American Traveler

Thursday: New vegetarian Lauren loves Quizno’s veggie sub as her roadfood choice of the day. Nice room at the Hilton Garden Inn on South Broadway in Saratoga.

Friday: Shrink-wrapped cinnamon bun and black coffee for breakfast. Took Mom to lunch at Uncommon Ground in Saratoga. She had gumbo. Lauren had carrot soup and a salad. I went for the tuna salad on Jalapeno bagel. Yum! We made the mistake of taking Mom to Ocean State Job Lots on the way home. But she wasn’t the one who was the problem. It was Lauren, and well, i suppose me too. We walked out of this dollar-store-on-steroids $111 lighter. The whole store was snickering as Lauren and I bickered over what to buy and what to leave behind. Best purchase: two down pillows for $10. worst purchase: all of those (albeit somewhat healthy) snacks. Then it was on the road to Vermont—with a stop at the Lake George outlets: Polo Ralph Lauren; Gap; J. Crew; etc…

Arrived in cloudy Burlington around 6:00 and headed straight for the Hilton. Never stayed there; knew it only as what it used to be: a Radisson. Normally, I go cheap when staying in town, out in the ‘burbs somewhere, but decided to do it up this time. Glad i did. The view Lake Champlain from our room was spectacular. I had spent some 20 years in Burlington, but never saw it quite like that. Met Zea and Nick as Asana for dinner. I had the tuna steak and a salad. it was delish. Then we went to Red Square to hear one of my old time favorites, the Grippo Band. Spent many a winter night listening to them with Shep. Emme and Shawn met us there and we stayed for a couple of fantastic sets.

Saturday we played tourists. First, Shelburne Farms for a Sheep demo, then Magic Hat for a brewery tour, then Champlain chocolate where we stumbled into a chocolate tasting. Met the kids at the Inn at Essex for a drink, said good bye to Emme and Shawn who were headed back to Boston; then back to Burlington for Dinner at a waterfront Mexican Place, name of which escapes me. Oh, wait, I almost forgot: Breakfast at Penny Cluse.Wow. Had an omelet with local ramps and goat cheese, home fries. So good!

Finally, Sunday, we ended the weekend at the ultimate Vermont tourists facility: The Ben & Jerry’s factory. It was, as one of the guides said, a mooooo-ving experience.

Lauren relaxing at Radisson Blu Le Dokhan

Next stop, Paris. Well, actually, next stop, Dublin as yes indeed we do have a stop-over. And what a stop over it proved to be. A short schedule, long lines through customs and screening, a throw-down between Lauren and one of the screeners. Leading to a fight, maybe the first, between the two of us. And a stony silence flight from Dublin to Paris. We found our car in short order at Charles DeGalle and things took a turn for the better when the driver dropped us as the totally charming Raddison Blu Le Dokhan’s in the Trocadero district. More to come, including photos… sitting in the delightful lobby right now with my laptop.
First stop: Laduree for lunch.

The king-size room at the Saratoga Springs Holiday Inn is surprisingly nice. Big room, comfy bed, friendly service, various perks and upgrades for club members. All-in-all better than the Inn at Saratoga across the street where we had stayed in November. Did not, unfortunately, make it to uncommon ground for the bacon egg and cheese on a jalapeno bagel. Settled for room service continental breakfast (toast and melon balls)—-saving appetite for brunch an Mannas in Ballston Spa. Standard steam table fare, but with a nice omelet bar and good potatoes. All for $15. The culinary highlight, though, was, once again, Hatties Chicken Shack on Phila St. in Saratoga. Best fried chicken around. And we learned this time, mighty good wings too. Had a chat with the chef and owner who didn’t deny that they might be considering opening up a branch in NYC! That would be good news for the Big Apple. Could picture them doing very well in the Village or LES. Continue Reading »

Friday evening, 7:30 flight from LGA to MIA.

The things we carried into LaGuardia:

1 Louis Vuitton garment bag

1 large Louis Vuitton carryon

I purse

I generic garment bag

1 manbag

Now, no matter how you slice it, that’s more than 2 bags per person. Ever the optimist, Lauren thought that wouldn’t be an issue. She didnt know we were about to run into the meanest man in LaGuardia. I was hauling both garment bags plus my manbag as we approached the boarding gate. ‘You’ve got two many bags to carry on,’ he said as we approached. ‘Here. let me take one,’ Lauren said. ‘Now you’ve got too many bags,’ he said to her. ‘You’re going to have to check one.’ If we had been thinking we would have just shoved her purse into the carryon on. We weren’t thinking.

So we check a bag and  made our way up the ramp. The flight was full, the aisle was jammed but we were able to find room to stash our remaining bags in the overhead and sat, and waited, and waited. There was some sort of drama going on. Seems there was a ‘fearful flyer’ who wanted to be seated near a friend. Why they hadn’t gotten seats together to start with i don’t know. The attendants tried shaming a bullying passengers into switching but none would so they eventually gave up. And, only an hour late, we lifted off heading to Miami.

Amazingly, we only had to wait a minute or two to reclaim that bag at the Miami airport. A short, $32 cab ride later we were deposited on Ocean Drive in front of hte Majestic. Like every other place on the street, it had an open air cafe in front, and annoying host/hostess accosting every passerby, trying to lure them in to eat. Giving it kind of a third world beggar chic vibe.Upon entering we immediately sensed that the Majestic was well, not so much. The lobby was shabby. the front desk clerk was gruff at best. and i felt a sinking feeling in my stomach when i realized i had shelled out $180 a night for this place.

The room? grim is the best word to describe it. not exactly dirty but a bit shopworn. nothing special about the furnishings or size. and what about the "partial ocean view?" In the morning we found that if you threw open the window and leaned out as far as possible you could maybe see a flash of blue off in the distance. No worries, Lauren said. The beds were comfortable and she managed to spend most of the night in bed with me before stretching out in the early hours in the other bed. A woman needs her space…

We had all day on Saturday to roam around before the evening wedding and after lunch at the New Cafe with our friend Joe, we stopped at the red bull art of the can exhibit on Ocean Drive. Fabulous, as one of us is wont to say. Then it was shopping, shopping, shopping the afternoon away until it was time for the wedding at the Fountainblue. We were a bit underwhelmed by the glitzy hotel. With all the shops and whatnot it felt as much a mall as a hotel. It was so big we had a hard time finding the right room and wound up smack in the middle of the law enforcement officer of the year banquet. Eventually we found our peeps, or they found us and we followed them to cocktails and appetizers by the pool Delightful, if a bit chilly.

Lauren enjoying the heat during cocktail hour.

We had a full day in Miami Sunday as our flight didn’t leave util 9:30 pm. After lunch with Joe again (at paul’s a lovely cafeteria style chain, French in origin, we did some more… what else… shopping. Lauren charmed the salesforce at Alchemist and we both enjoyed the funky gear at All Saints, but by day’s end we packed up with only one purchase, a pair of Prada shoes… for me! Surprise. We also did a bit of tattoo browsing. We walked into one place and as we were saying hello to the clerk behind the counter we heard someone scream “Lauren” from the back. It was Irina, a young woman who was once Lauren’s intern of sorts. Small world.

Back at the airport we again made the mistake of passing through security—where Lauren was subjected to a full body scan in what looked like an isolation booth from a ’60s game show—before we ate. So all we found was a rather sad looking Cosi with a few sandwiches and salads.

The waiting area was packed with passengers foe the New York flight. We boarded only a little late but then had to sit on the plane for a half hour because they couldn’t locate the ground crew. Off eating, no doubt, at a better place than Cosi.

Hotel room equipped with state of the art tissue

Arriving at Miami Airport. Still smiling after the flight