Extended Stay Hotel Jessup Maryland Wi-Fi Review

One of the things Extended Stay America brags about is its FREE Wi-Fi. It is a noteworthy service considering what I've seen some places can charge to hook up to the Internet. I remember one Hyatt hotel in New York City I stayed at years ago that charged 50 cents a minute to hook up to the Internet.

At the Extended Stay hotels, they do have FREE Wi-Fi though they also offer a Wi-Fi service you have to pay for. What's the difference? Connection speed. The FREE Wi-Fi is what they call Wi-Fi Lite. Speed wise, it averages about 85 kilobytes per second (source: speed observed by me when I downloaded some map updates for my Global Positioning System (GPS) device). Their pay Wi-Fi service which I think they call high speed Wi-Fi costs up to $20 a month. The price depends on how long you want the service. I think they offer it for an hour, a day and a month (I use the month option). Connection speed wise, it does live up to its claim that it's 2 and 1/2 faster than their Wi-Fi Lite. I observed connection speeds of 235 kilobytes per second with it sometimes being faster than that.

Signal wise, they offer a very good signal which is pretty strong. To my surprise, I've even been able to pick up the signal in the hotel parking lot with my Nook e-reader. To those who might be tempted to try to get some FREE Wi-Fi this way, you have to have a password given to you when you check into your room at the reception desk in order to connect.

Another item of note. Each device you use to connect will be given it's own Internet Protocol (IP) address. You can use multiple devices to hook up to the Wi-Fi in your room HOWEVER, you will have to use the password the first time to log in on Each device. If you pay for the faster Wi-Fi, that will be good only for the device you pay for it on. It doesn't switch over to other devices you may use as I've found out from personal experience. If you want the faster service for a 2nd or 3rd device, you'll have to pay the charges for EACH device.

The faster service can be helpful if you're going to download some big files like GPS map updates or Windows operating system updates.

Overall, I've found the free Wi-Fi at Extended Stay America hotels (I've stayed at 2) to be a very nice service. It isn't free as you have to stay at the properties to be able to use it BUT, it can save you money or hassle (you don't have to go in search of a free Wi-Fi hotspot). I've been very pleased with it. Happy Internet surfing all!

My 2011 Visit to Vancover, Canada

I made it to Vancouver, Canada. It was a long day getting here. I managed to get just 4 hours sleep after driving back from Michigan. The Big Blue Van airport shuttle folks picked me up at 3:15 in the morning and got me to Reagan National Airport in good time. From there, I had a nearly 3 hour flight to Houston, a 1 hour layover and a 5 hour flight to Vancouver. My travel agent arranged for a driver to pick me up at the airport and, he was waiting once I finished customs and immigration. The drive into Vancouver was just 30 minutes.

The Listel Hotel has lived up to its reputation for being artsy. It is filled with art. The hotel staff are nice and helpful. The location ISN'T the best if you're going to do a cruise out of Vancouver. My friend Harvey and I walked to to the cruise ship terminal and, we realized real quick we weren't going to do that lugging our suitcases. The taxi fare supposedly won't be more than $15 Canadian. We'll find out for sure when we take the taxi this morning.

The Vancouver cruise ship terminal is impressive. It can reportedly handle 4 cruise ships at 1 time. I think the most I've seen here was 3. I spoke with a person named Brett who told Harvey and I what we had to do upon arrival at the terminal. I'll post that procedure after I've gone through it myself so other travellers will know what to do and what to expect.

Yesterday, I used the Big Bus Hop On Hop Off service to sightsee Vancouver. It worked out well. I rode the bus through its entire route so I could hear all the narrative then, I decided what particular sights I wanted to see. I decided on Stanley Park and the Sun Yat Sen Chinese gardens. Stanley Park was really neat. It has a collection of 7 totem poles representing the various Indian nations. It also has dense forest and stunning trees. Lastly, it gives some great views of the Vancouver skyline at certain points. I was really glad I checked out this park. The Chinese garden was a nice quiet oasis in the city. There are 2 Chinese gardens you can visit. The larger classical garden has an admission charge but includes a guided tour of the garden while the smaller garden is free.

During my stay in Vancouver, I've eaten at 3 places - The Irish Heather, The Top of Vancouver and O'Doul's. The Irish Heather is a fantastic Irish pub with an astounding choice of single malt whiskies (over 100 I believe). I particularly enjoyed the steak and Guinness pot pie I had there. The Top of Vancouver restaurant is located at the top of a tower that rotates and looks over Vancouver. It offers great views of the city. The restaurant rotates completely around once every 60 minutes. Service was outstanding at this restaurant. The restaurant isn't cheap but, the food is very good. I had some excellent calimari and escargot for starters. My seafood melody main entree was very good. I was very pleased to dine at this restaurant as it made a nice finish to my day of sightseeing in Vancouver. O'Doul's is the restaurant attached to the Listel Hotel. This makes it very easy to get to for those staying there. I had breakfast at this restaurant as well as a couple nightcaps. The breakfast was very good though pricey. Service was excellent. The bartender at the bar where I had my nightcaps was really nice. They do have some affordable brews. Surprisingly, they don't offer Molson Canadian lager on draft there. Molson has a large brewery in the city which I passed by during my tour of the city.

Overall, I've enjoyed my stay at Vancouver though it isn't a place I would've visited for just itself. It isn't that interesting to me. If you are going to do an Alaskan cruise out of here, it is worth spending an extra day checking the place out. The city has a number of the big cruise lines stop here including Royal Caribbean, Holland America, Princess Lines and Silversea (I saw their Silver Shadow ship at the cruise ship terminal yesterday). A tour guide on the hop on hop off bus I rode told me the city receives over 1 million visitors a year during the cruise season. I can understand why. The cruise ship terminal itself is located in the center of the city making it an ideal base to see the city from and, it looks like it's easy to board the ships there (I'll know for certain on that later today).

That's all for this installment. Stay tuned for blogs on the renovated Radiance of the Seas and how my Alaska cruise goes. Happy travels all.

Globus Legacy of the Incas Tour

With the conclusion of my recent cruise on the Navigator of the Seas, I've started preparing for my future Globus tour of Peru. The tour is called Legacy of the Incas and lasts 10 days in Peru. We cover a lot of territory. We start in Lima, drive to Ica where we board a flight to see the Nazca Plain drawings from the air, take a boat ride to the Ballestas Islands, drive back to Lima, fly to Cuzco, drive to the Sacred Valley, take a train to and from Machu Picchu, drive back to Cuzco where we fly to Juliaca and drive to Lake Titicaca, visit Taquile Island and the Uros Islands, drive back to Juliaca, fly back to Lima and finish with a farewell dinner. That is a brief summary of travel and some of the things I'll get to do during the tour.

One item I was very interested in was the Internet access at the various hotels I'll be staying at. I'd like to be able to post current updates on the trip like I did on my recent cruise. To my delight, I found out every hotel I'll be staying offers free Wifi access. Because of that, I plan to take my laptop on the trip so I can post updates. For any readers I have, you'll get to read of my adventures in Peru shortly after they happen and possibly see some pictures I'll take during the tour. So, stay tuned for future adventures. In approximately 60 days or so, I'll be departing again for my first trip to South America.

Adventure Begins

After waiting what seemed like ages, my latest adventures began yesterday. I caught a regional Amtrak train from BWI Amtrak station and arrived at Union Station, Washington D.C. It was hard to believe I was on a real tour in D.C. It's not a place I would imagine taking a Globus tour. I've visited D.C. a number of times on my own. Still, that's where the tour starts. It does have one big plus. It was easy to get to and cheap to. This is the first tour where I didn't have some long and expensive flight.

After arriving at Union Station, I met my friend Harvey. I haven't seen him since the Egypt trip. He looked in good shape and spirits. We proceeded to where you can catch a cab and took one to the tour hotel the Capital Hilton. I found out the hotel has been a center of a lot of political activities. It has had a number of inaugural balls, important meetings between politicians and some presidents have favored it. Richard Nixon supposedly would walk down to it on occasion.

After checking in, I got to meet our tour guide Hilary. She struck me as a very nice lady with a pleasant personality. She was waiting in the hotel lobby and checking off very tour members as they arrived. I found out there will be 39 in our group which is a good number. Due to the shortness of our tour, Hilary had to get people to say which dinner they wanted for our dinners in Colonial Williamsburg, Gettysburg and Philadelphia. Also, she told me how things would work at the first group meeting at 6 p.m. Lastly, she was able to direct Harvey and I to a street where there were a number of sandwich shops. Later, we found a Potbelly's which sell pricey but good sandwiches. Those would hit the spot.

The group meeting was interesting. There are 6 Aussie couples in our tour as well as 3 or 4 families. This is the first tour I've been on that will have kids. There are also a number of single ladies though none of them were lookers as far as I could tell. I got to meet a couple of them and, they were nice ladies. One asked where I worked. I told her and, I got the impression she wasn't impressed with the Postal Service. Oh well.

After the group meeting, I called it a night. I was up early yesterday morning and, it had been a somewhat long day. I still found it hard to believe my latest Globus adventures had begun. Stay tuned for more updates. Cheers all!

First Trip to San Juan Puerto Rico

I finally arrived in San Juan, Puerto Rico. My misadventures continued. Everyone boarded the plane at Dulles International. After everyone was seated, the Captain comes on and tells everyone that their having problems with the plane's computer but he thinks the mechanic will be able to fix it with a reboot. At the next update, we're given the bad news. The plane's computer will have to replaced. That'll take at least 20 minutes. We grit it out for 20 minutes and pull away from the gate. Tower informs the plane that it will have to wait in the waiting area for at least 10 minutes. I forget the reason the Captain was given. After being nearly an hour late departing, we finally took off. The flight was nearly 4 hours. The stewards and stewardesses were excellent. However, TeD definitely packs people into their planes like cattle. I had very little leg room. Also, if you want something to eat barring 2 cookies, you'll have to shell out $5 for a boxed snack. I bought their mini-meal. It was actually pretty decent.

Once I arrived at the San Juan Airport, I followed the signs to baggage claim. The signs said through the rotating doors to the United Airlines baggage claim. One problem, the doors wouldn't budge. Someone found out there was a long way around to the baggage claim. So, off I trudged to find the baggage claim. Thankfully, all my luggage arrived and to my surprise, TSA left my toothpaste alone and didn't open my scuba diving equipment bag. Hurray!

I quickly found out that English is NOT the dominant language in Puerto Rico. It's Spanish. All signs were in Spanish and a few had smaller words in English. I wasn't thrilled with this discovery as I'm off on my own for the next 2 days and I can't speak Spanish (except the numbers 1 to 10 which wouldn't do a lot of good). Barring getting help from the hotel, I get to sort stuff out myself. Not fun. I like having someone there just in case. It's one of the primary reasons I go on Globus tours. If I run into a jam, I can go running to the tour guide and yell HELP!

My misadventures continued at the hotel. The hotel is supposed to have free WiFi. I hooked up my WiFi card and it didn't pick up any signal. I found out the free WiFi isn't working. The hotel let me use their cable modem for free as a consequence.

After calling my friend Harvey and telling him what to expect i.e. WARM and LOTS of palm trees and LOTS of bright sun, I headed off to Old San Juan. I found out it's 2 and 1/2 miles from my hotel. I didn't feel I needed that much exercise. It cost me $10 to take a taxi. The driver dropped me off at Colon Plaza, named after Christopher Colon (I think he was an explorer though I'm not sure). I walked down to the cruise ship piers to find out where I'll have to go Sunday. The Regent Seven Seas Mariner is in port. It's on par size wise with a ferry but this ship doesn't carry any buses or cars. It is huge. I won't be going on that one but, I will leave from the same pier.

After that, I made my way to the Hard Rock Cafe. In the last 22 hours, I'd only had the mentioned mini-meal on the plane. I was ready for some food. I ended up having a vanilla milkshake, an order of chicken wings and their artery frying hickory smoked bacon cheeseburger with caramelized onions with an order of french fries. By the time I finished all that, I was happily stuffed.

It was time to burn a little of that dinner off. I walked down Paseo de la Princesa (La Princesa Promenade). It was a nice stroll. I got to see some of the old city walls. At the end, I got to see the La Princesa Fountain. It's a nice fountain though I was surprised by the bare boobs on the women in the fountain. The views over the water from there were great. It reminded me of my days at Fort Walton Beach, Florida. They were very beautiful.

After that, I walked back to Colon Plaza. I hopped into a taxi and told the driver I was staying at the Normandie Hotel. The driver gave me a quizzical look. My reaction was ah oh. Thankfully, he did know how to get the hotel and, he didn't try to rip me off. Once in my room, I called Caribe Aquatic and confirmed all was set up for my check dives on Sunday. So far, all goes well. Stay tuned for my updates.

Update: January 1, 2014. Two things. First, the Hard Rock Cafe in San Juan is closed at the time of this update. I was in San Juan April 2013 and sadly saw it was closed. I don't know why it was closed. Also, today, I checked the Hard Rock Cafe website (http://www.hardrock.com/locations/cafe3/) and, it still isn't listed. Second, the Normandie Hotel is closed. According to the following webpage: http://blekko.com/wiki/Normandie_Hotel?source=672620ff, it was closed in 2008 due to redevelopment plans and purchased by Ben Medetsky and Jack Polatsek of Interra Capital Group in 2013 who are working on redeveloping the hotel. I couldn't find anything on that on Interra's website: http://www.interracapital.com/default.aspx about that or what their plans are for the hotel though the property is a departure for this company as all its listed properties are in Texas.