Aug 13th, 2009 at 11:30AM: For $19, I wouldn't expect much out of my hotel room. But a bed, lights and toilet paper are among the things I would consider to be basic necessities at any price. That's not the case at the Rancho Bernardo Inn, where guests can elect to have different features of their hotel room removed in order to decrease the price.
The "Survivor Package" starts at $219 for deluxe accommodations and breakfast ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
sandiego posts
$19 hotel room, bed not included
Aug 13th, 2009 at 11:30AM: For $19, I wouldn't expect much out of my hotel room. But a bed, lights and toilet paper are among the things I would consider to be basic necessities at any price. That's not the case at the Rancho Bernardo Inn, where guests can elect to have different features of their hotel room removed in order to decrease the price.
The "Survivor Package" starts at $219 for deluxe accommodations and breakfast ...Some hotel futures at risk
Jul 26th, 2009 at 12:00PM: The number of hotels defaulting on their loans surged 125 percent in May and June this year. Travel is down (no shit), which has an obvious effect on the top line. When there's no money coming in, it's hard to send cash out to meet some pretty hefty obligations. So, if none comes in, none can go out ... and defaults start to rise.
Some high-profile properties have defaulted already, including ...Top nude beaches from around the world
Jul 25th, 2009 at 8:00AM: If you like getting naked – but don't want to wait for an occasion – get your (bare) ass to one of the top five nude beaches in the world. From Miami to Vancouver to Mykonos to St Maarten, you'll find a place to roam free. Thanks to TripAdvisor for pulling this together.
Haulover Beach Park – Miami Beach, Florida More than a million people hit Haulover every year to live the ...Giant squid invade waters off San Diego
Jul 19th, 2009 at 3:00PM:
It sounds like the plot of campy 1970's horror flick: aggressive giant squid sporting razor-sharp beaks and tentacles with teeth start showing up in the waters off the coast, attacking divers and grabbing their masks and hoses. But this is a real-life version of "It Came from the Deep", and it's happening in the waters near San Diego.
The creatures are called Humboldt squid, (though they're ...San Diego homeless man gets 14 years for beating, burning Aussie tourist
May 28th, 2009 at 6:00PM: Damian Maple, a homeless man in San Diego, was sentenced to 14 years in prison for beating an Australian tourist, Robert Schneider, with a skateboard and dragging him into a fire pit. Maple went down for attempted murder for attacking the 26-year-old Adelaide resident in 2008.
Maple's accomplice, Francisco Montoya, was sentenced to two years in prison for assault with a deadly weapon. Montoya is ...TripAdvisor readers pick their favorite beaches
May 22nd, 2009 at 3:00PM:
More than 1,800 readers have spoken their minds on TripAdvisor and picked their favorite beaches. This summer, 58 percent of vacationers will be headed for sun, sand and surf – making the spot where ocean meets turf the most popular destination. The only challenge now is picking one. There are thousands of miles of coast in the United States alone ... how do you choose one spot?
Well, the ...Helo pilot grounded because of in-flight porn star tryst
May 15th, 2009 at 4:00PM: Definition of good sex: you're willing to come back for more Definition of great sex: you're willing to piss away your pilot's license Definition of unforgettable sex: "great" sex with a porn star
David Martz is stupid enough to make receiving oral sex unpleasant. How? He was videotaped(!) on the receiving end of a passenger's lips while flying a helicopter around San Diego. If this is some ...Cincinnati crime-fighter becomes local attraction
Apr 30th, 2009 at 9:00AM:
Watch the streets of Cincinnati carefully: you may see a man clad in a mask and cape scouring the city in search of evil deeds and damsels in distress. Shadowhare, who (obviously) prefers to conceal his true identity has volunteered his services to the city's citizens and civil servants ... free of charge.
This is bigger than voting and jury duty combined.
This superhero is 21 years old ...
Chattanooga, Portsmouth among top art destinations in the U.S.
Apr 18th, 2009 at 3:00PM: Who thought that Tennessee and New Hampshire would be some of the top towns in the country for art lovers. AmericanStyle magazine just issued the results of its twelfth annual arts destinations poll. Some spots are predictable. Others, like Chattanooga, will just blow your mind. This is the first year Chattanooga made the list, shooting all the way up to second in the mid-sized city category. If ...Fare alert - Virgin America $38 flights to fun destinations
Mar 4th, 2009 at 11:30AM: Bored this week? Virgin America has some nice low fares loaded right now for travel to and from San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, Los Angeles or Las Vegas. At just $38 each way, you can get yourself a round trip ticket for just $97, all taxes and fees included. The prices only seem to be valid for travel in the coming week, so don't expect $100 tickets during the summer months. Normally, good ...Photo of the day (12.13.09)
Jan 13th, 2009 at 7:30PM:
The Santa Ana winds picked up this week, swirling over Southern California and bringing unnaturally warm temperatures for this time of the year. It's a great time for a business trip from the snowy grips of the Midwest. Matteo.Mazzoni's photo of this lonely traveler on the California beach echoes some of my experiences this week, as I wandered around North Park, Mission Beach and the Gaslamp, ...Proposal for new San Diego airport draws criticism, laughter
Jan 9th, 2009 at 10:30AM: For years, San Diego has been working hard to find a new location for its single runway Lindbergh airport. Back in 2003, a group of investors announced that they had found the perfect location, but would not reveal it until the government granted a patent for the concept. The patent was granted 2 weeks ago, which meant it was time to reveal the location of this super secret airport - turns out ...Call full-service hotels directly for best deals
Nov 19th, 2008 at 3:00PM: With the economy the way it is these days, hotel deals are for the asking. Although many deals are bundled into packages that include airfare, that's not the only way to save money.
In this New York Times, "On The Road" article, Peter Greenberg, the travel editor of "Today" recommends calling full-service hotels directly to find out what deals can be offered "right now."
Greenberg recommends ...Halloween graveyard tours and a graveyard joke
Oct 24th, 2008 at 1:30PM: There are haunted prison tours and haunted hotels to sleep in. Here is another way to traipse through some haunts for Halloween.
Graveyards that can seem peaceful during the day are perfect settings at night for finding chills and thrills. If there is a graveyard in a town or city near you, I bet there's a tour. Regardless of the season, graveyards offer a span of history that includes triumph ...Naked sunbathing creating a stir in San Diego, but still okay
Sep 3rd, 2008 at 12:00PM: Just last week a judge ruled that sunbathing in the nude at San Onofre State Beach in San Diego is still allowed.
Earlier this summer there was a brouhaha because the California Department of Parks and Recreation wanted to ban nude sunbathing, even though beaching it in the buff has been allowed here for decades.
The parks and recreation department said that some sunbathers were being lewd near ...Great White Shark. San Diego coast. Not good.
Apr 25th, 2008 at 4:24PM: Until this morning, it had apparently been some 14 years since the last great white shark attack off the coast of San Diego.
This morning, a 66-year-old swimmer in triathlon training was killed by a shark about 150 yards off Solana Beach, near San Diego, LA Times reports. Other swimmers apparently saw him actually being lifted out of the water and drug under and whey went to his aid and dragged ...San Luis Obispo: Possible place to visit or move to
Mar 29th, 2008 at 1:00PM: A friend and I were talking today about what we're up to. She's up to traveling to California during the end of April with her boyfriend to look for a place to live one day. They're starting in San Diego and heading up the coast. They don't know exactly where they want to live so I threw out San Luis Obispo as a possibility. I've never been there, but have heard great things. One of my oldest ...Good Deed Travel (Mexico here I come): Packing list justification
Mar 13th, 2008 at 10:30PM: Tomorrow I'm flying to San Diego on Southwest Airlines and on Sunday I'm going by bus to Mexico to build houses with more teenagers (one of them my daughter) than I've been around in awhile. That's the plan anyway. I'll fill you in on how that goes.
With Southwest Airlines' woes of having to ground planes and cancel flights, I'm wondering about the first leg of this endeavor. Since I'm supposed ...Measles on a Plane
Feb 14th, 2008 at 2:00PM: Passengers on a flight from San Diego to Hawaii were expecting to have a safe flight followed by, hopefully, some relaxing time in Hawaii. Instead, they were exposed to measles.
Measles is a highly contagious disease and is characterized by the famous rash that first develops on the face and head, spreading downward to the torso and arms.
The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that an 11 month ...Concierge's IT List: Places for upscale tastes, but maybe cheaper
Jan 6th, 2008 at 3:30PM: There's The New York Times list of 53 places to go in 2008 (see post), the 40 travel tips and suggestions from London's Times (see post )and now Concierge.com has an IT List of 10 more suggestions, all with sound reasoning behind each one.
The way a destination ends up on this list is that it's had enough people show up to increase the odds that it has some sense of what travelers like, ...
