The World According to Pat

I just received an e-mail from America Airlines promoting their new fleet. Seems being in bankruptcy hasn't stopped them from buying new planes. They will be (in December) the 1st US Carrier to fly the 777-300 and it will have all aisle access in their new Business Class. Much better than United's 2 middle seats in each row on their 777 (and downstairs on 747-400) Business Class. They are also currently adding 3 next generation 737-800 a month and starting in July 2013 will start flying  Airbus planes (319 & 321). All planes will have in-seat entertainment (First Class seats will have larger screens). On their Transcontinental routes (A321) they will have 3 classes of service (like United's). From the video http://www.aa.com/i18n/urls/newplanes.jsp?anchorLocation=DirectURL&title=newplanes  it looks like what you used to think of American. One of the leading US airlines instead of what they have become lately. Looks very nice!! This mu...

I asked my sister the other day how to get my blog address to other relevant sites. She gave me some answer about non-profits (she works with non-profits) and might as well been speaking Portuguese with me because I didn't understand what she was saying. But, it did remind me of a great way to extend frequent flier miles that are about to expire and help out a Charity in the meantime.  Most US airlines frequent flier miles (Delta is an exception - their miles do not expire) expire after a certain amount of inactivity. United, US Air, American, Hawaiian, and Virgin America expire after 18 months of inactivity. Southwest and Alaska Airlines expire after 24 months of inactivity (and Jet Blue 12 months, but this does not apply to them as they do not extend miles without having their credit card or flying them). Virgin Atlantic, British Airways and Lufthansa expire after 36 months of inactivity. A year and a half goes quickly and for a lot of...

There is not much to review for the Ghent Marriott Hotel as it is a basic Marriott hotel. This does not make it bad, in fact, at least you know what you are getting when you arrive. It is in the perfect location to explore the historic center of Ghent. The address is just Drabstraat · Ghent. Luckily we were able to choose the hotel on the cars GPS and did not need to type the address in, because I am not sure just entering Drabstraat as an address would have been enough. The hotel was easy enough to find with the GPS other than when we were just about to arrive at our location (according to the GPS) we reached a dead end and there was no hotel in sight.  Just as I was about to panic I looked up and noticed the Marriott sign on a very nondescript building. Now my wife didn't see it at all so I was only slightly embarrassed. The hotel was at the dead end and there was a very small driveway to the hotel garage to park the car (23 Euros/day). Aft...

I thought I would write about a couple restaurants we ate at in Belgium. I have had some questions about food so if anyone is in (or going to) Brugge or Ghent here are two very good restaurants. As a side note I enjoyed both Brugge and Ghent (My wife was not as happy with Ghent). Brugge is like a fairytale city. Very clean, and picturesque. Ghent has a similar feel, but is not nearly as clean (it has a large University and there are lots of kids who congregate along the river. I think this has become an issue because the day we visited there was a campaign to keep the river clean and throw away trash and not leave it on walkways) plus it is a larger city than Brugge. After having disappointing meals in Versailles & Trouville I decided to research some restaurants before we headed out for dinner. At both hotels the front desk staff recommended the restaurants from a small list I had made (I was looking for stew) and both ...

                              The Crowne Plaza Brugge is located on Burg Square at Burg 10, Brugge. It is a stones throw to the larger Market Square where the Belfry of Brugge is located (both Squares are beautiful). Arriving by car is very challenging. Even with the GPS we had a hard time finding the hotel (I also made the mistake of looking for public parking). Without the GPS we may still be driving thru the narrow cobbled one-way streets. But once we found the front of the hotel (we saw the back many times) there were actually a few places we could park the car while we checked-in. Check-in was quick and the young man at the front desk was very friendly and helpful (I was trying to find a Citibank). He informed us that we had an upgraded room (I am a Priority Club member, but rarely stay at Priority Club proper...

The Best Western Hostellerie Du Vallon is located at 12 Rue Sylvestre Lasserre in Trouville, France in the heart of Normandy. It is short walk to the boardwalk area where there are many shops and restaurants and a 15 minute walk to the center of Deauville (the cities are side by side with harbors in each city). It is not however, easy to find. Luckily on our way there we figured out the GPS and found the hotel after our second go round thru Trouville. The hotel is a typical Best Western in Europe. Meaning it is certainly not a luxurious property but is clean & charming and very basic. The exterior is striking with typical French Normandy style architecture (looks like a large Tudor home) and includes a small parking lot. Check-in was relatively easy. I think there is only 1 person working the front desk so if there were a few people checking in or out at once there could be a wait, She was relatively friendly and answered the few questions we ha...