BUFFALO - 11/18-11/20:
I flew to Buffalo on Thursday and on Friday I met some incredible Doctors and Support Staff at the Women's and Children's Hospital of Buffalo - the only free-standing Children's Hospital in the region. It was an amazing place doing incredible work for the region's little people. I was most impressed by how kind every person was. It wasn't the fake "I'm tired but I will smile for you" kind - it was a genuine, welcoming kindness that made me feel wonderful to be there. After the interview, I was spending the night in Buffalo and had all afternoon to do something. So, with a potential future Residency colleague, we took the awesome advice of a Holiday Inn Buffalo Downtown employee to take the city bus to Niagara Falls. Forty-five minutes and $4 (the cost of an unlimited bus/rail day pass) later, we were dropped off in front of a huge Casino on the American side of the Falls. It was a pretty cold evening, so we got our obligatory Starbucks (thank God!) and walked the 10 minutes to Falls park. It would have been another 10 minute walk to the actual Falls, but we serendipitously came across a free trolley bus that made rounds around the park. It wasn't the walk we minded, it was the cold, so we got in the trolley. Three minutes later we were gazing at the top of the main falls - we couldn't really see the bottom of the falls because from our angle it was hard to see the inlet and there was a TON of mist...which at one point began blowing toward us and forced a quick retreat. But as always, the Falls are a majestic and amazing place to see - God's beautiful Hand in creation can't be denied here. We took the bus back to the hotel and about 60 minutes later, were seated at the Anchor Bar, anticipating our Buffalo Wings at the original restaurant that created the popular comfort food. It was yummy and a great way to cap an amazing time in Buffalo.
HOTEL: Holiday Inn, Downtown Buffalo. Residency Interview Rate $93.
- PROs: Excellent location, awesome staff, free airport and local area shuttle.
- CONs: Room decor and furniture is pretty outdated and shows wear. Housekeeping did an OK job, but there was definitely areas that hadn't been cleaned in a long time, both in the room and in public spaces.
- OVERALL GRADE: B
- Would I recommend this hotel to family and friends? Absolutely!
I have to give United some MAJOR positive reviews here. I flew them to NY last week and back to FAT yesterday. I don’t know why all the United bashing goes on. I was supremely impressed! Every single employee I encountered was pleasant. Granted, every one of my flights left on time and arrived on time, if not a few to several minutes early. So I didn’t get to see them during irregular ops, but since the majority of the time they operate normal ops, they are doing a great job. The ticketing agents came up to help even at the kiosks. The gate agents did a great job of announcing up to the flights and every flight was boarded in a very orderly fashion so we didn’t have to all crowd around. And during the flight, I had some very kind, smiling, and overall pleasant and helpful flight attendants. I was blown away – United deserves some recognition for running a great operation. In fact, I am now seeking out United flights rather than trying to avoid them like the plague; they really made a great impression on me during this last trip.
Seating Tip: I got the sense that United is boarding its flights where those with window seats are in the higher boarding levels and those with aisles board toward the end, regardless of where in the plane your seat is located. So, if you want to make sure you are one of the first to board so you will have space in the bins for your luggage, choose a window seat. Otherwise, especially during the Holidays when it sounds like flights are going full, you may end up separated from any luggage that can't fit under the seat in front of you.
Stay Tuned! Coming Up in Future Installments:
- Thanksgiving Trip 2010 - Part 2: Rochester
- Thanksgiving Trip 2010 - Part 3: NYC
Yeah!! A blog to read!!!
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