My Week Vacation On Points (LGA-MIA-PHL, JFK-LAX-JFK)

[TimT]

Great TR so far

[JayR]

Tuesday (cont.):

We arrived at LAX around 11:30 pm. Outside, it was surprisingly chilly, which we weren't expecting. We took a shuttle to Hertz along with many bochurim that came to LA to collect on Purim. Even with being a gold member, the best they had was 2015 Camry. In red. What a bummer . We decided that we will figure out the rental the next day. Now, time to eat. Bring it was already past 12, I wasn't sure if Jeff's was still open, so we headed to Shnitzly. The food definitely worsened from 2 years ago, the last time I was in LA. Got a shnitzel sandwich and a burger. Bread was soggy, chicken and burger were decent. I did see all the locals eating salads, so maybe we missed something??? After finishing up, we headed to the SLS Beverly Hills, which I got for 10k + $180. A little splurging . The issue was that the hotel wasn't just a 5 star, rather it was too opulent. Way too overdone. Gorgeous pool btw. Got a standard room as they were at max occupancy . Still nice. Between the flight delay and time difference, we went straight to sleep.


Wednesday/Thursday:

Next morning was Taanis Esther so no breakfast . First, we needed to change our rental. Compared to the AMGs and Aston Martins pulling up to the hotel, our Camry stuck out like a sore thumb. First 2 Hertz rental that we went to had nothing better. Next up was the Hertz in the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza. This was our last attempt before we had to get ready for Purim. The manager said the best he could offer us was a Mazda. No thanks. Then he said that he also has a 2014 Mustang Convertible. Bingo. For $15 extra per day. Adding to our reservation, the total was $215 for 5 days. Not the best but we'll take it . Now, to get costumes. The nearest Goodwill wasn't so accommodating , so we decided to upgrade. Going to the costume store on Sunset Blvd was absolutely crazy. By far, it had the largest selection I've ever seen. It even had its own wig department. We found exactly what we're looking for. Now, it's around 3 pm so time for a swim at the SLS. So much more fun when we pulled up in a convertible .

We got 4 pm late checkout, but because of LA traffic by the time we got back we had to checkout before the swim. But to get to the 6th floor (pool), we needed a working room key. So, we go in and I check us out. But I forgot something in the room so can we get a new card? Sure, no problem. We ran up, packed up and then loaded the car. Now, fully relaxed, we could swim and see the sunset from the pool. Definitely worth it. Purim in LA was a great experience. But the weather is what what really made it amazing. We stayed over Purim in the La Brea area.
SLS Beverly Hills:





Sitting Area (Found the 2nd picture online)





Standard Hotel Room



Sunset over the pool on the 6th floor

[JayR]

More pictures from Wednesday:


2014 Mustang Convertible



Chinese Theater



Outside the Hard Rock Cafe



Very cool ceiling in costume store (manager gave us 15% off for Purim )



Urban Light



Street lined with palm trees

[sruly101]

Wow Nice!! keep it coming

[JayR]

Friday:

We started off with breakfast at Elite bagel. It's a bakery with breakfast . Still, the eggs and fries were decent while the bagels weren't good. Afterwards, we headed west to Sant Monica. The weather was great and we had a lot of fun walking along the pier. It's interesting to note that the water in LA was still very cold, even with 80 degree weather, unlike MIA.

On motzei Shabbos, we tried the pizza place near Jeff's. Decent. We then drove out to Santa Monica and checked into our next hotel, the Le Meridian Delfina Santa Monica for 12k SPG. Don't know why it's called a 5 or even a 4 star . The rooms and lobby are nice but that's about it. After unpacking, we went to Westwood to Habibi Cafe for a good hookah chill. A definite must in LA. First of all, when you have a lineup of two rolls Royce, and a couple of ferraris and Aston martins in front of the place, it does mean something . Add to that that the owner (in a full white suit) is on premises welcoming each customer like something out of the Godfather or Scarface. So we walk up and the place is full of Arabs. A little scary. Then one of the waiters mistakes me for someone else, and gets me a front table outside by the Rolls Royce and immediately I'm served. Maybe a sly sales ploy, but it worked because I instantly loved the place . We had a glass hookah that was pretty overpriced ($30) but really good. After that, we went back to the hotel to sleep.

Santa Monica:














Le Meridian Standard Room



Le Meridian Bathroom



Pool closed during our stay



Glass Hookah

[Einstein]

Wow Nice TR!

[JayR]

Wow Nice TR!

Just finishing up the last day...

[JayR]

Sunday:

Sunday morning, we checked out early and headed to try the other breakfast place in LA, La Brie Bagels. This was actually a bagel store, but bagels were still not decent thought the eggs were quite good. Next up was Venice beach. The boardwalk was very cool and we had a fun time watching people by the skateboard park. For some reason LAPD helicopters flew over the beach quite a couple of times . After Venice, we drove back to LA, to try out Jeff's. Got BBQ sandwhich with pastrami which was amazing. Their famous Mergez sausage wasn't as good. After a great meal, we drove to LAX and dropped off our rental. Then, we headed to our flight which was delayed for no apparent reason . Then, we were told that our flight has moved to a different gate . Then, we found out that Delta overbooked our plane and was offering passengers to take a different flight, plus hotel night stay and $600 voucher. Not bad. But, we needed to get back home so no go. We finally boarded and headed back to NY on our redeye flight.
I had a great time this week. Thank you Dan for expanding the knowledge and usefulness of "points" through your website and this forum.
JayR

Venice Beach:











Not something you see everyday



LAPD flying over Venice Beach



Beach Drummers



It's that easy



Sunset in LA



Sunset in LA (filtered)

[12HRS]

Headed to the pool and enjoyed seeing the planes taking off from the airport and guessing what they were (I'm sure AJK could have helped me out with that ).

You can also ask Siri "what planes are flying over me right now"

[yoruel]

Nice TR

[Einstein]

wow you have some nice friends!! they came from NY to PHL all the way to pick you up!

[JayR]

wow you have some nice friends!! they came from NY to PHL all the way to pick you up!

Who said they? And who said that he lives in NY?

[sruly]

Tuesday:
Once again, we had to wait for the plane to be de-iced before taking off an hour late . We finally took off around 8 pm to LA.

Lucky you.

My 6:45pm flight from JFK only took off about 10:30pm.

[Einstein]

Who said they? And who said that he lives in NY?

its true I stand corrected I guess I was just guessing

[samtam]

How do you book aa flight with ba?

[Yaalili]

How do you book aa flight with ba?

With BA.com.

[Marco Polo]

How do you book aa flight with ba?

With BA.com.

And if you don't see it, PUTPAC.

[sam28]

Nice tr .

[questionguy]

hey changing the topic here a bit i booked a fligt to miami on frontier airlines and when i went to buy a checked bag and select a seat the total came out to 0 dollars is this a glitch and once its done do they have to honor it? (i even got a confirmation email about the bags)
thanks

[AJK]

Nice TR! Thanks for sharing.