An occasional feature of UMTravels are tips and tricks for maximizing your award potential. Today’s topic: Amtrak and their Guest Rewards Program.

The basics of the program are: Earn 2 points per $1 spent on your Amtrak travel. Unless you travel a lot on Amtrak it’s going to take you a long time to even get a coach ticket (one-way) on the Amtrak Cascades (1,500 points, 2,000 points for a Business Class seat).

But as we all know with any Frequent Traveler program, it’s hotels (Choice, Hilton, Wyndham Brands, La Quinta, Starwood), cars (Budget, Enterprise, Hertz), and a handful of oddball partners.

And then there is the credit card tie-in, which at the moment Amtrak Guest Rewards doesn’t have. The DID have a MasterCard (from Chase) with a 12,000 sign up bonus if you spent $500 in three months – a small sign-up bonus, but a TINY spend compared so some cards I’ve had ($5000 in three months). I did query Guest Rewards about what happened to their credit card and received this response (in under 48 hours which for Amtrak Customer Service is pretty good):

Dear Mark Souder,

Thank you for contacting the Amtrak Guest Rewards Service Center.

We apologize, however we are no longer accepting applications for the Amtrak Guest Rewards MasterCard credit card from Chase at this time. More information regarding the Amtrak Guest Rewards credit card will be shared in the near future.

We hope this information is of assistance and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Sincerely,

Ashley
Amtrak Guest Rewards Service Center

So, it sounds like there is something coming down the pike – and I will most likely sign up for it assuming the enrollment bonus/spend is decent.

There is one credit card that does offer a way to get Amtrak Guest Rewards points – the Chase Ink card offers a 1-1 transfer with 40,000-60,000 miles sign up bonuses (also 1-1 transfer with United and some hotel chains). When I signed up for this card I got 60,000 Chase Points (after the aforementioned $5,000 spend in three months).

Another way to get big chunks of Amtrak Guest Rewards point – you can purchase them outright for $0.0275 apiece ($275 for 10,000 – the yearly [calendar] maximum), but wait for sales where you get up to a 30$ bonus bringing the cost down to $0.021.

WHY would you want all these points? – well, it you like to travel by train in either Roomettes or Bedrooms, you know how expensive those rooms can be. A NOLA-CHI-LAX-SEA two-zone trip (20,000 point) that I took last summer would have been about $1445 six months out (value = $0.0723 per point), $1748 two months out (value = $0.0874), or $2092 (value = $0.1046) a month out. What I didn’t realize when I booked these first couple of trips is that the rewards are for TWO people (and all their meals). The point values that I’ve used are for ONE PERSON. Add several hundred dollars for the second persons rail ticket (sleeper is the same no matter how many people), so the saving are even bigger if you want to travel with someone else. A good example would be that NOLA-CHI-LAX-SEA Two-Zone trip which for two people six months out would be around $1700. Another nice thing about Amtrak is that they have VERY liberal change/cancel policies — as long as its 48 hours before the trip, you can change the days or just get a refund.

Having done trips with two people in a Roomette….it’s tight. A Bedroom unit is a better choice, but be prepared to have the majority of your luggage on the luggage racks by the boarding door.

As an added bonus, sleeping car passengers are allowed by bring their own alcohol (the porter will provide you with a bucket of ice – just remember to tip at the end of the trip, though my buddy Dwight always tips at the beginning for guaranteed service) and on many routes they will open wine you brought in the dining car as well – though that varies.

This is the rewards table for sleepers (I should ask if they have a Family Room redemption code):

The sweet spots that I see on the reward chart are the 1-Zone Bedroom at 25,000 and the 2-Zone Roomette at 20,000, especially if you are trying to maximize the distance/days of your trip.

To give you an idea of the sort of routings you can get within or between zones, here is the Amtrak Zone Chart:

Redemption Travel by Zone

• A travel itinerary for a single redemption must follow a published route between the initial origin and final destination. A published route is an itinerary automatically generated by Amtrak’s reservation system.
• A single zone entry or zone exit comprises usage of one zone in the redemption, irrespective of prior or future travel in that zone as part of the same itinerary.
• Where a desired itinerary does not exist as a single published route, the trip must be constructed as a series of published routes using multiple redemptions.
• Circle trips are not permitted using a single redemption. A circle trip is a travel itinerary comprised of a series of segments that exit, and later re-enter, the same zone.
• An Amtrak station located on a zone boundary may be considered part of either bordering zone, if it is the initial origin or final destination for the redemption.
• Where a published route requires a connection between two segments, a later connecting service may be chosen as long as it departs on the same date as the connection originally offered.
• Where a published route contains a valid connection of 23 hours, 30 minutes or less, an overnight stay in the connecting city is permitted at the passenger’s own expense. (Example: one-way travel from New York to El Paso, where the published route requires an overnight connection in New Orleans, would be permitted on the same redemption.)
  • Where sleeping car service is not offered for the entire published route, and where an alternate direct routing exists with sleeping car service on all segments, the alternate routing is allowed. (Example: Denver, CO to Los Angeles, CA on Trains 5 and 11)

And there are a few Blackout dates around Christmas, Thanksgiving and other longs weekends, but it’s not that bad.

One-Zone routes in a Roomette that would work are (with a June departure):

• ABQ-SEA via LAX (3 hour layover with lounge access) Retail $1100 [.073 value]
  Includes: Dinner, Early Breakfast (to LAX) , Lunch, Dinner, Breakfast, Lunch, Early Dinner (to SEA)
• ATL-DEN via WAS (6 hour layover with lounge access) and CHI (5 hour layover with lounge access) Retail $1300 (for two) [.087 value]
  Includes: Breakfast (to WAS), Dinner, Breakfast (to CHI), Dinner, Breakfast (to DEN)
• NOLA-DEN via CHI (5 hour layover with lounge access), Retail $1100 [.073 value]

$1900 Retail ABQ-SEA Bedroom (and 25,000 points) [.076 value]

$2000 Retail ATL-DEN Bedroom (and 25,000 points) [.08 value]

And interesting concept is that two people buy the maximum amount of miles (2 @ $275) and then split the cost of transferring one set of miles to the other (1 @ $130 for a total of 26,000 miles, which is enough for either a 1-zone Bedroom, or a 2-Zone Roomette for $680 (for the two people) which is MUCH cheaper than retail. Of course, you can only do this once a year (up to 10,000 miles plus whatever bonus they offer), which is calendar year.

If you were to think a 2-Zone reward (20,000 points in a Roomette, 40,000 points in a Bedroom), you could do the 5-day long trip I did last year…

• NOLA–CHI (City of New Orleans)
• CHI-LAX (Southwest Chief)
• LAX-SEA (Coast Starlight)

Rack rate (retail) is $2377 in the Roomette or $3543 in a bedroom. You could do NOLA-CHI-SEA (Empire Builder), but I was trying to maximize train time for the same number of points. I did it in a Roomette and got a value of .11885 from points I purchased for .021 — now THAT is a return on investment assuming you want to spend five days on the train having someone feed you and make your bed.

Or another would be Fort Lauderdale to Denver (I’m only thinking of Alaska Airlines cities), that comes in between $1100 and $1600 depending on whether you transit via NYC or DC.

All the retail numbers are for trips in late June, assuming there are rooms, the closer you are to travel dates means an even bigger savings.

Every time I look at the map I come up with new ones, like Fort Lauderdale to Albuquerque (Two-Zone) – that would be fun…

Here are some photos of what Roomettes and Bedrooms look like. Roomette first…

And with the bed down (or you could sleep in the top bunk):

Or the Bedroom units:

Well, that’s it for my tips and tricks on Amtrak Guest Rewards earning and redeeming. Stay tuned for an update once they bring out a new credit card offer.

All this pondering has me considering my Birthday Ramble this year…maybe DEN-CHI on the California Zephyr, then the Cardinal to Charlottesville, WV, then the Crescent to New Orleans—four days on the train, in a Roomette. Retail for two: $2706 (or $0.1082 per credit). That would be a two-zone ticket. Then stay a couple of nights at the WorldMark New Orleans. Now to convince Lisa to let me borrow Dan for a week.

[223.4]

Some of you have been following my obsession with Amtrak Guest Rewards and gaming the system. Well, the game is changing as of January 24^th. Here is the current zone system:

Under the new system it will be an almost complete rip-off of the Delta SkyPesos program. It’s all about the dollars you spend and how you spend them, including no points earning for slightly discounted tickets:

Q: What fares do not qualify for point earning and redeeming?

A: As is the case today, members may not earn or redeem points for Amtrak 7000-series Thruway services or the Canadian portion of joint Amtrak/VIA Rail Canada services. Additionally, discounted Amtrak fares (including Saver Fares, AAA discount, Senior Fares etc.) will not be redeemable.

Currently Saver Fares aren’t eligible for the AAA discount, but at least you still get the dollar spend – pity my rail buddies like Solus+ who gets the senior discount (which is the same as the AAA discount). So, if we look at some older posts you can see lots of examples, but I’ll use my favorite trip as an example:

Currently this is considered at Two Zone Award Ticket costing 20,000 miles in a Roomette and 30,000 in a bedroom. These tickets are for two passengers including all your meals and access to the Metropolitan Lounges in (on this itinerary), New Orleans, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland.

Under the new scheme this routing would be…

Some notes on the chart above. Three months out from today is mid-December (mid-season, pre-Christmas), 6-months out is mid-March (low-season), 9-months out is mid-June (high-season).

As you can see, under the new “scheme” points have been devalued by 2-3 times.

What to do about it?

• If you haven’t bought your maximum number of points this year (15,000), top up that account and book your trip before January 24^th, 2016. Current costs are .04 each, but sometimes they have bonus points sales (up to 30% extra points), though I doubt that is likely to happen again before they change the system.
• Get the new Amtrak Chase MasterCard and pray that your 20,000 points bonus (after spending $1000 in the first three months) hit your account before January 24^th, 2016 and book that trip (and don’t change it) under the old rules. They say 8-12 weeks posting time so spend that thousand dollars quick.
• Take the train this fall between 9/21/2015 and 11/21/2015 and register for the Double Points Promotion.

Looks like I’m going to bank as many miles as I can over the next couple of months, and book as many trips as I can before the middle of January since once the new program is in place, that will be the end of my freewheeling days on Amtrak.

And in other news, Amtrak has just released a bunch of new ads to get people to take the long distance trains – the first in 15 years. Maybe there is hope for the system after all. It’s a lifestyle choice, not a dollar choice.

Yesterday was another “train day” – not on the train but dealing with Amtrak.

As it turn out, the routing that I proposed in my earlier post, while a valid “routing”, isn’t a valid “redemption”. Seems that ALL LEGS of the journey must be within a single zone.

The route in question was Denver to New Orleans (for my birthday ramble this year) via Chicago (California Zephyr) and Washington, DC (Capital Limited connecting to The Crescent):

After a longer than usual chat with a couple of Guest Rewards folks (who, in turn, had to check with their supervisors) the above routing would be a two zone (three nights) ticket. To get from Denver to New Orleans using only one zone, the trip would look like this and only be for two nights using the California Zephyr and The City of New Orleans:

That said, if you really wanted to maximize a two-zone (four nights), this, believe it or not, is a legal routing:

But there are other legal routings that would work:

The green line at the top would be the Empire Builder, the blue in the middle would be the California Zephyr and the purple at the bottom would be the Sunset Limited.

Bottom line – my September Birthday Ramble will be two nights in Denver, two nights on the train, five nights in New Orleans.

In other train news – realized that it was Double Points time (they do one in the shoulder season of fall as well). That promotion is good until May 16^th – AND I have a $75 Coupon I need to use for Amtrak travel before October 11, 2015. The coupon is from the snarky letter I wrote about being forced out of my sleeper and onto a bus between Portland and Eugene on my way to Denver last fall. You can see that blog post here:

• Part One (with the bounced part of the trip)
• Part Two
• Part Three

The bottom line was I got a $75 Guest Certificate for the hassle of have to pack up my room, get on a bus, and then set the room up again a couple of hours later. Not terribly happy at the time, but feeling better about it now that I just booked a trip using $74.80 of the $75.00 – the station agent (stopped in when I took Solus+ to catch the train yesterday) asked, “Do you mind eating the 20 cents?” It might have been amusing to get a 20 cent certificate, but I said I was happy just eating it. And the seats are in Business Class (free newspapers and a $3.00 off coupon for some food/booze).

The trip? Olympia to Portland (I’m in Olympia the previous night for an Evergreen event), spend a couple of hours at Powell’s Books or eating oysters at Jakes, then back on the train to Olympia to grab the car and go back to Roxy’s for another sleepover. Nothing like a free trip! AND 300 Amtrak Guest Rewards points.

Well, that’s my Amtrak news for today. Next post will be the much delayed Spring Break Three post.

[225.6]

 

Thanks to an extra car at the house, I was able to drive myself to the train station in Lamy (LMY), and just lock the keys in the truck. VERY convenient.

Lamy used to have a great restaurant, sadly, closed, since Lamy is in the middle of nowhere.

I always show up early – an hour early. But the train is on time!

And soon, I was onboard:

I’m on the lower level in a roomette for the trip to Los Angeles…

Next stop is Albuquerque – where we had about 45 minutes…and time for me to get a hot dog!

Settled in, it’s just watching the countryside rolling by…..

And then it was time for dinner!

I went for the Land and Sea. That would be a steak and a seafood cake:

I always get my dessert to go, because the meals are so big – but about 9PM I need a snack…

The whipped cream looked better an hour ago…then it’s on to cocktails…

Life is hard on the train – especially if you need a smoke break, which I don’t. But nice to have a cocktail on the platform at Flagstaff.

Off to bed as it’s up at 5AM for breakfast and then back to bed before we pull into LA.

And that’s when it all went to shit. Nothing like an email from Amtrak saying…

Our records indicate that you are scheduled to depart on Amtrak train number 14 from Los Angeles, California at 10:10AM on Thursday December 7 and arriving in Seattle (King St. Station), Washington.

That schedule has been cancelled due to a service disruption. There is no alternate service available. To speak to a customer service representative about travel options such as selecting another date or destination call us at 877-231-9448 at your earliest convenience.

We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for being a valued Amtrak customer.

I love the phrase, “There is no alternate service available.”

My response was to go the Sleeping Car Lounge on the second floor of the LA train station – where there is a real person, with real powers. And more importantly, answers.

And the answer was – yes, we will get you there. Bus to Bakersfield, San Joaquin to Emeryville, meet the Coast Starlight and actually get into my bedroom.

Here is a map to show you the route:

Up the middle was my route…not the coastal route to the left. I did get to see the Central Valley – the vegetable basket of America.

But it was on a bus…

Which they actually provided water, chips, snack box, and even a 6-inch sandwich from Subway:

Managed to get an hour or two of sleep before we hooked up with the San Joaquin:

If there is a silver lining to this “service disruption”, it’s that I have a 2+ hour layover in Emeryville which means I have time to have dinner with Mark and Onyx at Los Molés restaurant in Emeryville:

It was an unexpected pleasure – I’ll see the boys in a week or so in Seattle, but always nice for a random visit.

Before I knew it, it was back to the station:

And into my bedroom unit. It was late when I boarded, so the Car Attendant had already made up both beds. I usually go for just the upper, but it was nice to have a four-foot-wide bed to roll around in. And yes, he brought me a bucket of ice:

It’s a little crowded with both beds down.

Much more comfortable with the bed up:

Nothing like a sunrise in the Cascades…

Again, it was up at 6:30, eat breakfast, back to bed. Hard to turn down free meals. But I was up for lunch, where I took a chance on the steamed mussels:

I was pleasantly surprised. I would have used coconut milk, ginger, and lemon root, but for being on a train, it was good. Yes, I’m drinking Merlot with the mussels!

Just before Portland is Oregon Falls, site of an old paper mill I visited in my Microsoft days….

Dinner was even better (though a tad early for me – 5:30, because of our arrival time). On the Coast Starlight, you can dine solo in the Parlour Car (though this one was actually a bi-level café car since the Parlour Car was in the shop). I would have gone back for the steak, but the Braised Lamb Shank is the STAR of this route.

Train arrived early – I was home by 8:30.

Time to relax, and start the process of trying to get some of the points back for the bedroom that I didn’t have for 24 hours.

• Call One – to the number on the “you are screwed” notice. Sorry, you completed the trip, and since it was on points, you need to contact Amtrak Guest Rewards.
• Call Two – Amtrak Guest Rewards, you need to contact Customer Relations, which is only open Monday-Friday 6am to 9pm Monday to Friday, and no, there isn’t a direct line. Call 1-800-USA-RAIL, punch 0 a couple of times, ask the agent to transfer you.
• Call Three – wait for Monday to roll around, get through to Guest Relations, file a claim to which they say they will email off. NO direct resolution.

At least they were quick – the next day 7,000 points were back in my account – which I think is a little shy of what I’m deserves for 1/3 of time in a sleeper that cost me 33,776 points. Might need to bitch some more.

That said, the “service disruption” was serious – it was the California wild fires that shut down the coastal route. I actually found a video clip shot from the tracks that the train runs – and the flames are close, and days later, I figured out how to embed the video from USA Today:

That’s it for this adventure – only one more for the year, but I’ll do a yearly travel update before the end of the year.

[223.4]

For all the posts on my blog, CLICK HERE.

In some ways this section of the trip excites me almost as much as checking off Vietnam from my “bucket list”. It will be my first ride on an Airbus 380-800 – and it’s upstairs (the A380 is a two-level [three with cargo] passenger aircraft).

But first I need to get to the airport (thanks BART!), through security and into the lounge. And that’s the first snag of the trip – turns out my Vietnam Visa is for next week, not this week. Luckily I have copies of the “invitations” from the tour company but it’s a 30-minute delay in getting me checked in – at least I have a fair warning that I’ll need to apply at the airport when I finally get to Saigon – and yes, I call it Saigon rather than Ho Chi Min City because the airport code is still SGN.

Though security in the mid-fast lane (Premium Customers – Business/First/Gold) but not TSA-Pre – so it’s shoes off, laptop and liquids out, all the shit out my pocket for the body scanner.

But once past the gauntlet, it’s off to the Emirates Lounge – wish Alaska was using this as their temporary lounge rather than Cathy Pacific’s Lounge in the same terminal – and it’s nothing to sneeze at. Link here to posts about that lounge.

Nice to be able to have a nice buffet lunch on the ground before eating on board:

Pigletté and I started with a little champagne and some nibbles:

Veuve Cliquot for Pigletté, Jack and Diet 7-up for me – we split the Ahi tuna tartare salad and went back for the shrimp and the potato lobster cakes:

Nice facilities here in the lounge:

Like a help yourself bar…

And even a shower room in the bathroom if you are sticky…

Rough life – and about to get rougher since San Francisco to Dubai is a 16-hour flight, but at least the seat is comfortable, and look, more Veuve Cliquot:

Here are what the seats across the aisle (would those be the Republican seats?) look like:

And of the larger section of Business Class…

I’m in seat 23J – though for the flight home I might move to 24K so I don’t have to crawl over the nightstand to get to the aisle. Refer to the seating chart at the beginning of this post for location – I chose the back section of Business because it’s closer to the stand-up bar…

This should give you an idea about the amount of leg room with this seat:

And yes, that’s a 22-inch diagonal touchscreen TV. And then there is the amenities bag filled with nice razors, and Bvlgari products:

Hell, even the toilets on this plane are swanky – I swear it’s heated:

Even the towels are cloth!

But I’m really here for the food…

And the drink…

Espresso and Cointreau (yes, they have an espresso machine built into the galley):

The basically free internet (while watching the Blue Brothers):

Something like 3000 channels of entertainment on their ICE system (this would be the detachable seat side controller for the TV):

And the bed…

Landing in Dubai and getting through customs and immigration (I just had carry-on) was fairly painless other than their “automated” entry system where you scan your passport and stare into the camera once again failed to work, but there was nobody in line in front of me, so no big deal other than the airport itself is HUGE to it was lots of waling to the cab stand.

When I booked my overnight hotel in Dubai I accidently booked the Holiday Inn Express that was further from the airport (hiccup number two in the trip). At least in Dubai the cabs are fairly reasonable – it was about $20 bucks to get into downtown. I would have cancelled and changed to the correct one (I knew about this hiccup before leaving the country) but there was a 3,000 Amtrak Guest Rewards bonus that I would have lost bringing the points total from 4,000 down to 1,000. 4,000 Amtrak Guest Rewards points under the new schedule which goes into force on the 24^th means that is worth $120 worth of Amtrak spendable dollars. Well worth the longer cab ride.

And the room isn’t bad. I left Pigletté in the room while I went for dinner – not sure how a pig would be treated in a Muslim country, guessing not well.

Not a bad room for one night.

Odd thing at the hotel, yes, it had a bar, basically unmarked behind the reception counter, and filled with Arab men smoking cigarettes and drinking.

Off to Saigon in the morning.

[? ? ?]

Well, the plan this week was to be in Bozeman to hopefully hang with the Hockey Player…but that was starting to look doubtful with a recent job change, and a desire on his part to stay firmly rooted in the closet of his Catholic upbringing.

That’s when I start doing the dollar/fun calculations:

• Airfare: $220 (which is about 25% off)
• Rental Car: $135 (also 25% off)
• Airport Parking: $80
• Hotels: $250-$300 depending
• Park Pass: $25

So, really we are talking upwards of $800 without food drink…all for a couple of possible/maybe/who knows get togethers – it just didn’t pencil out. It would be MUCH cheaper just to fly him out for the weekend – which is what I offered.

Here are the two places I had booked for the first night:

$74 dollars a night, bathroom/shower nearby – presto logs for heat. No wonder they are called the Rough Rider cabins. Located by Roosevelt Lodge deep inside of Yellowstone National Park (add $25 park entrance fee to get to them).

The other choice was the WorldMark West Yellowstone at about the same dollar amount, but with full kitchen, bath and heating.

Sorry, couldn’t find a summer shot of the WorldMark.

I know I’ve said it again and again – one of the reasons that I chase airline status is the ability to change my mind about going places and not have to pay cancellation/change fees. The same reason that I tend to book my hotel stays directly with the hotel rather than via Expedia (though I do use them for research) is that with Expedia you pay in advance and cancel through them, with hotel direct, you pay when you get there.

Cancelled everything the week that I was down in Santa Fe visiting mom. No cancellation/change fees on anything, though the airplane ticket goes back into my eWallet at Alaska Air for future use – which is what I booked yesterday with all my free time at home this week. This will be my trip to Denver in mid-August.

Cab, train, plane, cab – Seattle to Denver on the Coast Starlight, transferring to the California Zephyr in Sacramento with a 4+ hour layover – hopefully enough time even if the Coast Starlight is running late.

The main reason (besides seeing Dan and Lisa) is to see the newly renovated Union Station in Denver. It is scheduled to open (the lower bus/light rail areas are already open) July 12^th. Look at some of these publicity shots of the station:

Hopefully my train won’t be running late so that we can have dinner at the Stoic and Genuine Seafood & Oyster Bar also set to open on July 12^th.

Total out of pocket costs so far (i.e. that dinner isn’t going to be cheap):

• Airfare: used $152.00 in eWallet funds from the Montana
• Train: transferred 15,000 Chase Ink points to Amtrak Guest Rewards to cover the two legs in a roomette with meals supplied
• Lodging: Dan and Lisa’s guest bedroom

So, out of pocket – ZIP until the dinner out. And the real bonus? The Denver to Seattle leg will put me over the 40,000 flight mile mark for Alaska MVP Gold status through the end of 2015.

Summer is a great time to use points for Amtrak travel since they don’t have any black-out dates (well, they might around the holidays). Here is the trip that I have planned for next week so look for the blog post…

Starting to do the packing for that trip….

• Windbreaker
• 2 Old Fashioned glasses (for evening cocktails with a spare for a hopeful guest
• Bottle of Evan Williams
• Computer stuff
• Shorts (wearing long pants)
• Reading material
• Etc.

I’ve already mapped out where the closest Walgreens is to the train station in New Orleans – conveniently at one of the Jet Express stops for the bus from the airport.

Andin the end, ll the paperwork goes into bound volumes – all the emails, confirmations, tickets, etc.:

[212.4]

Dear Amtrak,

This is how to NOT start a relaxing three-day train trip from Seattle to Denver. While we boarded and left on time, that’s where the good news stops. My butt in my roomette until tomorrow morning at 6am is now my butt in my roomette to Portland, then I have to pack everything up – get on a stinky bus – ride to Eugene and then unpack everything again. I understand bridge work, but didn’t you know that when I booked my ticket only a couple of months ago? I would have travelled earlier in the month or later – I’m not that picky. There goes my after lunch nap. There goes hanging out in the Metropolitan Lounge in Portland reading the paper and uploading documents via their high-speed connection. By the time we hit Eugene, Oregon, that is the end of any cell phone coverage, which means no Wi-Fi in our next train which I hope will have a Parlour Car, not that is will do me much good at that point. Gone is my welcome tiny bottle of bubbles, gone is my amenity kit. Gone are the choice of apple, cranberry or orange juice in the sleepers – we are down to Orange which is too acidic for my throat. When the airlines tried this in 2008 in the downturn, they lost their business class customers – as a sleeping class passenger I’m paying a huge premium over coach. Get with the program and ignore penny-pinching Congressmen and bring back real service.

Let’s also add that due to mechanical issues this train which only goes to Portland, has no Parlour Car. No Parlour Car means no work because the Parlour Car is the only one with Wi-Fi, no Parlour Car means to Parlour Car
lunch menu which means being squeezed four to a booth the Dining Car. No Parlour Car means children running amuck (literally up and down the aisle of the sleeper car) when they could be in the lower level of the Parlour Car watching Toy Story 18. Where is the car attendant to counsel the parents about appropriate train behavior?

And can you explain why, after leaving on time, having to wait for 20 minutes north of Kent, Washington for a freight train? I can understand that when Amtrak is off schedule (i.e. running late) that we are at the mercy of freight, but we were on schedule.

It Portland the circus really began. NO instructions for what people were to do to board the couch to Eugene. At least the sleeping car passengers didn’t have to re-check-in again… but again, NO INSTRUCTIONS about where to go, what line to stand in, the works. The poor folks in coach didn’t even get their Seattle assigned seats back – they were doled out in order of where you were in line. All it would have taken was a conductor’s announcement after the Vancouver, Washington stop: “Sleeping Car passengers, please proceed to Gate 8 by baggage claim to get your bus transfer slip. Coach Passengers please line up at Gate 5 to get your bus transfer and new seat assignments”. Now WHY they had to get new seat assignments is beyond me (or my pay grade).

That confusion led to the last bus delaying the train by 40 minutes out of Eugene, which meant a “First-Come, First-Served” dinner process – at least they held off the calling Coach passengers until most of the Sleepers were served. I used to be in operations at Microsoft, whoever did the operations planning for this should get demerits.

The Seattle-Portland leg had ice available in all the sleepers for passengers personal drinks (and in my case for a plastic baggie for my cranky knee), when we got back on the train in Eugene, NO ICE in any of the four sleeping cars – I had to go begging in the Parlour Car which thankfully was operational on this leg. Finally I can get some work done…until, of course, 30 minutes out of Eugene we are in a dead zone for the next twelve hours.

I dropped all 15,000 of my Amtrak Rewards points for this one-zone roomette ticket (Award Code 104) – please make me happy and return a third of them, or offer me lots of dollars in future travel credits because this wasn’t the holiday I was promised.

Mark Souder
Amtrak Guest Rewards Number: XXXXXXX

That’s how the trip started.

The reading material for the trip? The Big Burn (and the Fire That Saved America), by Timothy Egan. Reading this on the train on the 104^th anniversary of the forest fire that destroyed Wallace, Idaho and numerous other towns. 3.2 million acres of mostly public forest land were destroyed by the fire – and hundreds of lives and buildings. Truly a fascinating read even for someone who usually prefers fiction.

As usual you can click on the book and be directed to Amazon to purchase it – it’s just out in paperback, and it looks like you can borrow it f free.

From the letter above (which will have all the other “foibles” from this adventure before I send it off to the folks at Amtrak) you can see the “ugly” side of the trip, but there were good moments like the renovated King Street Station in Seattle – though I don’t look totally awake in the photo. Apparently when you have cocktail company show up at 10PM, wake up on the couch at 3AM not having packed, suddenly are you glad for a packing list:

Computer Bag

• Tablet with Front Page and Streets and Trips
• Power supplies
• Mouse
• Extra keyboard and stand?
• Paperwork for train and flights
• Plenty of ones for tipping on the train

   

Suitcase

• White Port recipe book
• Botanical Brandy mini
• Extra book in addition to the Fire Book (which goes to the Colonels after I’m done with it)
• Bag of computer widgets
• 2 glasses for the train
• Bourbon? Booze? For the train
• Mixer for the train
• Long pants for the train – green
• Shorts for Colorado
• 3 shirts
• 3 socks
• Matching shoes
• Bathrobe
• Speedo
• Toiletries

   

Extra Bag

• Box of booze for Dan and Lisa

Of course, there were a things missing… pen/paper and headphones in the computer bag, hat in the luggage – and I counted wrong so I was short a set of clothes. But still, not bad for 3AM with a cab coming at 8AM.

And the sleepy time photo of me:

Trainside:

And with the office set up (only to be broken down two hours later). I have tethering on my phone so the situation wasn’t nearly as “grim” as I presented it to Amtrak:

This Sleeper Car had something I hadn’t seen on other Sleepers – a counter where normally the ice, fruit bowl and huge trash can go – this car also had the advantage of the ice drawer under the coffee…something I wouldn’t see for the rest of the trip.

Welcome to Portland’s Union Station and the clusterfuck of moving an entire train onto buses and the traffic snarl on the freeway – hoping that we will be running late into Sacramento so I can get a free breakfast on the train. If it’s on time, I’d be twenty minutes early for the beginning of breakfast service.

Had lunch in the dining car (Bockwurst on a pretzel roll [diet out window] with pico de gallo relish, and chips that I didn’t eat) met a lovely young man at my table, Michael wearing a delightful t-shirt sporting “Drink Beer, Make Things”. He was amused that I was a home distiller and that my motto would have been “Drink Moonshine, Make Things, Don’t Use Power Tools.

During the transfer process I waited for Michael to load him down with water and fruit from the sleeping car since he was in coach.

We were the first coach to leave Portland, and the next to the last to arrive. How does this happen – though it’s not like they are leaving without us. At the Eugene, Oregon Amtrak station:

Before you know it, it’s time for the very unusual for Amtrak “First-Come, First Serve” dinner – normally by reservation, but I wanted the Braised Lamb Shank for dinner so I bolted for the dining car at the first announcement:

That would be a split of the Hahn Cabernet Sauvignon – at the shop we carry the Hahn Chardonnay. Not sure if it was worth the $15, but the Lamb called for a heavy red.

And typical Southern Oregon photo – trees through a rail car specially designed to haul cut timber:

I ran into Michael after dinner and invited him back to my Roomette to sample both my Oak-Aged Brandy and Lucky 13, which was aged for 13 months in New American Oak (as all Bourbons must be). Rules for Bourbon, in case you were interested.

The car attendant put the upper bed down, we continued drinking and chatting until past midnight when the booze ran out. And now, he didn’t stay, though I would have welcomed it.

Tomorrow morning at 6AM is Sacramento and the next leg – I just slept with the chair in recline mode – easier to get up and out in the morning.

[? ? ?] But can assume a couple of pound gain from “train food” three times a day.

H²0Blanco was out before breakfast was served for a little play time with a new friend so I was on my own to run to Costco for more Alli, luckily the lines were short at 11:30 in the morning.

On the way back from Costco I was about six cars from making it over the First Avenue Bridge which was opened for a sailboat going in one direction and what I believe is a crane barge for the South Park Bridge project which they are finally hard at work on (completion date 2013).

Once Blanco returned it was time to adjust the temperature regulator that he put on the 6-burner Wolf range 6-9 months ago — it would hold a temperature, but it had no relation to what the markings on the dial were. An hour later and we are done with that project and then onto the testing of the sauna heater, which luckily just required a ohm meter. Now all I have to do is build the enclosure and wire it in. Yeah! More projects.

Tonight’s meal are some chicken breasts in a green molè sauce, though that phrase is redundant since molè in Spanish for sauce.

Blanco is off tomorrow morning for Portland, right around the time the order from Dunn Lumber appears for the wine racks.

[219.2]

Damn, no upgrade to First for Wednesday’s flight to SFO – well, at least not yet.

Guess I’d better get packed. Not taking any wine down for the boys, nor shine – so it’s carry on for me.

Yesterday’s birthday boy is coming to dinner, which is a bacon wrapped peppercorn pork tenderloin and a nice big healthy salad (to balance out the bacon).

Luckily it was an early evening.

[213.8]

After work today I was running errands around town, one of which was to Pacific Iron & Metal to source a piece of aluminum for the trailer bed. Needed a piece 40×48. Popped into their outside yard — lots of diamond plate, thicker than I wanted. Looked like I was going to have to have them cut a larger piece to size… and then I spotted a palate with a couple of dozen sheets on it. We measured one and found it was…. 40×48. A little thicker than I wanted, and 23 pounds so a little heavier, but he cut me a deal on it. Only charged me 20 pounds (at $2.50 a pound).

Next up is to bolt it to the trailer:

It’s going to get painted red so I won’t have to get the slight corrosion off  of it. Now I just need to go in and cut out the stake slots. That will be the project for the rest of the week.

TokyoDave wa supposed to be on a 6:30 flight — just perfect for having dinner, but, alas, his United commuter flight to ORD from STL had a mechanical, so they put him on the Alaska SLT-SEA direct flight that arrived at 8:30. Make that a late dinner.

With talking until 1, we aren’t getting much sleep tonight and I need to take him to the airport in the morning.

A VERY quick visit. He’s off to Portland and then the Bay Area.

One last ODD note. They picked up my recycling this afternoon… on a Tuesday (Wednesday is my usual day) and on the wrong week (recycling is every other week). This is the second time it’s happened — and it’s sort of handy since I’ve been bringing home all the empty boxes from the shop.

[206.4]

First off, let’s get a better picture of Koral, who at the summer camp in Flathead Lake in Montana, the staff referred to him as Charley since Carol is a woman’s name, unless you are a retired ex-Air Force Lt. Colonel who travels with me.

I called him Karol, with a more guttural East German accent.

The pic:

Guess I should have taken a second picture just to be sure. You can’t see the blue eyes.

He was up and out before I was out of bed – off to the EMP (Experience Music Project), Space Needle, Monorail, Pike Place Market…. Got a text at 5 saying he’d be back by dinner time – but he got a little lost and was back at 9 rather than 7, Mags and I saved him leftovers which he snarfed.

Pork loin roast over a bed of roasted root vegetables, a big salad, the left over bread.

A good time. Life is hard.

[205.0]

Gods & Penises

by Julian Honeycutt

In Japan, they say you are born Shinto, marry Christian, and die Buddhist. That is, as a new baby you will go to the Shinto shrine for purification, when the time comes, you’ll likely get married in a big building fashioned to look like a chapel and say vows in a wedding dress and tuxedo. And when your number is up, you’ll get cremated, and your family will give you a Buddhist funeral. And if you’re lucky your children, and grandchildren will pray for your soul in their butsudan and at every Obon. But in the intervening years, from that first purification ceremony until the day your remaining family all gathers in black, if you need a wish granted or a prayer answered you go to a Shinto shrine. Do you have a big exam coming up, and you need to pass? Go to Yamada-Tenmangu Shrine. Did you just make a business deal and want it to succeed? Go to Fushimi-Inari Shrine. Or do you want to start a family? Go to Tagata-jinja Shrine.

And that is exactly where we were headed at 10:00 AM on March 15th, 2018. Uncle Markie and I were on the train out toward Inyuama, the site of feudal wars between samurai and home to Japan’s oldest castle. But we weren’t going for the grandeur and history of feudal lords, we were going for the penises, and tradition, but mostly the penises. Convenience store bag in hand Katie met us on the train as we left the city. And I introduced her to my Bon vivant Uncle Markie, who isn’t really my uncle, that’s just a name that everyone calls him, including now Katie. She opened her convenience store bag and the morning started. Drinking on trains in Japan isn’t illegal and it’s hardly frowned upon, people just don’t usually do it, save silver-haired men and groups of foreigners. And with Uncle Markie in tow, we checked both boxes. So, a little after 10:00 we opened our 9% canned grapefruit cocktails. Next stop – Tagata-jinja Shrine.

The Penis Festival, actually called Honen-Matsuri, is a Shinto festival that has taken place in the same city in Japan for over 1,000 years. In its essence, it is a Shinto festival that celebrates prosperity and hopes for a fruitful bountiful harvest. In its display, it is a festival that provides free sake and parades a seven-foot 800 lb. undulating wooden penis through the streets of Komaki. If this is a wholly solemn and spiritual event, then the alcohol, commerce, frenzy, and fun are wildly out of place.

As we arrived, we passed Liquor Mountain whose line, at just before 11:00, already extended far out the front door. The parking lots on both sides of the street had been converted into vending stalls and food carts. Like most festivals in Japan, the standard clamshells of yakisoba noodles or paper cups of karaage chicken were everywhere. But unlike most festivals in Japan, so were the penises. T-shirt vendors- penises, varied banana vendors-penises, and candied penises, penises, and more penises.

It could seem odd, but it would take some great deal of time before we were penised out. Ring the penis bell of prayer? Yes! Give some money as an offering to the Gods? Couldn’t hurt! Rub the steel testicles for good luck? Don’t mind if I do! By mid-afternoon, young women in kimonos were offering free sake and parading the street caring wooden penises the size of a Sheltie (it’s seen as good luck to pet the penises; so, everyone pets the penises).

By late afternoon mochi cakes, supplied by local vendors, and mostly inedible, were being tossed from the rooftops. And the penises were winding down. With a mochi unsatisfying, only so much room in our stomachs for chocolate bananas and penis candies, it was time to go.

And though it was a Thursday, a day followed by Friday: a day in the working week, we felt it unjust to let it end so soon. The all-you-can-eat & drink yakiniku restaurant was a short few stops away. So, we did: all-you-can-eat & all-you-can-drink. As we paid and left the restaurant. Markie stumbled into a trip, that became a fall. And a drunk 62-year-old man hits the ground pretty hard. His pants ripped and his knee bloodied he asked us if we could just leave him there. Leave him there blocking the front entrance to the restaurant? No. No, we would not. Plus, you don’t follow up a penis festival with all you can eat & drink just to end it in a parking lot. Tomorrow was going to be hard, but I could see the cat paw of the Maneki Neko Karaoke (Inviting Cat Karaoke) sign from where I was standing, and we were doing some goddamn karaoke.

For my original post, click here.

[201.2]

For more blog posts, click here.

Sort of a quick year in review…lost Mom in July along with a number of others of my contemporaries that lost their moms this year – final count was six. Add another friend who decided to check out early – makes me reflect on life a little more than usual.

But those were the low spots – everybody has some every year. Focus on the positive, try and get the most out of life before your knees (or whatever) give out.

No surprise that I’ve been travelling a bit this year:

 

OK – that looks scary when I put it into a chart, but the stats from all those trips in 2015…

• Alaska Airline flight mileage count: 54,229
• Alaska Frequent Flyer freebie flight miles: 24,682
• United flight mileage count: 1,000
• United Frequent Flyer freebie flight miles: 1,500
• Points-(35,000) related free overnight long distance train trips: 2
• Car miles: couple of thousand
• Coastal cruises: 3

Wow, that’s 75,000 butt-in-seat miles this year. Not a record (110,000 I think is the record, but that didn’t cover redeemed miles).

Already planned for the New Year are:

• Sacramento (January)
• Vietnam via Dubai (January)
• Victoria, BC (February)
• Santa Fe & Albuquerque to Seattle train (February)
• New Orleans (February)
• Greece (June)
• Cabo San Lucas (September)

And I have to figure out how to book almost 50,000 Amtrak Guest Rewards points before they are devalued on January 14^th, so think two more long distance multi-night trips in 2016.

Hard to believe that I can do all this travel AND still work my hours at the shop (Madrona Wine Merchants). Just finished inventory today (we’ve got it down to two hours), figured out the year-end numbers – now it’s just the impending hell of getting the tax information to the accountant. Overall, it was a good year, and I love being able to by my personal wine at wholesale prices – means I tend to be drinking a little better quality, so not really much money savings. Then there is the fact that when people come to dinner at my place, they are now afraid to bring wine.

I’ve been blessed this year with spending quality time with friends and families over many a good meal, especially over this holiday season when I’ve been baking/cooking up a storm.

Some random food shots from the last couple of weeks:

Baked pork spare ribs

Baguettes

Adult corn dogs – chicken sausages baked inside bread

Chicken thighs poached in chili plum glaze

Dog-turd looking dinner rolls

Dinner rolls on the inside, cinnamon buns (channeling the Savoy Grill in Kansas City) on the outside

Puff pastry stuffed with shrimp, mushroom and onion

And a couple of my favorite dinner guests enjoying ginger, onion, mushroom fried shrimp with apricot, clove, saffron rice (and salad, because we all need roughage

Here’s wishing everyone a happy and prosperous New Year. May life bring you joy.

[216.0]

Amtrak Guest Rewards Double Points Days ends on the 20^th, and this is the only time I’m able to get away for the day – and use my upgrade to business class coupon. I still have a companion fare to use on Amtrak, but I have until July to use/lose that one.

Grabbed the 11:15am Amtrak Cascades from King Street Station in Seattle:

Another reason for the trip to take one of the last trips around Point Defiance – within the year they will be using different tracking to avoid freight and knock 15 minutes off the schedule. If they could get it up to 125mph, it’d be quicker than driving. But this is the view that you will lose:

Well, OK. The view was from the seats on the other side of the car. And there is Wi-Fi, and cocktails:

We were a little late getting into Portland, but Swanda’s sister was waiting for me at the station to go out for a nibble and a drink – which turned out to be under one of my favorite signs in Portland:

And we parked in front of my stop after nibbles, but more on that later.

The place is called Seres.

I ordered a Fig Manhattan:

Tasty. we both ordered chicken pot stickers which were very small and very fried – my second appetizer was MUCH better – the salt/pepper calamari:

It was great to keep in touch with her after Swanda’s death – my excuse is that I collect toiletries for her church to put together into kits for the homeless.

Spent $130 at the liquor store which would have been probably double that in Seattle. The half-gallon of Evan Williams was $27.95 (tax included). Occasionally you can find it in Seattle for that price, but then there is 30% tax to add in. I did stock up!

Soon enough I was back at the train station for the trip home:

And the view as we rolled out of Portland, headed to Seattle.

The load was so light on the way home that I got two seats for myself.

Just a quick daytrip to Portland. Thanks Roxy for the ride to/from the train station!

[220.4]

I love to train by train – as you readers might know especially from my Turkey-Bulgaria-Romania trip last week.

This week I stumbled across this image of the new Denver Amtrak/MultiModal station:

All I can say is “holly fuck”. That is one gorgeous train station. Suddenly I’m trying to figure out bookings to see it in person. I’d like to go when the main station is completed as well. I love the fact that the station mimics the Denver airport with its sweeping canopies.

The upper levels of the refurbished station will have 118 hotel rooms – which I want to try, along with two upper end restaurants and a morning/afternoon place for take-out for train passengers.

I’m thinking of an August trip since everything opens mid-July.

But that got me thinking….since there are no cheap flights during the summer, maybe I could redeem some Chase Ink Points on a little train folly. Here is what I’ve come up with:

After work on Sunday the 15^th of June I’ll catch the red-eye to New Orleans. At 1:45pm (I get in at like 6am) I hop on the City of New Orleans (Train 58) for the 20 hour trip to Chicago where hopefully I’ll have lunch with Cynthia and Lawrence since there is a 5 hour layover. Then it’s on to the Southwest Chief (Train 4) headed for Los Angeles, another 43 hours, then I have a couple of hours to kill in Los Angeles before I pick up the Coast Starlight (Train 14) to Seattle, another 35 hours.

The rack rate when I priced it out for the sleeper the whole way, $1808.90 – my cost? Free. I moved 20,000 Chase Ink points to my Amtrak Guest Rewards account and poof, free ticket with meals for those 5 days. 20,000 points is the amount for a two-zone roomette ticket on any legal routing. The other way would have been to that the Empire Builder (Train 7) from Chicago to Seattle. The flight to New Orleans was $240 (though I could have used miles).

My plan is to (once I have the last miles I need) do a Seattle to Denver run in August to check out the station that started the ball rolling.

Another hope is that I can get some more “platform moments” pictures with friends along the way – Kyle in Flagstaff, Craig in Los Angeles, Cynthia and Lawrence in Chicago, Paul and Gail in Kansas City, sis-in-law in Lamy (though it’s a work day for her). I’d like to make one of those photo books out of the pictures.

“Travel By Train” says it all.

Denver’s Union Station before the renovation with their “Travel By Train” sign.

Or in the case of Portland’s Amtrak station, “Go By Train”.

[205.6]

It might be time for an intervention – just booked more travel. Filled in December.

But before I get to what I’ve booked, let me show you what I built this afternoon:

Four more rolling wine racks for the store. They still need to be sanded and I still need to build two more, but I’m making progress.

And now we return to travel plans:

• First week of December – Hong Kong AGAIN. I realized that I was within striking distance of Platinum on United (75,000 flight miles). Better to do it this year because in January this boy will need to be looking for some work and I won’t have the time.
• Second week of December – Santa Fe to visit the family pre-holiday. Fly down (GREAT use of 12,500 United miles as it’s a $275 one-way ticket). Guess I should email the relatives with my plan which is to fly down and take the train back from Albuquerque since Lamy (which is closer to Santa Fe) in in the next Amtrak Zone and I’m using 15,000 Amtrak Guest Rewards points that I transferred my my Chase Ink card – saving $700 which is the fare with roomette
• Third week of December – Taking the train to LA in a roomette with my buddy Dwight across the hall who is continuing south to Fullerton to visit his mother. That would have been about $375 if I hadn’t transferred more points over. Spending the night (as the train gets in late evening) hopefully with Craig, then flying back on Friday so I can work on Saturday.

So, between now and the end of the year the only weeks that I’m not going someplace are the weeks of Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Yes, it might be time for an intervention (but please wait until after the first of the year).

[207.8]

Finally got dates from Obrad as to which days he is going to be in Kansas City for the 40^th Anniversary American Field Service students placed in the Kansas City area. I’m not going to that, but I thought it would be nice to see Obrad for a couple of days (Monday through Wednesday). And, I need the Alaska miles.

Here is what my Alaska needs are:

Nowhere need enough miles to even try for MVP Gold this year. I’ll have to be happy with Silver MVP on Alaska, and Gold Premier on United.

Thinking of staying at the Savoy Hotel in Kansas City for the two nights. $105 for a suite, which includes a massive breakfast in the morning from the Savoy Grill next door (http://www.savoyhotel.net/breakfast.html). Years ago when I travelled on business to Kansas City I used to stay here.

When I used to stay here they had a bag of Gordano Mix and two minis of Bailey’s Irish Cream in a little basket by the coffee maker – hopefully they still do this.

Snagged a mini-SUV (oddly enough cheaper than the economy car) for $35 a day plus fees (total $98).

That done it was time to hook of with Magnatroica and get the rest of his Princess information filled out for the two cruises in September that CaddyDaddy was supposed to accompany me on before his untimely passing.

Next up UW Surplus where I found a couple of maintenance pieces for the faerie printer in the office. I’ve got plenty of toner, just not the maintenance kits.

And the final travel chore was getting Mags Amtrak Guest Rewards number on the Coast Starlight family room ticket instead of Caddys.

All done with planning for a while – more in late August when Alaska Airlines usually puts things on sale.

Chicken Fried Steaks from Omaha Steaks for dinner. Thanks RiverSong for the thank-you package for my work on the Winter Gathering.

[203.8]

Covid takes its toll on another getaway. Well, I still went, but the guest of honor had to cancel his flight (well, I cancelled and rebooked) because of a possible Covid-19 Exposure. He learned two days later that is was most likely TWO different exposures. Better safe than sorry.

I’d mention names here, but because of medical privacy concerns, I won’t.

The getaway was supposed to be in the Two-bedroom Penthouse at The Camlin, in downtown Seattle, part of the WorldMark timeshare system. Here is a link to the WikiPdedia entry. Swiped this photo from their web site:

Memories was why I booked it – the guest of honor (aka disease vector) and I used to occasionally go drink in the bar called The Cloud Room. Sadly, I couldn’t find any photos of the interior, but here is a great poster:

Normally, I’d check in right at 4PM, but I was waiting for a new computer and monitor – don’t want to leave THOSE things lying around the front door. It was about 5:30 when I was checked in, and popped the door open to MY assigned room, to find a guy lounging on the couch. Needless to say, we were BOTH surprised. He called down, I went back down, seriously annoyed. They said they had miss assigned rooms, and they would put in in 1105 (rather than 1104). Fine. Went back up to find that 1104 is a Two-bedroom DELUXE, not a Two-bedroom PENTHOUSE. Penthouse has a DECK, the Deluxe does not.

Many calls down to resolve the situation since the other people were completely unpacked, and there were at least four of them.

After waiting for them to fix it – called down and said, “60,000 Wyndham Rewards Points in my account and I’ll stay where I am.” Fortunately, I know the value of points. 60,000 points is enough for two nights in the Wyndham Grand, say Puerto Rico (where I had a reservation at one point last May, cancelled but should have gone), or 4 nights in the Wyndham Shanghai (I had a reservation for May that I cancelled because of Covid), or a whopping 8 nights at your basic Days Inn.

So, no video of the Penthouse (though you can find a post about it here with a video tour), but instead, you will get a video of the Two-bedroom Deluxe:

Besides the points they also gave us exclusive access to the current Terrace Lounge, the private dining room for the Cloud Room Restaurant. Normally, it is open to all the guests, but with Covid it is closed (and clean).

And a little Bonny Doon Le Cigar Volant – and the fine company of Jonathan. And then joined by Bliss for after dinner drinks which turned into him using the Murphy bed in the living room. Social distancing!

Lovely evening, sadly, without a deck. And the morning was annoying when housekeeping walked in on my naked ass (they saw the other side), which resulted in the front desk calling me with serious apologies. Seems the room move triggered something in their system. The call came from the General Manager of the property.

By the time I was ready to check out, Pedro (the General Manager) requested a meeting to further apologize. There would be some additional training about taking special attention to penthouse reservations and how to respond to a housekeeping request that is 19 hours overdue. Turns out he has been there for years, and even worked at The Camlin before it was a WorldMark.

When the points arrived in my InBox – they got deposited and I sent a note to Pedro. In a couple back/fourths, seems that he collects Camlin ephemera – you know, the stuff from a property that usually gets thrown out. I mentioned that on one of visits many years ago that I’d left a champagne flute for management to add to the museum that is in the basement. Never saw it displayed, but when I mentioned it, he sent me a picture of it – IT’S IN HIS OFFICE!

That is pretty much the logo that is on the poster that is in this post.

Lemons, lemonade.

[225.0]

For more blog posts: click here.

Got some sleep on the flight, thankfully. Dan’s flight is due in about a half an hour after mine so there is plenty of time for luggage collection (2 bags — 1 filled with snorkling stuff). Entertained by local “folkloric” performance in the baggage claim area. See pictures.

Rental car from Dollar Rent-A-Car, and we are off to the Andalucia Guest House in the Ocean Park neighborhood of San Juan. The guest house is a couple of blocks from the beach, and located close to lots of good restaurants.

Dan and I take a little stroll on the beach looking for a place for lunch, but end up across the street from the guest house at Kasalta which has good cafe con leche, sandwiches, and pastries. Of course, then it was time for a nap. And then a scotch from the bottle of MacCallum cask strength that I brought along.

Dinner was at a combination Chinese/Mexican restaurant. The choices on Sunday evening at 9pm were a little limited — unless you wanted KFC/McDonalds/BurgerKing/Wendys which were also in the neighborhood.