Category — Hotels

HOLIDAY INN
CARLSBAD-BY THE SEA
850 PALOMAR AIRPORT RD
CARLSBAD, CA 92008
UNITED STATES

For a Google map, click here.

General Impressions

This is a very friendly hotel close to the airport at Carlsbad. We were really welcomed at the front desk.

Pluses

Budget car rental on premises. Nice pool. Nice location facing fields with flowers and an outlet mall. Wonderful shuttle service that picked us up from the airport at 11:00 at night.

Minuses

This hotel has the look and feel of a motel.This makes it seem a little expensive for what it is.

Cost

$159 plus $16.90 tax for a double/double room.

Recommendation

A useful hotel for a night or two after arriving in the area, but I would probably not want to stay any longer.

During my stay in Cairo, I stayed at the Nile Hilton on the the Executive floor, and I recommend this hotel very highly. Here are a few features that may be of interest to the traveler.

1. It is probably worth paying extra to stay on the Executive level. You get a superb breakfast that combines the best of personal service with the best of a buffet with a wonderful view of the Nile. (On the rare clear day, you can even see the Pyramids.) You also have access to the Executive lounge, where snacks are served all day, and drinks are served in the evening. (Drinks are very expensive in Egypt so this benefit is valuable to anyone who enjoys a glass of wine or a cocktail in the evening.)

2. All the staff seem to want to go out of their way to please you. You just get the impression of a well-run, efficient, and friendly hotel.

3. I was advised to stay on the city side as opposed to the river side of the hotel because it does get rather noisy at night. On this trip, I decided to ignore that advice, and it was much nicer staying with a view of the river. It was so pleasant to sit on the balcony with a bottle of wine and to watch the world go by.

4. You can get wireless access to the Internet, and it is adequate. The cost was 600 EGP for the week. However, if you want to use your Ethernet cable, you have to pay again even if you want to do so simply because the wireless access is not working.

5. Food in the hotel is good, and the cost is reasonable. I did not eat on the top floor (except for the free breakfast), where there is an ambitious and very expensive menu.

6. The are in-room safes that are free of charge. They work well and you can use your own combination.

7. The beds are a little narrow, but very comfortable.

8. The area is nice. You can take boat trips on the Nile right in front of the hotel, and there are plenty of nice retaurants in the area. The restaurants in the hotels are considerably more expensive than the independent restaurants, where you can eat very well for $10.00 or less.

9. The cost of my room on the Executive floor was about $140 (USD) per night plus taxes — in February, 2006.

Today was an exceptionally clear day in Cairo, where the the haze and the dust limit visiblity. But today you could clearly see the Pyramids at Giza from my 11th floor hotel room.

It is amazing to think that the Pyramids were the tallest structures built by humans until the Eiffel Tower was built in Paris in 1898! 

The Mulligatawny soup, the Tomato Saar soup, and the dishes of chutney and raita at Mena House.

Sometimes I almost studiously avoid restaurants in wonderful settings. It seems that restaurants are able to provide nice settings or good food, but very rarely can they do both.

A notable exception to this rule is the Mena House in Giza. Located right next door to the Great Pyramids of Giza, Mena House offers a more exciting setting than almost anywhere else in the world. The restaurants and bars have views of the Pyramids, which are lit up by night. (Note, though, that there is no view from the Moghul Room.)

Buried deep inside the hotel, this restaurant does not offer a view of the Pyramids, but its exotic decor is as exciting as it is luxurious. Three of us had dinner here tonight, Dr. A, Mr. M, and me! We started off with pappadums ($2.00) and the complimentary samosas. Then we had soup. Dr. A and I had an excellent Mulligatawny soup ($4.00) and Mr. M had a the Tomato Saar soup.($4.00), which he pronounced delicious.

We each had a different dish for the main course. Dr. A chose the Murgh Jal Farizi ($12.73), which tasted as if it was very freshly cooked unlike in some India restaurants where it seems that they achieve long menus by creating any permutation of about five pre-cooked bases (chicken, lamb, beef, shrimp, or fish) with one of a dozen sauces. The sauces and the base don’t exactly hit it off because they have never even met before! When I tried Murgh Jal Farizi, the vegetables were fresh, tasty, and crunchy showing that they had been freshly cooked. I found the spices in his dish just a little timid, but tasty. The Chicken Vindaloo ($13.78) was, in my mind, only passable. For my taste, there was too much vinegar in the sauce, and the chicken consisted only of drumsticks and wings. For this class of place, I would have expected a better class of meat. I really enjoyed the Shahi Korma, though. This dish of lamb in a creamy sauce with almonds has always been one of my favorites. I asked them to spice it up a little as I expected it might be a little bland to cater for the international crowd that frequents this restaurant. They added just the right amount of spice, and the dish had a pronounced tasted of black cumin. The spices in the dish were well integrated – you could taste the individual spices but they were somehow unified so that they seemed to be in harmony with each other.

We agonized a little about the wine. Initially, we were presented with a list of international wines, which was really a list of what you might see in the discount section of a British or American supermarket. The collection of French, Italian, Australian and American wines were mostly mediocre mass preoduced wines being sold at outreageous prices. For example, Blossom Hill White Zinfandel was offered for about $85! Eventually, we asked if they had Château des Rêves ($43.60), an Egyptian wine that we had recently tried at the Four Seasons Hotel. (This phenomenon of selling cheap imported wines at high prices is not unique to Mena House. It seems to be standard practice at all the top hotels in Egypt. My best advice is to stick to Egyptian wines.)

A wonderful feature of this restaurant is the little trio that provides music while you eat. A young man plays the sitar; there is a percussionist; and a woman plays another instrument and is the vocalist. Her haunting voice has lived with me since 2004 when I first visited the Moghul Room, and she was there again tonight. (I believe she is a daily feature.) Some of the songs are Indian, but they also adapt popular songs to a very distinctly Indian style, including a version of “Happy Birthday!” I asked them if they had made a CD, but they didn’t. So I will have to come back if I want to hear her again.

My only little complaint with Mena House is the way the bill is prepared. My concern is not with the bottom line. You expect to pay a lot for a meal in a top hotel. But I don’t like the way every little detail becomes an additional item whether you order it or not (chutney, water, raita, and so on.). The total worked out to be about $50.00 a head.

Before dinner, it is wonderful to sit at the bar where you do get a view of one of the Pyramids, which is flood lit. But drinks are expensive, and the measures are very short.

The meal at Mena house is the perfect ending to a day visiting the Pyramids. Highly Recommended.

These flower displays are found in many of Cairo’s top hotels.

Actually, my foul breakfast was simply delicious. Foul (pronounced fool) is an Egyptian dish made of fava beans. First the beans go in the bowl, then it is time for the toppings: a little cumin, chopped onions, fresh parsley, pepper, salt, and olive oil. I am sure that this is very healthy breakfast. Simple and very tasty.

Breakfast is included if you are staying on the Executive floor of the Nile Hilton in Cairo. You can get practically every imaginable breakfast dish, but I decided to be very healthy — a plate of foul, steamed vegetables, and a bowl of freshly cut fruit.

As expected, no pork products are served. The bacon and sausages are all made of beef.

This amazing display of flowers, willow and bamboo decorates the lobby of the ultra-luxurious Four Seasons hotel in Cairo.

Steaks is one of the restaurants in the very lavishly appointed new Four Seasons Hotel in Cairo. Situated by the Nile near the Hyatt, Intercontinental, and the Nile Hilton, the Four Seasons stands out as the poshest hotel in this area of very posh hotels.

There are a variety of hotels, but Dr. A knew that this would be a good choice, and he had been there before. He was especially interested in my trying the tenderloin of Australian Wagyu Beef, but, unfortunately it was no longer on the menu. We had the tenderloin of Australian Angus Beef instead. It came in two sizes: 180 grams ($31) or 240 grams ($42). We both had the the smaller size — a wise choice because you really do get a lot to eat at this restaurant because they bring you a dish of pâté to start with. It comes with a delicious loaf of crusty home made bread, little pearl onions and cornichons. Then came a bowl of cream of carrot soup — tasting of real carrots with a dollop of cream on top. (These starters are included in the price of the main course.) The main course, the steak, really was memorable. I ordered mine very rare, and it was so tender that you could slice it with the back of the knife. But unlike many very tender steaks it was full of flavor. We had a side order of very good gratin potatoes ($1.75) and some sautéed garlic mushrooms ($1.75).

For dessert, I had an amazing chocolate assortment ($5.25), which consisted of a little chocolate cake, a chocolate mousse, and some chocolate ice cream. Dr. A went for subtlety and had a Lemon Meringue Pie ($5.25), which was good, rich, and had crispy pastry as its base.

Our wine experience was interesting at the Four Seasons. A couple of years ago on my last trip here I was warned that Egyptian wine was uniformly awful, but Dr. A encouraged me to order Château des Rêves 2005 ($31), which is described as a Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine was pleasant enough though I found it not at all like a Cabernet at all. It was more like a Beaujolais! When the waiter asked me if I liked it, I told him that I didn’t like it all that much, and he suggested bringing us a Cape Bay from South Africa ($31), but bottled in Egypt. This wine was passable though it had a strange taste of fresh cork.

The wine list was fairly comprehensive, but, imported wine in Egypt are very expensive indeed. For example, if you were in the mood for Champagne (and you really liked your guest), you could get Cristal Roederer for ($1046) or Brunello di Montalcino from Castello Banfi, 1999, for $523. Even wines that are relatively inexpensive in other countries were very highly priced. For example, Jacob’s Creek Merlot, 2003, would set you back $104!

Other items on the menu included Dover Sole ($24), Grilled salmon steak ($15.70), Australian veal cutlet ($33), or grilled lamb chops ($18.30).

All in all, this was a very good meal in a delightful setting. The traveler is well advised to watch wine prices since they can set you back a small fortune even if you are drinking fairly modest wines.

On a recent visit to New York, we stayed in the Embassy Suites hotel in the financial district of New York.

The whole family was traveling together and it was nice to have the extra space that Embassy Suites gives you. The standard suite at this chain of hotels, which is part of the Hilton group, is a bedroom and an adjoining living room. The bedroom is like a standard full service hotel room with a television, and the living room has a sofa, a table, a microwave, and another television. The sofa can be turned into a bed for the night, and they provide plenty of pillows, sheets, and blankets to make it comfortable. Unfortunately, this hotel has no swimming pool.

Our rate was $209 per night, and that includes a full breakfast and a cocktail hour. Parking was $50 per night.

The beds were great, and it was nice to have a good duvet instead of blankets. I loved the soap, conditioner, and shampoo from Bath and Bodyworks in the bathroom.

There are some rough spots at Embassy Suites (plastic glasses for the cocktails, for example), but I think that it was a very good deal at a busy time of year. The hotel was absolutely full of tourists. The breakfast and the cocktail hour were very crowded, and it took some time to get our breakfast and drinks.

Recommended especially for families of four!

We all went to Costa Rica for our summer vacation this year. A memorable hotel was Villas Macondo in Tamarindo.

We had a nice clean apartment with two floors. On the bottom floor, there was a living room, a kitchen, and a toilet. On the top floor, there were two bedrooms and a bathroom. The place was spotlessly clean, and everything worked. The one-bedroom apartments have air conditioning but, ours didn’t. (That didn’t bother me!)

The staff have a friendly dog, who wanders around and is willing to engage in conversation with anyone who give him the time.

This was our two-bedroom apartment. The cost in early August was about $100 a night. We stayed for a week.


This place is very highly recommended. Tamarindo is a lovely place!