Review: Courtyard by Marriott Edison Woodbridge near Metuchen, NJ

My daughter and I stayed at the Courtyard Edison Woodbridge for a fencing tournament taking place on Sunday, September 14 at the Metuchen Sportsplex.  We chose this hotel for it's proximity to the sports complex and the low price - a AAA rate of $89.  I could have used Marriott Rewards points or a free night certificate, but I like getting better value for my points and certificates, so I decided to just pay for it, since it was a very low cost.  To top it all off, it is the top rated hotel on TripAdvisor in the area.

Courtyard Edison Woodbridge Review

When we checked in, we were told that I would be receiving 400 points for my arrival gift and could choose a Market item - my daughter selected Baked Lays.  We were given the key to Room 209, which initially disappointed me, since I requested a high floor room, but was surprised to see a nice welcome spread in my room.  There was a water and chocolate on the bed, with an elephant constructed from 3 wash clothes to greet us.  Also, on the footstool was a fiber pillow, as I requested.

The room itself was like any other Courtyard, though there was a 50 inch flat screen tv in the room, which made viewing of Notre Dame's Shamrock Series defeat of Purdue that much sweeter.  The bathroom was of decent size and the separate vanity area was adequate.  Some of the walls and furnishings showed some wear, but it did not detract noticeably from the experience.  The tub had a large stain, but the shower had good pressure.

At halftime of the game I ran down to the Bistro to order to go some Thai chili wings and a diet Mountain Dew.  It took about 12 minutes to bring it out to me, but it was placed into a nice handled bag that I could easily transport to my room.  It was expensive at around $13 for 6 wings and a 20oz diet Dew.  It tasted good and was adequately filling.

I had a hard time sleeping that night between not trying to toss and turn, so that my daughter could sleep and the radio that was loud, though not quite blaring from the room next door.  I finally became enlightened at 4am and turned on the air conditioner fan, which drowned out the music.

The next morning, the receipt was conveniently placed under our door.  As I looked over the expenses, I noticed that the "free" Market item from checkin was not quite so free, as my bill showed a charge of $2.57 and tax.  I had some time and headed down to the front desk, where the front desk agent rectified the charge.

If the price (or points) were right, I would stay at the Courtyard Edison Woodbridge again.

Southwest Flight 2496 Newark to Chicago Trip Report

Southwest Flight 2496 Newark to Chicago

We flew out of Gate A15 at EWR, which is the same gate at which we deplaned the day before.  Our boarding assignments were A17 and B13, respectively.  As I did the day before, we boarded at the end of the A30-A60 line without a problem.

As we made our way down the jet bridge, I noticed that the plane was an older model 737-300, which made me worry about wifi availability.  We found a spot in row 10 in seats 10A and 10B.  After getting situated, I noticed that the seats do not recline.  Luckily, I don't normally recline my seat and the person in front of me did not recline theirs.

We pulled away from the gate at 8:48pm, 7 minutes prior to our scheduled time of departure and took at at 8:59pm.  As we were ascending, a flight attendant announced that there was no wifi on the flight - surprise!  I had received an email the day before from Southwest touting the ability to use wifi and watch Dish, but no one must have told the email marketing folks that not all of the planes are wifi equipped.

When they came by for drinks, I ordered a can of Coke Zero with ice and my daughter ordered some apple juice.  When they came around with snacks, they only offered pretzels.

We landed at 10:45pm in Chicago after a pretty uneventful flight, except for an interesting nose dive during the descent.  As we were descending the pilot maneuvered the plane at a steeper nose angle than usual, so much so that everyone on the plane noticed.  There were quite a few gasps for the second or two it took for the pilot to make the correction. We deplaned at gate B18, having reached the gate at 10:52pm.  Since I was with my daughter, it would have been nice to deplane at B1, like I had done that Friday.

My daughter's foils had already arrived at baggage claim, but we had to wait briefly for our two other pieces of luggage, but they came out on to the conveyer within a few minutes.

Review of Hertz Midsize Rental at (EWR) Newark Liberty International Airport

I had first reserved a full size car at the EWR Hertz location through the Southwest portal, but as I always do, I recheck the prices several times before the day of the rental, the last being the day of.  When I checked it the day of the rental, I noticed that the price of the Midsize car was about $14 cheaper for the day and would be adequate for our needs, so I reserved the Midsize for $32 and cancelled the Fullsize rental that I had reserved for $46 for my 24 hour car rental.

We were able to get to the Hertz airport location on the Airtrain at the P3 stop.  I had forgotten to add my Hertz Gold number, so we had to head to the normal counter, which wasnt a big deal, since there was no one else there.  I was really impressed by the look of the location, since it looked very modern and had lots of tablets for kids and adults to spend time, while another family member gets checked in.

Diane, the agent who helped us, went through the normal rigmarole, asking me if I needed any of the add-ons.  I bit on the per-paid fuel option, since, if I drove less than 100 miles and I don't have time refill the car, they will only charge me $0.31 per mile driven.  Diane, also, upgraded us to a Fullsize car, a white 2013 Ford Fusion.  Though it had over 40,000 miles on it, it did have Sirius XM and leather seats.  There was a slight cigarette smell in the car, but it dissipated pretty quickly.  I had to ask for an EZPass transponder, since the Fusion was not equipped with one.

The car drove well on the wet, ill-lit New Jersey Turnpike.  We arrived at the Courtyard Edison Woodbridge with no issues.  The next day we headed to the Metuchen Sportsplex and then back to EWR.  I filled up the car at the Gulf station, just across from the Hertz location by P3 parking.

When we returned the car, the return agen found a ding on the front right side of the car.  I had not inspected the car before driving off, since we were in a hurry to get to the hotel.  They did not hold me liable for the damage, since they had not properly inventoried the vehicle the day before.  Even though I drove less than 40 miles, the receipt had me down as having driven more than 200.

Southwest Flight 1815 Chicago to Newark Trip Report

The horror - I forgot to check in at exactly 24 hours before the flight.  It wouldn't be such a big deal normally, since I am an A List member, but on this trip I have my youngest daughter with me on my Companion Pass.  I am usually really diligent, when she travels with me, but I was tired from my flight from San Diego to Chicago earlier in the day.  I am too cheap to buy the Early Bird Check In, but I was thinking that I might have made a mistake this time.

When I clicked "Check In" at 8pm, almost 2 hours past, when I should have done so, I thought that she would get a boarding pass in the B50 range.  Imagine my surprise, when I saw that she received B4.  I received an A16, so I can board with her without worrying about trying to sneak her on with me.  We got in line after A60 and boarded without a problem, something I had read about on Flyertalk.

Southwest Flight 1815 Chicago To Newark

We had to check two bags, since her foils cannot be taken on to the plane.  we were able to use the Priority Line, since I am A List Preferred.  Someone tried to cut in front of us from the regular line, but the agent, Fran, quickly rectified the situation and let us get our bags checked.  Going through TSA was easy, since we were picked to go through the PreCheck line, just like I had been able to do the previous Monday, when I was on my way to San Diego.

Our flight, Southwest Flight 1815, was taking off from gate A17, which is at the end of the A terminal, so it was a bit of a hike, but nothing like O'Hare or any other large airport.  As we were sitting by the gate, we noticed passengers deplaning at Gate A18.  It was the flight to Philadelphia that had already been 45 minutes late pulling back from the gate.  The plane had a valve issue and return to a gate to turn off the engines to get the issue fixed.  When they called our flight to line up, they were still sitting in the gate area.

When we got on the plane, a 737-800, all the way to row 10 was close to full, except for middle seats, so we made our way to seats 18E and 18F, the window and middle seat, since my daughter likes to look out the window - the window seats from row 10 to 17 are obstructed by the wings. The flight was not full, so I moved to seat 18D, leaving 18E empty between the two of us.  It was nice to have so much space!  The only issue I found was that the light over 18D did not work.

The doors to the plane were closed at 5:02 and pulled from the gate at 5:06pm, 4 minutes earlier than our scheduled departure.  We took off at 5:15pm, only 5 minutes after our scheduled departure.  Checking the Flight Tracker, I noticed that our estimated arrival time would be 7:42pm, 33 minutes earlier than our scheduled arrival.

The WiFi on the plane initially worked, when we boarded, but as soon as we backed out of the gate, the WiFi reset.  It was a pain, since I was typing this blog post in the plane at the time.  The WiFi returned at 5:14pm.  The WiFi is a must, when I travel with my 10 year old daughter.  Thankfully, it is free for me, because of my A List Preferred status.

When the flight attendant came by, I ordered a can of Coke Zero (with ice) and my daughter ordered a cup of apple juice.  We were given lightly salted peanuts and pretzels as a snack.

The flight was very smooth with only a few bumps as we descended through the rain clouds.  We landed with a bit of slipping on the wet tarmac at EWR at 7:44 and arrived at the gate at 7:52.

We only had to wait about 5 minutes for our suitcase at baggage claim and only a couple more minutes for my daughter's foils at the oversize baggage area.