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Volume 5, Issue 49, December 4, 2007 |
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One of the biggest holiday travel nightmares for passengers is driving around looking for an open airport parking slot while your flight closes its doors. A little advance planning can go a long way to removing those concerns.
For example, if you’re traveling from the Washington, D.C. area over the winter holidays, according to an airport spokesperson the easiest parking is at Washington Dulles (IAD), where the lots rarely fill up (it has more than 25,000 spots, and new Pay and Go machines at exits). According to our friends at the Washington Post, if you’re in a hurry, the valet parking at Dulles ($30 for the first day, $17 for subsequent days) is actually cheaper than the closest-in self-parking lot. Washington Reagan National (DCA) is a different story; lots can fill up over busy periods and will likely be sold out on Dec. 25 and 26. You can look online before leaving for the airport to find out, or call 703 572 4500. At Baltimore-Washington Airport (BWI), an online coupon good through Jan. 5 lets you use the express lot for just $9 a day. And for longer trips, local hotels charging as little as $89 a night include up to three weeks’ free parking, and airport shuttle service, with a one-night stay, which makes taking a preflight room near the airport before your departure not only stress-relieving but cost-reducing. Similar hotel deals can be found surrounding many other airports.
Chicago’s Midway Airport (MDW) is positioning itself as an alternative to hectic O’Hare (ORD) for the holidays (on their respective busiest days, O’Hare handles three passengers to every one of Midway’s). It’s offering a holiday discount parking rate of $2 per two hours in the closest-in parking garage, significantly undercutting O’Hare’s rates, which start at $2 an hour and climb to $4 in the third and subsequent hours. If you’re picking someone up, both airports have free cell phone lots.
The San Francisco International (SFO) vicinity has a good deal for the hurried pet owner.At SkyPark, once you drop your car for parking, you board one shuttle to SFO and your pet boards another shuttle to nearby Planet Pooch for a playdate or a sleepover; on the return trip, your pet is brought to meet you at SkyPark‘s center. Discount parking coupons are currently available online.
Most major airports have Web sites that show the status of their parking lots, but things can change between the time you leave home and when you arrive at the airport. To lock in your spot, use an advance-reservation parking service that guarantees you a space in a private lot near the airport, such as AirportParkingReservations.com or Park ‘N Fly Network. Allow extra time for your shuttle transfers, which may be slowed by traffic volume. 
Enter the eFlyer and AAdvantage eShoppingSM Mall contest by Dec. 19 and you could win one of five 8GB iPod Nanos. This is a special holiday bonus for eFlyer readers, with five grand prizes being awarded. To enter, first visit www.aadvantageeshopping.com and find a travel-related gift in one of the many stores in the American Airlines AAdvantage eShopping online mall, then write its name and price on the eFlyer entry form along with your contact information. Five winners will be chosen among all completed entries received by noon Dec. 19, with the prizes shipped in time for holiday gift-giving.
While you're visiting the AAdvantage eShoppingSM Mall, check out the various bonus mileage offers available for your holiday shopping, including the extra bonus offer for shopping with your MasterCard® card. No purchase is required to enter the contest, but you need to have an AAdvantage membership number to access the mall; nonmembers can enroll for free at www.aa.com/enroll.
As of last week, foreign nationals visiting Dulles Airport (IAD) will have all 10 fingerprints scanned, adding a little more delay to the already busy holiday season. It’s the first rollout of Homeland Security’s new requirement, which it hopes to complete for all U.S. airports by the end of the year. Currently foreign nationals arriving on visas only have both index fingers scanned.
The Cote d’Azur has a new hotel geared to business as well as leisure travelers: the Palais Stephanie on Boulevard de la Croisette in Cannes. The property has 230 guestrooms, many with large windows framing the glistening sea. Both the La Scala restaurant, serving Provencal cuisine, and Le Grand Bleu bar/brasserie have terraces and great views. The hotel also has a rooftop pool, 10 meeting rooms, and a casino.
Cunard’s new ocean liner, the Queen Victoria, launches on Dec. 10 with some unique features — in fact, too many to count. But this one caught our eye: If you’re jaded by all the sports normally offered on cruise ships, from golf to skeet shooting and rock climbing, the oh-so-British ship will be the first to offer fencing lessons. En garde!
Thinking of giving the kids a trip to Disney World as a holiday gift? If you book via the Disney World Web site before Dec. 23, Mickey Mouse himself will call your children on Dec. 25 to announce the news. Packages start from $58 per person per night, including lodging and theme park tickets.
Singapore’s Changi Airport (SIN), always a favorite with global travelers, is doing its bit to spread holiday cheer. From Dec. 12 to 25, Christmas caroling and handbell performances will be held throughout the airport, and kiosks will offer free giftwrapping services. To encourage shopping, anyone who spends at least S$120 (S$60, if you use Visa) will be entered in instant-win contests. And the airport has already instituted strategically placed Shopping Concierge counters in the T1 and T2 Transit Malls; the concierges can suggest gift ideas, direct you to the stores carrying them, and let you in on best buys throughout the airport.
Hilton President Hotel
1329 Baltimore Ave.
Kansas City, MO 64105
tel 816 221 9490; fax 816 303 1631
www.hilton.com
It’s been a year since the historic President reopened, but this was my first chance to see for myself if it could really approximate its former glory.
The hotel opened in 1926 with what was then a whopping 453 guestrooms, at a time when you could still get a drink in one of Kansas City’s many speakeasies. In the 1930s the city’s Vine & 18th neighborhood was filled with jazz joints, where the nation’s best singers and biggest bands played until dawn, and in the 1940s the Kansas City Monarch team of the Negro Leagues was fielding such players as Satchel Page and Jackie Robinson.
Throughout this period, the President Hotel was the place where visiting heads of state stayed whenever they were in Kansas City. Its top-floor Congress Ballroom hosted many social and political events, including a Republican dinner during the 1928 National Convention, which elected Herbert Hoover. The hotel’s Drum Room restaurant and lounge opened in 1941; Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Frank Sinatra, and Sammy Davis Jr., entertained the Midwest folks who could afford the ticket. The big neon drum on the façade of the hotel was a Kansas City landmark.
In 2006, 25 years after being shuttered and after a $45 million restoration, the hotel re-opened with gold-leaf columns in the lobby, 213 beautifully furnished and much larger guestrooms, and a new Drum Room that manages to evoke its original 1940s style. The Walnut Room, where I breakfasted each day (the all-you-can breakfast buffet is only $8) has its original stained-glass windows, and the fact that my guestroom overlooked the art-deco Power & Light Building, circa 1931, reinforced the timeless ambience. Everything else about the hotel is modern and 21st-century, including Hilton’s Serenity Beds, high-speed Internet, and two phones in every room.
I liked both the self-parking, indoor garage next to the hotel, and the President’s convenient location — a short walk to the Bartle Convention Center and to the just-opening nightspots and restaurants that are part of Kansas City’s newly created Power & Light entertainment district.
The locals are proud of their legacy structures, which include the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and the recently restored Union Station. The 81-year-old Hilton President Hotel is a worthy addition to the list of wonderfully preserved Kansas City landmarks.
Score: ••••• Ron Bernthal
The clock is ticking: You have until Dec. 16 to enter our Global Traveler of the Year essay competition. It’s your chance to win the Grand Prize, a package to Rome for two from our contest co-sponsor Alitalia, including Magnifica-class tickets and two nights at the Boscolo Hotel. The winner will also be invited to GT’s annual Awards Luncheon on Jan. 16 in New York City. To enter, all you have to do is write an essay of 200 words or less about the favorite place you have ever visited.
Silverjetset is the new loyalty program of all-business-class transatlantic airline Silverjet, geared to corporate travelers. The program awards one round-trip ticket after every 10 round-trip (or 20 one-way) flights. Although the program is open to individuals with company affiliations, companies that sign up can combine employee travel to reach qualifying levels and can assign awards tickets to any employee.
Bouchon Santa Barbara, a wine country restaurant in Santa Barbara, Calif. that pairs fresh local ingredients with about 50 local wines, is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a sweepstakes. Win the grand prize of a weekend getaway, or other prizes including dinner at the restaurant. Entry couldn’t be simpler: By Jan. 15, send an email to Contest@BouchonSantaBarbara.com with “10th Anniversary Contest Entry” in the subject line, and your contact information in the body of the message.
Here are two Hyatt holiday packages, one on each coast. At the newly renovated Hyatt at Fisherman’s Wharf the Holiday Nutcracker package includes two all-day Muni transportation passes, drinks coupons, a welcome gift, valet parking and late checkout, for $209 a night through Dec. 30. To approximate White Christmas in the South, check out the Hyatt Regency Atlanta’s Holiday in the Park package, including guestroom, free parking, buffet breakfast for two, and two tickets for ice skating in Centennial Olympic Park for about $150.
Continental Airlines is holding a sale on its BusinessFirst fares to European capitals, good for departures from Dec. 17 to Jan. 4, returning Dec. 22 through Jan. 9. Sample round-trip fares: $1,240 Newark (EWR) – Shannon (SNN), $1,760 Houston (IAH) – London (LGW). Taxes and fees may add $200 or so.
