ORD to Anywhere

If you take a quick look back at all the hotel reviews I’ve done, you’ll notice that I seem to have a bit of sweet spot for Best Western. It’s a bit odd in some respects I suppose. Most people who take the time to provide hotel reviews tend to focus on higher end properties – the Four Seasons, Park Hyatts, Aman resorts, etc. I’m not exactly a man of means though, so while I treat myself to the occasional luxury property, the Best Western is more often where I end up stayin

When I made the decision to spend time in Okinawa, I didn’t realize how interesting of a decision selecting a hotel would end up being. Despite Japan’s reputation for having one of the world’s most comprehensive public transportation systems, Naha and its surrounding area doesn’t exactly fit into that mold. With a single monorail line and a network of public buses covering the rest of the island, Okinawa might be one of the few locations in Japan where it makes sense to ren

Southeast Asia is notorious on the travel circuit as a location where it’s likely your money will go quite far. For a little over $100 USD a night you can often secure a very comfortable room at a five star hotel from well-known global hotel brands that would cost you five times as much in other parts of the globe. When I found myself spending a few days in Siem Reap, Cambodia with the goal of exploring the vast ruins of the Angkor Archeological Park, I quickly hit the inte

***At the time of my stay, this hotel was branded as a Best Western Property. It has since moved into the Joie de Vivre family as the Coconut Waikiki Hotel.*** Back in May, I took advantage of some relatively low-priced tickets on American Airlines from Chicago to Honolulu over the Memorial Day weekend. The low price required me to take a rather circuitous routing, which might have put some people off this itinerary. I, on the other hand, took this as an opportunity to enj