Saturday, May 29, 2010

Suites Viena Review

Review of the Suites Viena in Madrid, Spain
We spent our final night in Spain at the Suites Viena.  It's unfortunate we didn't get to spend more time here as the room was exquisite.  Everything was very clean and modern.  Our room came with a huge balcony and a kitchenette.

Since this was our last night after 10 days adventuring around the country, we were pretty exhausted by the time we got here.  It felt good relaxing here on our last night.

The location of the hotel is quite central, as it is located right off the busy Calle Princesa and near Plaza Espana.  They have their own parking garage (at the price of 22.50 Euros per day) and a friendly staff.

Friday, May 28, 2010

Silken Al-Andalus Palace Review

Review of the Silken Al-Andalus Palace in Sevilla, Spain
A friendly staff greets you as soon as you drive up to this hotel. The concierge desk is located outside to immediately be there to help out.

After entering the building, a grand central area is thrust upon you with various decorations and art-work. You can tell immediately that the hotel provides a comfortable atmosphere.

The room itself is pretty standard, but they are definitely clean and comfortable. We had an excellent view overlooking the gorgeous pool and outdoor bar.

For parking, we were able to find a spot along the street, right in front of the hotel for free. However, they do offer a parking garage as well for 12 Euros/Day

One thing people will notice is that the hotel itself is not located in the central portion of Sevilla, which is where you'll probably spend most of your time. It is a good 45 minute walk to this area, or a 5 minute bus ride at a cost of 1.20 euros a person for a one-way fare. Cabs do sit right outside for most of the day waiting for fares. A one-way fare into the center of town should cost about 5 Euros, but make sure to negotiate this before you get into the cab.

As long as you don't mind the walk or taking the bus or cab though, I believe this is an excellent hotel for anyone looking to stay in Sevilla.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

H10 Estepona Palace Review

Review of the H10 Estepona Palace in Estepona, Spain
Upon driving up to the H10 Estepona Palace, our jaws just dropped.  You can tell just from the initial glimpse that this would be a special hotel.  The building itself looks like a sand castle sitting on the beach.

While every room would have a decent view, we were able to get an ocean view room simply by requesting it a few days earlier via e-mail.  This gorgeous view of the Mediterranean Sea just left us staring for a few minutes.

The room itself was gigantic (bigger than my girlfriend's apartment!).  The one negative was that the mattress was pretty hard, but that was easy to forget about since we were exhausted by the time bed-time rolled around anyway.

The service by the staff was impeccable and they answered all of our questions in a very succinct way and spoke excellent English.

A nice little bonus (even though we didn't take advantage of it) was that they offer bus tour pickup/dropoff to places such as Granada, Cordoba, Tangier and Gibraltar.

We also spent some time in the spa for massages and we both felt wonderful afterwards.  Definitely major kudos to the staff in the spa.

For heading into town, the hotel is about a 30 minute walk from the main part of town.  It's a nice walk though, so it's quite worth it.  The beach in front of the hotel itself isn't anything special, but since you're so close to other beaches, it isn't a big deal.

On some practicalities, there is a parking garage that they charge for.  However, we were able to find free parking in front of the building each day, which was a nice plus.  Also, they do charge 2.40 Euros a day for the safe, so make sure you are aware of that if you plan on using it.  For us, by the time we got there after a few days in Madrid, the money we spent on the safe was a good way to get rid of all the change we'd acquired thus far.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Hotel Atlantico Review

Review of the Hotel Atlantico in Madrid, Spain
This was our first time travelling to Spain, and I must say that choosing the Hotel Atlantico to be our first stop was an excellent decision!  The hotel is only a 2 minute walk from the Callao metro station, which makes it easy to get to from the airport or train station you may be arriving to Madrid at.  It is very centrally located within the city right on the Gran Via.  You can easily reach most of the city's top destinations by walking from this hotel.

Once inside the hotel, you'll find that the staff is extremely courteous.  They promptly answered any questions we had throughout our stay and everyone who worked the front desk had an excellent grasp of English.

The room wasn't very large, but the size was plenty adequate for our needs.  The maid always kept the room clean and everything was in proper working order.  The Wi-Fi was always available for our internet needs and they even gave us a "Bull Statue" as a complimentary gift.

One thing I'd reccommend to anyone booking here is to request a room with a view of the Gran Via in advance.  This way you get a balcony right over this main hub of Madrid.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Last Philly Phanatic Location Announced

The location of the 20th Philly Phanatic has been announced.

The last statue can be found at the Piazza at Schmidts.

This new facility located at 2nd and Hancock Streets holds free events all year round, including a farmers market on Saturdays.

Phanatic Around Town is the summer promotion of VisitPhilly.com, with 20 Philly Phantatics located throughout the city until August.

For a complete list of Phanatic locations, please click here.

PHLVisitorCntr posted a photo of the newest addition to the Phanatic family - click here to see the photo

Monday, May 24, 2010

Open Letter to Air Europa

As you all know, we thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Spain.  From beginning to end, it was a fantastic adventure.  Unfortunately, there was one negative: the plane ride home.  This motivated us to write a letter to our airline, Air Europa:


To Whom It May Concern:

I just completed a round trip flight on Air Europa from John F. Kennedy Airport in New York to Barajas Airpot in Madrid.  The airline confirmation number for it is XXXXXX and the booking reservation number is XXXXXX. The first flight, UX092, on Thursday, May 6th went perfectly smoothly.  My girlfriend and I were very happy with the service on the flight and everything associated with it.

However, the return flight, UX091, on Monday, May 17th, did not go as pleasantly.  We had booked our seats, 9G and 9H, several months in advance.  When we boarded the plane, unfortunately, we found our seats to not be in proper working order.  The TV’s in front of both of our seats did not work and were apparently the only ones on the whole plane that did not.  We immediately informed the flight attendant of this and she said that it would not be possible to fix it during the flight.  With such a long flight ahead of us, having this TV for watching movies was something we wanted, and expected with the price we paid for the flight.

The flight attendant then moved us to the absolute last row in the plane, even though plenty of other seats were available.  She said that was the only other place we could go.  With this, we lost our window view.  In addition, we were stuck right between the two bathrooms where we had to smell an odor through the whole flight and listen to toilets flushing and doors slamming every few minutes.  People were leaning over us the whole time while they waited to use the bathroom.  When the flight reached the point where the lights went out to allow everyone to sleep, our lights were forced to stay on in this location.

I feel this was completely unacceptable.  We paid a lot of money for these tickets and booked them in advance to be able to get an optimal seat on the flight.  Then, due to us having faulty seats and the flight attendant moving us to the back of the plane, we were forced to suffer through the entire length of the flight.
Due to this, I feel a refund is something we are entitled to.  Our total airfare was $XXXX.XX.  Since this only pertains to the return flight, I am asking you to refund us half this amount at $XXX.XX.  This seems to be the fairest solution to address our discomfort on this voyage.

If you would like to discuss this in more detail, I can be reached at XXX-XXX-XXXX or at xxxxxxxx@gmail.com.

Sincerely,
Matthew Rosenfeld


UPDATE: We have resolved the issue.  Please click here to see what the final resolution was.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Harrisburg and Paradise

Today our travels took us in the opposite direction to Pennsylvania Dutch Country.  Our main destination was Harrisburg, the capitol of the state of Pennsylvania.  On the way we made a pit stop in Paradise, PA.  Located here in this small town is the National Christmas Center.  This place has every possible Christmas decoration you could ever desire for your home, in addition to a museum dedicated to this holiday.


We also found a quaint little gift shop right outside of town aptly named "Almost Paradise".


After our little excursion here, we headed on to Harrisburg.  Our first stop here was the National Civil War Museum, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution.  This museum opened in 2001 and is the #1 stop for any Civil War buffs out there.  It chronicles the full history of the war, including what led to the war, as well as the post-war aftermath.  I'd highly recommend it for anyone with an appreciation for American history.


A mile and a half down the road from here is the Capitol Building of the state of Pennsylvania.  Unfortunately, no tours are given on weekends, but during the week you can get a tour of the building.


To complete our trip to Harrisburg, we walked down to the State Museum of Pennsylvania.  This building contains various exhibitions related to things that have happened in Pennsylvania, from pre-historic times to pre-European settlements to the Revolutionary War to the Civil War to Industrialization to today.  It chronicles famous Pennsylvanians and their contributions to the state and to the world at large.