Previous Trip Notes
A Week in Argentina – Part 3: Santiago, and our 2nd trip to Hell (SCL)
A Week in Argentina – Part 2: Copa Airlines Business Class ORD > PTY > SCL
A Week in Argentina – Part 1: The Setup & Arrival to Hell (ORD)

Our flight from Santiago to Mendoza was quick. We arrived, grabbed our checked bags, and then headed out to find our rental car. We used a company called Auto Mendoza, as they were one of the only companies that could guarantee an automatic transmission (although historically when foreign rental car companies guarantee an automatic transmission, they rarely pull through with one). The reviews online were very good, so I wasn’t terribly concerned, but there’s always a voice in the back of your head warning you against using a service outside of the main car rental companies. We walked out of the baggage claim area, and there was someone standing there with an Auto Mendoza sign. They promptly took us to the car – a 6-seater with an automatic transmission. Everything was great. And easy. Except they said we had to pay for the parking to be able to take it out of the airport parking lot. 60 Argentine pesos. As it was day 1, I wasn’t sure how much that was, but assumed we had been taken…except, 60 Argentine pesos isn’t even $1 USD. OK, no problem. We popped up the GPS (I always use my Verizon international plan which costs $10/day), which said we were under 15 minutes away from the Park Hyatt.

We arrived at the hotel, unscathed, except we had to circle the hotel twice before figuring out where the entrance was to park the car. Parking was included in our award stay since NSPwife has Globalist status. The lobby was nice, what you would expect from a Park Hyatt:

There was an attached casino:

NSPwife and I had used a confirmed suite upgrade, and was given a standard suite upgrade. It was very nice, although a part of me had hoped to get the Governor’s suite or Presidential suite like some other Globalists had experienced. The suite had a full large room when entering, a bar/kitchen area, one and a half bathrooms, and a nice bedroom:

NSPpeanut was adamant that we head to the hotel pool. Right away. So we did. It was a typical Park Hyatt pool; not huge, but very architecturally pleasing. It was calming just to be in the pool area, with a fountain wall and symmetrical aesthetics:

After the pool, we headed back to the room to relax for a few minutes before heading to Grill Q, one of the restaurants in the hotel, for dinner. We were exhausted from our previous 36 hours of travel, and just wanted to get a good asado steak and Malbec wine. The restaurant delivered on both accounts, and this is when I first realized how advantageous traveling to Argentina at this time of the decade was. Matt from Live and Let’s Fly had written an article on the benefits of traveling to Argentina with such a strong exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and Argentine peso, but to experience it first-hand was completely different. The bill came for our party of four adults and a child, including beers and a bottle of wine, multiple steaks, appetizers, and desserts, and the cost was…$44. Including tax and tip. At the Park Hyatt. It was close to Southeast Asia pricing, but in the same time-zone and with a flair for culinary gastrosophy, which would be a theme throughout our trip.

There are three main wine regions near Mendoza: Maipu, the closest, Lujan de Cuyo (Lujan), just far enough outside Mendoza to feel like you are in a wine valley, and Uco Valley, way out in “wine country.” We planned our trip for our full first day to take place in Lujan. As we have been to Napa Valley on multiple occasions, as well as Stellenbosch in South Africa, it was interesting that when we researched wine tastings in Argentina, just how different the experience down there would be. From all our research, it wasn’t just a hit-and-run type of activity. You didn’t go from winery to winery, with with a quick optional tour and obligatory tasting. It was meant to be an experience.

Our first stop, at 10:30am, was Achaval-Ferrer. It came highly recommended, and was a seemingly quick trip from Mendoza. They were waiting for us when we arrived, and we were taken to the front sitting area with one other group of exchange students from Denmark. There we embarked on a six-wine tasting, with the host giving us lessons on each wine. It was a nice sunny day (like 89% of days in the region, on average), and we were sipping wine while overlooking a vineyard and the Andes mountains. It’s hard to get much better than that…

…but it did. We booked our lunch and wine tasting after Achaval-Ferrer at Ruca Malen. It was a 5-10 minute drive from Achaval, and had impressive entrance. What awaited for us was a seven-course lunch, a seven-glass wine tasting, and nearly three-hour gastronomic experience…Given NSPwife was with child, I had more than my fair share of wine. They also had a fantastic offering for NSPpeanut. I’ll let the pictures do the talking:

The food was fantastic. The wine was fantastic. The scenery was fantastic.

And the price, with the conversion, was $57 per adult at $16 for NSPpeanut. Almost inconceivable. An equivalent experience in Napa would be $250++ per person, at minimum. And as you can see from the photos, this wasn’t just something that was thrown together. It was a top-notch chef, thinking about ingredients, flavors, wine-pairings, and presentation.

After the “morning” wine tasting and the three-plus hour lunch, we were spent. We went back to the hotel, grabbed a bit of rest, and then went out to find a local restaurant. There were a few suggestions from the concierge, but we wound up hopping into a restaurant that showcased their asado grill as we walked by. The food, again, was very good. I opted to try a localish beer:

It was a great day, and the weather was perfect for a stroll back to the hotel. NSPwife and NSPpeanut headed to bed, and I went to explore the casino.

It was heavily slot-centric, with all of the internationally-popular slot themes. There were electronic table games, and about ten different table games: one craps table, four roulette tables, and a few blackjack tables. Most games were not open for 20ish hours of the day, with the exception of roulette, which was always open. The bet spreads were insane: $0.20-$2.00. That’s right. A $2 max bet! I had some fun, and good luck, and retired in the early morning.

We woke up and headed to the Park Hyatt restaurant, for the buffet (which is included for Globalist members). It was a pretty good spread, although not quite up to typical Park Hyatt standards. In addition, there was no variety during the week. Every single day had the exact same menu.

We planned for a wine-break on the 2nd day, and decided to drive out to Potrerillos and visit the reservoir. It’s always a pretty drive when driving along the Andes mountains, and the blue waters of the reservoir did not disappoint:

We hiked around a little bit, and found a place to send up the drone, albeit the high-speed winds did not make it easy:

We drove back to Mendoza, rested a bit – with an obligatory pool adventure, and then headed out to a very nice dinner at Azafran. This was recommended by the concierge as one of the nicest restaurants in Mendoza, and lived up to its billing:

It even had its own wine cellar to explore their various wines, with sommeliers to assist:

Overall it was an excellent dinner. We left full of food and drink, and walked the 5-10 minute walk back to the hotel to retire for the night.

We woke up for our final full day fairly early, as we were heading out to Uco Valley, a 90-minute drive. We grabbed breakfast again at the hotel, jumped in the rental car, and a quick and beautiful 90 minutes later were pulling into The Vines. We had three different reservations:

1. Winery Tour and Viticulture Session
2. Blending Session
3. Lunch

The Vines began in 2005, with 250 acres of land nestled deep in the Uco Valley region of Argentina, surrounded by the sprawling Andes mountains. It has since grown to over 1,500 acres, with individual owners of different plots of land – all separated into different vineyards, each with their own mix of grape types. As we are very interested in one of the vineyard plots, we wanted to learn everything we could about The Vines. In recent years, The Vines added a full resort. We pulled up to the resort and met Pablo, our guide for the Winery Tour. We jumped in his truck and headed over to the wine-making buildings. We learned a great deal about the wine-making process, watched someone’s finished product being labeled, and were excited to start tasting wines at a blending session.

I have to say, of the many great experiences I’ve had – from falconing in the Arabian desert to bungee jumping in Queenstown, New Zealand, the blending session is near the top of the list. We started tasting three different varietals coming directly from the tanks, and a chemist led us through the process, explaining the tastes we were experiencing prior to the barrel process. We tried a Malbec, a Cab Franc, and a Merlot. We then were given a specific type of cheese that we needed to try just before sampling each wine a second time. This cheese would help counter the acidity and give us an idea of what the wine would taste like after being in a barrel for approximately six months. By trying the wines this way, we could see where the tastes and flavors were heading through the barrel-aging process. We then started to mix and match the various wines. Was the 100% Malbec too aggressive and strong? Just add 20% Cab Franc and see how that changes the flavor profile. Still a bit too much? Go to 50%. You could slowly blend the wine that best suited your palette. If you owned a plot, you could trade your grape varietals with other plot owners to make the exact wine you want. The Vines would then take care of the wine-making, bottling, labeling, and storage. The blending session was sensational, and we were in good spirits walking the long 50-yards to the restaurant at The Vines for lunch.

The food was phenomenal, and the scenery equally so:

NSPpeanut loved chasing the frogs in the lake:

The wine-making lesson, blending session, and lunch, took just over five hours. We were full, again of great food and drink, and pulled out of The Vines to head back to Mendoza. The day was great, and exhausting, so much so that we completely forgot to stop by the winemaker’s village for one final tasting of the day. We all took naps back at the hotel, then took a quick jaunt to the pool for one final swim session with NSPpeanut. We were too tired to go out, and ate dinner at Bistro M, the same restaurant in the hotel that breakfast is served in.

I walked around the hotel once final time, while very nice, it wasn’t quite up to the setting of the Palacio Duhau Park Hyatt Buenos Aires:

We went to sleep, making sure to wake up in time to make it to the airport hours ahead of time. The last thing we wanted was a repeat of our struggles in O’Hare or Santiago airport. Little did we know, it was about to be far worse…

Previous Trip Notes
A Week in Argentina – Part 2: Copa Airlines Business Class ORD > PTY > SCL
A Week in Argentina – Part 1: The Setup & Arrival to Hell (ORD)

The alarm came quick and early. We had ordered room service the night before, to arrive a few minutes after we woke up. We mostly ordered for NSPpeanut, thinking her love of pancakes might start the day off on the right track. No such luck. She was, understandably, still exhausted. And wanted more sleep. We dragged her out of bed, and despite a little crankiness, she was a trooper. Sadly, the only chilly weather for the whole trip was supposed to be on this first day. The altitude of Santiago, coupled with a spring cold front, pegged the weather at the high 30’s until 9am. We hadn’t packed for that type of cold. We met a group of fellow travelers and a guide/host at Mercado Central at 8am, and NSPpeanut was not happy:

Our guide was excellent, and gave us a history lesson as we traveled through the market. We passed rows of fish, meats, and vegetables, buying all of the ingredients to make our meal.

We had booked a market tour and Chilean cooking lesson through Uncorked, and I highly recommend it. The guide was excellent, and the hosts at the house where we prepared the food were fantastic.

We made a few different dishes, from shrimp and avocado to traditional pork empanadas:

The hosts even brought out their two year old to play with NSPpeanut:

One of the people in the group grew up in Mendoza, where we had a flight to that afternoon. We chatted about the airport, and how long in advance we needed to arrive to the airport. One of the Uncorked hosts offered to drive us to the airport for a nominal fee, so for the sake of convenience that’s what we did. We arrived at check-in roughly 75 minutes before our flight, only to be told that they had already closed down the checked baggage for our flight. My Spanish skills are mediocre at best, but figured out through our communication that while they usually close check-in 60 minutes, they decided for some reason to close it early for this flight. They said it would be no problem taking our bags to the flight, where they would gate-check them. Easier said that done. We had too many bags for the number of people. And to get through security, again, with a stroller and car seat bags – in an airport where it is nearly two miles from check-in to the gate, was extremely painful. We did manage to get to the flight, gate-check our bags, and even had just enough time to grab some McDonald’s fries for the little trooper. We sat down in our seats, took a deep breath, and were excited to land in Mendoza, to relax for nearly a week, in the same city, and in the same hotel.

Previous Trip Notes:
A Long Weekend in Tokyo – Part 2: Days 1-2 & Grand Hyatt Tokyo
A Long Weekend in Tokyo – Part 1: Trip Set-Up & ANA First Class

We arrived at the Park Hyatt in the early afternoon. The day had started at 3:30am when we woke up to visit the famous fish auctions. As we were only staying for one night, I was again hoping for an upgrade, but alas received just a standard room. The hotel was lovely, and the room was nice – a bit larger than the one we received at the Grand Hyatt:

We dropped off our bags and decided to head out to Fūunji to get some famous Ramen. It was about a 10-15 minute walk, and finally the sun came out and rain stopped. When we arrived, the line was out the door. There were about 12 seats in the restaurant, and you had to purchase your order from a vending machine at the entrance. You then snaked through the tiny restaurant until a seat opened up. The restaurant was no larger that the hotel room, and all of the food was prepared right in front of you. It was like watching magicians. You could tell that this was their passion, and they were excellent at what they did. The Ramen came, and was certainly worth the wait:

We walked back to the hotel and explored it a little bit:

We hit up the Globalist happy hour which had free drinks and canapes in the lobby, overlooking the city:

The view was stunning and the lobby buzzing with activity. After a couple drinks, we headed out to the Golden Gai district in Shinjuku. These bars could hold between 4-20 people each, and was a really cool experience:

After bar-hopping in the rain, we headed back to the Park Hyatt for a dinner full of Wagyu steaks at the famed New York bar at the Park Hyatt. The views on the 52nd floor were similarly stunning to the lobby bar:

The food was consistent with our experience during the rest of our trip: very good, but not great. One thing to note is that Tokyo is expensive. Like the. Most. Expensive. City. I’ve. Visited. More than the Maldives, New York, Dubai. The comparisons aren’t even close. At all of the restaurants we ventured to, we were lucky to get out spending $200 per person. A couple of the places were much higher than that. Of course places like the dumpling bar and pizza place were far cheaper – and in fact were the culinary highlights of the trip. The others were purely experiential. In the 1-2 months leading up to our trips, we tried to secure reservations at some of the many Michelin Star restaurants that Tokyo offers, but that just wasn’t enough time to get in. We tried the AMEX Platinum reservation line, which unfortunately couldn’t help out either. That is not to say that we were disappointed in any of the restaurants. Food was good. Service impeccable. And experience well worth the fee. But you should know going in that you aren’t getting out at any of these restaurants at any level cheaper than the most expensive restaurants in metropolitan cities around the world.

We retired after the dinner and woke up, shockingly, to a lot of food at the Park Hyatt buffet:

The view from breakfast was similarly wonderful:

For our last day, we decided to head to head around more of the city. We walked and took trains everywhere, which was fairly easy. Lots of pride was shown for their upcoming Olympic Games:

We headed to the Asakusa district to see the Senso-Ji temple, Orange Street, and do some souvenir shopping:

After a full morning and early afternoon in Asakusa, we went back to the hotel to pack up. We quickly checked out the gym and pool, as we heard the views were great from both facilities. The pool was under maintenance, but the gym view did not disappoint:

We then headed out to get some final sushi near the Park Hyatt:

With a full stomach, we headed back to the airport, a mere 72 hours after we first arrived. It was a whirlwind trip. The weather was mostly terrible. Food was good but not great. But overall was a really great trip, and I’m really glad we were able to experience some of what Tokyo – and Japan – had to offer.

Previous Trip Notes:
A Long Weekend in Tokyo – Part 1: Trip Set-Up & ANA First Class

We took the Narita Express train to Shibuya for $20 each, where we caught a taxi to the Grand Hyatt (which cost another $20). As we pulled into the “garage-like valet” of Roppongi Hills shopping center, where the hotel is located, it was immediately clear that there was some money in this part of Tokyo. The closest comparison I have is to Monte Carlo, where you can take photos of any street and see Rolls Royces next to Bentleys next to Ferraris.

The lobby was large, and very nice. We went to the front desk, who asked us if we would prefer to check in upstairs in the lounge. We were a bit parched, so opted to head to the lounge. Given we only had a two-night stay, I was a bit disappointed we weren’t upgraded to a suite, but the room was still nice:

The highlight was clearly the Toto toilet, which included a seat warmer.

We knew the 14-hour time change would be difficult, despite sleeping on the plane, so we opted to head to the gym for a quick workout. The gym was really small and not impressive, but Globalist members receive complimentary access to the spa facilities as well, which included pools, hot tubs, massage chairs (not your typical massage chair) and saunas, which were amazing. A 30-minute workout, 20-minute massage-chair, and 10 minutes in the sauna was perfect. We headed back to the room to take showers then went out to dinner. We opted for a French Restaurant, L’atelier de Joel Robuchon, due to it also being in Roppongi Hills shopping center and thus a five minute walk. The meal was good, despite fading pretty hard near the end of the meal service due to jet-lag, so we skipped dessert and headed back to the hotel.

The next morning we woke up around 6:30am, and were greeted by fairly substantial rain, which we would learn would not subside for a straight 48 hours. We headed up to the lounge for breakfast, which was fantastic:

The Tokyo Marathon was happening in Ginza, so after breakfast we opted to walk to the Meiji Shrine, which took about 45 minutes. Luckily the wind was never an issue, so umbrellas were easy to use. The shrine is engulfed in a giant park, seemingly similar to New York’s Central Park. You truly felt like you were isolated in nature while walking to the shrine.

After visiting the shrine, we decided to warm up, get some tea from starbucks, and hang out for about twenty minutes until Gyoza Lou opened up. We were excited to try some of their world-famous dumplings. While good, they didn’t live up to our favorites from MGM Macau on a trip we took in 2009. It was a nice appetizer before we took a taxi directly to Savoy for what was truly amazing Neapolitan style pizza. After lunch we walked back to the hotel, where we rested for a bit, then headed out to the Ginza shopping district. The Tokyo Marathon apparatus had almost been completely dismantled, taken away, and the streets clean by time we got there (a mere few hours after the event had been completed!). We pursued some shops, including the well-known Itoya stationary store, and then headed back to the hotel. We of course needed to have sushi on the trip, and headed to Roku Roku in the hotel. We ordered the assorted sushi, at the chef’s discretion. While good, again similar to the dumplings, was not the best we’ve had.

After dinner we stopped by the lounge just to see what the spread looked like:

We went to bed quite early since we planned to get up at 3:30am to head over to the famous fish auctions. The Tsukiji auction site had moved in recent months, and the new building and atmosphere were a complete letdown. Whereas in the past you were on the auction floor, amidst the chaos of bidders, sometimes bidding for tuna up to three million dollars, the new auction site only allows observers to watch from a glass-enclosed balcony. When we showed up at 4am, the building was closed, and no one was around. We waited for a few minutes in the pitch-black, letting the light rainfall run-off our jackets. It was miserable. We were using our Google Translate app to help us “read” signs. Finally we found the right place to be, and had to wait about four minutes until the building opened up.

After visiting the fish market, we took the Tokyo Metro back to the hotel. We packed up our things and checked-out. For the final night, we were excited to be heading to the Park Hyatt.