Travel Break

Hi everyone. Looks like we are going to be on a bit of a travel break these days as we ride out this shaky economic phase we are in. The company is cutting back on all unnecessary travel so that means more home time for our little training team. Woo hoo! Well, I say woo hoo but I do sort of miss the travel at times. I think it's just taken me about a month to finally get back into the routine of enjoying home and the work homebase...I'm just so used to speeding around getting ready to go somewhere or recovering and catching up from being on the road. It's a funny feeling to have the plug pulled on all that travel all of a sudden.

I may not post much for a while but if we take any trips or have any adventures even close to homebase, I'll let you know. :)

The Summit Diner (NJ)

This is a great place to grab a bite if you are in Summit. I really enjoyed breakfast there. Two of us ate a filling breakfast with juice and coffee for under $20. Not bad in an affluent town. Below is a shot of inside.

This diner is located across from the train station so you could grab a quick bite and then hop the train for a 30 minute ride into New York City. Too bad we didn't have time to go into the city but we had a really nice time driving and walking around Summit. It's a really lovely community.

The Grand Summit Hotel (Summit, NJ)

The Grand Summit was on the pricey side in my opinion but since I had never been to Jersey, I didn't know that I wanted to try and drive from a far distance to get to the work site we were visiting this week. This hotel was only five minutes from our site AND it was nestled among beautiful neighborhoods and a thriving main street, Springfield Avenue.

The hotel is very nice and you can find plenty of information on the hotel website. It has plenty of modern amenities and tons of character. It's very close to local shops and restaurants as well as a huge mall that's very upscale. I loved it in Summit. I will post more photos this week of it.

Delta Media Options

Did you know that on some of the bigger Delta planes offer television, HBO shows, music channels and over 25 CDs in a variety of genres? Well, I found this out during the Atlanta to Newark (NJ) leg of our trip because we stayed in the air for about 6 hours since no flights could land in Newark (reason still unknown to us). Airlines are SO terrible about informing passengers. Have you noticed that? They never tell you anything. And if they do, it's really vague. Ugh. Frustrating.

So, we watched CNN, HGTV, Food Network, the Spurs/Lakers WNBA Western Conference Finals (go Starz!). And the music was great. I listened to my favorite Diana Krall songs and that made the hours onboard bearable. That and talking to Ronnie. It makes such a big difference when you are sit next to someone with whom you get along so that the talks make the flights just zip by in a flash.

Claremont, CA - Doubletree Hotel Revisted

Here's the view from Building 4 at the Doubletree. We went back there since it was nice the first time we were there. With all the traveling I have done this past year, I am finally gold level with the Hilton Honors programs. If you haven't picked a customer loyalty program, this is a really decent one to start with if you like Hampton, Hilton, Doubletree, Embassy Suites, etc. I have had enough points to get an airline ticket in addition to getting to gold level (next would be diamond level).

My upgrade got me a BIG room with a king bed, two cookies, two waters, seven vouchers for free breakfast buffet at their Orchard restaurant. The buffet was only okay and so we decided that it was very nice to have the vouchers or else we'd pass on the $15 buffet and go to McD instead. :o)

Believe it or not, I never remembered to take a picture of it. LOL. What's wrong with me?!

Travel Fatigue

Taken with the A737 Samsung phone by Sonia.

Here we are in our 4th week and obviously sort of tired from the travel and some late nights but it's been a great trip. I was told that typically, if you fly late in the day, there are fewer people on the flights and you can have your pick of seats for stretching out. Well, here's our Project Manager enjoying the empty plane. But when I finally decided to take the 8pm Southwest flight from SA to Phoenix, it was pretty much full. Even the stretch from Phoenix to Ontario, CA was full. Let's hope my flight home tomorrow night is as empty as the one above.

Update: On my return flight, Ontario (CA) to Phoenix was almost full but the Phoenix to SA flight was nice and empty. Plenty of space for stretching out.

Sacramento Fields

For some reason, I was under the impression that Sacramento would be a much larger city. Instead, we were greated by great, big fields that went on and on forever. I loved the different colors and patterns; I could almost feel the texture from the air.