Distance from BWI Airport: 12 miles (27 minutes with traffic) ($20 Uber ride each way)
Length of stay: 8 Nights
Average nightly rate: $289 Avg/Night.
Chance of upgrade: Fairly easy
Highly Recommended
Ive been to Baltimore a few times but my stays have always been outside of the downtown area. Most people seem to get a bad impression of Baltimore because of the crime and the recent riots that happened. I arrived at the hotel and was pleasantly surprised, considering this was going to be a weeklong stay I was hoping to be at least in a comfortable area. The hotel is located right on the Patapsco river with an amazing view of the whole city. I was ignorant to the history this beautiful city has, there are countless attractions surrounding the hotel. The hotel has a Water Taxi station that provides transportation to all the main attractions. The pass to the water taxi is $15 for the whole day and takes you to 17 different stops. For some one on a budget its a great option to sightsee the whole city.
(View of the hotel from the Bay)
(View from my room on the 21st floor)
I haven't spoken on the main blog yet about hotel rewards programs but I highly suggest that if you have a stay at a major hotel chain that you join before arrival. This can make you highly eligible compared to other guests to get an upgrade. When I arrived it was 11am and check in wasn't until 4pm, I always call the hotel ahead of time and provide them with my rewards number so they have it on file. This means that when they pull my name up at check in they can see my loyalty to their chain. I handed her my Id and credit card and asked if there where any rooms available, she immediately said "its July 5th and we where sold out last night but let me see what I can do". While she was looking I kindly asked "if you have anything on a high floor over looking the bay that would be great". She nodded at me and kept typing. About a minute later she picked up a set of keys and started magnetizing them, "she said I found you a water/city view room on the 21st floor, thank you for your loyalty". The most important thing to realize is that it never hurts to ask, the worse thing they can say is no. It would have probably cost $100 a night more to guarantee a water view room, especially on a high floor.
One of the coolest things about the location of this hotel was the one block distance from Little Italy. I have only been to the Little Italy in Manhattan and wasn't even aware that Baltimore had one. This little section of Baltimore was built by 20th century Italian immigrants, they built countless restaurants that still operate today. I took a walk down the streets and the culture still remains, the food, the environment and the people allow it to be a pretty cool experience
Close to the hotel is also a Whole Foods and typical chain restaurants, it definitely isn't a problem trying to find a place to eat.
There was one attraction that I really wanted to do but I didn't get the chance unfortunately. Its called Urban Pirates, they have an afternoon cruise at 10pm only for adults and you can bring your own Wine/Beer/ Liquor for $25. The boat gets attacked by "pirates" while it cruises the bay all the drunk people on the boat get to try to fight them away with water cannons.
I had the most fun at Dick's last resort. I have seen them around the country but never stopped in to eat or have a drink. If you have ever been to Senor Frogs in the Caribbean it is very similar but 100 times better. They have a barge floating on the water with a full bar, kitchen and stage with live music every night. Sitting at the bar on top of the water made my feel like I was in the Bahamas. The motto at Dick's is to serve you with sarcasm, so all the bartenders treat you like crap and are rude but it makes the experience fun. Me and my boss got a little exited because of the environment and drank a bit to much. We totaled about 12 shots of Jameson and 8 "Big Ass Beers" as they call them, the bartender only charged us for 2 of shots and the beers. Each shot was $14 so we saved a good amount of money and just left him a nice tip. Since it was our first time I guess they have a tradition of making you a hat with something vulgar written on it. Below are a couple of pictures of the place.
(Boardwalk with countless restaurants)
( Floating barge bar)
(Big ASS Beers)
(My boss's custom hat)
("This is how my condoms fit")
From the hotel the Baltimore Rayven's stadium and the Baltimore Orioles stadium can be seen. Luckily there was a game on Friday so I decided to look up tickets. I have a weird obsession with stadiums so I go to games even though i'm not a sports fan (I go for the beer also). This is another budget friendly attraction, the Orioles aren't the greatest Baseball team out there. Tickets on Stubhub.com started at $15, I ended up figuring out that Friday nights they offer a $7 ticket special for students with an ID. $7? thats half the price of a movie ticket to go see a Major League Baseball game. Unfortunately we weren't aware that it was a rival game against the Washington Nationals and when we arrived to the box office every single seat in the stadium was sold out. I was able to get a picture from the outside though. Always check the team's websites to see what promotions they have going on, you can find a good amount of tickets cheaper directly from them compared to outsourcing to a 3rd party website.
(Stadium Entrance)
After a long 8 days I was ready to go back and sleep in my own bed. I received an email 3 days prior to my departure from US Airways that I had been upgraded to first class. Just a tip for people with iPhones, Use your Passbook APP!!! It is extremely convenient and saves you the hassle of having to carry around a printed ticket. Always check in to your flight 24 hours in advance online using your airline confirmation number. After you choose your seats there will usually be an option so email your mobile boarding passes. Once you receive the email you can download them straight to Passbook. All TSA security stations and boarding gates have the capability to scan the ticket directly from your phone. Below is an example of what your ticket will look like.
(Passbook Boarding Pass)
(Red Wine Before Takeoff)
If you are planning a trip to Baltimore or have any questions about the city or hotel stays feel free to send me a message on Google Circles. Next week I will be traveling to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. My next post will discuss how you can upgrade to first class and save money even if you are traveling on an economy ticket and don't have any airline status.
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