Nadines Travel Blog

I chose this cute little hotel because of the good reviews in the heart of Aquas Calientes town and a short 5-minute walk to the train station.  It is a fabulous location right in the middle of shops and restaurants.  The couple that ran the hotel were very proud and you could tell. Each morning Juan the husband made us a lovely complimentary breakfast which was tasty and filling. We spent two nights here and enjoyed our time.  The bed was comfortable we each had our own. South America usually does that if you have 3 adults you get 3 beds. The shower was heaven, one of the better ones I have experienced. We were on the third floor and had access to a window which we had open every night for fresh mountain air. My only complaint about the place was that the third-floor banister needed to be extended 2 feet to cover the gaping opening in the floor. That would not pass safety standards in Canada. It was a good stay and I completely forgot to take photos of the room because w...

The Irish Workhouse Center Museum is well worth the visit.  There is a 70-minute tour included in the price along with an art exhibit and a museum with many past pieces of the Workhouse.  We were very lucky because the guide was well-versed in Workhouse history and the Workhouses in all of Ireland.   There were over 160 workhouses built by the government in Ireland.  They are a tragic and horrible part of Irish history.  In Canada, we have our own tragic and horrible history in the Indian residential schools that were throughout Canada.  I hope eventually that the remaining Indian residential schools in Canada that are still standing be made into museums like the Irish have done and like the concentration camps in Europe have been made into Museums such as Dacchau and Auschwitz.  Many of the things spoken during this Workhouse tour were very reminiscent of the Indian residential schools of Canada and the Nazi concentration camps of Europe.  ...

 I booked this timeshare for one reason and this was to hike the Scottish Highlands.  I had never seen this timeshare come up on Interval before, so I grabbed it even though it was only a studio.  In North America, the studio is pretty standard with a bed, bathroom and sometimes a kitchenette but here in Scotland, we ended up with a full complete kitchen and no real bed which was strange.  We had our pick between a Murphy Bed or the Couch Hide-a-bed. The pros of this timeshare are that it has beautiful views of the loch from the sunroom.  We are on the second floor so we have great views also of the surrounding highland hills.  The con to this sunroom is that it leaks profusely.  There are 3 seats in the sunroom and the loveseat was not useable because it was soaking wet the whole week.  I am currently moping up all of the leaks from the useless roof in this sunroom.  The former maintenance guy works at the convenience store in Kinloch Rannoc...

This particular Sheraton is not up to Sheraton standards. Although the room was partially renovated it still needed a ton of work. The bathroom had a new shower and countertop etc but the wallpaper was already starting to peel in the bathroom. The hotel is as old as dirt.  The hallway carpeting is lifting all along the hallway.  It is one of those old-style hotels where every door opens up to the inside courtyard area and the hotel is 8 floors high so it ends up being extremely noisy in your room.  Everyone has windows that face into this courtyard area and the drapes are always getting caught in the door and don't necessarily cover the window properly.  The door itself was thin and let in a lot of noise. The painted railing is the old 1970s wrought iron in the hotel. We were in a one-bedroom suite and although that was nice to have because you have two different areas, one for sleeping and one for sitting in.  There was a big stain on the carpet in the middle o...

Casa Juarez is located in central La Paz Mexico.  It has been recognized on tripadvisor.ca with a high rating.  La Paz is a large city north of Cabo and this area gives you access to many ocean tours to swim with the whale sharks or seals etc.  Espiritu Island is a Unesco World Heritage site as well.  Unfortunately we missed all of this due to high winds and it was a bit chillier when we were there.  Oh well maybe next time. At Casa Juarez the rooms are rustic with exactly what you need and really nothing more.   There is a cute little pool for dipping and lounging inside the courtyard and the rooms whether on the first floor or balcony either have a patio or a balcony overlooking the pool. There is a common area which involves a sitting area and a kitchen bar where they serve the scrumptious breakfasts and coffee.  Silvana and her partner offer a great breakfast fair ,everything from fruit salad to danishes to delicious egg bacon wrapped egg tort...

 SpringHill Suites is like the No-frills airline Value Jet. The free breakfast was totally one of the worst I have ever encountered at a free breakfast hotel.   The scrambled eggs were so rubbery that they literally could have bounced back to Canada on their own. I was looking forward to the fresh make-your-own waffle but today it was strawberry waffles, which is a desecration of waffles. Needless to say I had to try it and it was as bad as I thought it would be.  The orange juice was so bitter that I had to mix some apple juice into it just to make it palatable.  The fruit salad had a ton of sugar in it and it was almost too sugary to eat. The American-style yogurt is even sweeter than the Canadian yogurt and I only could handle a mouthful.  However, the coffee was very good and had different vanilla and hazelnut cream sweeteners.   This hotel had Netflix that you could hook into which was a bonus but most Marriott-affiliated hotels have this now...