We get a list of all SPG Starwood Category 1 & 2 hotels, visit Tambo del Inka, check out a Hong Kong sunrise & cemeteries, go to Bolivia for some BBall, and cry together over the Greek elections results.
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The complete list of Starwood 2000-4000 points hotels – Euflyer.com There is no doubt the biggest bang for SPG points are in the Category 1 and 2 hotels. We have them listed all here, pretty good reference.
The World’s 10th Best Hotel is a Bargain on Points – The Deal Mommy The Tambo del Inka, a Luxury Collection Hotel is a Category 5 SPG hotel and placed #10 in the Trip Advisor Top 25 Hotels list. It is in Cusco Peru and frankly it never crossed my mind. It looks amazing and in the comments you can see a few trip reports.
Picture of the Week: Sunrise over Hong Kong – Andy’s Travel Blog WOW, now THAT is a picture! And I was just there last month!
Top 27 Places In The U.S. That Foreigners Are Craziest About Visiting. – Rosey News Awesome list.
The crowded cemeteries of Hong Kong – in pictures – The Guardian I found these pictures stunning.
Bolivian Ball – Roads & Kingdoms US basketball players not good enough for the NBA go abroad to play professionally. A few make it to Bolivia. They get paid $1,200 per month. Fascinating account and pictures.
How much do you really know about North Korea? – theCHIVE There is not enough to be said about North Korea…you are just entering another dimension!
“I Knew It All Along” – Motley Fool Great read. And no you didn’t!
I burned 50k Hilton HHonors points for the Hilton Frankfurt Airport hotel and 10,000 SPG points for the Sheraton Dusseldorf Airport hotel. Now done with the award burning details for the trip to Greece to see grandma. Not sure how much of the country will still be standing by then as former fringe leftist party won the elections and won big! So brace yourselves for more fireworks. Third biggest party is the neonazis. Unbelievably embarrassing to see the freakshow that is the political scene in Greece. #sosad I responded to a comment about my thoughts on the election here
There were a few good lines at the latest Friday interview at Million Mile Secrets (which is nothing but a front to pump more plastic to the readers). At one point near the end I see a ” I have so much more I want to share with everyone…” and that is when my eyes were rolling so much I had to just click away.
Speaking of rolling eyes, every Sunday morning at Panera I torture myself with reading some incredibly deep stuff such as this one by The Points Guy “Chase Sapphire Preferred or Amex Platinum: Which Is Better?” Ummm, let me guess…both? And not done yet…how about this reader “question”? “What’s the Best Credit Card to Earn Free Domestic Flights?” Only at this establishment you will not get one but SIX credit cards! So, for the mother of God, don’t go all beserk on us non pumping bloggers for throwing out a link here and there…por favor, geesh!
And Points Miles & Martinis continues an amazing run of pumpingdom, WOW!
I am getting into bad habits again…Just had to speak my mind on a few of the “gems” my eyes endure every day for YOU! I am trying to find a groove here…Tax avalanche is coming…
I will be in San Diego Tuesday through Saturday morning. Posting will likely be affected. I will only have time Tuesday late lunch/early afternoon (dinner is possible too if stars collide) if anyone wants to meet. Will be busy the rest of the week with colleagues.
Check out my updated blog lists: Blogs I Love, Blogs I Like, Blogs To Ignore
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First!!!!
Second. You need a gif of a tax avalanche
Bronze?
I wonder how they came up with that list of top 27. I work almost exclusively with people from Europe and Asia and I’ve only heard them mention a handful of those places i.e. Niagara Falls, Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon (not on this list…which automatically makes it suspect!). Never had anyone say “I’m just DYING to go to Whitaker Point, Arkansas then I’ll hop a flight to go see tulip fields in Washington”. Not saying these places aren’t beautiful, but I don’t think foreigners are tripping over themselves to go see them.
Yeah, some of these lists are so subjective is completely ridiculous. At least this one had some nice photos 🙂
The Tambo del Inka IS a nice hotel. I stayed there a few years ago, right after it opened. The owners weren’t smart enough to gouge their guests for everything back then, so even on a points award, they included breakfast. Now, even if you’re Gold, you get almost nothing extra (the problem with SPG hotels — compared to, say, Hilton). It was also only Cat. 3 when I stayed.
This hotel is located in the Sacred Valley which is the gateway to Machu Picchu and, itself, is quite beautiful with several interesting attractions. A great destination. But there are other nice hotels that will, essentially cost you 1/2 what the Tambo will. And they’ll do nice things like give you breakfast. The Tambo is also in the most boring of Sacred Valley cities. Bottomline, when I returned to the Sacred Valley last summer, I decided to stay elsewhere and save my points.
Great, this is perfect! Exactly what I was looking for! So…any hotel there for the Mach PIchu experience that is a great deal on points?
Nope. Save your points and stay in a decent small hotel in Aguas Calientes for about $20. Then move on for 2-3 days to the Sacred Alley. I stayed in Olliantambo (not the right spelling!) and liked it, Then move to Cusco for another 2-3 day stay. We made a mistake staying in Cusco for 1 day only–so don’t! You will get altitude sickness in Cusco, but it succumbs on the second day. A decent room shouldn’t cost more than $30, and a great room shouldn’t cost more than $60 in any of these places. Do get a lot of massages. They are not as good as in Thailand. but for $5 who cares?
Then do yourself a favor and stay for a couple of days in Lima, You will not find more delicious/inventive/affordable cuisine anywhere in the world. Sheraton is in the Centro, it’s Cat 2 and they give (or at least gave a couple of years ago) lounge access to EVERYONE! If you’re Gold, they will give you a Junior suite, which is beautiful (ask in advance). Besides, I love Lima Centro, although it’s not everyone’s cup of tea.
Great, thanks for the info! Maybe I ‘ll do this as the ME trip in 2015…so many places gotta find the time 🙂
I’m curious, when you returned to the Sacred Valley, what other places did you see/can recommend?
Double Greek tragedy today…………………..Renowned Greek singer Demis Roussos dead at 68………………………………..I think he still owes me money. ………. http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/renowned-greek-singer-demis-roussos-dead-at-68/ar-AA8Bgxj
Demis Russos? No! Can’t believe he’s dead. And can’t believe he was only 68!
When it rains it pours man…My tenant just hit me with another doozie. Just when I start to breathe bang! At least it was a great day at Amazon, just crossed double digits woohoo. Got the kids subs from Jimmie Johns 🙂
I thought that Demis had died long time ago! RIP