Celebrity Cruise Intro/Arriving at Chile

Introduction/ Arriving at Chile

1st Day

2nd Day La Serena/Coquimbo

3rd Day At Sea

4rd Day Puerto Montt- Christmas Eve

5th Day At Sea

6th Day At Sea (Straight of Magellan)

7th Day Punta Arenas

8th Day Ushuaia

9th Day At Sea

10th Day At Sea

11th Day Puerto Madryn

New Years Eve

12th Day At Sea

13th Day Punta del Este

14th Day Montevideo

15th Day Buenos Aires

2nd Day in BA and flight back to Mexico

Introduction

A couple of years ago I took a cruise from Chile to Buenos Aires through Cape Horn with Celebrity Cruises. I also blogged about it but in a very simple way.
So I'm changing some stuff and putting it all on my blog

Arriving at Chile

After arriving from an 8 hour flight I arrived at Chile.

The bad thing was that they received us with another hour just to pay a tax for Mexicans, U.S., Canada and Australia citizens. After that I met with some friends that they just moved there, and they took us to the hotel (you can check my reviews at http://www.tripadvisor.com/members-reviews/charal95).

I stayed 3 days at Santiago. I went to the Turistik in the mall, and took a tour in the city, we also went to the Cerro San Cristobal. We also want it to go to a Viña (Vineyard ) but we didn't have reservations 

Well the 3 days passed fast and Im sad because Santiago is a beautifull clean city.

On the last day we went to Valparaiso, (I notice something in Chiles ports, that they have the port city and next to it a nicer city: Valparaiso and Viña del Mar, Puerto Montt and Puerto Varas, Coquimbo and La Serena)

We only went to Viña to the beach and to eat and after that we went to the cruise, when we get in Valparaiso it looks like a insecure city and also a not world heritage. When we get to the port we did the fast check in (oh if you were Captains Club you need it to wait more) and then boarded a bus and finally to the ship.

For all the info about the ship wait for my next days.

Analysis: US Airways merge with American Airlines

Last year I was actually pretty excited about the merge of United and Continental, but little did I knew that mergers do affect travelers' economy... A LOT!
Flights that were 330 USD (almost all the time) went to 550 USD.
Now a flight that was 380 USD from Mexico City to Houston (2 hours) is now over 650 USD!!

So I'm totally against this merger,
Yes it would save thousands of jobs, although many jobs including those at US Airways will be lost.
And I wouldn't imagine in just 4 mayor airlines (UA,DL,SW,US Air).
Of course prices will be higher, and not only from US Airways but from the others too.

And of course I would feel bad for OneWorld, that if this merger would go on, it would lose the only North-American carrier and one of its most important members.

So this just means

*Higher prices
*Less flight options
*Less award-flight availability
*Lost of US Airways jobs.

Do you think the merger should happen?

Do you think that one of the current airlines can become one of the big main airlines? Which one?

Airport Review/Guide: Denver International Airport

As something new I decided to create airport reviews. I do reviews for hotels, attractions, restaurants, so why not review airports?

To start off, Denver International Airport or locally known as DIA is very different than any airport in the U.S. The check in, TSA check -point and baggage claim of all airlines is located in one medium size terminal: Jeppesen Terminal.

Here you can find Rental Car options, restaurants, etc...
And here is where you have to arrive to do the check in and to be picked up.
United is the main airline here, Southwest and Frontier are also the big bosses.
United offers plenty of room to check in with almost no-wait at all even if you fly in coach.

One of the great features is that in the TSA checkpoint there is a Pre-Clear line plus a Business/First Class/Premier line, which saved me at least 15 minutes.

After the TSA checkpoint you can proceed to your terminal.
You can walk or take the train if using terminal A.
And you must take the train (ONLY OPTION) to go to terminal C and B(United and US Airways only).

Of course I just visited terminal B, which is huge. And thankfully there are two well located United Clubs. But apart from that there aren't too many options. The only shops are the typically airport stores but it does have a lot of restaurants but only one Starbucks and it's not in the middle of the terminal.

This airport is good to say the least. Although because you do have to take the small train and walk a bit more, I would arrive at the airport at least 1 hour and 15 minutes before the flight. 

But most important, it offers one thing that I think we all look at an airport:

FREE INTERNET

(although it didn't worked on mobile devices)

FOOD: 4.5

SHOPS: 3.7

ENTERTAINMENT: 4.4

SERVICE/EFFICIENCY: 4.5

LOCATION: 4.0

"WALKING"(the least, the better): 3.7

OVERALL:

4.1

A day in Denver and an adventure with Greyhound

During my vacations in Vail, CO, I had the opportunity to spend a day in Denver and it was amazing.
I visited the Denver Art Museum, the Colorado Capitol, the Denver Botanic Gardens and even the Cherry Creek Mall.

Here are just some of my thoughts about the city
* Fantastic atmosphere, people are very nice
* Although is a medium city, it has a lot of parks, little pollution and a good weather (except on Winter).
* The Denver Art Museum is a must, is one of the best Art museums in the country
*The  Denver Botanic Gardens are beautiful and huge. I'm not sure how nice they are during winter, but if you are in the city try to visit.

* The Colorado Capitol is a very nice building but the best thing is that there is almost no limits in where to go. You can even knock the governor's office door and watch the Senate Sessions.
* If you want to go shopping, then Cherry Creek Mall is the answer.

Denver might not be a huge city but it sure is a nice city with a lot of things to do. So if you have a long layover or happen to be here, visit this city.

My experience with Greyhound

I have been to several countries using several airlines, from Lufthansa to Cubana (the world's most dangerous airline). I have never taken a bus in another country apart from Mexico, but I have taken the Amtrak Train and the SBB train in Switzerland.

Prior to my small trip with Greyhound I heard really bad comments. But the reality is that the company is not that bad, it's their passengers.
On the first journey, the bus departed on time, arrived on time and practically everything was fine.
On the second journey everything was different.

Because the Denver public transportation bus arrived 10 minutes late, I almost didn't make it, I did not even had a ticket and it was already 7:05 and the bus was schedule to depart at 7:00. And when I asked the person in the front of the ticket line, if I could be first because my bus was leaving (almost crying) he just said no.
Fortunately, the 2nd person in line did let me in, and because of Karma, God or luck I obtained my ticket first than the "nice" guy in front of me.

On board the bus, the only problem I had was the lady next to me. Apart that she had her feet uncovered almost touching me, she was swearing/talking to the seat in front.

And btw this was a comment from another passenger:
"Wow, this station is the same like an airport"

I don't know to which airport he has been to, but not even the ugly Argentinian airports look like this.

New Flight to Tokyo

As reported yesterday by USA TODAY, United will be flying next March their new dream liners from Denver hub to Tokyo.

This route is not the only one that United will have using their new dreamliner. Earlier on the year United also announced their route Houston to Auckland, New Zealand.

Long layover in LAX?

When trying to find a cheap flight it's almost impossible to fly non-stop so you do have to have a layover, usually a long layover.

Last weekend I flew from Mexico City to Denver via LAX with a 5 hour layover! It is a long layover but there are definitely longer.
Many people did recommend me to go to Santa Monica or Venice Beach, but that would cost me about 50-70 USD in a roundtrip taxi, and a shuttle would take a lot of time. And I don't think it's smart for people that take this cheap flights save 100 dollars and then spend them on a taxi.

So I decided to stay, so what should you do if you want to stay at LAX?
If you are a bit hungry you should definitely go to Encounter.
Remember that strange building at the middle of the airport? Well, that's a restaurant.

The food is ok, the service is good and to be honest the prices are a bit high but do remember it's an airport restaurant.
So what is the special thing about this restaurant?
THE VIEWS!
You are able to see tons of airplanes arriving and departing LAX and time just flies by.







You can also check out the several new stores that will open in this year.  Specially in Terminal 7 and 8 and you can find a Food Court at TBIT,

New TV show coming! And you can win!

It's always nice to see a TV show of something you like, and more if it's a competition ... and even more if YOU CAN WIN.

Bravo TV (yes, the same of the Real Housewives) has announced that starting on May 9th a new show will be on air.
Each week, through their website a map of the U.S. will appear and each time someone uses the # on Twitter (#80plateschallenge) the map will zoom in.
After the location is finally revealed, competitors will have to leg it. The first person to find them in an Infinity car's windshield, wins them. 


So it's not the typically competition but it's sure creative.


For more visit:
http://intransit.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/01/a-tv-travel-show-offers-challenge-to-come-along/

A big thanks

I just want to say thanks, to all the people that have seen my reviews. I hope I can get to the 100,000 views