area airport and arriving late into the area, the location of the Westin Verasa at the southern end of the valley certainly wins in terms of convenient access. It’s also not so far away that you feel like the drive to wine-tasting rooms in the valley proper is a haul.

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Westin Verasa Special Features

As we relaxed by the pool later in the afternoon, the boys happily playing in the water, Murph and I agreed that the resort feel of the pool area and central courtyard was hard to beat. The Napa River winds through the area behind the hotel giving a pleasant, rural feel to the location. It’s the perfect combination of town and country.

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Our room opened on to this courtyard. I could imagine relaxing here in the early morning or late afternoon if we return to the Westin Verasa for a longer stay. There’s also a bocce court at one end of this space. That and the ample gym are just a couple of the fitness amenities provided at this hotel.

Westin Verasa Restaurants and Staff

While staying at the Westin Verasa we ate at the Bank restaurant and at the Michelin-starred La Toque restaurant. The food was delicious, imaginative and beautifully prepared using – as you would expect since we were in Napa – fresh, local ingredients. That said the I’ve already almost forgotten the details of the meals but what will stay with me for a long time is the friendliness, professionalism and just plain good fun we had chatting with our waiter at the Bank and the Wine Director at La Toque – particularly the Wine Director, Scott Tracy. We opted for the paired menu and as he served every pour, we were educated about every wine – with embellishments on the story of the people or the vineyard involved. He answered our questions about Napa, the menu, the wines and making wine in Napa with patience and gusto. It made for a fantastic dining (and drinking) experience.

Do you have a favorite property in Napa Valley? Leave a comment and let me know what it is – I’ll be happy to check it out on my next visit to the area (hopefully soon…)

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My stay at the Westin Verasa was provided by Starwood Hotels as part of the Starwood Hotels LoveYourFamily package, which includes a complimentary suite upgrade, or adjoining room, daily $50 resort credit and an optional SPG Kids Pass program, where at this hotel, you can get all of your kids’ meals for only $16 per child per day with www.spg.com/kidspass Book online, or call 866-716-8147, and reference promotion code FAM50 to make your reservation.

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Hostel Review: 7 Sages Xian

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We stayed for four days at the 7 Sages Xian youth hostel, one of the prettiest and most welcoming hostels we stayed at during our year of travel.

Xian Youth Hostel: Review

I picked up a flyer for 7 Sages Hostel in Xian at the Rock and Wood Hostel in Shanghai – also a YHA China hostel. The 7 Sages caught my eye because the property flyer advertised it as one of the world’s most unusual hostels. With private room rates of US$12 per person per night, it seemed like we just had to stay here.

The 7 Sages hostel is in central Xian a short walk from the train station and inside the old city walls.

This Xian youth hostel is in a class Chinese row house. The building were remodeled at the beginning of the 20th century. They were once used as the Eight Route army Xian Office where the red army stayed in Xian. The hostel is situated around two courtyard areas with charming circular-arched doorways and a courtyard planted with trees and shrubs. There were row house on this very site, dating back to the Tang dynasty in 618AD.

The young staff of the YHA China hostel was cooperative, friendly and helpful. Language was never an issue and when there was a problem (we accidentally check out a day early), they were eager and ready to help.

There’s not a lot of room in the basic eight-person dorms in this Xian youth hostel. The shared bathrooms were clean – mostly. But, at $24 per night for private rooms, we felt like we were in backpacker luxury. These spacious rooms are simply decorated with modern furnishings with western-style ensuite bathrooms.

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We arrived in Xian in mid-afternoon after a very early flight from Nanjing – we were hungry. We took a seat at one of the tables in central courtyard and ordered snacks from the onsite restaurant. And that, basically, was all she wrote. We spent a lot of our time in Xian lounging in the sun in that courtyard and eating at that little restaurant. It was a relaxing break from the hustle and bustle of backpacker travel. The food was tasty with plenty of local and western-style choices.

We were able to book tours to see the Terracotta Warriors through the hostel and this was only one of a varied menu of activities on offer. Many Xian youth hostels offer sightseeing tours. We were very satisfied with the ones we booked through 7 Sages. This Xian youth hostel is also a great base for exploring central Xian.

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Hostel Review: Toms Guesthouse Chungking Mansions Hong Kong

Chungking Mansions Entrance

Ta-da: the Chungking Mansions, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
As far as I know, I haven’t stayed in any other place that is the subject of an Economist article, a wikipedia page, and a book.

We stayed at the Chungking Mansions because we were trying to stick to budget ($150 per day: accommodation + food + entertainment for four people). This, it turns out is a tricky thing to do in a popular destination such as a large city like Hong Kong.

I searched for decent budget accommodation in guidebooks, by asking friends and trawling the internet. Hostelling International had a couple of interesting-looking properties, but, sadly, those were booked out. Every other budget-friendly guesthouse or hotel I could find that wasn’t in Chungking Mansions was also either booked solid or had enough critical reviews on the interwebs that I was suspicious of the nice reviews.

Tom’s Guesthouse in the ChungKing Mansions seemed to be the best of a bad lot and at $15 per person per night the price was certainly right.

Full disclosure: I had no problem with staying in a building described by Lonely Planet as a “crumbling block”. We were only going to be there for three nights, how bad could it be? Murph (being Murph) was positively excited at the prospect. I was only slightly worried about exposing my kids to drug-dealing and prostitution. In my very scant experience such transactions aren’t carried out in broad daylight or in front of kids – and they’re both old enough to learn about the seamier side of life anyway, right?

We arrived late at night. The airport bus dropped us on Nathan Rd. When we found the building, it felt like we were walking into a sea of hawkers, people of all colors and tribes, calling out in a half-dozen languages. Utterly disoriented, it took us a shameful amount of time just to find the right elevator. As I was checking us in, CAM berated Murph:
“Well this is just perfect. You take us to what is one of the world’s best cities and where do you land us? In the armpit. Just lovely.”
He was serious. Murph and I both played perfect parent in the face of such a diatribe. If we’d had our own room I’m sure we’d have laughed together later but the rooms…

Chungking Mansions Room
The rooms at Tom’s Guesthouse are tiny. We’d booked a double (for Murph and me to share) and a twin (for the boys to share). There was no way Murph and I could have fit in the “double” bed. I ended up sharing with BigB while Murph and CAM shared the twin room, which Murph quipped “wasn’t big enough for both of them to breathe out at the same time”.

The photo above was taken standing at the door of the room. Immediately to the right (not in the photo) is the door to the bathroom-cum-shower, a classic example of a tiny Asian bathroom where you shower standing in front of the sink and you need to close the toilet seat and move the toilet paper out of the way if you want avoid having a soggy mess to clean up when you’re done showering. It’s efficient but definitely made for short people.

You cannot beat the location of the Chungking Mansions building. At the bottom of Nathan Rd in Kowloon you’re right in the middle of prime shopping territory and two short blocks from the ferry terminal over to Hong Kong Island. If we’d had a view I’m sure it would have been awesome – but there was construction…

Chungking Mansions View

(Side note: do you see that scaffolding? That’s bamboo and bailing twine 16 floors above the ground. Maybe those safety warnings were not totally without merit…)

Tom’s Guesthouse is tiny but pristine. The staff we met were friendly, courteous and helpful. The little Filipina lady who staffed the front desk for most of the time we were there could not have been nicer. She asked us about our plans for the day in the morning and laughed at our stories when we came back in the evening. She apologized for construction noise and made sure our rooms were cleaned daily. She didn’t ever offer suggestions on what we should do or see in Hong Kong – which made us wonder whether she ever actually left the building. She, like many of the people living or working in the building, was a immigrant to Hong Kong. The Chungking Mansions was her world. It was not inconceivable to imagine that she had seen no more of Hong Kong than just this building in the eight-plus years that she’d lived here.

I know that most of my friends, especially those with kids would not, ever, in a million years, stay in this little guesthouse – which is actually a pity. The Chungking Mansions are an exercise in the adaptability of the human spirit. I’ll admit, the CK Mansions freaked me out a little the first day. I couldn’t imagine letting my boys go from our 16th floor room to the kiosk on the ground floor on their own. But by day three the front-door crew waved us in as if we were part of the furniture – the only thing we were missing was a complicated hand-slap-shake routine (hard to fake). We window-shopped on the warren that was the ground floor, letting our kids roam On Their Own. The CK Mansions multi-cultural, multi-ethnic melee became our new normal, and we were all fine for it.
I did not observe any tricks or drug deals going down.
Murph: “You can take the girl out of the convent…”
Be that as it may, if you’re looking for budget-friendly accommodation in Hong Kong, I’m happy to recommend Tom’s Guesthouse – so long as you don’t mind that the building where it’s located is a block-sized fire trap. OK?

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Whistler Canada Accommodation Primer

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We’ll be visiting Whistler in February. That’ll make 12 years of fun family ski memories at this expansive Canadian mountain resort. I shared this with a friend here in Seattle who immediately came back and asked for help in planning his first trip to Whistler with his kids. His primary concern was where to stay given that Whistler is a large resort with many different “neighborhoods”. Here’s the advice I sent to him.

whistler-village

The Whistler Village area is where the hotels (Pan Pacific, Westin, Hilton) are located. On this map, “Skiers Plaza” is the area in front of the lift entrances. This is a busy spot before, during and after the ski day. Crowds gather at the Longhorn Bar (#7) from lunchtime on and this, and the Dublin Gate in the Pan Pacific (#16) are apres-ski central. Village Walk, the main pedestrian thoroughfare through the village starts from behind the Carleton Lodge (#7 on this map). It’s about a mile-long walk from here to the edge of the village i.e. the intersection with Hwy-99. The Village Walk is lined with shops, bars and restaurants and is the heart of the village.

The Whistler Kids drop-off/pick-up area is inside the Village Gondola building. The kids load up in the gondola (too cute when all you can see is the top of their ski helmets) and go up to mid-mountain to the Whistler Kids on-mountain base.

With small kids I’d avoid staying in this section of the village since it does get noisy at night.

whistler-village-north

This where we usually stay. The accommodation is mostly condo complexes some with communal pools or hot tubs. You’re still in the thick of the village action but not likely to be disturbed by late-night revelers. My favorites here are the Delta Whistler suites, the Town Plaza Lodge or Glacier’s Reach (this last because they have private hot tubs).

It’s a bit of a hike from say Town Plaza to the Whistler Kids drop-off especially with young kids in ski boots but if you give yourself an extra 30 minutes you can make it.

whistler-upper-village

Whistler Upper Village aka Blackcomb is where you’ll find the really fancy accommodation: the Four Seasons, the Fairmont and Club Intrawest. There are regular shuttles between Blackcomb and Whistler and it’s really only a 15 min walk between the base areas, but the “village” in Blackcomb is much smaller. There is a single street – maybe 500yards – with no more than 10 shops. On the other hand, the Whistler Kids facility at Blackcomb is at the base area which is logistically easier especially with younger children and children who might need a little more time with Mom or Dad before heading off for the day.

Club Intrawest, with a pool and hot tub, a movie room and a games room is a luxury condo experience in the Upper Village.

The Creekside area is actually the original Whistler base. It’s a 5-10 minute drive to the village proper from here. The Creekside gondola can be excellent because the lines are shorter than the other gondolas but there are limited restaurant choices here and limited shopping.

There are free shuttles between all the village areas.

The maps on this post are all from Whistler resort accommodation information.

I’ve had great success finding good accommodation at reasonable rates using alluradirect.com and from specials on the whistlerblackcomb.com website.

If you have questions about Whistler or skiing with kids, leave your question in the comments below.

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Hotel Review: Central Boutique Angkor Hotel

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The Central Boutique Angkor Hotel was a gem. We didn’t discover it ourselves, it was recommended to us by fellow travelers we met in Ho Chi Minh City. They raved about the relative comfort and luxury of this boutique property on the outskirts of Siam Reap. I admit, initially I was tentative since I was nervous that anywhere with such great reviews would be way out of our $15-per-person-per-day budget.

We had just come from a three-day cycle tour of the Mekong Delta where we got utterly rained out and stayed in some very odd homestay properties. Budget aside, the thought of a pool and spacious rooms with crisp clean sheets and western-style bathrooms was very, very appealing. I sent off a booking enquiry on the hotel’s website.

The hotel has single, double and triple rooms with or without pool views. They also have interconnecting double rooms for families. For the princely sum of US$70 per night we stayed in one of these. That’s $17 each for two full rooms. Each room actually sleeps three (one king, one single) but that just meant that my boys didn’t need to share a bed. We felt like kings. (The room rate also includes a generous breakfast).

The Central Boutique Angkor hotel is a 5-minute tuk-tuk ride from downtown Siam Reap. It’s in a quiet neighborhood with a couple of backpacker hostels and the French-style Sala Bai Hospitality School nearby. The property is down an unpaved side street – which might make you a little nervous – but once you’re through the gated entrance, the peaceful garden setting seems to emanate calm.

central-boutique-angkor-hotel-balcony

The rooms are spacious. The linens literally gleam. There are some Cambodian decorative accents but everything is stylishly understated. Rooms have TVs with cable, free wifi and coffee-making facilities. The bathrooms are a dream. OK, maybe they’re just a dream if you’re coming from budget-backpacker-land. The large tiled bathroom has an American-style tub and shower. There’s a hair-dryer, refrigerator, safe deposit box and (whoo-hoo!) bathrobes.

The friendly owners live on-site with their vivacious little girl. We found the staff welcoming and helpful for everything from ordering food to booking onward transportation. There’s a small restaurant on site where you can get Khmer and Western food. Our kids ate there every evening and we felt comfortable enough with the hotel overall to leave them at the hotel while we went out for a date night dinner.

central-boutique-angkor-hotel-pool

The pool was where we lounged after our dawn visit to Angor Wat and all the next day as we took a break from our travels just to enjoy this peaceful garden oasis.

If you are visiting with very young children, be aware that the hotel does not have any pool guards or alarms but the hotel does have baby-sitting services on request.

The Central Boutique Angkor Hotel provides pick-up services from the airport (and the bus station if you’re traveling cheapo-style like we were). The drivers will also do tours to Angkor Wat. There are a lot of hotels in Siam Reap but this one is a great base for visiting this area or just relaxing between temple rambles.

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Hotel Review: Posada Salentein Argentina

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The map showing wineries, campsites and hotels was on my lap as we trundled into the Valle de Uco, about 80km south of Mendoza in Western Argentina, in our less-than-spacious campervan. It was the day before Thanksgiving and I was on the lookout for a special place to stay to celebrate the occasion.

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South America Accommodation

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We spent 108 days in South America. This post started because I was bored on our 2-day bus journey from San Salvador de Jujuy in Argentina to Lima, Peru. Data geek that I am, I thought it would be fun to chart the breakdown of where we’d stayed over the four months.

As planned, mostly we slept in backpacker hostels usually for the princely sum of $12 per person, per night. Usually we had a four-bed dorm room to ourselves although at least once we ended up sharing a six-bed dorm room. Typically such dorm rooms came with two sets of bunk beds although every so often we’d find a hostel dorm with a double bed and a set of bunks in the same room which worked perfectly for us, but I had to wonder how often such rooms are populated with a couple and two unrelated, unknown solo travelers. That must be a little strange for all concerned.

We rented a house in Curia, Ecuador for 10 days at the start of our trip and a comfortable and beautifully decorated apartment in Santiago, Chile for another 10 days about half way into our time in South America. The average cost per person, per night in rented accommodation was $12.50 – only slightly higher than low-cost hostels – but that grossly underestimates the benefits we gained from having such space for a few nights. Interleaving backpacking with vacation rentals about every six weeks is turning out to be a good approach for us for everyone’s sanity and peace of mind. The kids like having their own room. I like having a kitchen, washing machine and maybe even a hair-dryer. We all like having a living-room to ourselves to lounge about in.

We had a blast road-tripping around Argentina in our rented CamperVan. I need to write up the whole experience in more detail but briefly, in terms of accommodation, it was a very different 16 days to the rest of the trip. We stopped being backpackers and became a road-tripping family. The other people we met on the camping circuit were older and more welcoming than the twenty-somethings in hostels. Unfortunately, the camper we rented was really too small for a family of four but the experience of driving through the Pampas, around Argentina’s Lake District and through the high desert was unforgettable. Renting the camper was a splurge at approximately $40 per person per night.

Ten nights on buses! That statistic surprised us. We knew we’d done quite a few overnight trips but we hadn’t been keeping track of the total. I found it a lot less painful than it sounds. The boys generally slept well on these overnight trips. Murph didn’t do well at all. We found journeys of 12-14 hours overnight easiest – you got a little sleep, you arrived at your destination in the early morning and it didn’t take too long to recover from being cramped up for hours. Trips of longer than 18 hours (for example, 24 hours from San Pedro de Atacama to Santiago in Chile), were a lot more difficult. Honestly, my hips and knees would start to ache and the boys would eventually run out of books or games and start bugging each other. That said, when we opted for a more expensive service (think a first-class airplane seat with extra leg room rather than a coach-class seat) longer trips were definitely easier. The ticket costs could be double say, $80 to cross Argentina from Mendoza to Buenos Aires instead of $40 for the standard service, but it was absolutely worth the additional expense. It seems that Murph will always vote for the cheapest option and I will argue for a little luxury. We’ll have to see if that pattern continues through Asia – where he’s already talking about taking a 56-hour train ride!

The rest of our accommodation choices were driven by:
* Choosing the only hotel available in a given small town (Yunguyo)
* Opting for a standard hotel room for a 1-night stay (Guayaquil, Nazca)
* Choosing a slightly more expensive hostel as a treat after a hideous travel experience (when our flights were delayed getting to Salta) or, in the case of Cuzco, to support a charity.

The one notable exception to all of the above was the two nights we stayed at the Posada Salentein in Argentina. At $400 per night for a 2-bed apartment this was a monster “let’s forget about the budget” splurge. That said, it was Thanksgiving, the accommodations were spacious and stylishly decorated, the $400 was all-inclusive – three meals from an award-winning kitchen and wine by the bottle – and there was a 40th birthday gift (to me) owing. What woman wouldn’t want to (belatedly) celebrate her 40th in such environs?

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