Hotel – Hyatt Centric Fisherman’s Whart

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Located in the touristy district of Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco, is a great property that during the week offers amazing values compared to other hotels in the Bay Area. The Hyatt Centric Fisherman’s Wharf is conveniently located near Pier 39 (about 2 blocks away), home to every sourdough bowl of clam chowder you could ever imagine. From Pier 39 you can also see Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge. On a Tuesday night, my rate was $175 plus tax for the night. If any of you have ever traveled to the Bay Area for business you know that this is a great rate. As you walk into the hotel, you’ll notice that the lobby has a very modern feel.

  • Rooms: Fairly newly renovated. I was upgraded to an extra large king room so I think my room was a little bigger than the norm.
  • Gym: The fitness center at this hotel is decently sized and filled with multiple treadmills, elliptical machines and even cycling bikes. Their free weights however is a bit disappointing for such a large space, their maximum dumb bells only go up to the standard 50 lbs. *Life Hack! – with this hotel I recommend going outside for a run. Head towards the water and turn left. You’ll run through a great park and eventually head towards the Golden Gate Bridge, which is about 4.5 miles away (umm, I’ve never ran that far because that would be a total of 9 miles round trip).
  • Parking: Although the rooms may be reasonably priced, the parking is not. There is only valet parking and it’s $59 per night!
  • Resort Fee: $20 per night plus tax. These fees are a huge pet peeve of mine!
  • Food: The hotel offers a restaurant with a bar but you are so close to Pier 39 that I highly recommend getting out of your room and checking out the nearby attractions (see below).
  • Nearby Attractions: Within walking distance is Pier 39 and Fisherman’s Wharf. I highly recommend going outside and going for a stroll. It’s a great area for site seeing if you have some downtime.

Airport – Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac)

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Since I live in the Seattle area, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, aka Sea-Tac, is my home airport hub. Sea-Tac is a fairly large airport with 6 gates (A, B, C, D, N (tram), S (tram)). This is a very busy airport filled with both domestic and international travelers. For those of you who don’t have TSA-Precheck or CLEAR, I highly advise getting to this airport at least two hours before your flight to allow for adequate time to get through the massively long security lines I always see. CLEAR and TSA-Precheck are a breeze however and usually there isn’t a wait. Sea-Tac is hub to both Alaska Airlines and Delta Airlines. Both of these airlines have lounges in various terminals.

  • Lounges – Alaska Airlines & Delta Airlines
    • Alaska lounges are located at the end of C Gate, in between C & D Gates and in the N Gate. The lounges located in C gate and N gates are brand new, the lounge between C & D could use some renovations.
    • Delta lounges are located between A & B gates and in the S gate. Both lounges are brand new. Below is the Delta lounge between A & B gates.
  • Rental Car Center – the rental car center is located off property and requires shuttle to the center.
  • Primary Airlines: Alaska Airlines & Delta Airlines
  • Uber/Rideshare Pickup: Uber/Rideshare pickup at this airport is across the bridge on the 3rd floor of the parking structure. It’s a little confusing at first but once you get there you’ll see a whole bunch of people waiting in an dazed and confused fashion trying to figure out which Toyota Prius is their Uber ride. **Life hack! – Instead of waiting with everyone else, at the entrance where the cars pull in is also a waiting area, if you wait there and look at the license plate on your app of the driver, as they pull into the Rideshare waiting you can flag them down and get in right away.

Airport – Oakland International Airport

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Many travelers like this airport because it’s small and relatively easy to get in and out of but for me it’s not my favorite because it requires a bus shuttle to get to the rental car center. Depending on the time of day this can easily add an extra half hour to your day. I usually try to avoid airports that have off-site rental car centers that require a shuttle bus. So my airport ratings are a bit biased.

  • Rental Cars: off-site rental car center that requires a shuttle
  • Airport Security: TSA-Precheck here is pretty fast
  • Primary Airlines: Southwest Airlines

Happy New Year!

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Welcome 2019, looking forward to another exciting year of “on the road” adventures. 2018 was a busy travel year. Last year I flew over 160,000 miles across multiple airlines including Alaska Airlines, Delta, American Airlines, United Airlines, Jet Blue and Southwest. I stayed in over 120 room nights in with my primary brands being Hyatt and Marriott. I rented over 100 days worth of rental cars from National Car Rental. I’ve spent countless hours in airports even when I try my best to avoid spending time in airports. Thank goodness I got CLEAR last year! TSA-Precheck and CLEAR are the business traveler’s best friends.

One of my goals for 2019 is to find better work-life harmony as Jeff Bezos puts it. Working on scheduling my travels earlier in advance to get not only better pricing but to also plan my calendar farther out in advance so I can book around meaningful events in my family’s life.

To help start out the new year, on my first flight of the year Delta upgraded me from 25C to 1D. Thanks Delta for the upgrade!

Hotel – Marin County, CA

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If you find yourself in Marin County, CA but your meetings don’t take you all the way up to Napa, the Courtyard Marriott in Novato is usually reasonably priced when compared to San Francisco and South Bay.

Gym info: this is the only hotel gym I’ve ever found to have battle ropes (as of December 2018). They have two treadmills, elliptical, a true spin bike and a weights thing.

Surrounding area: within walking distance (same parking lot) is a Safeway grocery store, McDonald’s for you McNugget fans and some other restaurants which honestly I’ve never made it to and I’ve stayed here multiple times

Local run: here’s a path that will take you to a look out spot not too far from the hotel, full round is around 2 miles

Breakfast: This hotel does not offer a breakfast buffet. I prefer a free buffet breakfast because I like breakfast protein however they did make a really tasty omelet with gruyere cheese, onions and bacon.

Hotel – Portland, Oregon

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Hyatt House in downtown Portland. The name is sort of a misnomer because although you’re in/near downtown you can’t walk to anything in downtown Portland. It’s a great location on the water with very easy access to downtown but I wouldn’t say in downtown.

Service: amazing, they try to go above and beyond to take care of their guests

Nearby venues: there is a great dive bar within a 3 minute walk called Portland Sports Bar and Grill. Great local venue. There is also a McCormick & Schmicks across from the sports bar but I try to avoid franchise chain restaurants as much as possible.

Run: one of the best features about this hotel is that it has easy access to the Columbia River. Walk out the front door, turn right and runs and you’ll find yourself running along the Columbia River. Great run.


Gym: the gym is decent, has several treadmills, elliptical, and most importantly has the Lifestyle machine