TopDawg Travel

Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category

November 1st , Sunday morning:  We had to have our bags at the Best Western Dorchester by 7AM.  Since the time changed at 2AM to fall back 1 hour, we would supposedly still get a little extra sleep.  Unfortunately, in the room next door to me there were torch relay volunteers who were throwing their successful completion of the run party until 1 AM so sleep was not an option for me.  So instead I wrote the Victoria flame arrival piece and published it at 1AM, before the fall back time.

I was staying in the Coast Bastion Hotel on the 15th (top) floor facing east.  The festivities at the park in Nanaimo (on the west side of the building) also had amazing fireworks that went on for a really long time. Between the torch relay and the Halloween festivites, Nanaimo was amazing in the evening with people out walking and the street parties.  Peple are so relaxed, open and friendly in the up-island

The Coast was an interesting hotel for me.  There were many pros and cons as I looked at it from the travel agent point of view and a journalist point of view.  I tend to judge a hotel room from several points:  bathroom lighting, shower power, firmness (or lack thereof) of the mattress, the thread count of the linens, the amenities offered, the view and the ease of keeping the room temperature comfortable.  The view I had was awesome, clearly a 10; the bath lighting was outstanding, another 10; the linens were surprisingly comfortable and hypo-allergenic, as opposed to down feather (a positive for me) – about an 8 on the 10 scale.  The amenities were sparse with large pump bottles of shampoo, bath gel and lotion.  Unusual.-  about a 4 on the 10 scale.   Keeping the room temperature moderate and steady was next to impossible.  I would cool it off and then have to warm it up.  It was very challenging. (3 on a 10 scale).  This is always a real disappointment to me as a comfortable temperature in the room is critical.   Sunrise this morning was really awesome, which made up for a lot, so Mother Nature got a resounding 10.

We headed out for the ferry and upon arrival at the Quay, there was a Starbucks which even had  Top Pot Donuts Apple Fritters.  I had my first Americano in 4 days.  And I just had to have an apple fritter.  Once we drove on to the ferry, we had breakfast on the ferry compliments of  Tourism BC.  Then we arrived into the Vancouver port and headed off for Whistler.  I am writing this as we weave along the new Sea to Sky highway.  Stay tuned and I will be telling you lots more about the Whistler venues for the Olympics. 

I am so excited to be celebrating my birthday in Whistler.  What a great way to start a new decade!

My fellow travel agent and I arrived at the hotel and were greeted with cold washcloths and a fruity (non-alcoholic) drink.  The desk person could not seem to locate our records (they use paper records here – how quaint).  He left with my passport in hand and then returned to pull my paperwork out of the box in front of him.  I did wonder what transpired with my passport in the back office. 

He gave me the check-in spiel – if I wanted to have the use of the safe in my room, I needed a lock.  There is no charge for the lock, unless I lose the key.  Then there is a $100 fee for the key replacement.  He checked out a remote to the TV to me (again, no charge).  And he handed me a card for pool towel check out.  He assigned me the room # 1810.  That was nice because it is on the top floor.  He then snapped a blue plastic strip around my right wrist which indicated that I was in the all-inclusive plan.  I would wear this wrist-let for the next 5 days.  It felt a bit like a one-sided hand cuff, but it does mean I eat and drink for no extra charge. 

I asked about internet access.  The price seemed to change as it left his mouth.  It ranged from $9 to $29.  The good thing is that you purchase a set number of minutes or hours.  I purchased 24 hours.  As long as you log on, and then log off when you are shutting down, you may use only a few minutes and 24 hours can last a whole week.  But if you don’t log off, it can be used up very fast.  I agreed to the 24 hour plan immediately and then he checked in the fellow traveler.  She was 2 doors down from me and we accompanied a bellman to the 8th floor.  He dropped me off and proceeded down the hall with her in tow. 

I walked into an oven.  It was hot outside and hotter inside.  I walked over and opened the drape.  I checked the balcony door and it was not locked.  I stepped outside and the heat was overwhelming.  I stepped back in and tried to lock the door, but there was not a working lock.  After checking the AC control, I called the front desk.  I want to say two-thumbs up for the response level of the staff.  There was a maintenance person in my room handling the lock ASAP.  The air conditioning was a whole other issue.

My fellow traveler and I agreed it was a good idea to adjourn to the bar for a drink.  After unpacking and laying out toiletries, we met at the elevator and headed to the pool bar.  There was a menu of drinks.  There were a number of fruity flavored margaritas, but not a straight up margarita.  The same was true of the martinis, the daiquiris and well drinks seemed out of the question.  We settled on mojitos.  Then we saw him break out a huge bottle of beer for a waiter and the next drink was destined to be beer.  “Sol” was the brand name, but it was beer and it was wet, so that worked for me.  We were both so hot and sweaty that we agreed to go put on swimsuits and take a dip in the infinity pool.  We gave up on making reservations for dinner as it was after 5PM and dinner reservations had to be made before 5PM.  We also were too late to get pool towels with our cards.  When we went to the front desk to see if we could check them out from there, there were no towels available for another 5-10 minutes.  We decided we could dip without a towel.  I grabbed the beer and headed to the pool, expecting a cool dip to help chill me out.  Oops.  Wrong again.  The pool is a bit warmer than body temperature.  But once in and kicking around, it did not matter.  I may have been warm but the sweat was gone and I was drinking a beer in the pool.  Life was ok by most any standard.   

Welcome to Puerto Vallarta.

Deal of the Day: Las Ventanas al Paraiso spa packages offer endless romance 

I have already written of my infatuation with Las Ventanas al Paraiso since visiting Los Cabos in May.  However, when I see the offers they have for spa and romance experiences through 2010, I have to re-visit their hotel here (I can wish to do it physically, though I can only do so with words).  Read more…

Posted using ShareThis