Hello and happy Sunday!
I’m writing to you today from Banff in Alberta, Canada. It’s my first time in this part of the country, and to me, it’s as if you took Texas’ wide landscapes, Switzerland’s mountainside lakes and the Pacific Northwest’s dreary charm and smushed them all together. A bit confusing, sure! But appealing? A resounding yes.
Stay tuned for a future story on our website, because I have many, many (positive) thoughts about this particular corner of the world.
Anyway! Let’s get into what we were talking about last week over at TPG HQ.
Dulles International Airport (IAD) in Washington, D.C., is getting a makeover thanks to a 22.5-billion-dollar plan.
Last time I was at Dulles (flying United, as you’d expect with how many gates the airline has there), I remember being surprisingly bummed out by the state of my gate’s area.
Not only did it take what felt like miles to walk to get to Concourse C-D, but it was also somehow both fluorescently-lit and dark at the same time, and the ceilings felt way too low. Claustrophobic, even. It was giving regional flights, not international.
Suffice to say, I’m thrilled for Dulles because I do think it needs a major face-lift. You go, Dulles!
My question, of course: Where the heck is this money coming from? According to United’s press release, it’s a joint venture between The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, United Airlines and the U.S. Department of Transportation. You can read all about the plans here.
Another thing my colleagues and I talked A LOT about this week: Clint Henderson’s recent trip to Honolulu, where he had two nights booked in an airplane-themed pod hotel. I won’t spoil it because you really should read his story yourself, but let’s just say his trip had both hits and misses, and he may or may not have spent the second night there ... elsewhere.
Clint on his second night: “Throughout the night, the noise of people coming and going, as well as some guests treating the shared spaces like their own home, was very off-putting. A nearby door opened and shut multiple times, and I saw one neighbor strip down to his underwear before climbing into his pod.” Yikes!
For what it’s worth, I’m not fully anti-pod hotel, despite Clint’s experience. I dug up an old story from the TPG archives, and some of them look really nice! (Though not all in that story are true pod hotels, I’ll admit it.) I do wonder if I’ve just aged out of that type of travel, or if I’m simply bougier than I used to be. Pod hotels may be for somebody, but I don’t think they’re for me!
Finally, I’ll leave you with something to ponder. If you had all the airline miles in the world at your disposal for a first-class flight, which airline experience would you choose?
Eric Rosen, another one of my fantastic colleagues, put together a list of five fancy award flights he wants to book — and how he’d book them using miles.
Eric is seemingly always on some sort of fabulous adventure (allegedly, he resides in L.A., but I don’t know if I believe it since he appears to be elsewhere pretty much always). Therefore, I trust his taste in first-class, and frankly, you should too! He absolutely knows what he’s talking about.
Out of all the first class seats I’d pick on Eric’s list, it would have to be Air France’s La Première.
It did win a TPG Award last year. Unfortunately, it’s not super easy to book with miles, but a girl can and will dream.
Until next week, this has been The Point of It All. Stay cool and stay hydrated!
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