Good morning everyone. I am writing to you from beautiful Embassy Suites San Francisco Airport South San Francisco, which is not to be confused with Embassy Suites San Francisco Airport Waterfront (which is located South of San Francisco Airport). This here lies the problem, or rather, the problem that I ran into last night as I attempted to take the correct airport shuttle to the correct Embassy Suites hotel. As you can probably guess, I got on the wrong airport shuttle. Instead of taking the airport shuttle back to the airport, waiting for the correct airport shuttle to arrive, and then drive to the other Embassy Suites, I decided to request an UberX ride from one Embassy Suites to the other Embassy Suites.
Fast forward 12 minutes and I was in the hotel lobby of the correct Embassy Suites hotel. Luckily for me, I had an Uber $20 off credit in my account (thank you Uber gods for taking pity on my lack of directions).
It goes without saying that my sense of direction is terrible. But what makes it worse is my overconfidence in myself that my natural instincts are correct. That is a very powerful combination for getting lost a lot and ending up wasting time. Has anyone else gotten on the wrong airport shuttle before?
P.S. Are you wondering why I am staying at an airport hotel when I live in the Bay Area? Long story short, it has to do with BART doing maintenance on the transbay tunnel that connects San Francisco to Oakland, making it challenging to get home on Labor Day Weekend. I got a pretty good deal with Hilton points + cash, so I booked the hotel for 1 night.
In other news, TravelCon Las Vegas was officially announced for Saturday, November 7 at the Monte Carlo Resort and Casino. All early-bird tickets are gone, but regular tickets are available for $139. To purchase your ticket and learn more about the event, click here.
Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend TravelCon since I have other plans… that day… in San Francisco and Las Vegas… at both Centurion Lounges. Let me explain. Back in June, I planned 2 crazy meetups for the same day. The first being at the SFO Centurion Lounge from 12-3pm and the second being at the LAS Centurion Lounge from 6-9pm. I think a handful of travel hackers will meet me in SFO, a few others will meet me in LAS, and a select few will be at both meetups. It wouldn’t be fair to the people attending my meetups to cancel after they made travel plans and booked airfare to/from the airports. Therefore, the meetup times/date will remain the same as before. On a similar note, does anyone know if I can reserve the kids’ playroom at LAS Centurion Lounge for a private party?
If anyone from TravelCon Las Vegas wants to talk (more) about miles and points, you are all gladly invited to join us at the LAS Centurion Lounge from 6-9pm. You will need to figure out how to get to the lounge, but if you are attending TravelCon, I have a sense you can figure it out. Here is the current TravelCon schedule and speaker lineup:
After the LAS Centurion Lounge meetup, I will be staying in Las Vegas until Monday morning. I don’t have any hotels booked yet, but if an awesome deal comes up, can someone please let me know? Otherwise, I might be sleeping on my brother’s couch or aunt/uncle’s couch in Henderson, NV (and no one wants that).
If you have any questions, please leave a comment below. Have a great day everyone!
Ha. I was in NYC for BlogHer in 2012 (blogging conference – I’m a blogger in my spare time too) and it was at the Hilton near Times Square. A *lot* of bloggers ended up at the Hilton Garden Inn which was across town. (oops)
Haha, what is up with bloggers not knowing how to get to the right hotel? It must be an industry wide issue ;)
I had that happen once early in my career when I tried to check in to the Springhill Suites (a Marriott brand) instead of Staybridge (IHG). They were also about five miles away from each other, but luckily I had a rental car and could just drive to the correct destination, after a bit of egg on my face.
Rental car to the rescue! Glad it was only s minor inconvenience for you.
Hi Grant
I have to cancel my Ritz Carlton credit card next month, but I haven’t had success to get refund for my GC purchase or my award booking fees. How can I use $300 credit? Airline lounge memberships cost more than $300.please advice.
Have you made smaller charges for airline reimbursements like seat upgrades, change fees, baggage fees, in-flight meals and WiFi? If so, you should be able to call JPMorgan and have them reimburse you for those charges.
TravelCon is the same day? Damn… I’ll probably attend TravelCon so I’ll probably skip the SFO meetup and see if I can get into the LAS lounge after 6pm.
Sounds good Jeff, 1 out of 2 meetups is still pretty good.