Mmmmm! BAcon! – Off to Denver and Beyond with Aer Lingus and British Airways
Staybridge Suites Denver Tech Center
Index:
- A Conference… why not?
- Early morning New New Street, Aer Lingus EI263 London to Dublin
- A Dublin transit, DAA Lounge
- BA827 Dublin to London Heathrow
- The Hell of A Heathrow Transit, BA F Lounge
- BA219 – London Heathrow to Denver
- Staybridge Suites, Denver Tech Center and a road trip – THIS SECTION
- The Cheyenne Mountain Resort, Colorado Springs
- A road trip back to Denver, Crowne Plaza Downtown Denver
- Photographic Interlude: Downtown Denver
- Denver Airport, American Airlines AAdmirals Club
- BA218 Denver to Heathrow
- Heading Homeward
- Interesting times
After disembarking the plane it was a case of follow the signs to US Immigration. The route took me over the famed Skybridge connecting the Concourse A and the Jeppesen Terminal.
Immigration after that was divided as usual with 4 agents manning the US Side, 4 manning the international side.
As you can guess, when a 777 full of people turns up – it gets swamped quickly. OF course who should turn up in immigration than.. you’ve guessed it – the flight attendant who was chatting to me. So much so, we went through immigration at the same time (I was cleared on a Visa Waiver for a conference – and accepted), so much so we ended up in the baggage hall together.
Eventually my bag arrived, and I thanked the crew one last time and high tailed it to customs, where my form was examined, and I was welcomed to the United States of America.
After I cleared immigration, I had to deal with a pressing problem – power socket converters. For some of us, socket converters are a matter of importance to convert UK plugs into other useful plugs around the world.
A bit of digging on the flight, I found I had no UK to US socket converters. Now, I had thought in my wisdom that I had packed a camera battery charger that had a standard 2 pin clover leaf cable. This could charge the laptop and in turn everything else.
… and unsurprisingly, it wasn’t in my bag – rather it was in my other bag sitting in the flat.
And thus, the hunt for a converter had begun, with a hike back and forth across the Jeppesen Terminal – with a bright light of hope found called Hudson News came into view. That was the good news – the bad news was I got royally ripped off $26 for a World Socket converter (that could convert anything into… well anything). It’s a bit heavy in comparison to the normal plug converters – but at this point – I took it so I could charge the phone over the next few days.
A bit of fiddling, and I had finally got everything plugged up and ready to go. Thankfully, my phone had a bit of charge in it, which let me know that Rapid Travel Chai – had arrived at the terminal and was waiting at the coffee shop.
After meeting up with Rapid Travel Chai who kindly offered me a lift to Colorado Springs, it was time for the off, heading to a rental car lot and then onto Denver Tech Center in the darkness of a Colorado night. We chatted a bit, but in truth – all of us in the car were shattered after our inbound flights.
Rapid Travel Chai kindly dropped me off at my hotels for night, and I headed in – and at this point – rather bleary eyed.
Staybridge Suites, Denver Tech Center.
Price paid $92.99++
Qualifying Points: 465, Earned Points 4,697.
(You’ve got to LOVE those stacking promos when it comes to ICHG properties…)
I wandered into the property and was welcomed. After completing all the initial check-in paperwork, I was given a welcome amenity, my keycards, and directions to the room.
Welcome amenity.
Hallway
I opened the room, to find a very big space, complete with a full kitchen, lounge and bed area.
Work area
Kitchen
Living area
TV
Bed
Well, considering this is just for a night, this isn’t bad at all to say the least.
After a minor hunt for plugs (am I the only person in the world who doesn’t use their laptop on the table provided), the adaptor I got kicked into life – along with my laptop which greatly appreciated the charge by this point (as well as the phones…).
After a quick update with the world using the free Wifi in the hotel, I headed towards the bed, turned on Cartoon Network and fell asleep. I was exhausted
The bed itself was actually rather comfortable, and had something I haven’t seen too often – a thin sort of duvet/comforter. Wow. That’s a first in my travels.
7 hours later, I was wide-awake. Westbound jetlag had kicked in. Grrr.
I took the time to dump the images from the camera to the laptop, whilst looking out of the window. Not a bad view I’d say….
And this was the perfect time to use the bathroom. It was a reasonable size will all the usual needs, however the extractor fan was a touch noisy to say the least.
Actually, a lot better than the Holiday Inn amenities
Bathroom
Eventually hunger got to me, and I decided to investigate the breakfast service they had at the hotel. Like most of the “lower cost” hotels (Holiday Inn Express, Hyatt House), breakfast is included… which for me as not a bad idea as it reduces the cost, whilst adding value.
The spread consisted of cereals, cold things and hot food – including omelettes, what the Americas call bacon* and sausages.
All good things in my book.
* The discussion of what the USA calls Bacon and what I call Bacon is another subject for another day… and trust me… it’s a LONG argument…
After filling up for the morning, it was time to head back to the room and watch Pokémon. Oh and pack too.
Normally, I’m a sucker for the news networks when I’m aboard, but this trip (more than any other), I’ve been drawn to Cartoon Network. Don’t ask me to explain it. All I know is I now have to catch them all…
As 10:00 I began packing up everything for the journey up to Colorado Springs. I checked out with no additional charges to the account and used the WiFi until Rapid Travel Chai. With that – it was onwards and downwards to Colorado Springs
Overall: Not a bad little property. Whilst geared to the longer-term visitor – it does work for the short term visitor too. Compared to the cost of some hotels nearby, this hotel worked for me both in terms of cost and points earned – which is never a bad thing.
Next: Some BAcon!
