I’m learning a lot through trial and error what hotels are better on points.
For example, if you want to stay at a five-star Hilton hotel in London such as the Trafalgar, it might cost $900+ a night or 480,000 points. The Waldorf which is now under the Hilton umbrella may be $500 a night or 80,000 points.
In the Hyatt family, the Hyatt Regency London- The Churchhill is $450 a night or 25,000 points. That’s a category 6 hotel. And you can book a Hyatt Place for as little as 8,000 points. It’s rare to see any Hiltons for as low as 8,000 points.
I recently stayed in the Palacia Duhau – Park Hyatt in Buenos Aires. It was either $900 or 25,000 points and the fifth night free. So I saved $3600 using points and received an upgrade.
So if you are thinking what hotel brand to build status and open a credit card, Hyatt should be on your list.
Marriott runs around the same as Hilton. If you are gold with Hilton, breakfast is free for you and your guest. Gold status on Marriott doesn’t give you free breakfast. If you want free breakfast with Hyatt, you have to reach the highest tier- Globalist.
So for lowest points for rooms Hyatt is my choice although I have gold status in both Hilton and Marriott and stay at all three brands.
When you see that you are probably thinking religion but for me spirituality is much, much different. The religion part is the pomp, the tradition, the structure.
So when I say spirituality gives me direction I may be talking God, Allah, the Earth, Buddah or my spirituality which is the essence of all.
It is what teaches me kindness, love, support, nurture, dignity, respect. It is always good.
I’ve heard the saying religion is for people who are afraid of going to Hell. Spirituality is for people who have been there. It is easy to get confused between the two but spirituality is not about a particular religion. It’s the essence of spirit.
For most of my younger years, I went it alone with no spiritual direction, only my gut instincts. And not to say that listening to my gut is bad, it sure has helped me over the years, but having spiritual direction is better.
So where does this spiritual direction come from?
It comes from a power beyond my imagination. It is what creates the beauty in the universe. From sunrise to sunset the amazing landscapes of life.
This power resides in all of us. It is power of good. It is power of love. It is power of light.
What ever trimmings mainstream religions put on their beliefs, my spirituality encompasses all.
My spirituality has no bias. It all fits together as long as the direction is positive.
Mans’s inhumanity to man has nothing to do with spirituality nor does it have anything to do with religion. That course is taken by man’s mind alone.
I can feel spiritual vibes when I gently hold a baby in my arms.
It watching dolphins play in the water.
When I tap into this spiritual direction, I know my life is on the right path. And I’ve learned to trust this spirituality with my gut.
I wrote a post this morning that was less than 400 words. Chatting with another blogger about 500 words, I sort of committed to writing at least that many words.
So what do I write this afternoon? I’m packing for a month’s trip. First a 15-day cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Southhampton England. Then a train trip to Oxford to tour the university. We are also doing a Morse, Lewis, and Endeavor tour. If you don’t know what that is, it’s about murder most foul. It’s 3 British detective shows that take place in Oxford.
After Oxford, we spend a night in London before taking plane to Barcelona. Three nights in Barcelona and we already booked a tour of Sagrada Familia, a cathedral under construction for over a century.
Next, we hop on another ship and sail around the Greek Islands. We end up in Rome and travel home.
Airfare was booked with points. We are flying business class out of Rome on Swiss Air for 70,000 points each.
Our hotel rooms are booked on points staying at Hiltons and Marriotts.
Using points and miles cuts the cost of a trip by $7 to $8 thousand. I try to use them wisely and get the best bang for my buck.
Do you have a quote you live your life by or think of often?
Or at least I try! Life is a Journey, not a Destination. This fits in well with Stop to Smell the Roses.
Sometimes we live life so hard and fast, we miss the now. And life is in the now. As I grow older this is so much more true since life goes faster and faster as my years add up. Today I try to stay in the moment cherishing each bit of life and all that surrounds me.
Think before I speak. I have worked on this my entire life. When I was young whatever thought came in my head came out my mouth. Inevitably I would offend someone or hurt someone’s feelings. I’ve learned that I don’t have to say whatever I’m thinking. I can be kind and not offend.
Sometimes I do need to say something but I have learned to take time and be gentle with my words. I do have to say that sometimes no matter how gentle, it hurts. But at least I weighed my words carefully.
A quote I think of my own is I don’t want to die before I am dead. I live in sunny Florida but it can also be God’s waiting room. People give up on life before they die. Becoming sedentary and losing muscle mass because of lack of movement.
I hope that I continue to live life yo the fullest. Experiencing new adventures. Learning new things. Meeting interesting people. Staying flexible in my beliefs and tolerant of others. Not dead!
This too shall pass. Life is filled with ups and downs. When the downs come I remind myself that it will pass. When all is good, I remind myself that this will pass. We learn from our difficulties and hardships more often than from the good times. We learn how to persevere. We learn how to say roll with the punches. We also learn how to change.
Change is good. But most people don’t like this. Most people like consistency. Most people like safety. But change makes us stronger. And life is a constant evolution of change. We adapt. We grow stronger. We thrive.
What is your favorite holiday? Why is it your favorite?
I will start with Valentine’s Day! It’s the day I became engaged to my husband so it will always be special because of that. This year we went to a dance and my husband and I danced away the night.
St. Paddy’s Day. Although in not Irish, I grew up in New York and had many Irish friends. One year, we marched in the parade and then had a wild party at my loft. We kept a keg of beer on the fire escape to keep it cold. So fond memories.
Memorial Day was a day to get off from school and yes, more parades. Any holiday where I had time off from school was great.
July 4th. More parades but for many years I lived on a lake and we would have July 4th parties at our house. And fireworks around the lake to top off the holiday!
Labor Day not so much because it meant going back to school.
Halloween was always fun. When I was a kid we’d map out our route for trick or treating. It’s been a few years since I costumed up for this holiday.
Now I come to my favorite. At least it’s my favorite at this time of my life. Thanksgiving. My husband and I do the cooking and our daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter visit so she can have her mama’s home cooking.
I usually make about a 20 lb turkey. I make sausage and apple stuffing which I stuff in the bird. Creamed onions and creamed cauliflower along with green beans almondine are on the menu. I used to make the green bean casserole but it was too rich with all the other veggies and everyone preferred the green beans almondine.
And what’s Thanksgiving without mashed potatoes and gravy? And of course sweet potatoes. Another one I scaled back from a sweet potato casserole to baked sweet potatoes. I also serve freshly made cranberry sauce.
For dessert, I make a pumpkin and apple pie and sometimes a cheesecake. Before dinner we usually have cheese and crackers and sometimes shrimp.
I get up early to stuff the bird and get it started. We watch the Macy’s Day Parade and then the dog show while the turkey cooks.
I usually have a few guests including my sister and her husband. My sister always helped me cook. She died in October so this past Thanksgiving was the first one without her. She was greatly missed. I usually have a few more guests so we are a party of 10 or 12.
I love the leftovers and make pot pies and hot turkey sandwiches. Everyone usually gets s doggie bag as well.
And last but not least is Christmas. My husband and I used to chop a tree down and have a village under the tree. We would set up a train, skating rink, churches, shops and houses. We even had a ski lift. But as we aged, this task became too time consuming and so we bought an artificial tree, gave the village to one of our children and now have a simple Christmas.
We do go to church on Christmas Eve and that is always lovely with the singing and pageantry. And often we are invited to someone’s house for dinner.
I know I left many holidays out but these are the ones that I like most!
I think this topic triggered some funny and fond memories. As I mentioned. In my last post, I traveled around the US camping in national parks.
One night while camping in Yellowstone, our group of four sat around our campfire planning the next few days of our adventure.
Without warning we heard this noise almost like a baby wailing. It was coming from another campsite. We decided to investigate which was probably the wrong thing to do.
The sites were separated by groupings of trees. When we arrived at the site, we saw a metal cooler shredded and a pile of dung. At that moment a ranger arrived. He said it was a grizzly bear. Yikes I was so glad we didn’t run into the bear.
The person whose campsite it was came out of his tent wondering why we were all there. He looked at his cooler and cringed. He had slept through the entire incident.
I learned that day that even metal coolers are not to be left out. From then on we kept our food in the car. For backwoods camping, you tie it in a tree.
Back in 1976, I traveled around the US for two months camping in many National Parks. From Shenandoah to Mount Ranier, my two-man backpack tent was all I needed.
So skip to 50 years later, I have this great idea to go camping again. We bought a two-man tent and a blow-up air mattress because I realized at my age I just can’t sleep on the ground.
We decided to test it out in Myrtle Beach where our friends had a camper by the ocean. We set up our little tent right next to their beautiful camper.
As you get older, your bladder is no longer as kind as when you are young. The first night I woke at least three times and so did my husband. As we walked across the campground towards the restroom, I could see with a yearning heart a Marriott in the distance. But, oh well, I was going to give this a shot.
The second night was way more challenging. Before we settled into our little temporary abode, the news was reporting bad winds and rain. We helped our friends secure their outside furniture and take in their awning.
I was sound asleep when suddenly I was feeling drops of water hitting my face. At first, I squinted and pulled the covers over my head. But a booming thunder and a flash of lightning made me sit up.
My husband woke and we watched as our tent was going in and out, as though someone was breathing life into it. We decided we better get out of the tent and go to our car. As we looked outside the tent, a river of water ran around us. And, yes it was a raging river.
I saw my friend’s light on in the camper and she was motioning us to come inside. We gathered the most important things and headed to the camper.
I made it in fine. But my husband weighed down with all our valuables, fell backwards into the river of water.
He finally made it in to camper soaking wet. My friend put on the coffee and we stayed there through the storm.
It depends on what I’m doing. . When I was younger, my most creative and productive moments came between the hours of 1am and 3am. All was quiet and I could hear myself think. My mind was allowed to freeflow through insights, beliefs and truths.
When I worked as a writer, after lunch was my most unproductive time. Food made me sleepy and my wits dull. To avoid this I usually spent the time in the gym working out. The workouts stimulated me and my brain.
I think productivity can be measured also by how much you enjoy something. For instance, when I’m planning a trip, I’m very productive. I can work for hours researching places to stay and reading reviews.
But I hate housework. So I’m slow to start and find a million excuses to take breaks, and therefore it takes me much longer than someone else. That’s also called procrastination.
Lately, I’ve been looking forward to these little prompts. I write them during my morning coffee and read others as well.
One of the things I’ve learned in life is that whatever you decide to do, choose passion over pay. If you love what you do it will never be work!
Sometimes I love to play devil’s advocate when discussing a particular subject. Point counterpoint. If you like something I take the other viewpoint. It’s fun and engaging. It also expands the mind because we are not locked into our preconceived notions.
I don’t watch news that only supports my viewpoint. This way I’m well-versed in the topic.
With family we discuss history. Do you remember this or that? That happens with long time friends as well.
With everyone I discuss how we travel luxuriously on a budget. That’s always a subject with lots of questions for me.
Politics not so much unless it’s with people who don’t tear their hair out or attack when a viewpoint other than their own is expressed. I’m not crazy about radicalization on any side.
Spirituality and healing are great topics. That’s usually a calm insightful topic unless it heads in the direction of religion which is fraught with tension if the person is too rigid in his thinking.
But above all discussing anything is great fun if it’s filled with humor and compassion.
thefouramigosblog 