Text 11561, 101 rader
Skriven 2011-05-30 11:01:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: trip report 405
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The Sheraton breakfast in the club room was surprisingly
generous. Isn't it ever thus: when you don't need it, it's
available; when you're counting on it, it doesn't happen.

Scrambled eggs (real, Lilli opined), decent bacon, sausage
patties, sausage links that were extremely fatty, potato
wedges. Fresh fruit, a most abundant cheese plate, yogurt
of various flavors, real oatmeal, the standard assortment
of cold cereals and milk, breakfast breads of many sorts,
none involving chocolate, and blueberry bagels. If we
had wanted to, we could have had our sustenance for the
day right here, but that sort of defeated the purpose.

As it was a nice day, we decided to take a stroll up the
hill, past the hospital, and through Westport, which is
supposed to be the happening district of Kansas City, if
there can be said to be such. We didn't find too much.
Around 11, the sun was beating down just as we went past
a funky (but very large) bar called Kelly's, which served
various Boulevard products. The pilsener was very fresh
tasting, moderately hoppy, quite refreshing; the coffee-
scented dry stout, also well hopped, suited me better.
Beer here costs more than at the namesake place in
New York - in fact, alcohol was relatively high priced
throughout the city. I figure there must be a substantial
sin tax here. On the way out we asked the agreeable
bartendress for a lunch recommendation; but none of the
places she suggested (all within a block or so - I figure
she doesn't get out much) looked thrilling at the moment,
so we decided to just go down Westport Road and see what
we'd see. We spied a Sonic and were about to head to it,
but closer and on our side of the street was this low
building with burgery smells coming from it and a certain
buzz. We had stumbled upon the Flea Market, one of the
featured eccentricities in that spiky-haired idiot's show
called Diners, Dives, and something else. It apparently
used to be a flea market with a snack bar, but the snack
bar prospered better than the market, the result being
that it took over 90% of the space, with a few things for
sale left on the periphery. A limited menu, which, being
hand-written and in the semi-dark, I couldn't read. What
you do: read the menu, order at one window, wait around,
get your food at the next window, then try to find a place
to sit and eat. Our strategy: sit at the bar bar, have a
Sam or two, and have the bartendress/waitress take care
of the details. Our orders: one burger "mediumish" and a
breaded pork tenderloin. The former was respectable and
"mediumish," the other a big flat pounded schnitzelly
thing not unlike what I had had under the mentorship of
Dirty Dave some years ago a couple hundred miles farther
north. Buns were squishy sweet nonentities; the meats
were pretty good. Not worth joining the cult for, but a
nice way of plugging the hole until dinnertime.

More walking and then we returned to our respective
quarters for a nap before the party.

What we did, an oddity dictated by hotel "stays" being
more valuable than hotel "nights." So instead of staying
at one comfy place for multiple nights, we hotel-hopped
to the Westin, which had the advantages of being right near
our dinner spot, just the same price, and somewhat snazzier.

Premise. You get Gold for 10 stays or 25 nights, Platinum
for 25 stays or 50 nights. Lilli is trying to keep
Platinum (guaranteed club access, space available suite
upgrades and in any case room upgrades, breakfast for
you and a guest, free Internet, the whole nine yards),
I Gold (club access if you got an upgrade, 4 pm checkout,
the whole 4.5 yards). Plus (a limited time promotion).
For every 3 stays, you earn a free night at a resort hotel,
such as the Ala Moana Surfrider or the Princeville Kauai -
places that normally would cost $300-400 a night.

So.

Two nights at the Sheraton, total cost about $175, count
as 1 stay, with a bonus of 1/3 of a night at a resort
(value $100).

One night at the Sheraton and one at the Westin, total cost
under $200, count as 2 stays, with a bonus of 2/3 of a
resort night (value $200).

No-brainer.

So we took a taxi to the Westin Crown City (the Hallmark
headquarters is on the other end of the mall from the
hotel, and its emblem is a crown) and checked in there, and
as of next week, I will have earned a resort night, and
Lilli will have earned -THREE- - which we will probably
split two and two on Maui and Kauai, to go with the nifty
$500 fare from Washington or $349 from the west coast that
we found. The resort accommodations should be generous
enough to fit two nonrelated adults.

And that's how it's done.

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