I was back on the road this week traveling to Massachusetts from San Diego to visit old friends and take my wife to her college reunion. While we’ve traveled internationally a few time last year, this was the first cross-country trip within the U.S.
San Diego’s new Sapphire Lounge – We had a chance to try out the new Sapphire Lounge in San Diego Airport’s Terminal 2. It was a large attractive lounge with a large bar serving free drinks, some breakfast foods, coffee and tea. Food was nothing special, but there was plenty of comfortable seating and even some private rooms for meditation. While I’ve been in American Express Lounges when I carried that card, this is the first Sapphire Lounge I’ve been to. If their food improves later in the day and it could match Amex lounges. It’s located up an escalator near Gate 47.
Our Alaska Airlines nonstop to Boston was quite enjoyable, even thoght we sat in economy seats in mid-cabin. The 737-Max 8 (the same plane I once swore I’d never fly) was clean and spacious and the flight attendents were efficient and polite. My wife insisted on checking her rollerboard when she saw we were in boarding group C and they announced free checking at the gate. Perhaps she was remembering how bad C boarding is on Southwest. Turned out it was unnecessary as there was plenty of bin space. When we got to the carousel her bag was already there. I continue to be impressed by the competency and caring Alaska seems to provide. A few weeks earlier when Alaska canceled my daghter’s flight to JFK, they got her on the only other flight available at a similar time, a Delta flight.
All those wires – I thought we had finally solved the issue with wires and chargers, but it was comical trying to get my wife’s ipad, phone, and headphones charged during the flight. First the plug receptacle on the seatback is slanted downward so the charger easily falls out. Weren’t we supposed to need the same cord for everything? For this trip we needed four: a lightening to USB-A, another lightening to USB-C, and then a USB-C to USB-A and a USB-C to USB-C.
National Car Rental – It was a pleasure picking up our car at National at Boston Logan. Not, however, the torturous and crowded bus ride to get to the rental garage that took about 30 minutes. Loved walking right past the long lines at Budget and Avis counters and entering the National area of the garage and walking right to the Emerald Isle to pick up a nice looking Kia Niro SUV. Just show your license on the way out; no paperwork.
That car, however, was problematic. It just took a long time to figure out how to connect my phone to CarPlay with the convolulted directions, and it wouldn’t automatically connect each time I started the car. I would have to unpair and re-pair my Bluetooth each time. Finally, I deleted the four phones of previous renters, re-paired my phone, and it worked. However a day later, the windshield wipers emitted large squeals when turned on- sounded like the wiper motor. I called National and they set everything up to exchange cars at the rental car center with a new Ford Escapade, equivaelent in their eyes, but much less attractive and much lower tech than the Kia, But at least the windshield wipers work. This entire excercise may guarantee we will encounter no more rain. Everyone I came in contact at National was very friendly and helpful. A far cry from my many experiences with Avis.
Marriott Customs House– The Marriott Customs House in the heart of Boston is one of the most unusual hotels we’ve ever stayed in. It’s a Marriott vacation club property, meaning every room is a suite with a living room, bedroom and kitchenette. The hotel features a unique layout due to its historic tower structure. The tower houses 87 one-bedroom suites, spread over approximately 18 floors Each guest floor typically has 4 or 5 one-bedroom suites. It needs just 2 elevators to serve all the rooms. It’s a block from Quincy Market and a couple of blocks to the larger Marriott Long Wharf. One benefit is it’s easy to find the while wandering around the area. Just look up. Breakfasts were minimal, help yourself to pastires, yogurt, bagel, toast, fruit and free coffee. Use the honor system to fill out a form of what you took. Most breakfasts were $5 to $7 for the two of us.