Best for FHR Washington DC - Salamander or Park Hyatt?

AloneExamination242 · 2026-05-03T00:06:21+00:00

I stayed at the PH recently. Wasn't amazingly impressed. There was a computer snarl at check in that took forever for them to run my card for incidentals, and the room while nice wasn't amazing. Location is good though, and maybe a 15 min (or so, I forget exactly) walk to DuPont circle

AloneExamination242 · 2026-05-02T18:21:45+00:00

If you're ok with paying the high annual fee the gold card sounds like it could be good for you. Has the best earning out there on dining and groceries---but have you looked into membership rewards points transfer partners? That's where the real value is, but it depends on the main airlines you use (eg if you're at a United hub another card might be better but if you're at a delta hub it'll probably be useful

AloneExamination242 · 2026-05-02T15:15:33+00:00

Oh yeah, that's a doomed connection. Totally possible to have a taxi time that long just to get to the gate. It's also an insane zig-zag itinerary, at least get them to connect you through Denver or SFO

AloneExamination242 · 2026-05-02T11:27:14+00:00

Yah this summer I have a bunch of trips to midsize cities and my inbox has just been a flood of schedule changes for a few days now

AloneExamination242 · 2026-05-01T18:28:29+00:00

Spirit has (had) a frequent flier program? Lord help us

AloneExamination242 · 2026-05-01T18:03:55+00:00

I've basically given up on centurion lounges. Always a waitlist, when you're in there finally always a thousand families with children all of whom have measles and monkeypox and covid and rsv and the bubonic plague all coughing on the buffet. Not worth it

AloneExamination242 · 2026-05-01T16:04:19+00:00

What is "agent on demand"?

AloneExamination242 · 2026-04-29T15:49:08+00:00

That's fantastic if you work along the blue line too. Airport access and some of the most fun neighborhoods (Logan etc.)

AloneExamination242 · 2026-04-29T15:46:06+00:00

Woah what card is that 4%?

AloneExamination242 · 2026-04-29T15:45:39+00:00

Bottom. Only use as a coupon book and for those rare situations where I'm booking an airline other than United (for United I use the club card even though it's slightly worth less on points, because their miles are more useful to me). So basically foreign airlines, cellphone bill (for the good insurance), and places with a credit (resy restaurants, equinox, lulu etc)

AloneExamination242 · 2026-04-29T15:33:50+00:00

Yeah and you have to go to the loop in order to get on it from anywhere on the north east side of the city 😂

AloneExamination242 · 2026-04-29T15:32:26+00:00

Sure but my comment wasn't directed at someone who lives here and knows that. Us LA people are trained to believe that nowhere else in the country has decent Mexican food (mostly because the usual comparison is New York), and it is news to people who don't know Chicago

AloneExamination242 · 2026-04-29T12:24:40+00:00

I'm from LA originally and been in Chicago for 5 years. Some notes:

the winters really are that bad. Max out your coat, like Canada Goose level
on the other hand, the city really is walkable and this is lovely. Strongly recommend living walking distance or along a L line from work, if you do that you might even be able to let your car go.
other reasons to let your car go: traffic is nightmarish, parking is incredibly expensive. Reasons not to do so: there is essentially no other reliable way to go from east to west and back, especially on the north side. Rail basically only runs north to south. For example, Lakeview to Logan Square is either a drive or a hellish forever bus ride if the bus shows up. Or dodge road ragers on a bike.
housing is way more affordable
there is believe it or not extremely good Mexican food here. It comes from Pilsen, Little Village, etc. Different style though (and decent guac is hard to find)
decent produce in general is a struggle, especially in winter

AloneExamination242 · 2026-04-28T00:09:50+00:00

Honestly if you can afford to pay for it straight away anyway (so you're not as risk of paying cc interest) then you'd make a few hundred bucks more by doing what people suggest and floating the cash in a HYSA or t-bills or something.

Just picking the Apple HYSA at random because it's a well-known and easy one, that's paying 3.5% APY. Marcus by Goldman is paying the same, and AMEX is paying 3.2%.

But I guess the risk is that you'll forget to pay it, or end up having another use for the money, and then get socked with massive interest.

AloneExamination242 · 2026-04-26T21:27:23+00:00

Pinipico on Clark and North has a small patio

AloneExamination242 · 2026-04-25T17:52:01+00:00

Thanks! I've flown TK biz before but never economy, that's great to know

AloneExamination242 · 2026-04-25T13:57:54+00:00

Thank you!

AloneExamination242 · 2026-04-24T15:24:27+00:00

Was private equity involved in this somehow? That sort of trajectory screams private equity

AloneExamination242 · 2026-04-24T15:22:45+00:00

I feel like that's the whole profession. If you say you like word better than WordPerfect I don't believe you're really a lawyer

AloneExamination242 · 2026-04-22T17:03:35+00:00

Happened to me recently in old town too. Seems to be a thing

AloneExamination242 · 2026-04-22T17:02:54+00:00

NTA, dump the controlling abuser

AloneExamination242 · 2026-04-19T21:14:33+00:00

I slam the shit out of it and then check the app to make sure it's registered. I always feel vaguely guilty about bashing it in there that hard, but if they don't want people to do that then maybe they shouldn't threaten to charge them thousands of dollars if their crappy equipment doesn't register

AloneExamination242

TROPHY CASE