Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Please Touch Museum

For those parents (or grandparents or aunts or uncles or anyone else) that need to find a way to entertain their kids, Philly's Please Touch Museum is the perfect spot.  Located in Fairmount Park, this "museum" allows kids to go into various themed rooms to play with all on display.  Some highlights include a super market, a hospital where kids can "play doctor", a river jungle, a small city, an Alice In Wonderland themed room and many others.  There is nothing here that the kids can't touch or play with, so no matter how young your children are, they should be able to find a way to have fun. I'd say it'd best be enjoyed by kids between the ages of 3 to 10. At the end of the day there is also a parade, where any child can participate marching around the museum and banging on a tambourine.  

One thing to note is that there is a parking lot that they charge you to park in.  However, you can park on the street right in front for free and there are almost always spots available.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Air Europa Refund Request

After we sent in our letter to Air Europa asking for a partial refund, we got absolutely no response from the airline, which was quite disappointing.  After a few weeks of waiting around, I decided to open up the issue with American Express, whose credit card I used to make the purchase.  They opened up a case with Air Europa to investigate the issue and after a few months, they did not receive a response either.

Due to Air Europa's lack of a response to both myself and to American Express, American Express ruled in my favor and refunded the money to me and cancelled the payment to Air Europa.  I must say that American Express did a great job with this by following through and helping out their customer.  They definitely get my recommendation as a credit card company to use as they really do protect their customers from vendors that don't follow through on their products or services.

For Air Europa though, I must say I'm quite disappointed in them.  They have shown that they have absolutely terrible customer service since they don't respond to their customer's inquiries, as well as the poor service on the flight itself.  For more details about our original issue, please click here to see what happened.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Hartford Marriott Downtown Review

Review of the Hartford Marriott Downtown in Hartford, CT


The Hartford Marriott Downtown is just what you'd expect of a Marriott.  The lobby area is luxurious and the customer service is impeccable.  They offer all the standard amenities you'd expect and have a bar and restaurant onsite.  When my friend went to buy a gift for his daughter at the hotel gift shop, they even gave him a discount on it just as a kind gesture.

My room was your standard room with a view of the river.  It was very clean when I arrived and the housekeeping staff did an outstanding job when they came mid-day to clean up.  The bed was comfortable and the LCD TV was a nice touch.  The high-speed internet connection I found to be a bit slow, but it didn't prevent me from doing anything on the internet.

For the restaurant Vivo, most of the people I dined with enjoyed it.  For me personally though, the pork loin roast I ordered wasn't very good.  I think it is more likely that I just ordered the wrong thing on the menu for this restaurant since everyone else liked their meals, so I won't completely write it off at this point.  The staff was friendly and the ambiance was quiet and perfect for either a group of friends or for a couple.

When evaluating the cost of this, you do need to keep in mind that they charge for parking each night.  However, that is pretty standard for all of the hotels in the downtown area of Hartford.