Fortunately there are some excellent sites available to help you to choose the right hotel at the right price.

In October we are planning to travel to Auckland in New Zealand and then driving down to Queenstown in the South Island.

I intend to book only accommodation in both places and book as we go once we are there for the rest of the journey.

This is how Paula and I traveled around the West Coast of America just recently and found booking as we went to be a huge success as we weren’t locked into leaving an area if we wanted to stay on longer to enjoy the sights. Traveling like this also allowed us to take advantage of specials, such as the great deal we found to San Fransico through Priceline

And it is so easy nowadays to book online, I had a laptop so it was only a matter of going to Expedia.com
or Hotels.com to check out the availability and costs of the various hotels. And I have now found another excellent website, Hotels Combined.com that allows me to check the prices of my chosen hotel with a number of travel websites, all at the same time. So that also saves me some time.

I am a bit of a fan of Holiday Inn  hotels as they are always comfortable, generally have free internet, complimentary breakfast and a laundry, which I find necessary when traveling light.

So the first step in planning my trip is to decide what I want to see. Well Auckland will be mainly spent visiting relatives, but I am also taking my granddaughter and as I want to show her around the many attraction in Auckland, I want to stay somewhere central.

I have previously stayed in the CityLife Hotel , because of its great location right in the heart of Auckland. It is close to the shopping in Queens Street, the Skywalk Tower, Kelly Tarltons Aquarium, the Casino, Museum, a great selection of restaurants on The Quay and the hotel itself is very comfortable with large rooms and all the facilities to make your stay enjoyable.

The rates  varied  from $150-$190 per night, quite a difference really. I actually found that going through Hotels Combined.com I  I could get a cheaper rate than going directly to some of the other travel sites. So keep that in mind when you are looking and be sure to check out all your options.

So now I am going to look for a hotel in Queenstown using the same process of checking each of my favorite travel websites plus my new found search partner, Hotels Combined.

Well I have finished my search on Expedia, Hotels Combined and Hotels.com and have decided on the 
Comfort Inn Melbourne Mtr Ldge as apart from being close to restaurants, shops and activities it is also reasonably priced at around $103 per night. It has all the amenities I am looking for and the reviews are positive.  Always make sure you read the reviews from people who have stayed in a hotel previously. But keep an open mind as some people are hard to please and find fault with any little thing. So read reviews objectively.

So there you are. I am all set with my accommodation and it took no time at all.

The cost for the 2 days was $104 for the first night and $137 for the second. We booked it a couple of days before we intended to leave Burnaby.

Trying to save on yet another taxi fare, we decide to catch the Skytrain from Burnaby to downtown Vancouver. Fortunately, the Skytrain leaves from right outside our hotel but we also have our luggage with us and we have to consider whether there will be a heap of stairs to contend with. We decide to take the risk and check out of our Burnaby hotel and head to the 2nd floor which has direct access to the Skytrain.

We find one set of stairs before we even get to the Skytrain station but we manage and head through the overpass to get to the ticket machines. It will be 2 zones to get us to downtown Vancouver so it will cost us $3.75 each.

We head to the station and since the signs are well posted we are easily able to determine which side of the platform to catch the train from.

The trains arrive every few minutes so we don’t have to wait long before we are on our way.

We had checked Google Maps the day before and found that Granville station was the closest stop to the Holiday Inn Downtown Vancouver. The trip takes about 15 minutes and once on arrival we drag our luggage off the train and start the trek to our hotel.

Of course the directions from Google Maps are no real help since we get out of the station at a totally different exit and we are already disorientated. After going into a store to ask someone for directions to Howe St ,we are once again on our way.

Unfortunately, it is raining and cold and after walking close to a mile with our luggage we arrive at the hotel feeling a little sad and sorry for ourselves. Fortunately, however, we are given a room straight away, even though we are a little early for check-in. The young lady behind the counter is friendly and helpful and provides us with a map of Vancouver.

As we are Priority Club members we are given a few extra benefits including designated parking closest to the main entrance, complimentary appetizers in Medleys Lounge (on the lobby level) between 4-6pm on weekdays, a daily newspaper delivered to our door and complimentary local phone calls.

It is well worth becoming a Priority Club member. It’s free and you can rack up points to use for free accommodation.

We head up to our room on the 5th floor (#529). The lift is not very big and with us and our luggage it is just about full.

Our room is not particularly close to the lift but we do pass another lift before we get to our room. We do end up trying this lift at another time but find it is just as easy to walk the extra distance to use the main lift.

The room looks like a typical Holiday Inn room. This is a good thing as so far we have loved our time at each of the Holiday Inns we have stayed at.

The room is a double with two double beds that are very comfortable. Both have clean fresh linen and a padded mattress. There are four pillows on each bed. Two are labelled ’soft’ and the other two ‘firm’.

In the room is a tv cabinet with a 26in tv, a desk and chair, a padded lounging chair with foot rest and a mini-bar fridge hidden in a wood cabinet. On top of the cabinet is a 4 cup coffee maker with coffee and tea bags. There is also a bottle of water but at a cost of $3.50 per bottle, we decide to give this a miss.

The mini-bar is sealed but has a key to open it. Since the contents of most hotel mini-bars is way overpriced we don’t bother opening it.

Next to the lounging chair is a small table with an ice bucket and 3 glasses. We later find the ice machine near the lift. There is also a Coke machine with drinks at $1.25 each. This seems really cheap to us but when we have lunch the next day at a Food Court we buy a bottle of water and a can of Coke for $1.05 each. Not sure why Vancouver has such cheap drinks but we aren’t complaining.

The bathroom is relatively small with only a bathtub with shower and a toilet. The sink is separate from the bathroom, which I personally don’t like but we have seen this sort of set up in a number of hotels we have stayed at. The bathroom has a lockable door but the sink area is open.

In the alcove where the sink is situated is a hair dryer, a kettle for boiling water, an ironing board and iron and open hanging space. There is also a metal folding luggage rack.

Lighting in the room is okay - we are yet to find a hotel room with really good lighting. The bathroom, entryway and sink area have ceiling lighting while the rest of the room is lit by lamps.

Noise wasn’t too much of a problem. Street noise wasn’t too bad and we couldn’t hear people in the rooms on either side of us. The main noise came from doors shutting and people talking as they walked past the rooms. When other guests closed their doors they would often bang loudly and reverberate through the room.

This Holiday Inn provides free wireless internet. We were hoping for wired internet as it is much more stable. We didn’t have a problem connecting initially. It was just a matter of opening up a browser window and the Holiday Inn connection page opened up. We needed a code to get access and had to ring the front desk for this as it wasn’t anywhere to be seen in the room. We found the connection wasn’t good at all - it was slow and would constantly drop out.

This hotel has a coin operated laundry on level CD which must be accessed with a room key. There are 2 washing machines in the room and 2 dryers. We went to the front desk for change and they were happy to provide it. Both the washer  and the dryer cost $1.50 each to use and soap powder is also available for 75c per load. We found that the dryer didn’t dry our clothes enough so we had to put in another $1.50.

We found the room to be clean and well maintained. Housekeepking did a thorough job of cleaning the room each day.

One thing we don’t like is the lack of safe in the room. We carry a laptop with us so we like to lock this up when we leave the room. Leaving it with the front desk to lock up in the hotel safe is possible but not very convenient.

The view isn’t terribly spectacular. Just a city street and plenty of buildings. There is a small balcony but it was too cold for us to be out there.

The hotel is in a convenient position but it isn’t right in the city centre. It took us about 15 minutes to walk from the main shopping street back to our hotel however, it was an easy walk. We are just around the corner from the entertainment area which includes a large number of adults only shops.

There are plenty of places to eat near the hotel. We ate across the road for breakfast one morning and for dinner we ate in the hotel restaurant downstairs. The food was absolutely delicious and reasonably priced.

We took advantage of the hop-on, hop-off bus which has a stop across the road from the hotel. It cost us $35 for two days. This takes you to the main sites around Vancouver and you can get on and off at the various stops on the way. It was a shame that it was too cold and wet for us to get off the bus to look around.

There were also a number of extra activities like the Chocolate Fantasy Welcoming Bingo Party with Dan Shea and David Palffy as the bingo callers and the Happy Hours on the Thursday and Friday nights. These were either at an extra cost or included free in the Gold Package so we didn’t attend any of these.

Day One 

So our day starts at 2pm on Thursday April 3rd, where host, Adam Malin introduces the first of the music video’s that have been submitted by fans of the show, after which he introduces Dan Shea to tumultuous applause from the crowd.

This is a question and answer time for each of the guests plus they have time to share stories about their time on the show.

Dan Shea - stunt co-ordinator in 213 episodes of Stargate from 1997 -2007 and he also doubled for Richard Dean Anderson in 177 episodes from 1997 - 2007.   Dan also acted as Sgt Siler and carries with him the wrench that is engraved with his characters name.  He has performed stunts in 59 episodes of Stargate Atlantis (2004-2007) and doubled for Richard Dean Anderson in 4 episodes from 2004 - 2006. His stunt work can also be seen on Pirates of the Caribbean -Dead Man’s Chest (2006) and X Men: The Last Stand (2006), I Robot (2004), Fantastic Four (2005), Scary Movie 4 (2004) and the Pink Panther where he doubled for Steve Martin are among a long list of movies he has been involved in.  

Dan Shea is very funny and informative (and almost manic at times) and in no time at all his 45 minutes of stage time comes to an end.

David Palffy - Played Anubis and Sokar on Stargate SG-1. David had the audience in stitches with his stories about wearing the black sock over his face as part of his costume. 

After David’s stint on stage, which was very entertaining, there were more music videos and a no minimum auction.  We weren’t going to bid on anything because of the lack of room in our suitcases and the posters were going for some pretty fancy prices. Then a poster with double photos of Michael Shanks as Daniel Jackson was put up and for some reason bidding stalled at $150.00, so I put my hand up just for the fun of having a bid and thinking this item would be like the others and go for much more, when all of sudden the poster was knocked down to me. So now we have a 1.5 metre poster to carry around with us.  We went to Staples and brought a couple of tubes to pack the poster in and we had to take the poster back on Sunday when Michael was appearing so that he could sign it.  An absolute bargain and I am delighted.

Once the auction finished it was time for the next guest to take the stage.  Adam comes to the stage to announce that Alexis Cruz won’t be available until the next day as he has been held up in the States.  So Dan Shea takes the stage in his place and is once again entertaining and amusing.

At 6:15pm patrons were called row by row to receive autographs on a complimentary basis from David while Dan signed for those who had purchased autograph tickets. 

Now this process of getting autographs takes a long time, in fact we waited around 2 hours for our row to be called. We were in row ‘O’ which was the second to last row in the room. 

We haven’t paid for any of the photo opportunities this time around. So we wandered around the prop room museum where we see Adria’s dresses, the Book of the Ori, Valla’s Ori bed, Apophis’s uniform and various other weaponary and costumes, there is also a puppet of Thor. Unfortunately, we are unable to share any of our photos as they had a sign up saying that any photos taken were for private use only.

Day 2

The convention starts at 12:00pm today and begins again with a music video submitted by a fan. Then it is time for the first guest of the day.

Alex Zahara - who played a number of roles on Stargate SG-1  (9 different roles in all) such as an Alien leader, Eggar, Iron Shirt, Michael, Warrick, Shy One and Xe’Ls.  One of my favourite episodes with Alex is when he played the hippy in the episode ‘1969′ where  a solar flare sends SG1 back in time to 1969.  One think we learnt from Alex is that when you go camping in bear country and you finish cooking, make sure you remove all your clothes and put them in a container well away from your tent.  The smell of food will bring bears looking for something to eat so the last thing you want to do is have anything that attracts them to you.  Another thing is that if moose come into the camp area, keep perfectly still as moose see the outline of tents as a solid object and will go around them.

James Bamford - or Bam Bam as he is known as, is a stunt co-ordinator on Stargate Atlantis and is proficient at martial arts and is skilled in the use of the staff. Bam Bam also performed and choreographered stunts on SG-1. He was also stunt co-ordinator on ‘Sanctuary’ and a stunt soldier on ‘Alien versus Predator’. James pays tribute to Heath Ledger which was a nice gesture.

Kavan Smith - Major Lorne on  both SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis.

Alexis Cruz - Skaara/Klorel on Stargate SG-1. Alexis played the part of Skaara in the original Stargate movie in 1994 and reprised this role for 5 episodes of the series from 2000 to 2003. Not wanting to be tied to a series, Alexis opted to not appear regularly in the series and this gave him the opportunity to also play the part of Rafael in 16 episodes of the series ‘Touched by an Angel’ from 1997-2003. In 2007, Alexis played the part of Martin Allende in the series ‘Shark’. 

Alexis is great to listen to and more than makes up for his late appearance.

Autographs were available on a complimentary basis from James Bamford and Kavan Smith and Alex Zahara signed for those with autograph tickets.  Once again we have a long, long, wait for our row to be called.

At around 9pm there is a Cabaret with Alexis Cruz followed by James Bamford and Joseph Momoa.  There is a warning in the itinerary stating that Alexis’ performance is for adults only.

He takes the stage in three different acts, portraying latino’s in various stereotyped roles.  The performance is confronting, funny and thought provoking and can be likened to the show in Australia ‘Wogs out of Work’.

This performance is followed by James Bamford and one of his stuntmen. They show their style with sword fighting and stunt work. Jason Momoa has been held up but he arrived part way through the performance and they show how a sword fight is choreographed and taught to an actor.

Day 3

Today is what we have been waiting for. As fantastic as it is to meet the stars and hear about their time on Stargate and what they are doing now, today we go to the Bridge St studio to see the sets used in both SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis.

The tours start at 6:30am and run throughout the morning but we have chosen 9:45am for our tour.  We all line up in the foyer of the Hilton Hotel waiting to board the buses. It is raining and bitterly cold so we are more than happy to hop on the bus where the driver has turned on the heating for the trip out to the studio.

We are met by Martin Gero - Writer/Producer in the parking lot and after a quick introduction on what we are about to see, we thankfully head inside. Once again we are unable to bring you any photos of this trip as we signed a waiver so you will just have to take my word that it was all totally awesome.

Apparently, part of the set originally was constructed for the movie Blade 3 and it was going to cost them a $250,000 to pull it down so the Stargate franchise brought the set from them for $1.00 - a win-win situation for both parties.

We pass through the first part of the building where there are various props set up and then we come across the Stargate Atlantis set and the stairs that lead up to Weir’s office and the control rooms. It is just amazing to be standing there in the middle of it all.

As we continue through the massive building we passed through the village used in Stargate Atlantis. As Martin explained, the village set is so large that it means they have to employ more extras to fill it for a crowd scene as if they use the 75 people that are usually available the set looks empty.

Next comes the bridge of the ‘Prometheus’ where the group takes turns at sitting in the ‘Captains chair’ for photos and then strolling around the set which is also used for the Daedalus and Aurora simply by having a color change to the perspex guidance panels.

Then it is onto the room where the ‘puddle jumper ’ is housed.  We all take turns to climb in for photo ops and pretend we are flying through the gate to other worlds.

Now comes the biggest thrill for SG1 fans - the set of the SG1 stargate where Dan Shea and Gary Jones are waiting by the Stargate for photo ops. After going up the stairs to check out the boardroom and General Hammond’s office we are ushered down to the gateroom for photos.

Paula and I decide to have a joint photo so the photographer takes two photos, so that we each get to stand next to Dan and then Gary.

Then it is back out into the cold and onto the buses to return to the Hilton Hotel.

This has been an amazing visit as anyone who is a fan of a show will realise. Seeing the set and knowing that you have walked in the areas where your favourite stars have walked and worked helps you appreciate the show even more, if that is at all possible.

The buses arrive back in time for lunch and another no minimum bid auction. Then it is time for todays first guest:

Corin Nemec - played Jonas Quinn for 26 episodes of Stargate SG1. I have to say that I loved Corin’s character when he joined the SG1 team when Michael Shanks took a break. He has lost weight since his Stargate days and looks great.

The audience is then treated to a few scenes from the new Stargate movie ‘Continuum’ which looks awesome.  This is the World Premier screening of the promo so it is a great thrill for us all to see. I am at a loss as to understand why the Stargate movies aren’t released into theatres instead of being released straight on DVD.  The acting and the storylines are so good and I am sure the Stargate franchise would extend it’s fan base enormously. The clips are presented by:-

Brad Wright - Co creator, writer and Producer and
Martin Wood - Executive Producer/Director.

After giving us the sneak peaks at the upcoming movie and giving away just a few spoilers, the pair graciously agreed to sign autographs.

This actually created a little bit of a drama as the queue was so long we all had to line up outside in the freezing cold. The line snaked around the patio area and took quite some time for everyone to finally get back inside to the table where the guys were signing  their autographs.  Being in the line meant we missed the Q & A for Chuck Campbell - the Technician in 38 episodes of Stargate Atlantis from 2005 to 2008 and 1 episode of Stargate in 2006 and Martin Gero -Producer, Co-Executive Producer, Co Producer, Creative consultant, Writer, Story Editor.  We had spent the morning with Martin and would have liked to have heard his talk but we had made the choice to get Brad and Martin’s autographs.

Gary Jones - Chief Harriman on Stargate SG1. A really nice guy and very funny. He had been up since the crack of dawn to get to the Stargate set in time for the tour photographs and it was now 5:30pm when he was on stage to entertain us all about his time on Stargate. Gary says he sat in the chair for 10 years saying things like “It’s SGC’s IDC, sir”  and that he still doesn’t know what that means to this day.  He thought he would get to leave the chair in the episode, Avatar, where Teal’c is trapped in a virtual reality game and a Kull Soldier invades the Gateroom and kills Captain O’Neil and Harriman, who is told to just swivel in the chair and die. So even in this episode he was unable to leave the chair to die gracefully elsewhere.

Jason Momoa - Ronon Dex in Stargate Atlantis. Born in Hawaii, Jason has appeared in 58 episodes of Stargate Atlantis during the 2005-2008 period.  He was Frankie Seau in 21 episodes of ‘North Shore’ from 2004-2005 and he also appeared in ‘Baywatch’ for 21 episodes from 1999 to 2001.  Jason performs many of his own stunts which are choreographed by James ‘Bam Bam’ Bamford. He mentioned that even today he is noticed more for his role on Baywatch than for Stargate.

Complimentary autographs for today are with Jason Momoa, Gary Jones and Corin Nemec and this process is due to start at 7pm, so once again we have a late night and our row is finally called at around 10:30pm. Chuck Campbell is signing for those who have brought an autograph ticket. So this has been a long day for both fans and stars and we are very grateful that they have given up their time to meet and greet with the fans.

There is a costume competition and the winner is dressed as an Ori Prior. And later there is a Celebrity Dessert Party for Gold Patrons exclusively.

Day 4

Sunday is the last day of the Convention and there are NORCO tours for those fans who have purchased tickets and then 20 lucky fans are having lunch with Michael Shanks and Lexa Doig and being taken to a secret location. We find out later that these 20 fans got to see a full screening of Continuum which is being released in July.

We have opted to meet up with James Martell, author of the Affiliate Marketers Handbook, his wife Arlene and two of his children Adam and Victoria. We have arranged to meet at the White Spot Restaurant. It is once again a miserable cold rainy day so we walk through Metrotown in an attempt to keep a little dry as of course we don’t have umbrella’s and raincoats.  It is close to 2 miles from the Holiday Inn and would have been a nice walk on a sunny day. 

We are students of James and follow his methods in our Affiliate Marketing business. The main purpose of this trip was to attend the Affiliate Summit in Las Vegas in February, but as we are both avid Stargate fans we decided to stay on and attend the Stargate Convention in April as well.  So this has been a lengthy trip and one that we couldn’t have done without the Affiliate Marketing business which allows us to continue our business as we travel around as long as we have our laptop.

Lunch is very pleasant and the food is delicious, Adam has waffles with blueberries and the rest of us have hamburgers and fries.

All too soon the meal comes to an end and after we part company, Paula and I head back to the Convention in time to catch the last of the auctions in which everything is going for very high prices.  Bruce Woloshyn - Digital Effects Supervisor, Rainbow Sun Francks - Lt Aiden Ford on Stargate Atlantis and John Smith - Executive Producer, have all completed their Q & A sessions and it is now time for:-

Michael Shanks - Dr Daniel Jackson on Stargate SG1 for 197 episodes between 1997-2007. Michael’s role as Daniel Jackson was played by James Spader in the movie ‘Stargate’.  Michael is married to Lexa Doig (who had a supporting role in Stargate playing Dr Carolyn Lam) and has two children with her, Mia Tabitha and Samuel David, he also has a daughter named Tatiana with Vaitiarie Bandera, who played Daniel’s wife Sha’re on Stargate.

Lexa Doig - Dr Carolyn Lam. Lexa became the resident doctor on Stargate after Dr Janet Fraiser, played by Teryl Rothery, was killed in the episode ‘Heroes’.  Lexa is a little nervous at the start of her appearance but soon warms up to the audience who are very fond of her and help her to feel more at ease by talking about her life with Michael and her children.

It is autograph time again but this time we don’t have to wait until our row is called. At last we are able to go to the front of the queue for the autographs as I purchased a poster at the auction and got priority placement in the queue.  We are also able to have our complimentary autographs done by Michael and Lexa at the same time and then we join the queue for Rainbow Sun and before long we have all our autographs and are able to head off back to the hotel.

This has been an amazing weekend for us and we thoroughly recommend the experience for all Stargate fans. Next time we will only go if we can get Gold Passes as the wait for autographs is much shorter.  So we will try again for the 2009 Convention.

There are buses and the MT Trolley which will get you to all the main attractions, there is also a hop on, hop off sightseeing bus and the Old Town Trolley Tour - not to be confused with the MT Trolley system.

We decided to start with the MT Trolley which meant leaving our hotel and turning right into El Cajon Blvd. Walk up past the Howard Johnson Hotel and the Fitness centre and turn right into College Ave and walk to until you come to the San Diego State University (SDSU) which will be straight ahead.  The walk is 1.5 miles from the hotel to SDSU and it is a nice easy walk. When you get to the Transit Centre go down the escalator or stairs and purchase your ticket from one of the vending machines.  We intend to be out and about so we brought a 4 day pass for $15 each. Go through the doors to the left of the vending machines and go downstairs to the platform.

The trolley’s run every 15 minutes and it’s not too long before ours arrives. The transit center and the trolley are extremely clean and there is no graffiti anywhere. It is such a nice change to find a place where the people take pride in public property.

Another thing I noticed is that when an elderly or infirm person hops on the trolley, the young people stand up and offer their seat straight away. None of this ignoring them or looking the other way as is often seen in other centers.

We are on the Green Line trolley which takes us to Old Town.

The Plaza del Pasado or Old Town in San Diego is a historic town that captures the festive spirit of Mexico and where some of the old buildings have been turned into restaurants and shops and others such as the old courthouse and the dentist rooms are preserved so todays youth can see how things were in the past.

It is a beautiful day to spend time strolling around the shops and outdoor markets and we take our time enjoying the exotic aromas and colorful decor of the plaza. Old Town is considered to be the birthplace of California and in 1769 it became the first permanent Spanish settlement in California.

In 1846 the population numbered 250 and had grown somewhat and it was incorporated as a city in 1850 with the government activities centred around the Plaza Viejo.  After the business district of Old San Diego was burned down in 1872, the business centre moved to the present day site of Downtown San Diego.

Some of historic buildings still standing are the Casa De Machado which was built in the adobe style of construction by Corporal Jose Manuel Machado for his daughter Maria Antonia Machado de Silvas, The Temple Beth Israel which was the first synagogue built in San Diego in 1889. Most of the other buildings are recontructions such as the Brick Courthouse and the George Johnson House. But all are worthy of a visit.

Then it is off to catch the Blue Line Trolley, which leaves from where the Green Line ends, and head off into the Civic Centre in Downtown San Diego.

By now it is lunchtime and we head over to Anthony’s Seafood Grotto which is right on the water of San Diego Bay. The food is absolutely delicious and our waitress is friendly and chatty. Once again our accents cause comment, most seem to think we are English and are pleasantly surprised when we state we are Aussies. This generally leads to conversations about how long it took us to get to the US, where we have been and how long we will be in town.

After lunch we head off down to the USS Midway Museum which has a 4 acre flight deck and gives visitors the opportunity to explore the ship with the aid of an audio presentation.  The tickets are $15.00 and the ticket office suggest making sure you have 1.5 to 3 hours to complete the tour.  We decide that we will return another day and do this tour.

By now we have picked up a number of maps and public transport timetables and routes and it turns out that we have a bus that stops right outside our hotel which will take us to the trolley transit station.  Before we discover this piece of information we decide to hop of at another stop, other than the SDSU to see if it is closer to our hotel.  So we hop off at the 70th Street stop, and turn right from the carriage and set off in what we hope is the right direction. The No.1 bus (which runs past our hotel) goes by, so we figure if go in the same direction we will at least be heading the right way.

We turn left into 70th Street and walk up a rather steep hill until we reach El Cajon Blvd.  Here we turn left and continue. It is simply a matter of walking along El Cajon Blvd. We are at number 6900 when we turn onto the Blvd from 70th Street and our hotel is numbe 6474 so we have a way to go.  We pop into Ralph’s on the way and pick up some groceries and a Ralph Card that gives us some excellent discounts on our items.  I am a sucker for saving money and will join just about anything if it gives me a bargain.

Our feet are getting tired - thank goodness we brought good quality ARA walking shoes before our trip because we have walked many miles since we arrived in the States, and we are very happy when the hotel looms into sight.

After a nice hot cup of tea we head out to do some washing at the laundromat which is almost next door to the hotel. Turn left as you leave the hotel reception area and walk  just past the Chicken Rotissere store where there is a block of shops with the laundromat.  After putting the washing into the washer we go back to the hotel to watch some more Stargate episodes. Our hotel has more stations than any other we have stayed in so far and one is a sci fi station so this makes us very happy.

Paula also spends time on the phone to the internet company as we have been unable to connect to our hotel’s internet, which is included in the price of the room. It turns out that we have to update the drivers in our Acer notebook before it will connect to the right service. 

Once the washing and drying has completed and we once again have nice clean clothes, we set off for dinner.  We had intended to  eat at the buffet at the Howard Johnson hotel that is just up the road, but it is closed when we get there.  We continue up the road and come to a Mexican restaurant.  The food turns out to be awesome and of course way more than we can eat.

Tomorrow we are going to head off to Tijuana on the blue line trolley.

Our seats were on the second mezzanine, in the middle, three rows back (row C seats 409/410) but the theatre is built in such a way that everyone has a fantastic view.  Elton was fantastic, although his voice has mellowed with time, everyone is very forgiving because he still sounds great and he gives everything to his performance and everyone just loved being there.

Dressed in a black chinese style jacket that contrasted nicely against the Red Piano that was set on a black and white striped star edged in a red light, Elton opened the show with the perinneal favourite ‘Benny and the Jets’

Elton is excellent in concert and this was no exception. In real life he sounds pretty much exactly like he does on his records.

Elton was backed by his highly talented band members: Davy Johnstone on guitar, Guy Babylon on Keyboards, Bob Birch on bass guitar, Joh Mahon on percussion and the amazing Nigel Olsson on drums.

The stage props were somewhat amusing and we weren’t sure what their purpose was as they didn’t seem to tie in with any of the songs. Perhaps the huge boobs with enormous pink nipples, the banana set between two peaches and the pair of legs in high heels and the lipstick were representative of Las Vegas.

For one of the songs those in the front few rows were able to get up on stage and surround the piano as Elton played.

All I can say is we loved the show and the tickets were a steal at $125.00 plus $12.50 booking fee and $5.00 tax - total $137.50.  When Elton was recently in Australia the tickets were a lot more expensive at $300 plus, and we would have had to take a trip to Sydney and stay overnight.

There was a photographer taking photos that were later turned into an album with a photo of the visitors on one side and a signed photo of Elton on the other.  The photographer on our floor didn’t make it to our section which was a shame because it would have been excellent to have had such a great looking souvenir of the night.

If you are in Vegas while Elton is here, then do yourself a favour and go and see the show. Just be warned that if you are a bit sensitive to seeing full frontal female nudity then you might want to stay away.

Tickets range in price from $100-$250 plus tax and booking fee.

The song list for the night was:

Benny and the Jets
Philadelphia Freedom
Believe
Daniel
Rocket Man
Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues
Someone Saved My Life Tonight
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Tiny Dancer
Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me
Candle In The Wind
Pinball Wizard
Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting
I’m Still Standing
Your Song

We actually got a great deal through Hotwire which included return airfares from Las Vegas and 5 nights accomodation for $376 each. This is the first time we have booked through Hotwire and the process was quite simple. The only drawback is that you don’t know your flight times until after you have booked and paid for the package. So after booking we found that the outbound flight was leaving Las Vegas at 7am (which meant we had to be up at 4.30am) and our return flight was leaving at 9pm. Not the best times but then it was worth it for the cheap deal.

We got a door-to-door shuttle to our hotel from the airport which cost $16 each and it took about 30 minutes or so to get to our hotel.

When we got to the front desk we found only one person behind the counter so we had to wait a few minutes to be attended to. The girl at the reception desk was very competent and quick and even though it was only 9.30am and well before check-in time we were given a room. This may have had something to do with the fact that we are Priority Club members. However, during our entire stay we found that the staff at the front desk were very helpful and friendly to everyone who approached the reception area.  This same friendly manner and professionalism was also displayed by the staff at the Holiday Inn in Tusayan when we visited the Grand Canyon recently.

On the way to the lift to get to our room we notice the clean, modern lobby area and the eating area where people are still eating breakfast. The hotel has a nice feel about it and appears to be well maintained from what we can see at a first glance.

When we get to our room we are pleased with what we see. Our room is big enough to accommodate two people comfortably and looks clean and fresh.

Our room is a double room on the 2nd floor (#268) with two double beds, a TV cabinet with a 26in(68cm) TV and a table with two lounging chairs.

Next to one of the beds is a closet with hanging space. It also contains an iron and ironing board and a fold up luggage rack. There is also a safe in the closet which is large enough to hold our 14in laptop. The safe uses a key rather than the digital keypad password that you see in most hotel room safes these days.

There is adequate storage with closet hanging space and the three drawers in the bottom of the TV cabinet.

Lighting is fairly good. There are ceiling lights in the entrance way but the rest of the room is lit by lamps - one between the two beds and a standard lamp next to the table.

The beds are very comfortable with padded mattresses and clean fresh linen. Each bed has four pillows with each pillow slip embroidered with either the word ’soft’ or ‘firm’.

The view from our room is not what I would call a view. We can see what you might call a courtyard and we look across to another room. Subsequently we keep the net curtains closed for our entire stay.

The bathroom is not huge but it is bright and clean and actually looks like it has been recently renovated. There is one sink, a toilet and a bathtub with shower.

The water pressure from the shower is okay. It’s not really strong but it’s pretty good. The showerhead also allows you to adjust the flow to suit your preferred spray type.

The towels are plentiful and are soft and clean.

The bathroom also has a 2 cup coffee maker and the hotel provides both tea and coffee. This is something we really missed when we stayed at Caesar’s Palace and The Golden Nugget in Las Vegas. After there is nothing quite like sitting down with a nice hot cup of tea after a day of sightseeing.

The air conditioner in the room does the job although it was a little noisy. While it was on we had to turn the TV up in order to hear the programs.

Just near the lifts on our floor is a room with an ice machine and a vending machine which sells drinks. To get into the room we needed to use our hotel key.

As we need access to the internet in order to run our business we love staying at Holiday Inn hotels as the internet is free - at least it has been in the ones we have stayed in so far. The connection is wired. To connect just open your browser and it will connect to a screen where you just need to click on a link and then you will get immediate access to the internet.

While we were here we took advantage of the coin operated laundry in the next building which is also part of Holiday Inn. To get to it, exit at the front of the hotel and turn right. Keep walking and cross over the first road you see which will get you to the other Holiday Inn. Walk through the lobby until you see the lifts and take the lift to the “G” (garage) floor. This will take you to the parking garage. Walk straight ahead and turn to the left and you should see a room against the wall which will be the laundry. Make sure you have plenty of quarters. The laundry powder was $1.50, the washing machine was $2.00 and the dryer was $2.00.

This hotel is located in an ideal position. It took us around five minutes to walk to Fisherman’s Wharf, around 10-15 minutes (uphill) to walk to The Crookidest Street and about 5 minutes to get to the pick up point for the hop-on/hop-off bus.

There are also plenty of restaurants and cafes close by. Denny’s is actually in the building itself and there is a bar and grill across the road but there are plenty of other restaurants and cafes within easy walking distance.

Overall we really enjoyed our stay here and would definitely come back again.

Our Rating of the Holiday Inn Express - Fishermans Wharf:

Checking in and out 5/5
Room 4/5
Position 4.5/5
Price 5/5 (Based on our Hotwire package deal)
Cleanliness 4/5

We booked this package through Hotwire.

Whether you are having breakfast, lunch or dinner at the buffet it is always the same price at only $7.77.

We decided to give it a go after heading to the Golden Nugget buffet and finding that because it was a Saturday we could only partake of the Champagne Buffet Breakfast which was $17.99 each. We really didn’t want to pay that much for breakfast so off to the Plaza Hotel we went.

The Plaza doesn’t have a breakfast buffet as such but instead there is a Brunch Buffet which encompasses both breakfast and lunch and runs from 6am to 4pm. I loved this as it meant I could sleep in and didn’t have to rush down to get breakfast.

Because this is a popular buffet each time we visited we had to queue to get in. Even so, we never had to wait more than 10 minutes but usually it was less than 5mins.  As you would expect, the weekend was busier than weekdays so keep this in mind.

Once seated we immediately wandered up to the buffet to see what was available. I noticed that the selection wasn’t as extensive as some of the other buffets we have been to, but the quality of the food  provided was excellent.

In the main meal service area for the brunch there are a range of breakfast items including scrambled eggs, omelette’s, fried potatoes, bacon, sausage patties, cereals, fruit, fried chicken, sliced meats, roasts and salads. There is a smaller meal service area where the buffet consists of mainly Asian style meals and desserts. So make sure you check out both areas because when we went there on the first night we did’nt realise that there was another buffet area around the corner.

Drinks are free (as long as they aren’t alcoholic) and are provided by waiters who will top your glass up as often as you like.  We both had orange juice and a cup of green tea with breakfast.

We found the breakfast foods to be just delicious. The eggs were cooked perfectly and the fried potatoes and sausage patties were very tasty. I loved those fried potatoes and went back for more.

For dinner the menu changes to include lasagna, pasta, fried chicken, roasts, baked ham, salads, mashed potatoes, peas, carrots, corn, lemon chicken, Chinese noodles, soups, spring rolls, sweet and sour pork and more.

Again, the variety of foods at the dinner buffet is not as extensive as you might find at some of the other buffets in Las Vegas but everything is tasty, well presented and the quality of the food is excellent. We absolutely loved the fried chicken and always had a piece at each meal.

The desserts included chocolate pie, apple pie, coconut cream pie, cheese cake and sugar free desserts. There were also cookies and fresh fruit. We did find that the desserts weren’t always replenished and at one point we had to ask for a particular pie from the chef as there was only apple pie and some cookies left to choose from.

Overall this buffet is great value for money. So if you are on a budget but  still want a great tasting inexpensive meal then this is definitely the place to go when you are in Downtown Las Vegas.

The lobby houses the largest gold nugget on display worldwide. It weighs  61lb 11 ounces and is called the “Hand of Faith”. The nugget was found just inches below the surface near Wedderburn in Victoria Australia.

As usual getting to our room required a packed lunch. This hotel is huge so we had to go quite a way to get to the hotel lifts. We pass by the pool area which has as its main attraction a huge aquarium filled with sharks and other smaller fish. We find out later that a 3 storey clear waterslide travels right through the middle of the tank.

We also pass by a Starbucks, clothing shop, restaurant, some slot machines and a gift shop.

The hotel lifts are separated into two sections, one set of elevators service floors 2 to 9 and further along there is another set of elevators that service floors 9 to 22.  This definitely speeds up the time it takes for the lift to arrive.

Fortunately our room on the 22nd floor (#2281) is quite close to the lift so we don’t have too far to walk.

Our first impressions of the room are positive. This is a big room with nice décor in muted warm earth tonings with flowery curtains and bed coverings, there is also a beautiful aroma in the room that  is very refreshing and welcoming.

We have a double room which has two double beds, a table with two sofa chairs, a TV cabinet with what looks like a 26in (68cm) TV and a desk with a stool. The desk is more of a vanity area where you would put on makeup rather than sit and work at your laptop as the internet cable is actually over on the table. This makes working at a computer a little less than comfortable since the table has low sofa seats so we found ourselves sitting a little low in the chairs to make it the ideal for computer work.

The beds in the room are quite comfortable with a padded mattress and clean, fresh linen. Each bed has two pillows.

There is plenty of storage areas in the room with four drawers in the TV cabinet and a closed wardrobe with hanging space near the bathroom.

Lighting is okay although as with the majority of hotels we have stayed at in the US there are no ceiling lights but instead a series of lamps scattered around the room.

The view from our room includes the mountains, buildings and various carparks. As with most Las Vegas views it is usually better at night when the lights turn on and this one is no exception. We aren’t talking The Strip here but even so we enjoy the night view of casino lights from our room.

The bathroom is a reasonable size and has one hand basin, the toilet and a bathtub with shower. The toiletries include shampoo, conditioner, lotion and two bars of soap. There are plenty of towels although we found them to be a little worn and rough. I think they should consider replacing their towel collection.

The wardrobe contained two cottonweave bathrobes which neither of us used, and these are available for purchase. We noticed a lot of people wore these down to the pool area.

The closet also contains a hair dryer, two fold up luggage holders, an iron and ironing board.

The room has a safe but it is very small. We could only fit our passports and cameras in it. It is way too small to fit a laptop.

One fault we found with the room was the air conditioner/heater which was very noisy. We had to turn it off at night so that we could get to sleep. Howeve  the air con  unit in the next room was so loud that we could hear it churning away day and night.

And speaking of noise, we could also hear noise from the street even though we were on the 22nd floor. It wasn’t constant however and it was mainly police sirens, cars beeping horns or cars revving their engines loudly.

Another fault was the lack of a coffee maker in the room.  This was the same problem we had at Caesars Palace.

The room has a wired internet connection which cost $12.99 for 24 hours. We found the connection to be reasonably fast and stable.

Overall we enjoyed our stay and found it good value for money. If you are looking for entertaiment on The Strip then we advise you to stay away from this end of town as you are at least a $20 cab drive away and there is no way you would want to walk it. You can get on The Deuce bus which will take you up to The Strip for $2.50 or if you pay $5 you can get an all day pass. However, there is plenty to keep you entertained without the need to go to the Strip.

If you are on a budget we would recommend the buffet over at The Plaza Hotel and Casino.

Our Rating of the Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino:

Checking in and out 4.5/5
Room 4/5
Position 5/5 (For Downtown location - right on Fremont St)
Price 4/5
Cleanliness 4/5

Booking this hotel is easy through: Expedia.com!

The hotel is located in an absolutely prime position on The Strip. You really can’t get much better than this.

Yesterday we checked in and it was an interesting experience. The gentleman at the front desk offered us an upgraded room. He told us it would be an extra $180. We declined the offer as we thought that even a basic room at this hotel would be pretty good and we would be happy with that. He then said we could have it for $120. We declined again. He proceeded to type away into his computer and then finally told us that we could have the upgrade for nothing!

We have now learnt that if someone offers us an upgrade at an extra cost then we shouldn’t take it as what it probably means is that they don’t have available what we paid for anyway and we are likely to get the upgrade for nothing. Read our Alamo Car Rental review for another example of this.

So now we are quite pleased with ourselves as we head up to our room as we realise we got the upgraded room for nothing.

As with most Las Vegas hotels, it is a major epic finding our room. We almost need a packed lunch to get us to the elevator which in themselves are as ornate as everything else in the hotel.

We are on the 25th floor in the Palace Tower and we make our way to our room (#2505) with high expectations thinking that the upgraded room must be something a little more special than what we originally going to get. On entering the room however we were a little disappointed as it looked like just any other hotel room in many respects. Perhaps our expectations were just a little too high but I know that I would have been very disappointed if we had paid extra for the upgrade. I think we were expecting our room to be a little more like our room at The Rio Hotel where we had a lounging area.

Having said that however, we think we got a great deal for our $150 per night rate.

The room is large and easily accomodates the two double beds, a desk with one chair and a TV cabinet with a mini-fridge which is stocked full of food and drinks - at a cost of course.

The cabinet also has a collection of goodies including a digital camera for $50, cell phone charger for $20, golf balls for $18 and a cocktail shaker kit for $16.

The TV is a flat wide screen with remote control and sits facing both beds. There are 30 or so channels plus the usual paid movie channels - $12.99 each for the latest releases.

There is plenty of storage space including 2 deep drawers and one half drawer in the TV cabinet and shelving and hanging space in the closed wardrobe.

The bathroom is quite large and includes a separate toilet with a lockable door and a walk-in shower which is separate from the bath. It also has a pair of side-by-side sinks and a jet bath which is probably just large enough to accommodate two people. The jet bath is just lovely to soothe aching muscles after a long day of sighteseeing.

The toiletries in the bathroom include the regular shampoo and conditioner - a skincare bar of soap and another bar of soap for the wash basin. There is also a box in the middle drawer that contains a shoe mitten to shine up shoes, a sewing kit, vanity pack and a shower cap.

There are three phones in the room - one by the bed, one sitting on the desk and one in the toilet.

The room contained a safe large enough to fit out 14in laptop.

The noise level between rooms is very low. I didn’t hear any noise through the walls although it may be that the rooms are empty or we have quiet neighbors. Because we are so high up we have no trouble with street noise.

The lighting in the room is adequate. We are yet to find a hotel in the US with good lighting. They seem to all use lamps scattered around the room instead of ceiling lights. When we first tried the lights in the room we couldn’t believe how dark it was but later we realised that each lamp has three levels of brightness - we just needed to turn the switches a bit more. That made a huge difference.

What we didn’t like about the room was that there was no coffee maker. We aren’t coffee drinkers but we use the machines to boil up water for a cup of tea. We couldn’t get over the fact that this caliber of hotel didn’t have them. We rang down to the front desk to ask about this and they told us we could have one for a small fee. It seems the more expensive the hotel, the less you actually get.

We were able to connect easily to the wired internet connection which cost $12.99 for 24 hours. The connection was reliable without any disconnections.

The view from our room was pretty spectacular at night. We could see up The Strip towards The Mirage and Treasure Island.

Overall we had a lovely stay at Caesars Palace. The room was restful and relaxing but we missed the free added extras you get at some of the cheaper hotels like coffee makers, newspapers, free internet and free local calls. These were all at a cost at Caesar’s.

Everything else is also more expensive here like the meals at the restaurants, room service and spa treatments but this just goes with staying at a place like Caesar’s Palace. Just don’t do what we did and buy an icecream at the small cafe in the Forum Shops area - one scoop was $7.95!! …and it wasn’t that great.

Our Rating of the Caesar’s Palace Hotel and Casino:

Checking in and out 4/5
Room 4.5/5
Position 5/5
Price 4.5/5 (based on our $150 per night rate)
Cleanliness 5/5

Booking this hotel is easy through: Expedia.com!

The Holiday Inn hotel is situated on Highway 64 and there are a number of other hotels in close proximity as well as a few shops and foodmarkets within walking distance. The IMAX theater  where they show an excellent movie about the Grand Canyon, is also only a few minutes walk away.

We got the best deal through the Holiday Inn website for about $70 a night. If you walk off the street and book this room direct with the hotel (which we did for another two nights) it is $99, which is still a bargain considering the amenities and conveniences that you get for your money.

We stayed a total of 4 nights at this hotel on two separate occasions in March 2008. The first two nights we were in room #332 and for the other 2 nights room #324 . Both of these rooms were marked “Priority Club” as we are both members.

Membership is free and entitles you to earn points for staying at any of  more than 3,500 locations. The Priority rooms were all overlooking the front of the hotel so I assume this meant a better view although I can’t really compare as we didn’t get to see any of the other rooms.

The beauty of having the room at the front of the hotel is that we could see our car parked in the parking area below. And speaking of parking, this is a great hotel if you are bringing your car along. Parking is free and there were plenty of spaces right near the entrance making it easy to get our luggage into and out of the hotel.

Check-in was quick and easy. We found during our entire stay that the staff at the front desk were just a delight. They were all very friendly and went out of their way to help whenever they were approached.

Our room was on the third floor which was the top floor and we got there via the elevator (which we always found to arrive quite quickly). We also found another elevator down the other end of the hotel which  didn’t seem to be used very often so this is worth keeping in mind during busy times of the day.

On walking to our room we noticed that the hallway had a wonderful smell as did the room. I am not sure what they use but it was always a nice feeling to walk to our room after being out all day.

We had the twin room which had 2 double beds and the room was large enough to accommodate two people comfortably.

The beds themselves were very comfortable and each had four pillows which were marked with the words ‘Firm’ and ’soft’ which we thought was a great idea and not a luxury that you would normally see in a three star hotel. The linen on the bed was fresh and clean.

The facilities in the room included a TV, table and two chairs, an alarm clock, a mini fridge (which was empty), a microwave and coffee maker.

The wardrobe area, which was to our right on entering the room, contained an ironing board and iron.

The room was made up of four separate areas - the entrance way which had the open hanging wardrobe, the main area with the beds, the bathroom with the bathtub and toilet and finally the dressing room area which held the sink. This bathroom had a lockable door but the dressing room area was open. I prefer bathrooms where the sink is included and don’t really like the open dressing room arrangement but this is just a personal preference.  An open dressing room doesn’t really work where friends are travelling together, so changing meant going into the bathroom.

Overall both rooms were in great condition and were clean and well maintained and we felt comfortable in the rooms.

All was not perfect however as we did find a few faults. The first was the minor chipping on the toilet seat in the first room we were in and again in the bathtub of the second room. We also found that the second room didn’t have a plug for the bathtub. These were all very minor problems however and didn’t affect our stay in any way. If either of us had wanted to take a bath we could have easily rung the front desk and they would have brought up a plug.

Now to what makes this hotel such great value for money. The first is the free internet connection. We connected via a wireless connection and with just a few clicks we were on the net. We did find the connection dropped out quite often until we connected the laptop to the blue cable which we found in the TV cabinet. It seemed to work fine after that with only minor drop-outs.

The second value for money part of this hotel is the free breakfast. This is held until 9.30am. Wish it was held until 10am but it’s free so I am not complaining. The hotel advertises this breakfast as being a Continental Breakfast but we would have to say that it is better than that. It includes omelettes or scrambled eggs (depending on the day), sausage patties, muffins, bagels, danishes, boiled eggs, yoghurt, whole fruit and about four different juices and of course coffee and tea. The eating area had plenty of seating and room to get around.

A nice finishing touch was the free newspaper which was outside our door in the mornings.

We really enjoyed our stay at the Holiday Inn at the Grand Canyon and would have no hesitation staying there again.

Note : If you need somewhere to wash clothes there is a coin operated laundry at the next hotel and you don’t need to stay at that hotel in order to use it.

For a 26 minute load it cost us $1.50 and the laundry powder was $1.25. The dryers cost 75c for 30 minutes and 25c for each extra 10 minutes.

Make sure you have plenty of quarters before you head on down there as the coin change machine wasn’t working when we were there. Wanda went to the reception area of the neighbouring hotel to get some change and this involved a long walk and conversations with various staff with limited English. However, she finally got change from a machine in the sportsroom. 

We actually went and bought a bottle of liquid washing soap at the shop across the road from the hotel which was much  cheaper than buying from the soap dispenser at the laundromat.

Getting to the laundromat was a bit of an act, we had to go out the back of the Holiday Inn and walk through the car park until we came to a retaining wall which we had to jump down from.  Someone had thoughtfully placed some rocks to make this easier, however Wanda still had a struggle to get up and down the retaining wall because she is so short.  We then walked through a short pathway to get to the second building on the right, behind the hotel.  There is no signage to tell you how to get to the laundry or even that you have arrived until you get right up to the laundry door. So as silly as this might sound - you don’t know you are there until you arrive.

 Our Rating of the Holiday Inn & Suites - Tusayan:

Checking in and out 5/5
Room 4/5
Position 4/5
Price 5/5
Cleanliness 4.5/5

We booked this hotel through the Holiday Inn website