This seems to be the year of the weddings, at least for Lana's side of the family. This time the wedding was in Seattle.
First, travel arrangements.... This time I tried to use Priceline.com. Unfortunately, I picked a wrong trip for it. There were 2 issues with this trip: one, is that since I started new job this year and we have another long trip planned (see future blogs :) I did not want to use my vacation days. Lana, on the other hand, never been in Seattle and wanted to spend few days there after the wedding. That meant that I was coming home couple days earlier. Also, Lana's parents were coming home early as well. So, as far as travel arrangements go, I needed 2 sets of air, hotels and car rentals (we had 6 people so figured van was not going to be enough).
I don't understand why would anybody with luggage fly on any airline other than Southwest. They had cheapest flights, and no luggage fees. Boeing 737 (the only airplane used by Southwest) is just as good as any other plane. So, I booked 6 roundtrip tickets on SW: 2 for my parents in law, one for myself and 3 for Lana and kids. At the time, I did not notice that I have different confirmation number for Lana and kids. It got very frustrating at the time of check-in. At least I realized that I only checked in myself. I had to scramble to find out Lana's reservation and wrote a letter to Southwest before I realized why we had different numbers. :) They probably had a good laugh at my expense. I learned my lesson!
I found a relatively cheap parking at Midway. It's by the CTA, and it's only $11 per day. I found internet special for $9! It's walking distance from the airport terminal, so no need for the shuttle.
Priceline gave me the best deal on the first car rental: full size car was about $20 per day. But when I tried to book another one, the price went up to $30! I have a feeling that they track the computer that was used to make reservations and if it's used again, they jack up the price. Not nice, but even $30 per day was still a good price. I am sure all of the online companies do that, so keep that in mind when making your travel arrangements.
The interesting thing happened when we were picking up the car: there was a line of people, only 2 clerks, but there were kiosks. We ended up using kiosks. It was like telecommuting: there was a live person on the screen. She could see us and we can see her. Scanner was used to get a copy of driver license and credit card. Everything worked and I think it was a little faster, at least we bypassed the line.
Lana was afraid that her phone's gps would not work, so we asked for gps for her car. One would expect a contemporary gps with touchscreen in the car, What Hertz put in, was a joke. No touchscreen and small screen. To input address, some 10 years old technology was used (selecting each letter on the keyboard, one at a time). We ended up using our phones for directions.
Not much to say about the hotel: University Inn. It was nice, clean, with free internet, The only issue was to find it for the first time. Once it was found, there were no issues. Location was perfect: at the most 20-30 mins from everywhere: wedding, downtown, etc.
Wedding was fun. It was a little different from all the wedding that I ever have been at. It was very well organized. First, ceremony was short and sweet (conservative style). Then, when people got into reception area, there were little traditional dancing, with newlyweds first on people shoulders and then chairs. Then there was a "schtick", which is bunch of people doing little silly skits for about an hour for newlyweds pleasure. That was the first time I've seen it done at the wedding. Then there were speeches, prepared and improv, which were excellent. The venue was a conservative synagogue. So, food had to be kosher and was Indian style. There were plenty of food and drinks (alcohol and non-alcohol). After the food, there were dancing. And it was done: Sergey and Tamar are husband and wife! Congratulations to Sergey and Tamar!
I've taken some pictures: https://www.flickr.com/photos/123780721@N05/sets/72157646036233509/
Let me know if you can't access them.
Next trip is Italy! Stand by for more posts
First, travel arrangements.... This time I tried to use Priceline.com. Unfortunately, I picked a wrong trip for it. There were 2 issues with this trip: one, is that since I started new job this year and we have another long trip planned (see future blogs :) I did not want to use my vacation days. Lana, on the other hand, never been in Seattle and wanted to spend few days there after the wedding. That meant that I was coming home couple days earlier. Also, Lana's parents were coming home early as well. So, as far as travel arrangements go, I needed 2 sets of air, hotels and car rentals (we had 6 people so figured van was not going to be enough).
I don't understand why would anybody with luggage fly on any airline other than Southwest. They had cheapest flights, and no luggage fees. Boeing 737 (the only airplane used by Southwest) is just as good as any other plane. So, I booked 6 roundtrip tickets on SW: 2 for my parents in law, one for myself and 3 for Lana and kids. At the time, I did not notice that I have different confirmation number for Lana and kids. It got very frustrating at the time of check-in. At least I realized that I only checked in myself. I had to scramble to find out Lana's reservation and wrote a letter to Southwest before I realized why we had different numbers. :) They probably had a good laugh at my expense. I learned my lesson!
I found a relatively cheap parking at Midway. It's by the CTA, and it's only $11 per day. I found internet special for $9! It's walking distance from the airport terminal, so no need for the shuttle.
Priceline gave me the best deal on the first car rental: full size car was about $20 per day. But when I tried to book another one, the price went up to $30! I have a feeling that they track the computer that was used to make reservations and if it's used again, they jack up the price. Not nice, but even $30 per day was still a good price. I am sure all of the online companies do that, so keep that in mind when making your travel arrangements.
The interesting thing happened when we were picking up the car: there was a line of people, only 2 clerks, but there were kiosks. We ended up using kiosks. It was like telecommuting: there was a live person on the screen. She could see us and we can see her. Scanner was used to get a copy of driver license and credit card. Everything worked and I think it was a little faster, at least we bypassed the line.
Lana was afraid that her phone's gps would not work, so we asked for gps for her car. One would expect a contemporary gps with touchscreen in the car, What Hertz put in, was a joke. No touchscreen and small screen. To input address, some 10 years old technology was used (selecting each letter on the keyboard, one at a time). We ended up using our phones for directions.
Not much to say about the hotel: University Inn. It was nice, clean, with free internet, The only issue was to find it for the first time. Once it was found, there were no issues. Location was perfect: at the most 20-30 mins from everywhere: wedding, downtown, etc.
Wedding was fun. It was a little different from all the wedding that I ever have been at. It was very well organized. First, ceremony was short and sweet (conservative style). Then, when people got into reception area, there were little traditional dancing, with newlyweds first on people shoulders and then chairs. Then there was a "schtick", which is bunch of people doing little silly skits for about an hour for newlyweds pleasure. That was the first time I've seen it done at the wedding. Then there were speeches, prepared and improv, which were excellent. The venue was a conservative synagogue. So, food had to be kosher and was Indian style. There were plenty of food and drinks (alcohol and non-alcohol). After the food, there were dancing. And it was done: Sergey and Tamar are husband and wife! Congratulations to Sergey and Tamar!
I've taken some pictures: https://www.flickr.com/photos/123780721@N05/sets/72157646036233509/
Let me know if you can't access them.
Next trip is Italy! Stand by for more posts
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