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Bangui to Lome, Togo on ASKY, two nights at the Residence Oceane in Lomé

Airports, Central African Republic, Chad CAR Middle East Mongolia, Flights, hotels, Togo 1 Response »

Sep 262015

Hotel shuttle was right on time, and in no time at all we were at the booming Bangui M’Poko International Airport, where Jordan decided to do his best imitation of one of the big five since we were in Africa, but fortunately nobody mistook his flowing mane for a lion….

Check-in was pretty easy, and there appeared to be several paramilitary types on our flight checking large gun and ammunition cases. Central African Republic is known to have lots of “private military” activity, supporting both the government and the rebels, so I guess they have t0 fly in and out somehow. Ian and I managed to secure the exit row, which was extra nice because it only had two seats while all of the other rows had three seats. Score! Immigration and security were pretty easy as well, and the agents were reasonably friendly, chatty, and efficient. One lady kept trying to sell us “VIP lounge access” for like $20, but we decided to resist. Spent our remaining Central African CFA francs on some waters in the departures lounge, and soon it was time to go.

ASKY flight 35
Bangui, Central African Republic (BGF) to Douala, Cameroon (DLA)
Depart 7:55, Arrive 9:45, Flight Time: 1:50
Boeing 737-700, Registration ET-ANG, Manufactured 2007, Seat 15J

Flight to Douala looked to be quite full with most seats taken, and a small snack was served. Since we’d left the hotel too early for breakfast, was at least nice to get some bread and cheese to hold over until lunch:

Arrival into Douala right on time, where almost everyone on the flight got off. Since this is one of very few flights into CAR, and Douala is a much larger airport than Lomé it made sense people would be getting off. We said goodbye to Jordan who was headed straight home (just a long weekend for him) and waited for the other passengers to board for the continuation of the flight.

ASKY flight 35
Douala, Cameroon (DLA) to Lomé, Togo (LFW)
Depart 10:25, Arrive 11:10, Flight Time: 1:45
Boeing 737-700, Registration ET-ANG, Manufactured 2007, Seat 15J

Flight was maybe 75% full on this segment, mainly with connecting passengers. Lomé is a quasi hub for ASKY, so many of the passengers were headed from Douala to other points in Africa. Choice of sandwiches on this flight, cheese or tuna. The cheese was actually reasonable, and for a rare change I decided to risk the airplane sandwich…with a glass of semi-reasonable red wine to wash it down:

This was the third trip I’ve flown ASKY, and overall they’re a pretty classy operation. Planes are leased from Ethiopian, which I believe has a large ownership stake in the airline as well. Flights have been completely on-time in my experience, staff reasonably friendly, and the planes inspire at least reasonable confidence in their maintenance. Definitely the jewel of west African aviation for now!

Arrived into Lomé on time, and immigration was a big of a challenge. You would think they almost never saw tourists, and even more rarely had ones that wanted visa on arrival despite all the prices and instructions being clearly posted. I asked the agent if the visas were single entry, as we would be making a daytrip to Benin the next day. “Oh no no no, they can be, but you need to go get them endorsed at this office somewhere downtown and then they are good unlimited.” She seemed pretty unclear, and after finally getting the visas she let us go.

The driver from our hotel was waiting in the parking lot, and we were soon on our way to La Résidence Océane – a small boutique which got great reviews on tripadvisor. The rooms inside faced a charming little courtyard:

Stairs up to our rooms:

Overall, the hotel was quite nice. Clean, quiet, very reasonably priced, good WiFi, ice old air conditioning. They upgraded us to two-level “suites” as well, which was a nice bonus. We grabbed lunch at the hotel in their brasserie, which made a good variety of French staples and could have been anywhere in rural France. The staff were super nice and helpful, and although there were never more than 10 people eating, they always had everything on the menu and were quite quick

The hotel also had a small bar/lounge area which was pretty popular with locals and expats during the evening…staffed by the same people who worked in the restaurant, and occasionally at the check-in desk. Sometimes you win with smaller hotels, and sometimes you lose, but this was a definite win! The only area that could have been improved a little was the included breakfast, which was pretty much limited to croissants, crepes, some nutella, and laughing cow cheese…and plentiful coffee…so what more do you really need?

We kept Jordan on the trip in spirits at least, finding a bottle of Château Jourdan at the local grocery store. Off relatively early to bed because it would be a super long day of driving to Benin the next day. We had negotiated with the driver who picked us up at the airport, and he said he had all the necessary permits to drive into Benin, so it would save a lot of time over hiring taxis on both sides of the border.

Exploring Bangui and the CAR

Attractions, Central African Republic, Chad CAR Middle East Mongolia No Responses »

Sep 212015

We were up early the next morning, and met up for breakfast. I went to the front desk to check on the status of our driver for the day, and they still hadn’t heard anything…but promised to let us know. No clue why it was so difficult! Went back 30 minutes later and it was confirmed. The price was lower than we expected, so it turned out to be all good in the end.

Unfortunately our driver spoke no English, so I got to chat with him and play translator. I felt semi-bad for Ian and Jordan, but he was a good driver so it worked out. He was happy to share his version of the recent troubles CAR has been going through, and his insights into how things are now. The one word he kept using over and over to describe the current situation was “calm.”

Turns out the reason for the delay is the hotel has one driver they use, and he was sleeping/unavailable when we originally made the request. When they finally got in touch with him, he was happy to take us and he decided the price he would charge. We were headed to the Chutes de Boali waterfalls, about a two hour drive out of town. The roads turned out to be pretty good for the most part, and I’d guess it was a roughly 120-150km drive each way through pretty typical African countryside with wide open spaces:

After about two hours of driving, we got to the turnoff point to the falls, where the road was gravel and quite a bit rougher:

Headed to the waterfalls:

When we got to the falls, we were swarmed with local kids insisting on playing guide. There was no way we were getting rid of them, and they only wanted a few dollars, so we decided to play along. It was worth it in the end because they were happy to show us around. First stop on the overlook, the falls were much bigger than I had expected!

Our driver turned out to be a pretty good photographer too!

Wide angle view of the falls:

The kids asked who wanted to go down to the base of the falls, and Ian and Jordan decided to go. I decided that with the semi-recent shoulder surgery it was better that I passed on it, and in the end I think that was a good call. I don’t think Jordan went all the way down, but Ian did:

Unfortunately somewhere near the bottom he slipped pretty badly and banged his jaw on a rock. Fortunately nothing cut or broken, but he was definitely pretty sore for the next few days!

Our driver taking a selfie at the falls:

After that, the kids took us to the top of the falls, maybe 100 meters from where they plunged down below. Of course there was a bridge across the river, which given how it looked I decided to skip again. Ian was a bit braver:

…as was Jordan, with the kids making sure he was safe:

After the bridge we headed to the final viewing platform at the top of the falls. There were a few UN types hanging around there, and they’d brought their own personal bodyguards to make sure they were safe. I still don’t know if this is just typical UN overcautious, or if the situation was really that volatile that things could have gone south at the drop of a hat. Either way, at no point at all did I feel the least bit unsafe:

After the falls, our driver asked if we would like to see the small city of Boali. Absolutely! He took us to the house of the local pastor, saying we would be safe with the pastor walking us through the town on a Sunday…nobody would mess with the pastor!

We set off on the walk, and everyone we passed was smiling and waving to us, and greeting the pastor. It was a super cool experience. A little girl with her mother, playing in the wreckage of a burned out car:

Street shot of the town of Boali:

The walk was super interesting, and the pastor was happy to share his views on things. Seems the Seleka rebels had come to Boali because of the hydroelectric plant there, and they wanted to cut power to the capital. People resisted him, but he said they brutally killed hundreds of townspeople. You wouldn’t know it from the friendliness we saw, but apparently Boali had seriously suffered as recently as just six months ago.

I wanted to keep walking and talking to him more, but the sun was also super strong and we were getting pretty hot, so it was time for the long drive back. On the way, we passed a group of women in very colourful outfits just walking down the road:

We also saw several men transporting wood on carts like this:

Very overloaded car…this guy didn’t seem happy to have his photo taken:

We made it back to the hotel late afternoon, and grabbed a snack, hanging out for the rest of the day. We considered wandering the city, but given we didn’t really have the lay of the land and darkness was just over an hour away decided it probably wouldn’t be the best of ideas. It was time to fly out early the next morning and continue the adventure!

Douala to Bangui, CAR on TAAG, Ledger Plaza Bangui Hotel

Airports, Business Class, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad CAR Middle East Mongolia, Flights, hotels No Responses »

Sep 182015

Headed to the airport, and check-in was surprisingly easy. We volunteered to check our bags rather than deal with what was sure to be a mess, and headed off to try and find security/immigration/lounge/gates. That wasn’t easy, because it was down a makeshift corridor that wasn’t marked. We did finally find it, no trouble at all with immigration, and soon were off to the luxury lounge. On the way, we passed this sign warning us about Ebola:

At least the lounge had AC, and the usual amusing variety of expats, and strange local beers, which predictably were awesome. I mean awful… 😉

About 45 minutes before the flight we left the lounge and headed to the gate. There we found Jordan who had apparently survived the Ibis Douala. However, we were chastised by the gate agents for leaving the lounge, and they told us they would come get us when it was time to board. So, back to the lounge we went. About 15 minutes later they finally summoned us, and it was time to board.

TAAG Angola flight 527
Douala, Cameroon (DLA) to Bangui, Central African Republic (BGF)
Depart 14:20, Arrive 16:00, Flight Time: 1:40
Boeing 737-700, Registration D2-TBD, Manufactured 2006, Seat 1C

Interestingly, this was the same plane that Jordan and I had taken about 18 months prior from Sao Tome to Cape Verde. I guess TAAG doesn’t have many 737s so it’s not that interesting, but was still mildly amusing to me. The crew was their usual TAAG indifferent, but at least this time they didn’t eat our meals before they could serve them to us.

Shrimps on a plane…no way. I pecked at the rest (and of course at all the cheese and wine), and had to beg for a wine refill. They apparently ran out after my refill, however, because they went into hiding and refused to give Ian one.

Landing was right on time, bus gate minus the bus, and we were directed to the medical quarantine tent:

Taking temperatures:

While waiting for medical check, we got an up close view of “In God We Trust Airlines”

Immigration was easy, no questions at all, and our bags came out in maybe 10-15 minutes. So far, CAR was seeming very anticlimactic, which was a good thing. Just like getting the visa in DC, it seemed like as long as they got the money they were of the attitude of “whatever you do you do, it’s not our problem.” I like this approach! It’s not like CAR gets many clueless random tourists I’d expect!

As promised, our hotel the Ledger Plaza Bangui was waiting for us, and we were off in a nice chilly air-conditioned van to the hotel. This is where the drama was really to begin. The moment we entered the hotel, the skies opened up, and it was a majorly fierce thunder and lightning storm outside. The hotel lost power several times while we were checking in.

Jordan seemed to have a relatively easy time of it, but despite my printed confirmation, they couldn’t get their minds around the idea of one room, two people, two beds. I get it…people who come to CAR and stay in the nicest hotel are all NGO workers and all want their own room. Well, that’s not us, and that’s not what we reserved, so we want what we reserved. First, they claimed no rooms available with two beds…which was apparently true at least for the first night.

Then, they claimed there was a 50% surcharge for two people in a room. I showed them my printed confirmation, but they could care less, they weren’t going to budge. After nearly an hour negotiating (100% in French because their English was non-existent), we decided on two rooms for the first night and the second night they would give us a room with two beds, but at a 50% surcharge. Ugh. At least they did us the “favour” of giving my corporate rate to Ian as well. What a mess. There was also a price list at the desk, which indicted only about a 15,000 CFA surcharge for a “double” room. But that’s on the “normal” rate. On the corporate rate (which was, in fairness, quite a bit less) they demanded 50%…which was well over 15,000 CFA…and was closer to 40 or 50,000!

So, we went up to the rooms to unpack, and oh, apparently the AC and the internet aren’t working today. The internet has been out for days/weeks, and the AC doesn’t run when the generator is on…which seems to be most of the time. My room the first night eventually cooled to 23C which was acceptable for sleeping, but I don’t think Jordan’s room got below 27 or Ian’s room got below 29. Ugh. Felt bad for them, but at least they had fans?

We met downstairs for some beers and dinner to try and forget the heat and annoyance (TIA afterall) and eventually crashed so we could try and tour the next day. I say try, because despite asking several times, they were unable to locate the hotel driver to know for sure if he would do it. But, “don’t worry, he sleeps in the hotel.” Uh, great, so where is he?

Went to bed semi early, looked out my window in the morning, and saw the convoy of aid workers getting ready to leave the hotel for work:

Breakfast in the hotel was actually quite good, with eggs cooked to order, a great spread of pastries and breads, etc. It was actually really impressive considering where we were. All in all, the hotel definitely did a great job with food.

Going to skip around here a bit, and ignore our day in CAR for now. When we moved rooms the second day to our shared two bed room, at least we had a great view of what looked to be a quite nice pool:

Dinner both days was in the hotel cafe, which actually had a good mix of French bistro food along with some various international stuff like pasta/etc. I had a croque madame both days which was really quite tasty:

So, overall, taking into account you’re in a developing country just emerging from a brutal and nasty war, the hotel really does quite good. Is it worth the price? Absolutely not given the lack of AC and internet, but the rooms were clean, the food was good, and the complex was quite safe. Overall, it’s the place to stay in Bangui, but don’t get your hopes up for luxury. There will be serious inconveniences, annoyances, and probably boredom if you travel alone, but hey, it’s all part of the adventure! Next up…what we actually did in CAR!

Exploring Douala

Attractions, Cameroon, Chad CAR Middle East Mongolia, hotels 2 Responses »

Sep 172015

So, this is going to turn out to be a lot shorter than initially planned. Thanks to the Pullman being such luxurious accommodations, and thanks to Turkish being over an hour late, we didn’t make it to bed until nearly 4am, but somehow managed to sleep until 10am…waking up to what looking to be very ominous clouds. We did manage to hurry up and get out the door to see how much we could explore before the skies opened up.

Headed out the hotel for a short walk, first stop being the Place de Gouvernement about 1km away. The skies were starting to look very ominous at this point, but managed to see the World War One monument, which had changed quite a bit in the three years since I’d been there. The statue that used to sit atop it was gone, but not sure why. Political reasons? Things just falling apart? Regardless, it had seen much better days.

The Palais de Justice, which had also seen much, much better days. I “littoral”ly could hardly take a pic of it it was so depressing! I was beginning to get the impression after the hotel and a few sites that all was not well in the state of Cameroon…

Another monument/obelisk on the square…but was unclear what it was…but it looked semi-photoworthy!

At this point, the rain started, and in five minutes it had become quite a downpour. We opted to bail on the last stop on the walking tour (the cathedral) and hail a cab back to the hotel. Managed to find one, and hit the hotel coffeeshop for something resembling breakfast. By resembling I mean a couple of double espressos each (which turned out to be $8 each…ouch!) and a few biscuits. Since that wasn’t cutting it, and the rain had finally let up by this point, we headed to the poolside cafe for an early lunch. The pizza was surprisingly tasty, and the Castels were ice cold and adequate…

At this point it was less than three hours until our next flight, so packed up, checked out, and caught the hotel shuttle (which was there this time) to the airport to begin the real adventures…the Central African Republic!

Delhi to Douala, Cameroon on Turkish, overnight in Douala

Airports, Business Class, Cameroon, Chad CAR Middle East Mongolia, hotels, Turkey No Responses »

Sep 152015

When I was booking this trip, I debated for a long time the merits of getting a hotel in India. I would land in India just before 22:00 and depart the next morning at 06:00. Best case, after immigration, check-in, etc, I knew that meant I’d get four hours of sleep max in the hotel. Was it really worth it? Well, immigration ended up taking nearly an hour, and it was 11:15 by the time I got to the hotel, 11:30 by the time I checked in. I decided to push it as much as possible, and leave for the airport at 04:00, getting there just 90 minutes before an international flight. That meant…4.5 hours at the hotel. By the time you subtract showers, the half bottle of wine the hotel gave me (great sleep aid) I slept a grand total of 3:15.

It was worth every penny…and must have been the perfect long nap to reset my body clock, because I’ve been sleeping amazingly this entire trip. Not a single sign of jetlag. Money very well spent!

Hotel car took me to the airport, and check-in was pretty easy although they had a pretty hard time figuring out how to print my onward boarding pass to Cameroon. No line at immigration and security, and off to the lounge. Oh yes, the lounge. What was really strange at check-in is they had stacks of lounge invites to three different ones, and were just randomly handing them out. There were two colleagues in front of me at check-in who got invites to different lounges…and the check-in agent couldn’t figure out why this was a problem!

I ended up with an invite to the ITC Green Lounge, which was perfectly adequate at 04:30. Not crowded, plenty of power outlets, plentiful ice cold diet coke, and a variety of hot and cold snacks. I had a few samosas which were pretty tasty along with a few diet cokes, and I was ready to go. Off to the gate, and boarding was already underway.

Turkish Airlines flight 717
Delhi, India (DEL) to Istanbul Attaturk, Turkey (IST)
Depart 6:05, Arrive 10:25, Flight Time: 6:50
Airbus A330-300, Registration TC-JOB, Manufactured 2014, Seat 4D

Nice lay-flat seats on this bird, but odd that the foot rest/shelf had no separation from the seat next to it, meaning if you sleep at all angled you could be playing footsie with your seatmate. Awkward. Decided to go with the lemonade welcome aboard drink instead of my usual orange. Tasty!

What’s for breakfast this morning?

Champagne brunch. I figured since I was already disoriented timewise, and it was like 21:00 back home, it made perfect sense. Yes, this is how I rationalize things! Nice starter, and the cheeses were quite tasty.

The “turkish pastry with cheese.” It was rather odd, and I think I might have finished half off it. Just strange, but wasn’t really super hungry anyways so it sufficed.

Debated a small nap, but instead got sucked into a horrible movie. Something about people bending dimensions and traveling to other solar systems to colonize a new home for mankind. It was three plus hours of my life I’ll never get back, but it did make time go by quickly. Soon we were just an hour outside Istanbul and a small snack was served. I can’t escape the samosas!

Landed right on time just about 10:00 and headed to the lounge to grab some water and check e-mail. After a detour to Starbucks, of course, to ingest large amounts of caffeine to get me moving. Mission accomplished, around 11:00 I decided it was a waste to sit around the lounge all day and decided to head into the city. The Turkish lounge has nice lockers where you can lock bags up, so I packed a daybag and headed out. Passport, wallet and cell phone and I was good to go.

Had to find my way back downstairs to arrivals, which I finally did, purchased a visa, and found the metro to the city. Decided I would go see the Blue Mosque, which would require a short ride on metro followed by a tram. Fortunately, I remembered how this worked from previous visits and it went off without a hitch. The walking around really helped, and maybe was another secret of why I avoided jetlag this trip. I tried to walk as much as possible and see as much daylight as possible to help my body realize just what time it was. The flight to India had moved me forward 9.5 hours, now I was back 2.5 hours, and the flight to Cameroon would go back another 2 hours. Regardless, it was a gorgeous day in Istanbul:

Got back to the airport about two hours before the next flight, right after Ian’s flight from Munich had landed. Snacks in the lounge, a well-deserved shower to rinse off the sweat from a 90F sunny Istanbul day, and it was time to head to the final flight of the day…the never-ending 737 flight from hell…nearly seven hours to Yaoundé, Cameroon followed by another short hop on to Douala. Jordan’s insane flight from Houston had just landed and he met us at the gate. Hats off to him, there’s no way I could survive 20 hours in economy!

Our gate area was an interesting mix of folks, but very few from Cameroon. Lots of Ukrainian, American, and South African passports around us, many of whom we’d see the next day on our flight to CAR. Any bets what’s going on there?

Turkish Airlines flight 69
Istanbul Attaturk, Turkey (IST) to Yaoundé, Cameroon (NSI)
Depart 18:15, Arrive 23:05, Flight Time: 6:50
Airbus 737-900, Registration TC-JYE, Manufactured 2012, Seat 3F

Two pieces of good news on this flight. First, these were the longhaul 737 seats, which meant there was approximately 18 extra inches of legroom over a standard “domestic first” configration. Even better, business was only booked to 3 of 16 seats tonight, so we had tons of space to spread out. We must have been exhausted, because we were still both too exhausted to think about logically switching rows to have more space, and stayed in 3E and 3F. Switched from the lemonade to the orange juice this time for a welcome drink…and water.

Takeoff from Istanbul at sunset…

So, what’s for dinner tonight?

This is where it got ridiculous. Turkish decided that since there were only three people in business class, they would order exactly one of each main course. One fish, one beef, and one vegetarian green beans. I was second to order, and got my request of beef. Ian, unfortunately, was asked if he “would mind having the green beans.” Ugh, yes, I’m pretty sure he minded. They promised they would find something else…

As usual, a fantastic starter from Turkish:

The beef, however, was tough and pretty much inedible. They found Ian some other beef dish that looked much, much better. Was probably a crew meal…

Passed the flight trying to nap unsuccessfully, and watching episode after episode of Scandal. About an hour before landing a small snack was served, including a delicious raspberry cake of some sort.

This is what we call “avoiding Libyan airpace” and no-fly zones. It must have added at least an hour to the flight.

Then, we noticed we appeared to be circling. Turned out the airport at Yaoundé was closed due to being fogged in and below minimums for landing. Um, after nearly seven hours in flight how much fuel can be left on a 737? After about 20 minutes circling, the captain announced we were landing. He didn’t, however, announce that minimums had been met. Entirely possible there wasn’t enough fuel for an alternate?

Turkish Airlines flight 69
Yaoundé, Cameroon (NSI) to Douala, Cameroon (DLA)
Depart 00:05, Arrive 01:05, Flight Time: 1:00
Airbus 737-900, Registration TC-JYE, Manufactured 2012, Seat 3F

After about 45 minutes on the ground, we took off for the 35 minute flight to Douala and arrived about an hour late at nearly 2am. Ugh! Fortunately, immigration was a breeze and we were out to find the hotel shuttle around 2:15. Except, the hotel shuttle was nowhere to be found, and the ATMs at the airport were all broken. The taxi mafia settled on 10 euros to drop Jordan at his hotel first, and then take Ian and I to our hotel. It was a ripoff, but at 230am there wasn’t much choice.

The hotel. Ugh. I’d stayed here about two years ago when it was the Le Meridien, and it was…adequate. Now it was the Pullman, and reviews online weren’t great. First off, I’d screwed up and booked a locals-only rate, so we ended up having to pay about 50% more than expected. Then, they couldn’t understand the concept of a room with two beds. Once that was finally sorted we got to the room…which was a sauna. The second room was marginally better, but not great. I left Ian to see if it would cool down, and I went and checked out another two rooms which were even worse.

Then, there was no water in the room. I went to the front desk three times to ask water to be brought up, but it never happened. Fortunately, I’d saved a bottle from the plane to brush my teeth, and Ian (being the fancy one he is) ended up using the minibar Perrier to brush his teeth. Finally, around 4am the room cooled down just enough to consider sleep, but I was thirsty and had to settle for the only option in the minibar…beer. I threw a bit of a fit at checkout the next morning about not being able to get water, and they did kindly comp the Perrier and beer. But ugh, this property has gone from adequate to dismal…and for the price recommend avoiding it at all costs.

We got up at a semi-reasonable hour, and decided to head out exploring just a bit to get some walking in before the adventure was to really begin!

Ottawa to Delhi on United…via Chicago and Newark, overnight Delhi

Airports, Business Class, Canada, Chad CAR Middle East Mongolia, Flights, hotels, India No Responses »

Sep 142015

Woke up nice and early, and grabbed some Starbucks with the friend I stayed with before heading to the airport to start the long route to India. I’d checked in the day before when I arrived at YOW, and the agent questioned “why are you going Ottawa-Chicago-Newark instead of direct to Newark?” While I appreciated her effort to put me on the nonstop, it would have shorted me qualifying miles, and I would have been in coach as opposed to two flights in “first.” Plus, my friend was working that day, so no real reason to hang around the city.

Grabbed some Tim Hortons at the airport (mmm Timbits) and soon we boarded right on time.

United Express operated by Skywest flight 6384
Ottawa, Ontario (YOW) to Chicago, O’Hare (ORD)
Depart 10:24, Arrive 11:29, Flight Time: 2:05
Embraer ERJ-175, Registration N117SY, Manufactured 2014, Seat 2A

Pretty typical United Express flight, except that United Express now serves the delicious caramel macchiato biscotti that I love. Mmmmm! Breakfast of champions? Well, combined with Tim Hortons and Starbucks it is!

Landing in Chicago was right on time, and I had planned to make the most of my 3+ hour layover. My friend Matt picked me up at the airport, and immediately carted me away for what he billed as an authentic Chicago experience right near the airport. We went to Paradise Pup for hotdogs, where I did a pretty good job of clogging my arteries before a long flight. At least it was super tasty!

Since we still had time, he carted me to Shoeless Joe’s bar just down the street because they had the 10% Not Your Father’s Rootbeer on tap. Unfortunately it was a little flat, but still delicious. Was awesome catching up during the layover, and I was really feeling like I was making the most of every minute on this trip so far. This also explains why it’s taken me so long to get this trip report started! Mmmm, high alcohol root beer….

Catching up…

Back to O’Hare approximately 75 minutes before the flight, through TSA precheck in under five minutes, and headed straight to the gate, where there was an “emotional support animal” loudly barking at anyone who got near it. Great!

Flight was delayed about 30 minutes due to an “unspecified maintenance issue, but we assure you it’s nothing to cause concern” and that’s when we spotted HIM. The “changes you’ll like in Chief.” Herr Smisek. At least there is some justice in the world, because he ended up (according to a source on the flight) in a middle seat in regular economy. #WhosJeffedNow 😉

United Airlines flight 1165
Chicago, O’Hare (ORD) to Newark, New Jersey (EWR)
Depart 15:00, Arrive 18:20, Flight Time: 2:20
Boeing 757-200, Registration N14107, Manufactured 1994, Seat 1E

Decided to get the trip rolling by having a glass of wine…and of course more biscotti! But no, this was the afternoon snack basket, so I had to “suffer” through the brownie brittle, which was also pretty darn good:

The funniest part of this flight was the couple seated behind me, who asked the flight attendant “I don’t know why when we are in first class you let the military thugs and someone called ‘Global Services’ board first?” Flight attendant tried to explain Global Services as “those people who fly the most number of flights with us” but was clearly wrong. I decided to help her out and tell her in general it’s people who spend $50,000 or more on United tickets in a given year, although the exact criteria are unknown. The couple’s response? “Oh, I guess stupid people should board before people who pay for first class.” *smacks head*

Layover in Newark was uneventful, grabbed a shower, water, caught up on email, and just generally relaxed before heading for the chaos that is boarding for any flight to India:

Had switched from 8E (middle) to 8B since united.com showed that even after nonrevs there should be 6 empty seats. Confirmed with gate agent, and he was happy to leave 8A open for me. Score!

United Airlines flight 82
Newark, New Jersey (EWR) to Delhi, India (DEL)
Depart 21:55, Arrive 21:30, Flight Time: 14:05
Boeing 777-22, Registration N37018, Manufactured 2002, Seat 8A

As soon as the door closed, I moved over to 8A, and a minute later someone came and plopped down in 8B. “Sorry, I didn’t like my other seat.” I might have been a bit of a jerk, but told him “the gate agent had blocked this seat” and he pushed back with “well, my other seat is no good.” Knowing he was a nonrev, I paged over the flight attendant, who was happy to ask him to move elsewhere. Maybe I was a bit of a princess, but as someone who flew nonrev for 15+ years I was always taught not to inconvenience paying customers. Anyways, I had two seats, and the flight was off to a great start.

What will Jeff feed us today? Here’s the answers:

Pre-departure bubbles…notice I’m still in 8B for the moment!

The half-nuts with a glass of the (now extinct) Château le Jeff. May it RIP:

Pretzel roll, mit plate:

As skimpy as a single chicken skewer looks for an international appetizer, at least it was relatively tasty. I don’t think any other airline would dare serve a single cold chicken kebab as a starter, however!

Super un-exciting salad. At least it had two sundried tomatoes and two olives?

The “rack of lamb” which was way overcooked. I don’t think I even finished half of it.

The cheese was ever poorer quality than average, but that didn’t stop me from asking for a second serving. Unfortunately “it’s all gone.” Mmm hmmm, of course it is.

Today “hot fudge and cherries” was met with three cherries, which seems to pretty much be average for most of my United flights 😉

At this point, I crashed for just short of 7 hours, waking up just in time to watch a few episodes of Scandal before breakfast was trotted out. Since I was awake I agreed to try it out, and unfortunately it was a pretty big miss. The fruit had zero flavour, the eggs scared me after one bite, but at least the cheesy potatoes were tasty 😉 I can’t for the life of me figure out why they serve breakfast at 8p local, but it is what it is!

Landed about 10 minutes ahead of schedule, immigration took nearly 45 minutes due to almost no agents on duty, but had no trouble with my ten year visa in an expired passport. When I was finally through, my driver from the ITC Maurya was waiting to whisk me off to what would hopefully be bed.

Unfortunately, the ITC Maurya seemed to have the same problem as Indian immigration tonight, and despite five people working on my reservation together it took them nearly 20 minutes to check me in for some unknown reason. I’m a huge fan of ITC hotels in India, and I’m going to chalk this one up to just having some junior people on duty this night. Once I did get to my room it was a nice upgraded junior suite with great AC, a half bottle of wine waiting for me, and an apology note for my recent experiences at the ITC Chennai during dry days. The bottle of wine was compliments and apologies for the inconvenience. It had been nearly two months since I returned from Chennai, and was impressed with the communication!

Only managed four hours of sleep, but considering I’d only been awake for three hours since the seven on the plane I considered that pretty darn good. Now, at the farthest point of the trip, it was time to start the REAL adventure! (Don’t ask why I went via Ottawa and Delhi…you already know it has to do with a great fare 😉

DC to Ottawa on United and Air Canada, evening in Ottawa

Airports, Canada, Chad CAR Middle East Mongolia, Flights No Responses »

Sep 132015

Ok, so this is a pretty anti-climactic start to this trip, but I finally have reasonable internet and am able to get this thing rolling. Hopefully many more parts to follow now that I’ve cleared Africa and am in the Middle East. Headed into work for a few hours in the morning to tie up a few loose ends, and then caught the silver line metro out to Dulles. No problems at all for once, TSA PreCheck worked wonders, and soon I was at the Red Carpet Club in the D Gates. This was my first time experiencing Jeff’s new catering, and…

Hommous and cheese. The hommous is a definite upgrade, but the cheese is a definite downgrade. I seriously miss my pepperjack Tillamook cheese. Boo! Only had about 15 minutes to grab a quick lunch, because it was time to board! I still hadn’t cleared the waitlist with two seats left (I same day changed about 20 hours before the flight) so I asked the agent when she cleared if she could put me in the second row…and she did it right there. Not sure what she was waiting for, but…

United Express operated by Mesa Airlines flight 5095
Washington, DC, Dulles (IAD) to Toronto, Ontario (YYZ)
Depart 12:30, Arrive 13:58, Flight Time: 1:28
Canadair CRJ-700, Registration N504MJ, Manufactured 2002, Seat 2C

Perhaps the most underwhelming flight in the history of aviation. First/business went out full, I had a glass of wine with my biscotti, watched a little tv on my iPad, and then it was time to land. The overhead bins on the CRJ-700 were just large enough for my rolling bag, so life was good and I was off to immigration. NEXUS lines were no problem at all, through very quickly, got a new boarding pass from the Air Canada agent in the checkin area, and was off to security and the lounge.

No line at all in security for the NEXUS lane, was through very quickly, and up to the lounge. The lounge agent said the agent in customs was wrong, and yes, it’s possible to stand by now on ALL fares in the “triangle” of Montreal-Ottawa-Toronto. She kindly put me on the waitlist for an hour earlier, and I was hoping it wouldn’t be too much of a wait. But, while I did, it was time for a make-your-own ceasar…extra spicy!

Yes, that’s right, more hommous. Clearly Star Alliance has stocked up on it in bulk, and every single airline is feeding it in the lounge. Still hadn’t cleared the waitlist, so 40 minutes before my new flight headed down to the gate where I saw this beauty in the old Trans-Canada Airlines colours:

Asked the agent if I’d cleared, and he was rude and said “I’ll call you when I call you” so I waited…then everyone was boarded. So I asked again: “well, you’re not on my list!” Ugh. Few seats left, however, and he managed to clear me to an economy plus middle, so life was good enough. I was an hour earlier than planned, and sandwiched in between two pilots, so can’t complain overly much…let’s see, however, if my miles ever post!

Air Canada flight 458
Toronto, Ontario (YYZ) to Ottawa, Ontario (YOW)
Depart 16:10, Arrive 17:12, Flight Time: 1:02
Airbus A319-100, Registration C-FZUH, Manufactured 1997, Seat 14B

Again, totally uneventful flight. Glass (not can) of Diet Coke and some pretzels, and before I knew it we were landing in Ottawa. Was nice to spend the evening with a group of old friends catching up, starting with beer flights at Jack Astors:

Moved on to a group dinner at Mill Street Brewpub and more flights, followed by the Northern Lights show at Parliament. Managed to get a couple of great shots near the end of the Northern Lights show:

By this point I was absolutely exhausted from a half day of work, travel and a long evening of catching up with old friends. Managed to crash on a friend’s couch absolutely passed out for nearly eight hours, ready to face the big day ahead! (Yes, you read that right, instead of a nice hotel I slept on a couch! That should tell you just how good of friends these are…and just how comfy the couch was!)

Chennai, India to Washington, Dulles on Lufthansa

Airports, Business Class, Chennai 2015, Flights, India 1 Response »

Jul 282015

The flight from Chennai to Frankfurt leaves very late at night / early in the morning, so after a full day of worked headed back to the hotel to pack, have some dinner, and generally take it easy. The one thing I definitely didn’t want to do is fall asleep. Generally, I have really good luck sleeping on westbound redeyes, and I hoped this would continue. Since they leave late at night you’re tired enough to fall asleep, and then assuming the flight is long enough, when you wake up even though it might be 5-7am local time, it’s afternoon for your body clock, so you’re well-rested. I hoped to get lucky again!

Before heading to the airport around 11pm, I did one last check of the seatmaps online and discovered two cool things. There were still about six to eight seats open on my first flight, so I decided to switch to the fifth row in hopes of keeping an empty seat next to me. More importantly, on the second flight, they had substituted an aircraft with the old configuration…meaning the old first class seats upstairs were available as business class! It let me select one, and I hoped it would hold!

Check-in was remarkably easy, and the lines for immigration and security were reasonably short as well. Security wasn’t quite sure how to deal with my arm being in a sling, so decided to do the typical Indian thing and make it as much of an absolute bureaucratic nightmare as it could be. Go through metal detector, get metal detected again by hand. Have the sling swabbed for explosives. Write the details of my passport in three separate ledgers along with the time and details, etc etc, but finally I was free to try and find the lounge.

The lounge tonight was the Travel Club Lounge, which is also a Priority Pass lounge. I wondered why Lufthansa didn’t use the Air India lounge since they’re both Star Alliance, but one peek inside it looked pretty grim. The Travel Club Lounge was absolutely packed to the point it was hard to find a seat (and impossible to find an outlet) but it was cool enough. The Malaysia Airlines flight began boarding soon after I arrived, so that helped the lounge empty out just enough to be reasonable.

There was a buffet that everyone seemed to be avoiding, but the bar was quite popular. Most everyone was drinking scotch on the rocks, and going back for serving upon serving, but the strangest thing was the lounge had absolutely no wine at all – sparkling or non. I settled for a few last bottles of Kingfisher, before heading to the gate. Fifteen minutes before scheduled boarding it was already approaching chaos in the gate area, so I decided to use the sling to my advantage and fight for priority boarding. Unfortunately, I had more than a little competition tonight:

After being told by one agent that I was “not disabled enough” another agent very kindly escorted me to the front of the boarding zone, and let me board first. Points to her! …well, not exactly first, but somewhere in the middle of the 50+ wheelchair scrum:

The agent who had checked me in greeted me at the door to the plane, and with a big smile said “you look like you need to be comfortable, I managed to reserve the seat next to you” – wow, this was going to be a good flight…I hoped!

Lufthansa flight 759
Chennai, India (MAA) to Frankfurt, Germany (FRA)
Depart 01:50, Arrive 8:30, Flight Time: 10:10
Airbus A340-300, Registration D-AIGY, Manufactured 2000, Seat 5D

Flight attendants were great, and hurried right over when they saw the shoulder, and were more than happy to help lift my bags into the overhead for me…and bring me a glass of wine!

Two seats to myself, it promised to be a good flight…

With a very late night departure I was curious what the menu would be, and as I suspected it was a snack followed by breakfast before arrival…it didn’t look too appetizing once again, and I suspected Lufthansa has contracted catering out to either IAMS or Purina lately…

…but hey, I had two seats, and the wine and cashews arrived moments after takeoff. This crew was clearly going to let us get as much sleep as possible:

The Fancy Feast chicken and Linguini tasted about as good as it looked, and I ate the chicken and peppers and that was all. Oh, and the dessert of course…and the poor pretzel roll which didn’t even get its own plate:

…at least the sleep-aid was in plentiful refill:

Fell asleep shortly after dinner, and managed to sleep almost eight straight hours. I will continue to love westbound redeyes, it was fantastic!

…which is more than I can say for the breakfast. The fruit was dry and sad, and I could only manage a couple of bites of the egg. At least the muesli was pretty tasty.

So overall, the seat was below average, but I’ll give it above average because I had two. The crew was great and helpful, and very friendly, and the food was some of the worst I’ve ever had on Lufthansa. But, at the end of the day, on a flight like this I want somewhere comfortable to sleep and don’t expect a flying restaurant, so give me cool, quiet, and comfortable with adequate space and wine, and I’m pretty darn happy. Overall, it was a good flight.

Landed, through immigration, and off to Starbucks for my usual triple iced espresso. But, then back through immigration, to the lounge for a shower, and some breakfast. Hey, it’s afternoon somewhere!

Wasn’t a long layover, but fortunately the gate was only two down from the lounge, so managed to linger a bit longer. The boarding area was just as chaotic as the flight from India, mainly because all of the Africa and India flights connect to this one…and I think half of Africa and India was on this plane. Again, I used the sling to push my way to the front, and was soon on board. It took me several years of travel in the developing world to get used to doing it, but I’m finally comfortable doing as everyone else does and pushing to make sure that I don’t get trampled and taken advantage of.

Lufthansa flight 758
Frankfurt, Germany (FRA) to Washington DC, Dulles (IAD)
Depart 10:45, Arrive 13:25, Flight Time: 8:40
Boeing 747-400, Registration D-ABVM, Manufactured 1998, Seat 83H

Got upstairs, and SCORE! It was the old configuration, and I’d scored a first class seat. Even better, only four people were smart enough to move upstairs, so the cabin was only half full!

…business class service, but hey, with one flight attendant for four people it was a pretty sweet deal!

I wasn’t going to complain at all!

…even the menu looked almost promising!

More bubbles after takeoff, and the now-familiar cashews in a bag:

The duck starter was actually pretty tasty, despite the tiny portion:

But oh dear, the tenderloin of beef and braised beef cheek. Catering by Purina strikes again, and I ended up sending it back mostly uneaten. I think this is the last time I give Lufthansa a chance to cook beef in business class. It just doesn’t work.

The cheese and dessert more than made up for it, however, and I might have had two servings of cheese 😉

…and after a few glasses of wine crawled out of the seat, and onto the adjoining bed, and crashed for several very comfortable hours.

The pre-arrival chicken stew and salad was kinda odd, but it came with pretzel and riesling, so wasn’t all bad. I have to say, on previous trips I’ve been very happy with Lufthansa catering, but this trip was one hot mess after another. To the point I’ll probably eat before flying Lufthansa business next time, and just enjoy some cheese and dessert along with a bit of wine.

Landed just slightly behind schedule at Washington Dulles, and the trip was over. No checked baggage, so into an Uber and home barely 30 minutes after landing thanks to Global Entry. Despite the disappointing food the amount of space I had on both flights was amazing, and it was a great flight experience thanks to the crews!

Sites of Chennai, India

Attractions, Chennai 2015, India No Responses »

Jul 272015

I was in India for a total of 12 days, but between work, recovering from jetlag, etc, I really only had two days to do any sightseeing. I spent one afternoon going around Chennai seeing temples and such, and the other I just relaxed around the hotel, being absolutely exhausted from long work days. A few sites/thoughts from the time not spent at the client site…

Decided the easiest way to see a fair number of sites in a short time was to give Uber a try. Was a piece of cake and worked flawlessly, and the driver ended up waiting at each site since it was easier than driving around looking for more fares. Our first stop was the Parthasarathy Temple. Parthasarathy is an eighth century temple dedicated to Krishna and the name Parthasarathy, in Sanskrit means the ‘charioteer of Arjuna’ referring to Krishna’s role as a charioteer to Arjuna in the epic story Mahabaratha. The coolest part of the temple are all the orante and colourful carvings that made up the structure:

…and we ran into our first random cow at the temple, just hanging out.

Small temple in a moat next to the main temple:

Our Uber was still waiting for us, and we set off next for Kapaleeswarar Temple. Kapaleeswarar is a temple to the Hindu god Shiva, and was built in the seventh century, although the current buildings are thought to date to the 1600s or so. According to Wikipedia “The temple has numerous shrines, with those of Kapaleeshwarar and Karpagambal being the most prominent…The temple’s name is derived from the words kapalam (head) and eeshwarar an alias of Shiva. According to the Puranas, during the meeting of Brahma and Shiva at top of Mount Kailash Brahma failed to show the due respect to Shiva. Due to this, Shiva plucked of one of Brahma’s heads (kapalams). In an act of penance, Brahma came down to the site of Mylapore and installed a Lingam to please Shiva.”

The 120 foot gopuram (entrance gate) was built around 1906, so many parts of the structure are actually quite a bit newer:

Near the temple were all kinds of shops selling fruits, silver, gold, and trinkets:

…as well as another small temple in a moat

We wandered the streets near the temples a bit longer, before we couldn’t take the 105F heat any longer and headed back to the hotel. Some other random sites from the two weeks. Random reminder in a restroom:

…I couldn’t tell if a “red dot sale” was a clever play on words, or…

Who doesn’t want to shop at Jesus Fine Arts?

…or for that matter, perhaps you’re Hindu and prefer Ganesh Electronics?

…the mix of old and new, ancient and modern, is one of the things that makes India so fascinating, combined with the chaotic pace of things.

…when you only have one helmet…and forget about seatbelts…

Unfortunately, I didn’t get all that many pictures. It was pretty much nonstop work, and when it wasn’t work it was preparing from work, being exhausted from work, or being exhausted from being only four weeks post-rotator cuff surgery. All things considered, the trip went quite well, and had it been my first trip to India I might have made more of an effort to get out and explore a bit more, but it was my seventh trip and second to Chennai, so being injured the motivation was a bit less.

Next up, and finally, the flight back to DC on Lufthansa.

Hotels in Chennai, India

Chennai 2015, hotels, India, Restaurants No Responses »

Jul 242015

I was in Chennai a total of 12 nights, and because I was getting a bit behind on requalifying for Starwood Platinum status this year, I figured I’d use the opportunity (especially weekends) to do a bit of hotel hopping. I usually end up with a few throwaway stays at local DC properties every year to requalify, and at around $75 each it adds up. So, I figured I’d deal with a bit of inconvenience in Chennai in order to save myself that cash.

There are five SPG properties in Chennai, and the closest to my client was the Aloft. Now, I read that it’s perfectly nice, clean, etc, but it would only save me about 20 minutes on the drive and I’d really prefer a full service option. I knew the ITC Grand Chola was the nicest of the options, and it was a tossup between the Le Meridien and the Westin. I probably should have tried all three, but ended up doing just the ITC and the Westin. The stay pattern was 1 night Westin, 4 nights ITC, 1 night Westin, 1 night ITC, 1 night Westin, 4 nights ITC. I did it this way because the first night was a weekend, so changing mid-day was easy. Then, I gave myself four days to settle in, before a few mid-week and weekend changes and finally the last several at the ITC so I could do any needed laundry/etc.

Three of the changes were on weekends, so were very easy to do, but three were on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday mornings. My pattern was to get up early, grab a quick breakfast, change hotels (they’re a 10 minute drive apart), check in if possible, then head to the client. Big credit to both hotels, all three mornings they let me check in approximately 7/7:15am for the day. They were absolutely fantastic on this front.

I’ll compare the two properties on six metrics: room, transportation, lounge, restaurants/food, service, platinum benefits, and finally value for price.

Room: all three times I stayed at the Westin I was given a room on the executive floor. They were standard sized rooms, and as far as I could tell the amenities weren’t upgraded. The air conditioning worked well, the rooms were all very clean, and they had everything that was needed and expected. Additionally, they always stopped by a few times a day offering more bottles of water, as well as turn-down service.

At the ITC Grand Chola, my first two stays I was upgraded to a Towers room. The room was huge, probably about 550 square feet total. It had a huge washroom, with separate shower and toilet cubicles. There was also a standalone tub, as well as drawers and changing area. The AC actually got frigid, and perhaps the coolest part was that everything from lights to AC to TV was controlled by an in-room iPad. On my third stay, I asked about a suite upgrade. They said it would likely be possible, but I would have to pay the rather significant difference in the luxury tax. Luxury tax is assessed on the rack rate of the room, and because of this they usually don’t do suite upgrades. After reminding them that my corporate rate had luxury tax waived they agreed and upgraded me to a rather huge suite. I’ll let the pics do the talking, but I’d estimate it was 800-900 square feet minimum. It made for a very comfortable four nights!

Clear edge in room goes to the ITC Grand Chola.

View from the executive floor at the Westin:

Suite at the ITC Grand Chola:

Transportation: I only used transportation from the ITC Grand Chola twice, and that was the hotel car to the Westin and later to the airport. It was slightly overpriced, but plenty comfortable. The nice thing about the Westin was that my corporate rate had free airport transfers included. The pick up at the airport on my arrival was perfect, and they had cold towels and water waiting in the car which was much appreciated in the Chennai humidity. For my later stays, they arranged to pick me up at the ITC Grand Chola instead, and at the end of the stay transfer me to the ITC Grand Chola. Quite nice of them considering the rate specifies airport transfers and not just “transfers”. Other than that, I had a driver to my client, and used Uber for personal transit which also worked equally well from both hotels.

Clear edge on transportation to the Westin.

Lounge: So, my complaint on the lounges isn’t the fault of the hotels. Tamil Nadu state where Chennai is located was in the middle of local elections, and thus declared a number of “dry days” where alcohol couldn’t be served. At one point, it was three days in a row. To the credit of the lounges, they still offered snacks and non-alcoholic drinks.

The Westin had a proper lounge on the executive floor that was open from 1830-2130 every day, and the drinks flowed freely. Very freely. Many of the residents were in the hotel for weeks at a time, and had bonded, and it was expat drinking hour every night in the lounge. Mixed drinks, wine, beer, you name it, and plentiful snacks to the point you could easily make a meal out of them….and if you stayed until 2130 you probably would!

The lounge at the ITC was located in the lobby of the hotel, and available to all Towers and ITC One guests. Not sure what ITC One is, but being in the towers I got to use it. They had four hot snacks and a few cold snacks which rotated (seemed to be the same menu every monday, same every tuesday, etc), as well as plenty of free-flowing drinks and super friendly staff. The happy hour was shorter – only 1800-2000, but they got really generous the last 15 minutes and I ended up with 2-3 drinks sitting around several times.

I would have to declare the lounges a tie – both had plentiful snacks and drinks as well as super friendly staff.

Restaurants/Food: At the Westin I had breakfast every day, as well as room service dinner one night. The breakfast was plentiful, with lots of breads and danishes, some fruit and other options, as well as eggs, pancakes, etc cooked to order. There was also proper American bacon, which they would cook well done and crispy upon request. There were also several warm Indian options as well. The coffee was also good, with espresso drinks also on offer. I had a sandwich from room service one night which was good and reasonably-priced, and delivered quickly and warm. One nice thing to note, the Westin is also a short walk to the Phoenix Marketcity Mall, which has several good food options including Nandos, California Pizza Kitchen, Hard Rock Cafe, Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts should you get sick of hotel fare.

The breakfast at the ITC Grand Chola was simply amazing. Eggs made to order, tons of breads, pastries, etc, and an amazing assortment of fresh fruit every day. There was also a full Indian options hot bar, etc. By my second day they had my coffee preferences down, and I didn’t even have to ask and a double espresso would show up within two minutes of sitting down. There were also six to seven restaurants, but most evenings I was too tired to bother. Plus, they were a bit high priced, although delicious. I had dinner one night at their north Indian restaurant Peshwari, and it was a set menu for one and absolutely delicious. Pics below. I also ate in their cafe several times, which had really good sandwiches for both breakfast and lunch. It was also slightly overpriced, but made an easier light meal than the sitdown restaurants.

Slight edge goes to the ITC for a slightly better breakfast, and tons of great restaurant options.

Westin Breakfast:

Breakfast/buffet restaurant from above at the ITC:

Dinner at Peshwari at the ITC Grand Chola:

Amazing fruit for breakfast at the ITC Grand Chola:

Service/Common Areas: Can’t say enough here about both properties, because service was uniformly fantastic. Staff would remember you after one interaction, and upon returning after hotel hopping I was warming welcome back. I was doing PT for the shoulder surgery throughout the stay, and requested an umbrella from the concierge to help with exercises. Both hotels remembered, and brought me one on my second stay without asking. People genuinely seemed to love their jobs and care that you enjoyed your stay.

Both hotels win here in a big way.

Lobby in the Grand Chola:

Group of eye surgeons having a conference at the hotel taking a group pic, lol:

Poolside at the ITC Grand Chola:

Platinum benefits: At the Westin, got an upgrade to the executive floor, lounge access, happy hour, and a coupon for a free drink (beer or wine) via either room service or in the restaurants and bars. I chose a glass of wine sent to my room both stays, and the third there was no love because it was a “dry day.” At the ITC, I was upgraded to a Towers Room twice, and the third time to a huge suite. This included lounge access.

Slightly edge in this category to the ITC, only because I was consistently upgraded to a larger room.

Welcome flowers and sweets in the suite at the ITC Grand Chola:

Value for Price: Both hotels were the exact same price with my corporate rate. Since I rated the ITC Grand Chola higher in most categories, I’d consider it an excellent value for price. For the Westin, I’d still call it a very good value for price.

Hope these are helpful!

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