Who says Gulliver was the only one who traveled?

So this weekend I decided to take a closer look at DC. People in my area often take for granted that we are so close and don't take the time to be tourists ourselves! There are many things in DC that you can do and you cannot do them all in the same trip. I wanted to highlight on places to stay in this blog. I will soon be posting about things to do and places at eat after this one. Enjoy! :)

Hotel Areas

When picking a hotel in DC first you definitely want to be familiar with the areas beforehand. Primarily, you want to make sure it is in a safe place, being that it is a large city, and that it is near places you want to visit. I'll talk about them in relation to the Metro locations, which are also important to be near when picking a hotel. Gallery Place/ Chinatown is middle of DC. It is located near Chinatown, obviously, and the Verizon Center, as well as other things. It is a bustling area and a very safe place. McPherson Square/ Metro Place area is also a very nice area a few blocks behind the White House. Traffic can be pretty bad in this area, but HELLO it's DC - Welcome to Traffic. This is where we stayed and I loved the area. Lastly, L'Enfant Plaza is near the Capitol and also a great area to stay. Now, there are other Metro stops near these areas but those are the areas I suggest.




Featured Hotels

#1 Grand Hyatt at Metro Center

This hotel is located near both Metro Center, Gallery Place/Chinatown, and McPherson Square metro stops. It's the best located hotel in DC, just west of the White House and northwest of the Capitol, Mall and Washington Monument.  This was not one of the hotels we stayed at. It got booked before we could get to it. My boyfriend and I still wanted to take a look at it because we were impressed with the information online. Walking into this hotel is breath-taking. You're welcomed with many faces, a lagoon, and 12 story atrium. It's almost overwhelming how amazing this hotel is! There are 888 rooms that come with top of the line appliances, including an iHome for their guests. This luxurious hotel comes with a myriad of amenities including the following: full conceirge desk, two gift shops, dry cleaning, florist shop, spa. valet and self parking, pool and sauna, business center and meeting rooms,  two restaurants, and a bar/bistro. Yes, this hotel is so outstanding! Another impressive aspect of this hotel was that it had direct access from the hotel to the metro stop. About the conceirge, as I said we didn't get to stay at this hotel, but while we were checking out the hotel the conceirge called us over and asked if we needed any help. At the time, we were actually about to go eat so we asked for restaurant options. He asked what type of food we wanted and we replied American (although I wanted Chinese being so close to Chinatown! My boyfriend doesn't like Chinese... ) so he pulled out a map and highlighted all the restaurants we would like based on our conversation. He directed us to the Match Box Restaurant which turned out to be AMAZING! Now that's customer service! I highly suggest this hotel and am hoping we have a chance to go back and stay there.
Grand Hyatt DC
P.S. The Hyatt didn't have great pictures so www.oyster.com pictures were found from google and used to help describe the amazing-ness. :)


#2 Westin Washington, DC at City Center


We actually stayed at this hotel! This hotel was also very luxurious. As soon as we walked into the hotel we were greeted and directed to the check-in desk. There were a wide variety of clientele ranging from large families to business partners. The check- in staff treated everyone the same ,as 5 star guests. After we were assigned a room and key they walked around from the desk and handed it to us and we were directed to our area. Top of the line customer service at this hotel, as well. When we got to our room it was great and very modern and high class! The king size bed was the most comfortable bed I had ever been on in my life.                                 We also enjoyed the flatscreen in our room. The bathrooms were very large and we had a double headed shower. I have never experienced one of those before but now I know when I buy a house I HAVE to have those! Now usually hotels feature lotions, shampoos, and soaps....The Westin had the best smelling, high quality toiletries I have ever experienced. I am not even kidding, I know I probably sound ridiculous! I actually kept the lotion because I was so impressed with it and I've been getting compliments at work on the smell! How crazy! I've been meaning to track down a large bottle with that scent :) Anyways, back to the hotel - This luxurious hotel features: fitness facility, restaurant, in-room massage options, news stand, concierge, dry cleaning, babysitting, luggage storage, and a fabulous restaurant. We had been meaning to try the restaurant but got back too late and it was closed. The great employees at the front desk gave us local take-out flyers we could choose from. This hotel is located a few blocks behind the White House/Capitol area and near the McPherson Square metro. Their staff was just so great! I was so impressed I signed up for the Starwood Preferred Guest card at the end. I highly recommend this hotel and would definitely love to come back again!
Westin DC

Those were the best hotels that we came across but I have a few more that would make the cut:




The Williard Intercontiental DC Hotel - Now this hotel knows how to mix modern luxury and historic charm. It is located one block from the White House. This hotel runs for a much higher price, but if you have the money definitely go for it!   It is more than you could ever ask for in a hotel!









Hotel Disappointment :(





Since I left home and started this whole travel adventure I have never really been disappointed from a hotel. Well when we stayed at The Historic Henley Park Hotel and I was greatly disappointed. As I have mentioned in my previous blogs, I absolutely love historic hotels! I was so excited to stay in this hotel only to be let down. We called ahead to see if we could check in early and they voiced they didn't have a room ready but we could drop off our bags and they'd put them in the room for us when it was ready. We came back around 4 o' clock (check in is at 3pm) and our bags were still sitting in the foyer and they hadn't even moved them! We asked if the rooms were ready and they said they were. Yes, that was my question too - Then why are they still out here? While checking us in they told us that they charge their damage fees ahead of time...odd...but we went with it. We knew we weren't going to damage anything. So they give us our keys and we head up to the room. As soon as the elevator opens we see our room. No ma'am, I don't think so. We still looked at the room and it was basically a cardboard box. It was the smallest room I have ever been in. Also, while DC was experiencing record heat, THE AC DIDN'T WORK! No ma'am, strike three. So I went down and requested a room change and they did so promptly. Our new room was very spacious with working AC. Before we left we requested that another robe be sent up for there was only one. Five hours later we come back...still no robe. I phoned down and nicely requested another one..again. They brought it up. They then called back asked if we had a second car in their garage and I responded no. The next day we went to check out and received our bill and we were charged for two valet parking and a mysterious charge of which they couldn't account for. I told them, again, that we only had one car and questioned the other random charge. They said they weren't exactly sure what it was from but it should go away in a few days. WHAT KIND OF HOTEL IS THIS? The hotel was musty smelling due to the age, the front desk employees weren't welcoming, and we just had an all around bad experience. I highly discourage anyone from staying at this hotel and hopefully they can get it together. The hotel is beautiful, but the service ruins it.


On a happier note - All and all our weekend was great!  We visited some of the monuments, The Capitol/Mall/White House area, and then ventured to Georgetown. In another post I will tell about the exciting, romantic, and MUST SEE places to definitely visit during your stay.

This past weekend my boyfriend and I went to Busch Gardens and Colonial Williamsburg! Busch Gardens was awesome of course! So many great rides. It's Busch Gardens Europe so when walking through the park you enter and exit different countries! The following countries are featured in the park: England, Scotland, Italy, my favorite, Germany, Ireland, and France. Each country area has authentic food, characters, and attractions. Whether an adventurous date, like my case, or a family trip, Busch Gardens is a great place for anyone and caters to young children to older generations alike.

Advice for Busch Gardens

• Eat before you go into the park

How could I forget about the Caymans!? The Cayman Islands were my all time favorite vacation. I went with my dad and sisters a few spring breaks ago. We stayed at a beautiful timeshare. The Cayman island has three different islands: Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman. We stayed on the Grand Cayman Island ( the big one :) ) The islands are located in the Carribean and all you can see is beautiful turquoise water around you. The sand is so white and the water is so clear. It truly felt like paradise. I definitely want to go back. I could see this as a honey moon spot in a few years ;). Moving on...




                  

Attractions:

I'd have to say the 7 mile beach was my favorite part. Although we had our own private beach at our Resort we traveled to the opposite side of the island to interact with the locals and experience the culture.  Down on that end is West Bay Road which is the touristy and most developed area. Rum Point is also a popular beach area with plenty to do. Another one of my favorite parts of the trip is when we went on the Stingray City tour! It was a snorkel trip on a boat and we got to see all of the island and beautiful houses. Stingray City is an area in the ocean where you are able to stand and there's stingrays galore! We even got to hold a stingray! We took a picture with it, as well as a bunch of under water pictures, but I think we lost that camera? Oh well. Stingrays are actually very gentle and loving. They feel like a smooth wet rubber. Our water guide told us how most people get afraid of stingrays now because of the Crocodile Hunter's death, but he even wrestled with it a bit and showed that they only strike when seriously bothered. There were also other water creatures swimming with us and THEY LET ME DRIVE THE BOAT! For a little :)  During our beautiful vacation we also went to Hell. What? I went where? Yes, we visited Hell. It's a village and tourist attraction, guys! One of the weirdest attractions I've seen in my life to say the least. It's a little village surrounded by limestone ( see picture on right) and looks kind of eery. You basically go and take pictures just to say you've been there. They also have a post office where you can send a post card "from hell". Definitely a scary little village. Lastly, we went to another big attraction The Turtle Farm and the Zoo. It was a lot of fun and you get to take the turtles out of the water and take pictures! There are plenty of places to go out in the water on boats, snorkel, water sports, etc.  I don't even need to list the names because you get to the island and there's signs everywhere! You don't even have to think :) The resaurants are also very good! I enjoyed every one.










The Pad:

We stayed at Moritt's Tortuga Club, which is the most popular timeshare on the island, next to their sister property Moritt's Grand Resort. They have minor differences. This timeshare spot is the best for SNORKELING. I had so much fun doing it. The fish are absolutely beautiful there. While we were there we were matched with an employee, Jim, who informed us of all the day and night activities at that the resort had. I thought that was unique. Clearly there customer service was awesome! My favorite event was the night time dance which had a local band, dancing,  fire performer, and drinks! That allowed all the vacationers staying there at that time to meet. It was a very family orientated place, but at the same time, could be very romantic and there were couples only activities.

Rooms:
The rooms varied from one room apartments to penthouses! We stayed in a ground floor two bedroom deluxe. This worked perfectly for us. We were there for a week and the kitchen became really beneficial, even though we did eat out a lot. Pretty colors!

Amenities:
The resort came equipped with everything you could ask for in beach fun:

• Two fresh water pools with swim up bars (my favorite part)
• Onhand diver instructors and sessions you could sign up for
• The best windsurfing location on the island
• Water sports rentals
• Restaurant/ 2 lounges
• Underwater Photography Lab
• Workout facility
• Souvenir shop

After I decide on booking a trip the first thing I do is look up hotels! I really just love hotels. It's just a get away for me. Who doesn't like room service? I've said many times that I use www.hotels.com. So I COULD just jump onto the site and look for the cheapest decent one and click book, but finding and choosing a hotel is much more than that.



Questions you need to ask:

• What do I plan on doing in the area?
• Where are the most lively areas?
• Which is the most safe area?
• What did past customers say about this hotel?
• How many people am I accommodating?
• Is it better to get a suite or separate rooms for group travel?

Mornin'! Right now I'd like to talk about FLYING. Besides the time when I drove 2 and a half days across the country for experience, I actually do like flying. Finding affordable tickets can sometimes be hectic. I've bought tickets weeks in advance and as late as one day before the flight. I'd say those times are the best to buy. I decided to push booking that flight to the back of my To Do List but I'm usually never that risky when it comes to my travel plans.

The Real Cheap Tickets:

• www.cheapoair.com - the name says it all! They really have the cheapest tickets