I am getting excited about this trip. I was initially going to fly into Los Angeles on Friday, January 17th, but now I will be flying into San Diego. Hyatt does not have the best selection of properties. The amount of points required for a redemption is high for what you get. And the airport property, while okay, was just not interesting to me this time. I was going to stay at the Shat, which was in Culver City, right by the light rail and In n Out Burger. There was also a pizza place nearby and a bagel place. That was perfect until the fires started up. They were too close for comfort, so I moved my flight to San Diego and booked the Manchester Grand Hyatt for 20k points vs the 25 required for the Shay.
I also investigated switching to a different train from the West Coast to Chicago. I have done many trips on the Zephyr, so I investigated 28 out of Portland. There was a 600-dollar roomette that was enticing. I am glad I resisted because the Empire Builder was canceled this weekend due to cold weather.
This is final exam week for the end of the first semester. I will have plenty of time to check the train status map to see how 3 is doing into Los Angeles on Saturday. It has been 3 hours late a couple of times, and 4 still got out on time. When 3 was very late they must have swapped out the equipment for 2 to get 4 out on time.
I also investigated switching to a different train from the West Coast to Chicago. I have done many trips on the Zephyr, so I investigated 28 out of Portland. There was a 600-dollar roomette that was enticing. I am glad I resisted because the Empire Builder was canceled this weekend due to cold weather.
This is final exam week for the end of the first semester. I will have plenty of time to check the train status map to see how 3 is doing into Los Angeles on Saturday. It has been 3 hours late a couple of times, and 4 still got out on time. When 3 was very late they must have swapped out the equipment for 2 to get 4 out on time.
