TPA-MIA/FLL/TPA
May 1, 1999, 6:27 pm
#1
Original Member
Original Poster
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Detroit, MI
Posts: 2,581
TPA-MIA/FLL/TPA
Draw short straw and have to drive a vanfull of promotion material to a convention in Miami. About 4.5 hours down on the 24th--don't see too much fire damage on Alligator Alley. Returned the Hertz rental van to MIA 45 minutes into the 1 hour grace period!!! and kudos to Hertz, even though I didn't elect to buy the tank of gas, and didn't have time to fill up, they charged me for the tank of gas at the reasonable rate ($30) rather than a per-mile charge or the ridiculous $3.00/gallon charge.
Switch to a National compact (Cavalier, 1 week, $125 total including all taxes!)
Stay at the Intercontinental Miami--definitely a more cosmopolitan environment than other chains. $205/night convention rate isn't very good, although the hotel is full. Pay the $100 for the 6cc membership--if I had any chutzpah I would have asked for it to be comped, as we spent about $25k on the meeting. Excellent food at the restaurant. Comfortable beds except where the mattress is frayed and bent on the side--seems like every time I get out of the bed I get dug into by the wires.
Upgrade the last 2 days ($50/night)to the "Club Intercontinental" primarily to use the clubroom for a business meeting. Nice conference setup with an oblong table/8 chairs, which was perfect for what we wanted.
Irritating that the clubroom pulled away the free nibbles at appx 730 pm, with nothing to replace them with (no cookies, cakes, etc) to go to bed with.
Also irritating was the $1/call charge for anytime you picked up the telephone to call outside. This was a telecom conference discussing international cellular roaming, so it really added to the impetus to make it work~!
Return of rental car at National at FLL was a breeze)
Ended up flying back on a jammed DL 757 (FLL/TPA/LAX/SFO is the routing). No cabin service at all (in contrast with WN), and, as usual, luggage is waiting for you at TPA. I love this airport!!! Even the day before Thanksgiving it has a hushed quality that makes it easy to fly into.
I am glad to be home
Switch to a National compact (Cavalier, 1 week, $125 total including all taxes!)
Stay at the Intercontinental Miami--definitely a more cosmopolitan environment than other chains. $205/night convention rate isn't very good, although the hotel is full. Pay the $100 for the 6cc membership--if I had any chutzpah I would have asked for it to be comped, as we spent about $25k on the meeting. Excellent food at the restaurant. Comfortable beds except where the mattress is frayed and bent on the side--seems like every time I get out of the bed I get dug into by the wires.
Upgrade the last 2 days ($50/night)to the "Club Intercontinental" primarily to use the clubroom for a business meeting. Nice conference setup with an oblong table/8 chairs, which was perfect for what we wanted.
Irritating that the clubroom pulled away the free nibbles at appx 730 pm, with nothing to replace them with (no cookies, cakes, etc) to go to bed with.
Also irritating was the $1/call charge for anytime you picked up the telephone to call outside. This was a telecom conference discussing international cellular roaming, so it really added to the impetus to make it work~!
Return of rental car at National at FLL was a breeze)
Ended up flying back on a jammed DL 757 (FLL/TPA/LAX/SFO is the routing). No cabin service at all (in contrast with WN), and, as usual, luggage is waiting for you at TPA. I love this airport!!! Even the day before Thanksgiving it has a hushed quality that makes it easy to fly into.
I am glad to be home
