Restaurant: Shula's Steak House, Baltimore

Restaurant: Shula's Steak House, Baltimore
Web Site: http://www.donshula.com/rest.php?s=shulas
Address: 101 W Fayette St, Baltimore, MD‎
Phone: (410) 385-6630‎

Been here three times now. Located in the downtown Baltimore Sheraton, and not to be confused with the more casual sports bar Shula's II next to it. A traditional steak house with the typical expensive (yet top notch) cuts of beef and a la carte sides. And in a nod to current eating habits, lots of fish on the menu as well.

Not very crowded on weekends. Maybe its the economy, maybe its the result of being in a business oriented hotel on a weekend, but never very crowded. Service is better than average. Last time the chef ended up chatting with us a while. One of there gimmicks is having everyone cut open their food after presentation and using a flashlight to make sure it is cooked as desired.

Themed to the legendary Don Shula of that undefeated season, the restaurant paints the menu on a football and hangs pictures from that historic team on the walls. As fate would have it, we usually end up near a picture that has the great Washington Redskin Billy Kilmer right in the middle of it. He is a family favorite and the picture is always appreciated.


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Hotel: Marriott Residence Inn Long Beach

City: Long Beach, California
Chain: Marriott
Property: Marriott Residence Inn - Long Beach
Address: 4111 E Willow St, Long Beach, CA 90815
Phone Number: (562) 595-0909

Check Out: April 2009



Typical Residence Inn experience (which means good things as well as bad things). Right off the 405, very close to Long Beach airport. Some remodeling was going on while I was there. The rooms are more like studio apartments than hotels, and they do a happy hour each night and free breakfast like Hampton Inn.


Rating:

• Safety: 1
  
• Dining: 0.5 (breakfast only)
  
• Bar: 0
  
• Internet: 1 (free, wired)
  
• Wireless in Common Areas: 0 (I think)
  
• Work Space, Power: 0.5 (power was not convenient to desks/tables)
  
• Shower: 1
  
• Air Conditioning, Bed: 1
  
• Common Areas: 1
  

Total: 6

Directions: Off I-5 south of Disneyland exits (College Drive?)

Last Visit: August 2008 ($150)


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Tripit

I've been using Tripit.com for a while. This is a great service for organizing your travel. Tripit receives your Email notifications of e-tickets, hotel reservations, etc. and organizes them into one nicely formatted itinerary document with maps, weather, and links for check in. You simply forward your reservations and its sends you a notification when its done.

Some added functionality is that you can create a network of fellow travelers with whom you would like to share this information - great for your colleagues. It sends notifications and alerts as you are going to be in the same city.

Because Tripit keeps track of all your flights I'm going to remove the flight records here that have no details and move them to Tripit. I'll leave the ones where I provide some descriptive information.

Restaurant: Wildfire, Chicago

Restaurant: Wildfire, Chicago
Web Site: http://wildfirerestaurant.com
Address: 159 W. Erie, Chicago, Illinois 60610
Phone: 312-787-9000

Here with a business dinner. Looks like a traditional steakhouse, although the menu was very large and a lot of seafood also. Had about 6 or 7 different ways to order Filet Mignon! Large open kitchen in the back with lots of flames as they have grills and rotisseries running back there. Like a traditional steakhouse, the sides were a la carte.

Service was good, although I was with a large group that was a little too loud to really understand the service.





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Restaurant: The Palm, Boston

Restaurant: The Palm, Boston
Web Site: http://thepalm.com
Address: At the Westin Coplay Place, 200 Dartmouth Street, Boston, MA 02116
Phone: 617.867.9292

Visited for a business lunch. As you would expect, the food was great (although I can't go on and on about a club sandwich), but the real attraction is the service which is off-the-hook good. In Coplay Place which is near the Prudential Center.


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Restaurant: Les Halles, Washington DC

Restaurant: Les Halles Brassserie
Web Site: http://www.LesHalles.net
Address: 1201 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington DC 20004
Phone: 202.347.6848

One of our favorite places to go - kind of casual, the food is great, unique atmosphere, and a great location. Right on Pennsylvania Avenue down the street from the White House, and super convenient for the National and Warner theaters. We usually get the small fillets, and they make the world's greatest french fries.


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Hotel: Hampton Inn Downingtown/Exton

City: Exton, PA
Chain: Hampton Inn (Hilton)
Property: Hampton Inn Downington/Exton
Address: 4 North Pottstown Pike, Lionville, PA 19341
Phone Number: (610) 363-5555

Check Out: 2009, 2011



(Comments reflect room 232)

Typical Hampton Inn experience, clear, good cost point, easy check in and check out, limited services but free Internet and parking. Very close to PA Turnpike Downingtown/Exton exit, not too far from Valley Forge/King of Prussia.

Bathroom was a bit small, would have been nice to have the external vanity/sink area. Closet was kind of small, and had clothes rod mounted facing out which makes it very hard to hang clothing in there.

Good lighting, in room refrigerator and microwave. Might have made the best hot tea in room yet (although that's a low bar).


Rating:

• Safety: 1 (in the middle of nowhere)
  
• Dining: .5 Breakfast only (on lower end of Hampton experience)
  
• Bar: 0, beer for sale though
  
• Internet: 1 (free)
  
• Wireless in Common Areas: 1
  
• Work Space, Power: .5 (limited power)
  
• Shower: .5 (Shower head at shoulder height)
  
• Air Conditioning, Bed: .5 (Loud AC)
  
• Common Areas: 1
  

Total: 6

Directions:

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Last Visit: 2011, $110

Hotel: Hampton Inn Dayton-Airport

City: Dayton, Ohio
Chain: Hampton Inn (Hilton)
Property: Hampton Inn & Suites Dayton-Airport
Address: 180 Rockridge Road, Englewood, Ohio 45322
Phone Number: (937) 832-3333
Map:

Check Out: August 2008



Typical Hampton Inn experience (which is positive - clean, internet, free breakfast).

Staff was extremely nice and friendly, as is typical for the Dayton area, and especially appreciated when arriving very late from delayed travel. Near the airport, but not as close as you'd think.

Rating:

• Safety: 1
  
• Dining: 1 (breakfast only, buffet)
  
• Bar: 0
  
• Internet: 1
  
• Wireless in Common Areas: 0
  
• Work Space, Power: 1
  
• Shower: 1
  
• Air Conditioning, Bed: 1
  
• Common Areas: 1
  

Total: 7

Directions:
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Last Visit: August 2008 ($120)

Hotel: DoubleTree Hotel Anaheim/Orange County

City: Orange, California (Orange County)
Chain: DoubleTree
Property: DoubleTree Hotel Anaheim/Orange County
Address: 100 The City Drive, Orange, CA 92868
Phone Number: (714) 634-4500

Check Out: August 2008



Nice hotel, although proximity to Disneyland makes it cater to tourists more than business. A little noisy in the halls at night, etc.

Right off interstate 5, easy to get to.

Rating:

• Safety: 1
  
• Dining: 1
  
• Bar: 1 (untested)
  
• Internet: 1 (not free, available throughout hotel)
  
• Wireless in Common Areas: 1
  
• Work Space, Power: 1
  
• Shower: 0 (came out the wall around 6 foot)
  
• Air Conditioning, Bed: 1
  
• Common Areas: 1
  

Total: 8

Directions: Off I-5 south of Disneyland exits (College Drive?)

Last Visit: August 2008 ($150)

Hotel: Westin DFW Airport

City: Irving, Texas
Chain: Westin (Starwood)
Property: Westin DFW Airport Hotel
Address: 4545 W. John Carpenter Freeway, Irving, Texas 75063
Phone Number: (972) 929-4500

Check Out: August 2008



Hotel is a very nice business class hotel. Unexpected was the noise level in the hallway for a hotel in this price range in the middle of the week - drunken conversation in the hall around 1 AM, little kids yelling in the hallway around 6 AM.

Room was nice and comfortable. Flat panel television mounted on the wall with an extremely low res signal coming into it (so what's the point) and a remote with dead batteries. Other than that, very clean, nice staff, very comfortable bed, mini-bar in the room, and plenty of plugs for charging batteries.

Wireless Internet signal weak in rooms at the end of the hall - wired Internet did not work.

Rating:

• Safety: 1
  
• Dining: 1 (several choices, breakfast buffet a little overpriced for what it was but coffee was good)
  
• Bar: 1 (untested)
  
• Internet: 1 (not free, weak signal)
  
• Wireless in Common Areas: 0
  
• Work Space, Power: 1
  
• Shower: 1
  
• Air Conditioning, Bed: 1
  
• Common Areas: 1
  

Total: 8

Directions: Near DFW

Last Visit: August 2008 ($unknown - company paid but I think around $170)

Flight: AirTran 801 DFW-BWI

Departing From: Dallas-Ft. Worth (DFW)
Traveling To: Baltimore, MD (BWI)
ETD: 4:08PM August 12, 2008 CST (Actual 4:20 PM)
ETA: 8:38PM August 12, 2008 EST (Actual 8:08 PM)
Est. Duration: 3 h 30 m (Actual 3 h)
Departure Gate: E17
Arrival Gate: 27
Seat: 22D
Equipment: Boeing 717
Miles:
Other:

Exit row seat, so not too bad. Long flight - seat wouldn't stay up. No one in the middle seat, which is especially nice on a long flight. Was able to open the laptop and get work done for a change.

Left a few minutes late, arrived about a half hour early which is especially sweet. A little turbulence, but nothing bad.

Airports: Dayton International Airport (DAY)

Airport Name: Dayton International Airport
FAA Sign: DAY
Location: Dayton, OH USA
Airport Web Site: http://www.daytonairport.com/

Medium sized airport - 2 main concourses about 22 gates on each. Quite a long walk for an airport this size. Some food services in the center of the two concourses, but once you take the long walk down the concourse there isn't much there.

Free WiFi in concourse C - a rare luxury. Not too bad on the bandwidth either.