36 Hours in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi

Trip date: Dec 2023

In travel hacking there is something called repositing. This means that you fly to a different airport in order to take advantage of a great mileage redemption. And that's exactly what I did on my way to New Zealand. I paid $463 for an Alaska Air Premium Economy flight from Seattle to Honolulu. And then I was upgraded to First Class! 

I hadn't been to Honolulu since I was in college so I decided to stay 2-nights and enjoy the stopover.

I had booked the Sheraton Waikiki using Marriott points and got a big King room with a partial ocean view and balcony. Feeling a bit lazy after my day of travel (it's a 6 ½ flight to HNL from SEA) I decided to stay within walking distance for drinks and dinner and go on a little mai tai crawl.

First stop was the Sheraton's beachside bar Rum Fire. My mai tai was pretty basic and just served in a pint glass, but the Christmas lights and decor around the pool were quite fun. 

Next I walked over to the beautiful Royal Hawaiian aka the "Pink Palace". This is such a gorgeous old property! I made my way to the Mai Tai Bar, also located right on the beach, and had a much better drink.

And just next door I had dinner at Duke's, which had the best of the 3 mai tais. Duke's is hardly fine dining, but I've been eating there since I was a kid so it is fun for me.

In the morning before breakfast I took a walk down Waikiki Beach and found it a lot smaller than I had remembered! It was fun to see all the surfers and Diamond Head in the distance.

One of the reasons I chose the Sheraton was that their Edge Infinity Pool is only for 16+ year olds. Don't come at me parents, I just don't want to hear kids screaming while I'm chilling with my book & a cocktail at the pool! 

I was able to reserve a single mini cabana for $60 for the entire day. It wasn't too crowded, the service was great, and this is definitely one of the prettiest pools and views I've been to. That was a very relaxing day!

That evening I took an Uber to the Kaimana Hotel for dinner at their restaurant Hau Tree. First stop was the bar for a lovely martini. The bartender also told me that they had heard Jason Momoa was rumored to be stopping by since they were using his vodka brand. Exciting, but he didn't!

I had a table outside under one of the Hau trees; the setting is so pretty. The restaurant sits on the beach so the sound of the waves adds to the atmosphere. My appetizer of housemade vinegar and dill potato chips served with creme fraiche and caviar was perfect with a glass of champagne. I followed that with their fresh caught fish of the day and a lovely Russian River Valley pinot noir which they poured by Coravin. I really enjoyed this spot.

And that was about it! Mahalo Waikiki for the quick but enjoyable stopover! 

The next morning I headed out to the airport for my flight to New Zealand. I was really surprised that HNL does not have any duty free shopping and also the Plumeria Lounge for Hawaiian Airlines business class passengers was possibly the most basic lounge ever. First world problems...

All Honolulu photos here. 

First Class, All the Way!

Trip date: September 2023 

Thanks to my travel hacking hobby, I had read about something called "Fifth Freedom Flights" where airlines fly between two countries without stopping in the home country hub. I knew that Emirates had this type of route between Milan and JFK, so I started tracking the business class prices. I was ready when a sale hit, and so after spending a week in stunning Bellagio, Lake Como, I was flying back to the states on arguably one of the absolute best airlines in the world. And in business!

When you buy a business (or first) class ticket on Emirates they provide chauffeur service to and from the airports. And so even though I was 48 miles away from MXP, there was a very nice car waiting for me after I checked out of the hotel. 

The Lounge at MXP is the first I have been in where you board directly from the lounge! Knowing that I could just sit and relax, I settled in with a glass of wine and a salad from their awesome buffet offerings. And then I heard my name called. Nervously I went to the front desk and the agent asked if I was traveling alone. I said yes and she handed me a new boarding pass saying "we've upgraded you to first class". WHOA!!!! I had been lucky to fly their first class before but this was the A380 which has a shower!! I felt like I had won the lottery.

We boarded upstairs on the A380 and I settled into my private suite, was served a glass of 2013 Dom Pérignon, and made a reservation with the attendant for the shower. Most people book their shower for after they wake up (this is a 9+ hour flight) but I chose mine for before dinner. This meant I was the first to use it and also that I was all freshened up for dinner.

So about 2 hours into the flight, after a few glasses of Dom, I took my cozy Emirates pjs and made my way to the shower spa as they call it. It was explained to me that I had 25 minutes, but only 5 minutes of water. But you can turn it on and off which was great. The room was huge and towels had been laid out for me. There was a selection of nice VOYA products in difference scents, drawers with razors, combs, etc., a tv showing the flight map, hairdryer, etc. It was lovely! And the water pressure was good too!

The rest of my flight was a lot of caviar and bougie wines and cognac, much like my first time flying Emirates first class. You can read about that here.

I arrived at JFK at 7pm, which was past the time for the last Alaska Air flight to Seattle, so I had booked a room at the TWA Hotel for the night. I've spent some time here before so I knew it was a quick walk to the hotel. I was a little surprised when I entered my room that I was right on the pickup/drop off road. Luckily the windows kept out the noise but you are on full view of everyone!

I was looking forward to having a drink at "Connie the Cocktail Lounge" inside one of TWA's 1958 Lockheed Constellations. The last time I visited it was too early and the bar wasn't open yet. Unfortunately on my visit it was really dirty and there was only the bartender working so nothing was getting cleaned up. My drink, a Paper Plane, was good but was served in a plastic cup on ice... for $18! I left after one.

It was very convenient staying at the TWA but it was expensive, everything was served in plastic, and the quality wasn't what it should have been. I wouldn't choose to stay again unless things changed. 

When I got up the next morning I had a message from Alaska Air that I had been upgraded to first class for my 6 hour flight home! That is absolutely the first time I've ever had back to back upgrades! 

I headed to the lounge for a glass of champagne but was told that they don't serve alcohol until 10am on Sundays in New York. Oh well, I just had to wait until onboard.

All photos of Emirates and the TWA Hotel here. 

Other posts from this trip:

Beautiful Bellagio, Lake Como

Boating Around Lake Como

Weekend in Boise

Trip date: July 2023

My friend Aaron has been to almost every state in the US, he's only missing a few and Idaho was one. So last July, after reading about Kris Komori, the chef of KIN Restaurant in Boise, taking home the James Beard award for Best Chef in the Mountain region, we decided to meet up and have dinner there. Even though I grew up very close to the northern Idaho state line, I'd never been to the capitol city. I called the restaurant, because all of their online booking was completely full after their big news, and co-owner Remy found us a ressie after I explained we wanted to come to Boise just for dinner!

At SEA I checked out the Alaska C Gate lounge beforehand and even though it is small it is really nice with great cocktails and nice food options. Then it was just a 45 minute flight to BOI. Aaron's flight arrived just 10 minutes before mine so we were able to meet in the airport and share a ride to the hotel. 

We figured it was going to be pretty hot in Boise since we were going at the end of July, so we chose the Hyatt Place mainly as it had a pool and it wasn't ridiculously priced. This ended up being a great hotel! The rooms were really big, it was super centrally located, my room had a view of the capitol, and of course there was the pool.

After dropping our bags we headed out to one of Boise's growing number of wineries. Split Rail has a really cute tasting room but neither of us loved the wines. YMMV as wine is very subjective! 

We took a walk down the Riverwalk along the Boise River and watched people cooling off by surfing and paddle boarding. Boise is really easy to walk around in as it's very flat and at least most of the things we were checking out were quite centrally located. 

That evening before dinner we headed to The Modern Bar which is in the hotel by the same name. I absolutely loved my Celery & Smoke cocktail; tequila, mezcal, celery, lime, and agave! It was so refreshing and just perfectly balanced. Really great! The atmosphere of the bar was pretty meh for me though. Maybe it was because it was early evening? Maybe it would be better at night? Not sure but I would still stop in for a tasty drink!

Dinner at KIN was lovely. We got there a bit early and had a drink in a little waiting-like area. Then everyone found their seats at one of two communal tables. I really liked the set up, it gave you a chance to talk to others, but you had a designated seat. 

The set menu was 5-courses and we also chose the wine pairings. All the dishes were very good but I think my favorite was this rabbit with apricot, plum, umeboshi and Parisian gnocchi. 

After dinner we headed to one of Boise's many speakeasies (seriously, there are like 8 of them!). We found the ally and then the unmarked door, were let into a small library crowded with books, and then a bookcase opened and we were shown inside.  

We had made reservations at Gatsby but it didn't seem that busy on this Thursday evening and the space is quite large. The drinks are mostly takes on classics but with kitschy additions. My Josephine Baker (tequila, mezcal, chocolate bitters, agave, smoked) arrived in a chest which when opened was filled with smoke. 

It was a nice space and the drinks were well made and presented but they leaned a bit sweet for both of us. When you exit, you leave through a seperate door and find yourself also in an ally. 

The next morning we decided to walk to the Hyde Park neighborhood to check out Certified Kitchen which one of Aaron's friends had said have the "best english muffins in the world". We'd be the judge of that!

100% TRUTH! Damn! The english muffin was in fact the best I've had (better even than Model Bakery) and the bakery is super cute, has great coffee and a whole slew of other tasty treats. I'd say this is a must-stop-at while in Boise. And the neighborhood is lovely as well; great for strolling.

It was another hot day so we decided to cool off like the locals do- on a raft in the the Boise River! I had spent most of my summers, from high school until my late 20's, on a tube in rivers around eastern and western Washington, so I was very excited!  

Aaron had ordered a couple of beach towels from Amazon that had been delivered to the hotel, we bought some cold canned beverages from the lobby store and filled a plastic laundry bag with ice, then had an Uber take us to Barber Park where we rented our gear. 

We each had our own tube and paddle and spent the next 2 hours floating 6-miles down the very chilly river. It was soooo fun!! The river actually has 3 class-2 rapids, all in the first half of the float, so those paddles came in handy! 

Aaron had left our towels in the sealed plastic bag they had come in so that when we reached the take-out we would have them to dry off with. Unfortunately as he was getting out of his tube in the river the plastic ripped and both towels soaked up as much water as possible! It was sooo funny as we were pretty wet at the end and were planning on toweling off and calling an Uber to take us back to the hotel. We ended up walking back since it would have been really rude to be dripping wet in someone's car!

Back at the hotel we decided to cool back off with a quick swim before getting cleaned up for our night on the town! 

Our big bar crawl night started at, you guessed it, another speakeasy! Thick as Thieves had pineapple daiquiris on their $10 happy hour menu and that is exactly what I wanted in the sweltering early evening heat! We found the door in a parking lot, marked only by two birds, used the old-timey telephone inside to gain entrance to the cozy den, planning on just having one and then moving on. 

As soon as we sat down at the bar though we were both instantly charmed by the bartenders, the menu, and then the drinks. We started with the happy hour menu, then started reading thru the regular menu, and then were handed flashlights which decoded secret offerings!

We had a ball! And truly, to find a bar of this caliber in Boise was just amazing! Thick as Thieves would be right at home in Seattle, LA, or New York. Highly recommend!

We exited through a back door into another ally and made our way to Bar Guernica in the Basque Block for an early dinner. We knew that Boise has the 3rd largest population of Basque people (they came to the area about 200 years ago to herd sheep), what we didn't know was that the San Inazio Festival was going on!

Because of the large crowds the menu was more casual, but we still had some delicious croquettas and fried peppers and Aaron got the lamb grinder while I got the chorizo sausage roll. And we washed it all down with a bottle of txakoli wine, just like you'd do in the mother country!

Afterwards we joined the festivities which are in honor of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the patron saint of the Basques. There were musicians, and dancers, and stands selling pretty much the same things we had just eaten. It was fun!

But we had a cocktail crawl to get back to so we said agur and walked to Press & Pony. Surprisingly, not a speakeasy, but still an old-timey western vibe going on. Aaron and I grabbed a couple of stools at the bar and ordered a drink. The bar was about half full and all of a sudden some guy who was in a group of about 6 announced that he was buying everyone a shot! Now I have been in a lot of bars over the years, and I've had many free drinks, but I've never been in a bar when an average customer bought a round for everyone! 

The bartenders made some juicy shots, each with a gummy bear in it. That's the way they roll at Press & Pony! haha!

Aaron loves a tiki bar, which is what Devil's Den promoted themselves as, so that is where we headed next. They were doing Christmas in July with full on decorations and waitresses in costumes, which could be fun, but the drinks were so bad nothing could save it. I see that they are now closed permanently so I don't have to bother telling you just how bad it was.

Finally we met my friend Jeritt, who lives in Boise, at the bar at the newly re-opened Avery Hotel. Tiner’s Alley was still working out their menu when we were there but our drinks were good and the space was very fun. I'd be more than happy to go back and check it out again if I return to Boise. 

On our last day our flights did not leave until almost 7pm so we got one more full day to explore. We started by walking to Janjou Patisserie for some delicious morning treats. The cases were full of temping things but I finally decided on a gorgeous strawberry and pistachio tart. It was very good!

We made a stop at the farmer's market, which seemed to have a lot of tasty lunch options but we had lunch plans back in town so we just walked around for a bit. 

We had our Uber driver drop us off at The Wylder for pizza lunch. It's a really great space, very big so would be excellent for groups, and the pizza was soooo good. Mine was cacio e pepe! We could not finish the pies so we took the rest home and I can say mine made a great late dinner.

We walked back towards our hotel, passing thru the San Inazio Festival again, this time there were displays of the wagons the sheep herders lived in. Then to the last cocktail bar on our list, Water Bear -woman owned and operated.

What a fantastic bar this is! The interior is filled full with house plants & books, and is a very welcoming space. And the drinks were delicious! They have an Old Fashioned of the day (brilliant idea!) as well as a full menu of classics and classy riffs on classics. We ended up staying for 2 rounds and if I get back to Boise it will be my 2nd stop (right after Thick as Thieves!)

We had been chatting with the bartender about how cool Boise seemed, even though it was such a conservative state, and she told us how it is still legal to carry a concealed, loaded handgun in public without a permit as long as you are over 18!! Holy hell!! Then at the airport we saw this on the doors:

So yes, Boise was very fun and delicious, but laws like this are real head scratchers to me in this day and age.

I was upgraded to first class on the way home which is always nice. It was a very small plane and a super quick flight and I had an amazing view of Rainier, St. Helens, and Adams coming into Seattle. 

All Boise photos here

48 Hours in Waikoloa

Trip date: May 2023

I left Volcanoes National Park and drove Hwy 11 northeast to Hilo, about 45 minutes away. I've never been to Hilo, and really still haven't as it was just a good spot to have lunch on my way over to the west side of the island. I was going to spend my last 2 nights on the Big Island relaxing by the pool in Waikoloa.

A friend had suggested Suisan Fish Market for takeout poke and it was absolutely delicious! I ate at a picnic table with a view of the ocean at Liliʻuokalani Gardens. This park is just stunning and was donated by Queen Liliʻuokalani, the last Queen of Hawaii before being overthrown by the US in their move to take Hawaii. 

I didn't have a lot of time to stroll around but the park has a beautiful Japanese garden and great views of Hilo Bay.

I had chosen to take Saddle Road across the middle of the island, which cuts right between Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea. It's about 62 miles long and hits 6,632 feet elevation around mile marker 28. Although it was a beautiful sunny day, it got dang cold at the crest!

I pulled over for views of Mauna Kea but that's all there is out here! There are no services at all on this road so plan accordingly. But the entire drive was beautiful.

I arrived at the Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort where I had booked 2 free nights which I got when I opened my Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Card. When I checked in they let me know they had also upgraded me to a big King room with a view of the pool and the ocean. They also gave me 2 free drink coupons. Mai tai with a view, lovely!

I went down to the pool for a while as it was still super warm and sunny. The pool here is great! There are actually 3; 1 is super shallow and has a little sand beach for kids, another has a water slide, and then there is a full length pool. This would do nicely!

That evening I walked about 10 minutes to Queens' Marketplace outdoor mall and met my friend Noelle at Kuleana Rum Shack where our friend Missy was working. Delicious drinks were had while catching up with these 2 lovely ladies.

The next day was absolutely gorgeous! I started the day with a hike along the beach trail where I saw both nēnē (Hawaiian geese) and honu (Hawaiian Green sea turtles)! 

I also saw dolphins in a hotel pool that you could swim with. How is that even a thing still??? I was shocked. 

Back at the Marriott, I rented a cabana at the pool for the day. It was absolutely wonderful!

Sometimes you I just need a whole day by the pool! I had some very good Kalua pork nachos delivered to my bed for lunch, soaked up the sun, swam, read... heaven!

I did go for a short afternoon walk along Waikoloa Beach to ʻAnaehoʻomalu Beach... to the Lava Lava Beach Club for a mai tai!

And then later there was the most incredible sunset! 

I had planned to go out for dinner that night, but I was just feeling so relaxed hanging at the resort so I decided to have dinner at their restaurant as it was "Taco Tuesday". Unfortunately when I arrived I was told there was a shortage or something and there would be no tacos that Tuesday. Bummer, but I had some fine catch of the day and a wedge salad.

The next morning I woke up to a text from Alaska Air letting me know I'd been upgraded to First Class for the flight home! What an absolute cherry on the top of such a great trip!

My flight wasn't until late afternoon, and as I'm Gold with Marriott I had a 2pm checkout, so I had a very indulgent breakfast at the resort, took a few more laps in the pool, worked on the tan a bit more, and had one last poke bowl before heading to the airport for the 6-hour flight home.

Aloha until next time Hawai'i! 

All Big Island photos here.

Other posts from this trip:

Pre-Disaster Maui

Volcano Lessons on Hawai'i

Saranac Lake, New York Winter Fun

Trip date: February 2023 

After a couple of days in Saratoga Springs, I hitched a ride with my friend John to Saranac Lake, which is where his company Rascal + Thorn would be putting on the dinner that I came to the area for.  It was a gorgeous, snowy, 2-hour drive through the Adirondack Mountains. 

We arrived at the Hotel Saranac and upon check-in they told me they had upgraded me to a bigger corner room. I would be working for the next couple of days so it was nice to have a proper desk and a great view of the town. And since the hotel is in the Hilton portfolio my status got me $15 credit per day to use how I liked. 

The hotel has a very good all-day restaurant so some of the event group met there for lunch. Afterwards John took me on a drive around the area and to Lake Placid. What a gorgeous area, especially for snow sports enthusiasts! And I got to see the famous hockey rink where the Miracle on Ice happened in 1980!

Back in Saranac we walked down to the frozen lake to check out the construction of the Ice Palace. Each February, since 1897, Saranac Lake puts on a big Winter Carnival. It's one of the oldest in the country and there are lots of activities like parades, concerts, curling, dances, etc but the pièce de résistance is the Ice Palace that volunteers construct using blocks harvested from the lake. 

They even had a small museum set up with photos from prior years. Some of the palaces were massive! I love small town stuff like this so I thought it all was very cool! 

That evening John invited everyone out to dinner at Red Fox which is a super old-school American Italian restaurant. Big martinis, shrimp cocktail, prime rib, veal parmigiana, and a lot of fun!  

Back at the hotel a few of us stopped into the Great Hall, the hotel's cocktail bar, where we found some really great prices on whiskey pours.

Besides its historical Winter Carnival, Saranac Lake is also known for it incredibly cold winter temperatures. In fact, it is regularly the coldest place in the Continental US. And when I woke up on Friday morning, that is exactly what was happening! It was -19F and -43 with wind chill. Holy shit!

I bundled up and braved the cold to make my way to Origins Coffee for a breakfast biscuit and latte. I was pretty much the only person outside! 

My shopping trip around town got cut short after about 10 minutes of being outside as it was truly the coldest cold I had ever felt (and I've been north of the Arctic Circle IN WINTER!). I headed back to my cozy room and worked until it was a respectable time for happy hour. A hot toddy was absolutely needed that evening!

On the advise of John, I had dinner one evening at the Fiddlehead Bistro, which luckily was just a couple of blocks away. I sat up at the bar and had a great meal including some lovely local cheeses at the end. 

It was -23F when I walked home! Actual temp, not with wind chill!

I took advantage of the hotel's spa the next morning and booked in for a relaxing massage and some time in front of their fireplace with hot tea. After warming up, I braved the cold again and walked down to the lake to see how the Ice Palace was coming along.

Unfortunately, even though it was currently crazy cold, the lake hadn't frozen early enough to harvest the amount of blocks needed for a large Palace, so the structure was pretty small. But still very cool!

Besides the Winter Carnival, Saranac Lake is also known as being the first place in America to open a tuberculosis sanatorium. Edward Trudeau opened the Saranac Laboratory in 1884, it's now a museum right in the center of town and right next to his old house.

Until 1946, when an antibiotic cure was found, the Saranac Lake Laboratory was the leader in research and administering treatment of fresh air and complete bed rest- the only known way to cure tuberculosis- to patients who came from all over. Dr. Trudeau treated many important people, including Robert Louis Stevenson. 

Around town you can still see homes with large porches called "cure porches", this is where people would sit and take in fresh air to stay healthy or recover from TB. 

It's a small and very interesting museum if you get a chance to go. And during the Winter Carnival there is a "pay-what-you-want" admission. Also the Trudeau name may be familiar to you as his grandson Garry Trudeau is the cartoonist and creator of Doonesbury.

Back at the hotel, I got ready for the reason for the trip; The Rascal + Thorn dinner! 

The evening started with passed canapes of foie gras mousse in pani puri cups, caviar on sourdough crackers, and spiced lamb skewers. They were all absolutely fantastic! Hosts, John and Charles introduced the dinner team of Chef Erik Anderson , Chef Alex Lempka (from Hamlet & Ghost), and Will Wyatt (owner of Mister Paradise and Pretty Ricky bars in NYC).

We all found our way to our seats where a lovely cocktail awaited the first course. We would have 4 courses and dessert, each one paired with a cocktail made by Will.

The entire evening was just fantastic! There was a soft scrambled maple egg in its shell, some stunning raw steelhead trout with egg yolk and trout roe, roasted squab with shiso and caviar, perfectly cooked Mack Brook beef with potato cake, and burnt sugar and rosemary pudding for dessert. 

These folks really out did themselves! And the Winter Carnival had a big fireworks display that we all got to watch from the warm dining room during the dinner!

The next morning I said goodbye to everyone and took a "local taxi" to Adirondack Airport. That means I got some names of locals with trucks from the hotel concierge and paid one to drive me. Small towns are very funny!

At the Cape Air check-in counter I had to provide my weight, as well as they weighed my bag and carry on. Turns out I was flying on a TINY 8 person prop plane to JFK! For those of you who don't know me personally, I'm actually an extremely nervous flyer so this sounded terrifying!

Add to that the airport couldn't serve alcohol until 10am (because it was Sunday), and my flight left at 10:30. I basically shotgunned a mimosa at 10:03am! 

I still don't really know how all that luggage fit; they were putting things in the nose, the wings, etc! We weren't allowed to have anything in the cabin except for what you could hold in your hand (like a book or your phone). 

We were seated so that the weight distribution was even and one couple was very upset that they couldn't sit next to each other. I mean we are in a minivan with wings and he was right behind her! 

Luckily the weather was good so the 2 hour flight was pretty calm. It was crazy flying that low over the Adirondacks and into JFK though! I was very tense the entire time and was super happy when we landed!

Since I had a 4 hour layover in JFK, I went to spend some time in the TWA Hotel where for $25 you can lounge in their rooftop pool which is heated to 95F and overlooks the runway!

I had planned this, so I had my suit in my carry-on and a staff person locked my suitcase up in a closet for me. I had to change in the restaurant bathroom which wasn't great though. I kind of expected them to have a little locker room or similar. But it was super relaxing to take a soak and watch the planes. 

The rooftop restaurant is like a ski chalet in the winter so I stopped in after for some lunch, but it was really basic food and wine. All served on disposable and very overpriced. Not sure if it is always like this or if this was a holdover from Covid. The space is super cute though.

And walking back out through the hotel to the main concourse was super fun with all the old TWA memorabilia, 70-style bar, and retail shops. There is even an old TWA plane that is now a cocktail bar but it wasn't open yet when I needed to leave.

I made my way to my terminal and checked out the newly opened Alaska Air Lounge real quick before boarding my flight from JFK to Seattle. I had used points for a First Class, always nice on a 6 ½ flight! This one even served little cans of Straightaway cocktails and containers of Salt & Straw ice cream for dessert! 

It had been such a great trip! So fun seeing friends and great meeting all the chefs. Upstate New York is truly gorgeous... AND COLD!

All Saranac Lake photos here. 

Previous post from this trip: 24 Hours in Saratoga Springs