Holiday Inn Express - San Diego

After leaving the Four Points, I headed over to the Holiday Inn Express for a one night stay. The Holiday Inn

Express is a seven block walk uphill - it was a true work-out. 

I arrived at the hotel slightly before Noon and was told that my room was not ready. I was asked to come back after 3 pm, but asked if I would like to lock-up my luggage. I kindly accepted.

I left to find brunch and start my food adventure (more about that this weekend).

I arrived back at 5 pm. The front desk attendant was upbeat and warming. I was given a room on the third floor, the top floor. My room was the closest to the elevator which I thought meant noise all night. That was not that case, I did not hear the elevator once.

As I entered the room, I was shocked by the size. It had a king bed on one end of the room:

The other side was a living area with a coach, a desk and dresser with a TV on it:

This is where I found a bottle of water and a bag of cookies:

And a card:

This small step of the card made me feel special and shows a major difference between my stay at Four Points and the Holiday Inn Express. At the time, I did not have status in either Priority Club or Starwood. However, the staff at the Holiday Inn took the time to leave a note. It is the small things that make a hotel experience amazing. 

The bathroom was small, but sufficient for one person. If I was traveling with another person, the two of us could not be in the bathroom at the same time.

The toiletries were nothing to write home about (but I will anyway):

My room had a long balcony

I didn't sit out there, because the view was of other buildings:

The hotel had a small bar area, but I never saw a bartender or anyone hanging around there

Breakfast was included in the price of the room. I had a hard time finding where breakfast was served. After asking, I learned it was downstairs. Wait! This place has a downstairs. In deed it did:

The dining room could hold about 50 to 75 people. The breakfast bar was small and could get crowded:

Here is a sampling of food:

                                      

The food selection gave you a variety of choices. The staff was nice enough to give me a doggy bag for me to take a sandwich for my flight home.

I received another card from the staff in my bill thanking me for my stay.

Would I stay at this hotel? Yes. The property may have worn down, pretty far from downtown, but the staff made me feel like home. There small little efforts made the whole difference.

Four Points San Diego

I took the Super Shuttle from the Airport to the Four Points Hotel. The driver had not heard of the Four Points hotel (not a good sign), but knew the intersection section. (I learned from Heels First Travel, who stayed the night before me, that the hotel was formerly a Holiday Inn).

The hotel is located directly off I-5 South and about a 15 minute downhill walk to the center of San Diego Downtown. One thing I always forgot, if its a 15 minute downhill walk, its a 20 minute uphill walk on the return.

I arrived at Noon. The front desk was easy to find, as it was less than three steps from the front door. The staff was pleasant and acknowledged that I was using points for my stay. The cost was 3,500, which I earned from that Atlanta's bathroom experience. I was given a room on the 4th floor. As you can see the above, the hotel is an octangle - so the rooms are angled weird.

The room was a good size for one person. It had a king bed, a sitting chair, and a dresser with a TV on top.

What the room did not have was outlets. What is it about hotels and the lack of outlets in rooms.

The room came with free internet and a bottle of water:

One of things I did like was the packaging of the Four Points brand. The soap and shampoo had sleek packaging:

Similarly, there was a tasteful level of humor throughout the hotel, like the door hanger:

As stated previously, I wanted to work-out, so I set off for the gym. The hotel directory in the room stated the gym was on P1. I took the elevator to P1 and followed the signs to the gym, which took me across the parking lot. I arrived at a locked gate that was unlocked by my room key. The gate led to some stairs that brought me to the pool:

The gym is off to the left of the pool. The gym has a treadmill, stationary bike, elliptical, free weights, towels and headphones.

I was lucky to have the gym to myself, so I turned on the main TV to college football without having to use headphones. The gym lack ventilation, so I could only imagine what the gym would feel like with multiple people working out at the same time. The other weird thing about the gym are the windows to the right. The windows lead out to the parking garage. People would walk by on their way to their cars watching me sweat like a hog.

After my workout and swim, I learned that there is another gate that leads to the front entrance of the hotel. A lot easier than my walk to the gym.

The lobby of the hotel is small. To the left is an area to sit and one computer guest could use:

To the right is a cafe that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. It was open close to midnight on that particular Saturday night.

My only complaint was the staff. They seemed indifferent and did not know the city very well. I asked the front desk attendant if she knew where the closest Best Buy may be found and she did not know. Ok, fair! But she did not take the time to look either. Then I asked her and the other attendant where the closest tram stop was. They kindly pulled out a map and highlight the nearest tram stop. The problem was that the particular tram stop has been closed since early August, almost 6 weeks early.

Overall, the hotel was good. But I won't stay here again if I visit San Diego. The location is bad for a person without a car, the staff is indifferent and the hotel is aging.

The Ultimate Upgrade

Earlier this year, I decided 2012 was the year of the “upgrade.” Not just my travel, but my entire life. I was going to upgrade my wardrobe (I still had clothing I purchased freshman year of college circa 2003), my job, my electronics etc. All aspects of life were going to be upgrade.

One part that I was neglecting was my health and body.  I never really paid much attention to what I ate or my lack of regular physical exercise. That needed to change! If I was going to upgrade the physical objects in my life, I should spend equal focus and money upgrading the most important asset, my health.

Around July, I made the decision to work-out at the gym or run outside a minimum of 5 times a week. Yes, a big jump from zero days a week, but I needed to go all-in or I would fall off the horse. Since July, I am averaging about 4.5 days a week and loving every moment of it.

Back to the purpose of this post, this weekend’s trip to San Diego caused me to have a small problem: When was I going to work out? I was going to be gone 3 days, Saturday through Monday. If I skipped working out all three days, I would have had to work out five days straight this week, which my body can’t handle.

Since I just got serious about exercising two months ago, I never paid much attention to if a hotel had a gym before booking. Luckily, the Four Points had a small gym with a stationary bike, treadmill, elliptical and free weights. However, the Holiday Inn Express did not have a gym. What would have happen if neither had a gym?

Yes, I could have run outside, but I was nervous not knowing the neighborhood. In addition, I get lost very easy. Twice on this trip, I had to take a cab to my hotel as I got lost walking back to my hotel. Once I found myself by the city jail at 11pm. Not the best place to be around that time of night.

In the end, I worked out Saturday afternoon, after arriving, and Sunday morning before switching hotels. In both instances, I killed about 90 minutes between stretching, working out and showering afterwards. Luckily, on this trip, I had no agenda, but what if I did. Could I justify spending 90 minutes a day on vacation to work out?

Is there a balance? Can I explore a new destination, eat what I want and exercise all while on vacation? It’s a question I am going to need to think about before planning my trips.

In the future, I am going to have to pay more attention to if a hotel has a gym in choosing my travel. If a gym is not an option, then I am going to have to use Mapmyrun.com to pick a route before my trip begins. If I am going to succeed in upgrading my health, its going to take dedication and persistence especially when away from Washington, DC.

Do you work out when on vacation? What do you do if a hotel does not have a gym/?

Good, Bad, & Ugly - San Diego Trip

Now that I am back on the east coast, I wanted to give you an update of the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of my trip to San Diego. A full trip report will follow with in the next two weeks.

In reverse order:

The Ugly

• No water put on the plane on the outgoing flight
• No circulated air in the gym @ Four Points Hotel
• Camera phone pictures ( I'll let you decide!!!)
• Bacon Maple Smores Bar

The Bad

• Seersucker Restaurant
• Staff @ Four Points Hotel sending me to a trolley stop closed over 6 weeks ago
• Walking 4 miles in flip-flops
• No gym @ Holiday Inn Express
• Hot weather and locals complaining of the hot weather (It was 91)
• Being asked to gate check my bag due to space issues, but having the bin above my seat empty 

The Good

• Empty middle seat on the outgoing flight
• Staff @ Holiday Inn Express
• San Diego State University v. San Jose State University Football Game
• Trolley System
• Fried Pickles wrapper in Prosciutto stuffed with cream cheese
• The Movie, "Big Miracle" 

Overall, the trip was amazing and exactly what I needed.

 I did nothing major and loved every moment of it!!!

Time To Live Up To The Name of the Blog – Kind of

Chris and I named this blog “Do It for the Points,” but we haven’t really discussed doing anything for the sole purpose of the earning points. I am going to change that. I hope this to be the first of many posts like this:

One day at work I received a text message from Chris:

Chris:               Heads up. US Air is running temporary discount to San Diego for 130RT from DCA on Sept. 18-26. But
                          there are only 30 per segment at that price. I can’t go but figured you might be interested. It’s until 4pm
                          today or until they sell. Out

Me:                  Yeah…I have sent these. Haven’t seen one that has interested me yet. Thanks for the heads up.

Chris:               No worries

I then went back to work. In the back of my head, the point section of my brain was saying “Do it, Do It.”
Next thing I know, I was on US Airways website to see what was still available. 

I then texted Chris back:

Me: I have a flight ready to go…Sat to Mon…. Do I pull the trigger?

Chris: Yes, do it. It would be fun

Chris: You have 24 hours to cancel I believe

I wait five minutes and then the addict me had me taking out my credit card to book the trip. Then, I had to call the boss to ask for the day off. I always do that, book first and beg the boss later for time off. (One day that is going to bite me in the ass).

Back to the trip, every time I tell people about this trip the conversation goes something like this:

Who you going to San Diego with?  Me, myself and I - all on one ticket!

Oh, are you going to visit someone? Nope

Are you going to see something specific? No not really

Where are you staying?  No, idea.

Oh, ok, umm... can I ask why you are going then? Well, I got this great fare of $130 and I will earn about 9000 miles (4500 actual miles flown, plus US Airways was having a promotion (expired now) that doubled miles for flights to and from DCA)

The truth is I have no plan for San Diego.  If people have suggestions of things to do or places to eat, please leave me a comment, I would really appreciate it.

In regards to where I am staying, I have book two nights using Starwood points, but that was just to lock something down. I have a feeling I am going to cancel them and probably pay to stay at two different hotels (aka hotel mattress hopping). I’ll deal with that next week.

So, I am doing the San Diego trip for the points!!!