Hotel: Hotel Balmoral

Location: 12, avenue de la Costa, Monte-Carlo, MC 98000, Monaco

Date of arrival: 22 April 2004

Number of nights stay: One

Reason for visit: Honeymoon

Travel companion: Mrs TH

Bed: Adequate

Hotel dining: Yes

Room rate: Very reasonable considering

Would I stay here again: Yes in a heartbeat. Definitely a little run down when I stayed here but unbelievable value for money and most of the rooms have exquisite views. The hotel is a short walk from the casino and harbor.

Room rating on a scale of one (being the worst) to ten (being the best): 8

Weather: Sunshiney

Local attractions: The Jardin Exotique is well worth a trip

Trivia: Monaco is the world’s most densely populated sovereign country, and the world’s smallest French-speaking country

Hotel: Best Western Ramkota Hotel

Location: 920 W Sioux Avenue, Pierre, South Dakota, 57501-1800, US

Date of arrival: 12 July 2006

Number of nights stay: One

Reason for visit: Assignment Marie Claire magazine

Travel companion: None

Bed: King

Hotel dining: Yes

Room rate: Reasonable

Would I stay here again: No

Room rating on a scale of one (being the worst) to ten (being the best): 2

Weather: Hot

Local attractions: The hotel is located next to the Lewis and Clark Trail

Trivia: Pierre is the state capital of South Dakota

Hotel: Austin Motel

Location: 1220 S Congress Ave, Austin, TX 78704

Date of arrival: 28 April 2004

Number of nights stay: 1

Reason for visit: Assignment Budget Travel magazine

Travel companion: Assistant Joe Fornabaio

Bed: 2 twins

Hotel dining: No

Room rate: Reasonable

Would I stay here again: Sure

Room rating on a scale of one (being the worst) to ten (being the best): 5

Weather: Nice

Local attractions:The mighty Continental Club right across the street

Trivia: Residents of Austin are known as “Austinites”. Austin’s official slogan promotes the city as “The Live Music Capital of the World”, a reference to its status as home to many musicians and music venues. In recent years, many Austinites have also adopted the unofficial slogan “Keep Austin Weird“; this refers partly to the eclectic and progressive lifestyle of many Austin residents, but is also the slogan for a campaign to preserve smaller local businesses and resist excessive commercialization.

Hotel: The Explorer Hotel

Location: 49th Ave, Yellowknife, Northern Territories, Canada

Number of nights stay: 1

Date of arrival: 3 September 2008

Reason for visit: Assignment for Wired magazine. Read it here

Travel companion: Writer Carl Hoffman

Bed: King

Hotel dining: Skipped it this time

Room rate: Pricey

Would I stay here again: Sure, this is Yellowknifes top hotel. This was my second stay although it was two days later for the same job

Room rating on a scale of one (being the worst) to ten (being the best): 4, room 503 was bigger/nicer

Weather: Changeable

Dining suggestions: Had a fab dinner at Bullocks Bistro. Specialties are fish (cooked to order) and chips local style. Help yourself to beers out of the cooler in a very chill atmosphere. Service can have a little attitude but still super popular even though its pretty pricey.

Trivia: In 1978 the Soviet nuclear-powered satellite Cosmos 954 crashed to earth near Yellowknife. There were no known casualties although a small quantity of radioactive nuclear fuel was released into the environment and Operation Morning Light—an attempt to retrieve it—was only partially successful

Hotel: The Explorer Hotel

Location: 49th Ave, Yellowknife, Northern Territories, Canada

Number of nights stay: 1

Date of arrival: 1 September 2008

Reason for visit: Assignment for Wired magazine. Read it here

Travel companion: Writer Carl Hoffman

Bed: King

Hotel dining: Palatable

Room rate: Pricey

Would I stay here again: Sure, this is Yellowknifes top hotel

Room rating on a scale of one (being the worst) to ten (being the best): 5

Weather: Changeable

Jet-lag: Minor. A flight from JFK via Calgary

Local attractions: Viewing the spectacular Aurora Borealis, also known as the “Northern Lights”, Canadian Arctic Char fishing, Fly fishing, Arctic Expedition, Arctic Adventures, Canadian Subarctic Hunting, Subarctic Bear Hunting, Northwest Territories Caribou Hunts, Arctic Circle Tours, Cross country skiing, Dog sledding, Mountain climbing, Snowmobiling tours, Birding and bird watching, Dog sledding, Cross country skiing, Snowmobiling, Sailing on Great Slave Lake, drinking in one of the local bars, Ice road truckers and Diamonds

Trivia: Yellowknife was first settled in 1935, after gold had been found in the area; Yellowknife soon became the centre of economic activity in the NWT, and became the capital of the Northwest Territories in 1967. As gold production began to wane, Yellowknife shifted from being a mining town to being a centre of government services in the 1980s. However, with the recent discovery of diamonds north of Yellowknife, this shift has begun to reverse.

Hotel: Sagamore

Location: 1671 Collins Ave, Miami Beach, FL 33139

Date of arrival: 7 January 2007

Number of nights stay: 1

Reason for visit: Assignment Wired magazine

Travel companion: Assistant Joe Fornabaio

Bed: King

Hotel dining: Yes

Room rate: Pricey

Would I stay here again: Sure if there was any chance of a sea view

Room rating on a scale of one (being the worst) to ten (being the best): 6

Weather: Muggy

Local attractions: South Beach

Trivia: According to the Morgan Quitno Awards, Miami Beach is one of the most dangerous small cities (population between 75,000 and 99,999) in the country

Hotel: Parador Bielsa - Hotel Monte Perdido

Location: The Parador is located at the bottom of the Valle de Pineta, 200 m from the Ordesa National Park and the Monte Perdido, at a dead end 14 km from Bielsa town centre

Date of arrival: 9 May 2005

Number of nights stay: 2

Reason for visit: Holiday

Travel companion: Mrs TH

Bed: Two twins

Hotel dining: Excellent

Room rate: Reasonable depending on exchange rate

Would I stay here again: In a heartbeat

Room rating on a scale of one (being the worst) to ten (being the best): 8 for the view and the food

Weather: Changeable in a second

Local attractions: Lots of hiking trails steps from the hotel door in the Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park

Hotel: Was a Sheraton now the Hotel Capstone

Location: 320 Paul Bryant, Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35401

Date of arrival:4 April 2005

Number of nights stay: 2

Reason for visit: Assignment Marie Claire magazine

Travel companion: None

Bed: King

Hotel dining: Yes

Room rate: Pricey

Would I stay here again: Sure

Room rating on a scale of one (being the worst) to ten (being the best): 5

Weather: Comfortable

Local attractions: University of Alabama

Trivia: Tuscaloosa is known as the Druid City because of its abundance of old oaks and hardwoods. This nickname was given during Civil War times.

Hotel: The Portman Ritz-Carlton 

Location: 1376, Nanjing Xi Lu, Shanghai 200040 China

Date of arrival: 30 April 2005

Number of nights stay: 4

Reason for visit: Assignment for ESPN the Magazine

Travel companion: Writer Ric Bucher

Bed: King

Hotel dining: Options

Room rate: Expensive

Would I stay here again: Yes

Room rating on a scale of one (being the worst) to ten (being the best): 8+ for the view 

Jet-lag: Heavy after a 12 hour flight in coach from Chicago

Weather: Comfortable this time of year

Local attractions: Too many to list. Just hit the streets and start walking. One of my favorite cities

Trivia: Shanghai is the largest city in China in terms of population and one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world, with over 20 million people in its extended area

Hotel: Fairfield Inn

Location: 1801 S. Sunridge Dr. Yuma, Arizona 85365, USA

Date of arrival: 7 February 2007

Number of nights stay: 3

Reason for visit: Assignment for GQ magazine. Read here and here

Travel companions: Writer Jason Gay and assistant Joel Barhamand

Bed: King

Hotel dining: Breakfast

Room rate: As you would expect

Would I stay here again: Yes

Room rating on a scale of one (being the worst) to ten (being the best): 3  

Weather: Sunny

Local attractions: The Imperial Sand Dunes

Trivia: According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Yuma is the sunniest place on earth. Of the possible 4,456 hours of daylight each year, the sun shines in Yuma for roughly 4,050 hours, or about 90% of the time.