Larkspur Landing South San Francisco Hotel review '17

Upon landing at San Francisco airport, I went to the 'island stop' to wait for the free shuttle bus to Larkspur Landing hotel. This hotel, like all other hotels near the airport area, provides free shuttle service to and from the airport.

At the bus stop, there is also a courtesy phone which I can contact the hotel to check the shuttle bus arrival time. The bus runs on schedule timetable and makes several stops from all airport terminals to nearby hotels before returning to the airport.

Hotel courtesy phone with all numbers listed

Larkspur landing hotel room comes with a kitchen

 On certain day(s) of the week, the hotel provides free shuttle to union square, in San Francisco city. Unfortunately, the two nights I stayed over there didn't coincide with the shuttle. So to get to the city, I took the airport shuttle and transfer to the Bart train to union square. There is actually a Bart station within the vicinity of the hotel but I'm not sure whether it's within walking distance.

There isn't much amenities nearby the hotel area. But I chose to stay here due to the cheaper rates compared to the city hotels. It's also easier to get to the airport from here.

The hotel provides complimentary breakfast as well, though the quantity and quality could better. Mainly packaged buns, whole fruits, hot and cold beverages and boiled eggs. Still, better than nothing.

For the price I paid, Larkspur landing is certainly recommended!

Hainan airlines review

I booked Hainan airlines for my transpacific flight between Asia and the United States. 
The reason? 

It was offering low fares for the dates I needed to travel.

It is a 5-star airline.

I have not flown on hainan airlines before.

Now that I have ride on hainan airlines flights. I feel that it is a great 5 star airline. If the price is reasonable, I will fly with them again.

The flight attendants are fluent in English. It definitely helps if the passengers speak Chinese as well. The majority of passengers were Chinese as well.

I took the Hainan airlines A330 plane from Shenzhen to Beijing to Seattle and transfer to an Alaska airlines plane to San Francisco on the same ticket.

However, I need to check in my bags again at Beijing airport for my US bound flight. I was able to get the boarding pass for my Alaska airlines flight in Beijing airport.

The return ticket took me from San Francisco to Los Angeles on Virgin America plane and transfer to Hainan airlines to Chongqing then to Shenzhen.

On my return there were initially some problems with the ticket. The virgin america check-in staff at San Francisco initially informed me about some problems with the ticket. Fortunately, a call to Hainan airlines call centre in China settled that problem and I subsequently checked in smoothly. Though they were not able to issue my boarding pass to China, my bags were tagged all the way to Shenzhen.

The connection time between my Virgin america and hainan airlines flights was ~2 hours at Los Angeles airport. As my US domestic flight was delayed by ~30 minutes, the connection became even tighter. Add to the fact the connection involves a change in terminal. Fortunately, there was covered walkways airside so I need not leave airside at lax airport. 

I wasn't sure whether I needed to re-check in at lax airport as I did not have my connecting boarding pass, and there was no transit desks in sight. So I took a chance and just headed for Hainan airlines departure gate. Anyway, check-in for my Hainan airlines flight have closed by that time as it was under 1 hour before departure.  

The walking time between terminals took almost 30 minutes. I made it to Hainan airlines bus gate just in time for boarding. Surprisingly, Hainan airlines gate agent was able to check me in and issue the boarding pass at the gate, with under 30 minutes to departure, otherwise I don't know if I can even board the flight.

The unfortunate thing was that while I made it to my connecting flight, my bags didn't make it. I only realized it when I reached Chongqing airport. It appears that I wasn't the only passenger with misconnected bags.

The connection might have been too tight for my bags to transfer successfully. Till now, one month later, there is still no news on my bags. I have since written them off. In future, I will book flights with longer connecting times. 

Big entertainment screens on Hainan airlines plane

Except for my baggage loss due to the short connecting times, hainan airlines is definitely worth to take for flights between Asia and the United States.

Hyatt Place, Shenzhen airport review

After my European trip wrapped up, it is time to begin my American trip. I took my return SQ flight from Stockholm, via Moscow and Singapore to Hong Kong. Then I took the ferry from Hong Kong airport to Shenzhen pier, with a free connecting bus to Shenzhen Airport.

As I had booked an early hainan airlines flight departing ~9am the next day, I booked an overnight stay at the Hyatt Place, Shenzhen airport.

There are only two airport hotels at Shenzhen, namely Hyatt Place and Hyatt House. As Hyatt Place came out cheaper, I booked a stay there.

After alighting from the connecting bus, I had to pass through the airport to the hotel. Airports in China, particularly Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen are secured. Prior to entering the airport premises, all luggage and bags are scanned.

Exit 14 of Shenzhen airport leads to the two airport hotels, both involve taking a lift to level 3 to the reception, located side by side.

My standard room is big.

View from my hotel room

Room rates include a plentiful buffet breakfast. Big room, toiletries provided, and connected to the airport. For the price I paid, this airport hotel is definitely worth a stay.

Maverick Apartments, Budapest review '17

We stayed at the Maverick Apartments, Budapest for a night. Mainly because the cost is reasonable. Location is within walking distance of the metro and the airport bus and also near the main thoroughfare of the city.

Fortunately, there is a lift from the metro station to street level. Our place of overnight stay is a short walk away. The entrance is not clearly marked so it is easily missed.

This is the entrance. It is along the sidewalk of a building facing the busy street.

The hostel is conveniently near the hop-on-hop-off bus stop.

Though I booked the hostel, I chose the private room as the rate is reasonable. The room is just fantastic ! It comes with a kitchen equipped with utensils near the entrance of the room.

Toilet is big

The bedroom is located in the corner of the room. It even comes with a set of doors! I don't see this in many other hotels' standard rooms. 

Better still, there is a flight of wooden stairs leading up to another 'open' bedroom with a double bed.

View from the upper deck !

Last but not least, the hostel prepared a welcome bottle for us with an ice bucket!

For the price I paid, this is definitely luxury living. Much better than many other hotels I have stayed with higher rates! Sadly, I can only stay here for a night. It would have been great to stay longer. 

Though the name is Maverick Apartments, it is actually a hostel with dorms and private rooms. With the superb location, reasonable rates and the high quality of the private room, this is highly recommendable!

Stockholm Jumbo Hostel review '17

Today is my 'off ' day. Possibly my first ' off ' in years. I work in the public service. As a civil servant, I'm required to work 5 days a week. There are no 'off ' days, no 'annual leave' although on paper we are granted some.

With my precious day off, I headed off to Universal Studios Singapore. Arriving on a weekday noon time, there was very little crowd. Having been to Universal Studios Osaka, Los Angeles, this is my first time to the Singapore version.

As a first time visitor, I feel that my local version is much smaller than elsewhere. It can literally be covered on foot in an hour. Probably land-scarce Singapore. The rides are exciting as usual, though limited in number. Queues are 'only' half an hour long, compared to hours overseas.

Taking bus 123 from Tiong Bahru station into RWS cost me 20cents, after transferring from the mrt. Within and leaving Sentosa, the monorail is actually free, something that I learnt only yesterday. Previously I had walked the boardwalk, which covers quite a distance on foot. Anyway, a great day @ USS !

After visiting the magnificent Budapest, the next day, we headed to the airport. Fortunately, the airport bus stop is a 10 minute walk from the hostel. The bus comes frequently and payment is made to the driver. Luckily, he gave the change.

In the morning, the bus can get quite crowded towards the airport. Most passengers are tourists as well. There are limited luggage space so it's good to be first few on board.

The modern budapest airport bus stop is located between the two terminal buildings which are just beside each other. We ride on Norwegian airline to Stockholm. This is now my second time flying Norwegian airline, so I know what to expect. The free wifi is still great!

After the uneventful flight to Stockholm, I proceeded to my Jumbo Hostel. The hostel is served by a free shuttle bus service from the airport. The stop name is the hostel itself.

The bus stop at the Jumbo hostel

Jumbo Hostel

Jumbo hostel

The lift up to the reception. It is functional but not exactly user friendly. There are staircases beside as well.  

It costs $ to walk on the wing ! The view here is great enough.

A corridor with dorms on both sides

There are some pictures hanging along the corridor providing a history of this plane and aviation in general.

Good to know

My dorm. I'm the first to arrive and first to leave in this dorm. I will be joined by two others in the night.

Four-sharing dorm. Bed and pillow are comfortable for the night, though it still gets cold in here. This is december in the Scandinavia.

This particular toilet at the reception is huge. There are smaller ones along the hallway. All the toilets are kept clean.

Dining room at beside the reception.

This plane once served Singapore Airlines.

A model of the Jumbo hostel converted from a B747 plane.

Useful info for the visitor on the screen.

The curvature of the plane is obvious in this setup.

I only booked a dorm for the night. And possibly the last available one at the time of booking. Food and souvenirs are available for purchase. It has certainly been a great novel experience. 

This is the only place in the world to experience sleeping on a bed, in a real plane, without paying for first or business class.

If I need to stay overnight near Stockholm airport, I will certainly stay here again. For the price I paid , Jumbo hostel has exceeded my expectations. A great place to stay!

Touring another Eastern European country - Hungary

After visiting Warsaw, we took an overnight coach to Budapest, Hungary. In my opinion, Budapest is a truly beautiful European country. It's unlike big cities such as London and Paris. Ancient architecture can be found everywhere.

After getting off the leo express bus at a metro station, we had breakfast at the conveniently located burger king at the metro station. Fortunately, it accepted euro dollars in addition to its hungarian forint currency.

After which we boarded the metro to get to our hostel, located close to the metro station. As it's morning and we will be staying for only 1 night, we wasted no time in leaving our luggage with the reception and went out to explore the city.

We toured the city on the convenient sightseeing bus. Tickets are purchased from our friendly hostel receptionist.

Budapest statue

The bus ticket comes with complimentary river cruise on the famous Danube river. The night skyline of Budapest city is just so mesmerizing!

Budapest bridge light-up

Budapest, Hungary is indeed a memorable city to visit. Throughout my European tour, it is only here that I saw the most number of tourists. And more asian tourists. This is a stark contrast to the Baltic states and Poland where I hardly see asian tourists.

As much as I'm fond of Hungary, I won't be returning here in the near future. The world is so big. I have limited time and $. So I want to explore other parts of the world, if and when I'm able to.

No one knows what will happen tomorrow. I want to treasure all the available time that I have to see the world.

Warsaw 'dec 17

My first foray into eastern europe - Poland !

The lux express overnight coach dropped us off at the Warsaw bus station, adjacent to the railway station and near to the shopping mall. 

As we are not staying in Warsaw city, we deposited our luggage in the railway station for a small fee.

After a morning breakfast at Macdonald's in the railway station, we went to locate the sightseeing bus. 

The tip of the tower shrouded in the morning fog

The sightseeing bus only starts running at 1100hr, so we stopped at the nearby dollhouse museum first. A fantastic collection of dollhouse from all over the world.

This tiny door is the entrance to its wonderful collection

Unfortunately, the sightseeing bus broke down along its way. So we sat inside waiting and saw the many passing warsaw trams.

After dinner at pizza hut in another shopping mall, we walked to the open-air bus station to wait for the overnight leo express coach.

The same tower lit-up at night

A great day at Warsaw !