Air China – Ying & Yang
If I were judging an airline by one trip, I’d say Air China is bipolar. The experience with customer service, on the ground and in the air varies greatly. The call center, whether you’re in the US or China, is…
Explorations Guru
Hyatt Underwhelms
Believe it or not, this past weekend was my very first stay at a Hyatt in the United States. Yep, I’ve only ever stayed at Hyatt in Korea and Thailand. As a Platinum member of Hyatt’s reward program, my expectations…
A picture perfect lunch with an elephant…in downtown Chicago
by PlushAdventures The admission free Macy’s annual flower show is underway at the State Street location in downtown Chicago. The theme for this year’s show is Asia. Asia has been my top travel destination for years, so it was hard…
Bye Bye Bangkok
I’d love to say it’s forever, but I am sure I’ll be back in a month or two. I love your country and the people I work with, but I just can’t take the smog and traffic in Bangkok. For…
How To Survive The Bangkok Smog
You can’t The end. Here are some of my favorite Bangkok smog pictures from the week
Pulled Over By The Thai Police
Bangkok is known as city with massive traffic congestion. Cars are usually at a stand still because of grid lock. For us, it was a different story. Imagine how you might feel if you got pulled over by a very stern looking policeman in…
Starwood Q2 Promo – None of my hotels are participating!
Details about Starwood’s Q2 have been posted on their website – Earn double Starpoints® on all eligible stays from May 1 through July 31, 2013, at more than 1,000 participating Starwood hotels and resorts worldwide. Hotels and Resorts Not Participating. Unfortunately for me,…
What’s Wrong With Your Hotel
Good or bad, what ever you’re saying on the social web is being reviewed. TrustYou, a company focused on reputation management for the hospitality industry, has more than 10,000 customers in 60 countries and monitors over 400,000 hotels, providing an extensive…
Air China, possibly the worst customer service ever
I’ve had three encounters now with Air China, and each time, I acted surprised when I’m horribly disappointed with their customer service. You’d think I’d learn my lesson sooner or later. I won’t completely rehash the old issues, but I’ll…
Airline Themed Movie Theater – no joke
This weekend I had the opportunity to go to the movies at a theater in Bangkok. It’s one of the most unbelievable movie theaters I’ve ever seen in my whole life. Scratch that, it is the most incredible movie theater…
TheMrPickles Identity Leaked Over The Weekend
You know the man behind TheMrPickles as Joshua Pickles. Over the weekend, as news broke that he bought a bank, his true identity was leaked. Buying a bank is very expensive, so to support TheMrPickles, the founders of First2Board have…
The Entitled Traveler
Editors Note: Some of you may recognize this post. Unfortunately during the move to First2Board a few stories got lost in space…this was one of them. So I’m reposting it now. Lucky for me, the content is still relevant! The…
You Named Your Dream Destination – And The Winner Is
We had an overwhelming amount of participation in the First2Board Name Your Destination contest. Thank you for your participation. The first person we drew said they wanted to go to Rome, Italy. Unfortunately, that’s not a US city – somebody didn’t…
Bangkok’s Most Gluttonous Secret
In 2012 I discovered Bangkok’s most gluttonous secret. Food. I’m not just talking about any food though, I’m talking about French food. Yes, that’s right, French food in Bangkok. This secret is almost so good that I don’t want to…
Would you go to North Korea? Dennis Did!
by Plush Adventures Dennis Rodman’s recent trip to North Korea resulted in a new round of conversation at my monthly coffee meet up. We went around the table saying yes or no. When it got to me, I said…been there…
The Last piece of 1,000-point Banana Chocolate Cake
By PlushAdventures Platinum Hyatt Gold Passport members had historically been awarded a Platinum Extras award for every 3 stays completed. The award options included a club upgrade, a food & beverage amenity or extra points when dining at a property…