“Congratulations, Teri! You’re in the top 10% of reviewers in Los Angeles!” Thus read the recent email from Trip Advisor. This crowning achievement might actually mean something if there were millions of people providing reviews. But with just 11,000 or so reporting out of our huge population (meaning I share this notoriety with 1,100 others), it is neither rare nor newsworthy in my opinion.

Which subject brings me to write about this: How reliable are sites like Yelp, Trip Advisor, and, for that matter, Frommer’s/Fodor’s/Lonely Planet?? Do I really care what other people think/experience UNLESS (and this is a big one), I know the person and he/she/they like to travel in the same manner as I? How much time do I really want to spend on these reviews?!

When it comes to online sources, my go to is Frommer’s. I like the fact that one can access the bullet points by a particular region (When to Go; How to Go; Average Weather; Hotel Ranking from either top or bottom; etc.), and the information is well summarized. However, there have been numerous occasions where a major hotel we ultimately choose for our stay is not even listed! So go figure …

Regarding Trip Advisor, I will go there and look at a city’s list of hotels and then go to the individual websites for more comprehensive info. Another important detail from that site is not so much how many superlatives are provided but rather how many indicated a bad experience. One or two negatives might just be from folks who can never be pleased. But more than a few and you’ve got my attention.

I’ve written before about lists provided by Travel & Leisure and Traveler magazines, plus more recently Departures. I love my ongoing bucket list of places to go and stay. I love even more checking each one off the list. I’m a firm believer in setting travel “goals” as well as keeping a list of countries visited — although I’m a far cry from getting to all 196 (about a quarter of the way). Did you know that Scotland doesn’t count as a country as it is part of the greater U.K.? And I had to take Grand Caymans out of my total as that doesn’t count either. But Vatican City? That is a country!

If your goal is a more achievable So Cal locale, go to Terranea on the Palos Verdes Peninsula and have yourself a beautiful stay as I and 61 other executive women did recently for our annual Spa Weekend.  I’d provide more details but I am sworn to secrecy … The only evidence is this photo from around 4pm on the terrace of our casita.

Caption:  #Lifeisshort #Drinkup.

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