Saturday, May 31, 2008

Dallas attractions

Dallas downtown has too many things to see. The Dallas World Aquarium. I am impressed by the under water glass tunnel where guests can see the huge octopus, jelly fishes that glow in the dark, cute stingrays, little sharks, etc. I have a question though. How come there are fire birds and tigers in the Aquarium? Dallas Museum of Art.

  • Winfrey point. This year, Toronto had a long Winter. Haven't been to a nice romantic picnic place for a while. (LoPo, how do you like it?)
  • The Dallas Arboretum Botanical Garden. That is huge garden!
  • Fountain's Place, a beautiful lunch spot in the middle of Dallas downtown.

Dallas romantic dining

Dallas downtown is an excellent place for romantic dining. DragonFly in Zaza hotel is a very upscale fusion restaurant. One interesting dish is filet mignon. The filet mignon is favored by ginger sauce with Chinese veggie as side dish. It is like the traditional Chinese pan fried beef and vegetables but with top graded beef. Truluck restaurant is as good as always. We liked the mixed grill the most. The steak was grilled to its perfection and shrimps were huge. The chicken breast was not as juicy as what I had before but still Okay. For some unknown reason, we were served by a server dressed like the cook. Spaghetti warehouse has great pasta with great value. The restaurant was full of interesting decor. (LoPo likes the painless dentist billboard.) La Duni Latin Cafe is a hidden gem in Dallas, interesting food and comprehensive wine list. The nice receptionist is one reason to go La Duni again. Rj Mexican cuisine has interesting Tex-Mex food.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Dallas - Hyatt Regency Dallas Hotel

We spent a week in Dallas for the Victoria Day weekend. Reunion Tower is the landmark on the Dallas skyline, built adjacent to and operated by Hyatt Regency Dallas Hotel. That makes Hyatt Regency the hotel of choice in Dallas downtown. Check out my Travelocity Good Buy Hotel page for more deals in Dallas.

The breakfast was world-class, beautiful restaurant and amazing a la carte breakfast. The in-room dining was amazing, both service and food layout. Be sure to try out the Texas brewed Shiner Bock.

Sunday, May 25, 2008

My first experience with Delta Airlines

Please link to this post. See this link for the details. I usually fly with Air Canada or WestJet Airlines. There was no good flight from Toronto to San Antonio. The connection wait time was like 3 hours. So, I had to give Delta a try.

  1. The Delta departure gate at Toronto Airport was at a dump terminal. They shuttle you to a dumpster terminal where there is no restaurant or shop. All you get is a $6.99 ham and cheese sandwich.
  2. The arrival gate was at a dump terminal too. You have to get on a shuttle bus, which is crazily packed. If it is a rainy or snowy day....
  3. I wonder if they have any first aid stuffs on the flight. The flight attendant told me that "we don't have any painkiller, Tylenol, or Aspirin." "We don't have anything like that," she added.
  4. Delta charged me $50 on my already expensive ticket of $988 for a missed connection. There was a delay for the incoming flight and the connecting flight actually left 5 min early. Delta still charged me, although it was Delta's fault. They could make a fortune if they delay more often.

San Antonio - Doubletree San Antonio Airport Hotel

That was a 3-day trip to San Antonio. Doubletree San Antonio Airport Hotel is a beautiful courtyard hotel. The room was very decent. It walks out to a shared balcony overlooking the beautiful courtyard which is quite impressive.The hotel restaurant was... normal, like many other Doubletree hotel restaurants. However, the desserts were bad. Lots of cakes on the menu were not available. Loblaws sells better cheesecake than them. Vanilla is the only favor for the "assorted ice-cream," and the ice-cream seems to be skimmed. It took forever for the room services to pick up the phone and the call was transferred to somewhere else. The executive lounge was small, but the staffs were very attentive. In hotel operation perspectives,...

  1. The internet was not working for the entire stay. Everything was stopped. This is a total disaster for business travelers.
  2. There was a black out. The night started without escalator, TV, hot water, and ended up black out. I was later on told that the power transformer has blown out.
  3. Fire alarm went off. The fire alarm was making a hum sound for the whole night. In the next morning, the fire alarm actually went off when I was in the shower.
(LoPo, I miss you....)