June 2006 to May 2007
The Sands:
We loved the hotel again. Last year was a disaster, we started out at the Sibonne and luckily, because if their mistake we ended up changing to the Sands. Hated Sibonne, loved the Sands.
This year we opted for a slightly larger room. It was very nice. The room had a screened in porch which we took advantage of several times, but did not spend a whole lot of time there. The one annoying thing about the room (like many hotel rooms) is there is a connecting door between our room and the room next to us. This is handy for groups that book rooms next to each other, the down side is that the door does not make a very good noise block. The first couple of days we woke up to our neighbor, an old man, hacking up a lung. We got new neighbors two days into our stay. They had a little girl, about two and a half years old, she was extremely chatty, she never cried, but she talked continuously. It was not irritating but she did wake us every morning. We saw her and her parents at the pool, her mom was about seven months pregnant. She was a cute little girl with dark curls and a sunny disposition.
The help at the sands was as friendly and helpful as always, however, when it comes to billing I don't think they are completely organized. If it wasn't for Karen's keen eye for detail, they would have charged us for our seventh night which should have been free.
The gecko:
We passed on renting a car again this year and opted for getting around the island via the gecko (bus). We had very good luck using the gecko last year. We even used it to change hotels last year, meaning that we hauled our luggage on the bus. Mostly, we had good luck with the gecko last year.
We opted for the gecko over renting a car again this year. We haven't even checked into renting a car for several reasons. First and most important, the drive on the left side of the road. Secondly, it's a small island and the gecko will get you most places you want to go. This year we discovered that on Tuesdays you can even take a gecko tour of the island, they even take you to the conch farm!
As usual we took the gecko to dinner, back from diving, and to the IGA to get groceries. We had good luck taking the gecko where we needed to go until Sunday, then it all fell apart. We actually found out that Sunday is a very slow day the the gecko on the island and you have someone call to and tell the gecko to come and pick you up, and even then there is no guarantee that the bus will show up. We made the mistake of taking the bus to the Tiki Hut in Turtle cove for the a late lunch. We wanted to go the the IGA after lunch. We waited for the bus, and waited, and waited. I asked the bartender at the Tiki Hut to call the gecko and we waited some more. We eventually took a cab to the IGA.
Our luck with the gecko for Sunday and Monday was hit and miss. Over all the gecko worked well, Sunday is just not a good day for the gecko
Provo Turtle Divers:
Same as last year they were great. The best dive company ever. They would setup all of our equipment, and at the end of the day they would store all of our equipment if we were coming back the next day. I had read several bad reviews about them at Trip Adviser, but they were unfounded.
Dave was our dive master and the boat captain for one day. Tony was another dive master and we had Murray for a dive master. Murry was the boat captain last year. He look a little rough around the edges, tom said he looked like a pirate, but he was a nice guy just like the other dive masters.
Art Pickering who is still part owner of the dive shop, captained the boat one day (he also did last year). He has a Jack Russell terrier named Dewey. Dewey is a great dive dog, he will bark at you, and he is convinced that he is making you jump into the water. If you feed the fish off of the back of the boat he will try to bite the fish.
Restaurants:
Not much has changed concerning restaurants since last year. They are still expensive, but they are generally good. This year Karen tired of eating out so we ate breakfast in our room and some lunches also. I cannot remember all of the restaurants names but I will list the ones that I do.
Hemingway's- I start with the worst. We had dinner here last year and liked it. We ate dinner at Hemingway's this year and it was not so good. To be fair, I think you if you order fish anywhere on the island it is going to be good. Karen had pasta and I had stir fry. Both meals were mediocre to bad. We had breakfast there several days and it was good. We also had our favorite lunch there twice, fish tacos, also good.
The Tiki Hut- We did rib night again. It is the best deal on the island, the ribs are good and only $12.95. That is a deal.
The Blue Iguana- This is a nice restaurant located in the Salt Mills shopping center. The food was good.
Bachi (?)- This is a small Italian restaurant located in Turtle Cove. They looked like they had good Italian food, but we ordered a large pizza two salads and drinks and it came to over $60. A bargain for T and C. The owner (manager ?) is a neurotic mess, we walked into the restaurant, it was nearly deserted, he walked up to us with a piece of paper in his hand and he was shaking his head. He never said “hi” or “welcome to Bachi” he just stood there looking at the list and muttering. We finally told us that he would not seat us out side, we said fine and he seated us inside (not that hard). The rest of the night he micro managed the waitresses. Service was very fast, the fastest on the island, but the waitresses were very short with us and you could tell they were under a lot of pressure. Watching him drove Karen crazy.
Sharkbite- A restaurant in Turtle Cove. We had lunch there last year and again this year. We had fish both times. The food has always been good there.
Aqua- Our favorite meal last year and this year. The food is great, the restaurant is located in the marina so the the ambiance is nice. We had two problems this year that had nothing to do with the restaurant. It was cool, unlike last year when it was sweltering into the evening., so Karen was shivering through dinner. Someone decided to spray off their fishing boat, about $300,000 worth of fishing boat, and people in the restaurant were getting wet.
Highlights:
I was able to run on the beach this year (barefoot).
I taught Karen how to sail the catamaran at the Sands.
I bought Karen a blue heart shaped necklace. Usually I do not have much money left in my budget when vacation is over, but Karen paid for most of vacation.
I got a housing for my underwater camera so I could take underwater photos and movies.
The trip home:
Last year a storm hit before we left the hotel for the airport and flooded some of the streets. The planes could not land. Everything was delayed for 5 hours. We were suppose to land in Minneapolis about midnight and we ended up getting home between 4:00am and 5:00am.
This year our flight left Provo on time, but the flight from Miami to Minneapolis was delayed. So rather than getting home at midnight we did not get home until 2:00am. The trip through the Miami airport was terrible. It is a long story, but they did not have the luggage drop after customs marked well.
My next trip was to Scranton PA. I stayed in a Holiday Inn and it was a dump. I hate it when my room has an outdoor entry and my room smelled. I checked with some of the people in class and their rooms smelled too.
After Scranton I went to Las Vegas. I did a seminar and Karen and I stayed for the weekend. The seminar was at Circus Circus. The room was a dump, the bed was hard as a rock, the air conditioner was noisy and the room was generally worn and looked dirty. The people a the front desk were not helpful at all. My room had been canceled, and the it took me a good ten minutes to find out which banquet room I was in. On the other hand the banquet room and workers were exceptional. The room was large and every time I needed something I was able to find the banquet person. The downside to having a seminar at a casino is no internet access, I could not even access the internet from a dial-up connection. This has never happened before so I am sure they were somehow blocking it. I was able to find a nice little internet cafe several miles away and later in the week I found an internet cafe across the street from Circus Circus, but I never made it over there to check it out. I thought the food was acceptable both at the restaurant and for the seminar. Our California sales person received an email from one of the people in the class complaining about the seminar food.
Friday night Karen came into town and we checked into Monte Carlo. I liked Monte Carlo, it was plush compare to Circus Circus. Karen liked the hotel and casino, but thought our room was dirty and small. I think the she mistook the warn tile on the bathroom for being dirty. If we go back again we will stay at Paris or Venetian.
After Vegas my next trip was San Francisco. It was a very busy crazy trip. I arrived at my hotel at 2:00 am Saturday morning, it wasn't to bad, but I had to be at the clinic to setup at 9:00 am the next morning. I stayed at a Hilton Garden Inn in San Mateo. I did not get to see much of the hotel, but what I saw was very nice. The room was large and comfortable, the furniture was in good condition. Not a surprise because the hotel looked fairly new. I really liked the self service store in the lobby. It has snacks, soda and water. You also get two free bottles of water when you check in.
The following night I was driving back from Santa Rosa so I opted to stay in San Francisco near Fisherman's Wharf at the Best Western Tuscan. The hotel looked nice on the from the outside and it is in a great location. I was dead tired when I checked in so I went directly to my room, dropped my luggage on the floor, and laid down on the bed. When I woke up about an hour later I noticed that there was a crumpled up fast food bag on the table and there were crumbs on the bed. I thought this was odd but I it was not reason enough to request a new room. I went in the bathroom and saw used towels in the tub. This was enough motivation to call the front desk and ask for a new room. I had hoped they would upgrade my room, but they did not, instead the room that I got was located over the hotel entrance and it was much nosier than my old room.
They were true to form, the hotel is very nice, it is on the edge of wine country so it is fancier than other Holiday Inn Selects, but banquet and front desk people are just not very helpful, they are not bad,. but they are just not helpful. We were aware of the issues with delivering our equipment and as have come to expect, if the hotel has receiving issues, the delivery company will blow the delivery. I was driving a SUV loaded with equipment from a one day seminar that I gave earlier that day, south of San Francisco. The rest of the equipment was delivered and the banquet room was not available so the delivery company left the boxes in the entry way.
After the two classes I drove back to a Hilton Garden Inn near the airport. I really like Hilton Garden Inn's, the pantry near the front desk where you can buy snacks, sodas and other necessities is a nice surprise for a business traveler. The rooms are large and they have free high speed Internet and all of them that I have stayed at have been new and in good condition.
I opted to stay near the airport to save the company some money, I was going to drive to fisherman's wharf for dinner and sightseeing, but as usual I was shot after a week of being in front of people, so I crashed. I like San Francisco so I going to hang out and fly home later that day. When I woke up on Saturday I decided that I would just head home early. I checked flights and headed to the airport.
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