Oftentimes, I tag along on my mom's business trips around the world, and this time I tagged along to Minneapolis, Minnesota!
I went to Minneapolis back in August 2022. Hard to believe it's been nearly 2 years now!
Let me tell you all about it!
Contents
Airport
I don't remember much of the flights or the airport, so it couldn't have been bad. What I do remember though is how easy it was to get from the airport to the hotel using the transit in Minneapolis. I was really cheap too.
There were signs all over the airport directing you to the transit, and there were kiosks to buy tickets too. I don't remember the specifics, but according to Minneapolis.org, the train runs every 12-15 minutes, costs $2.50 USD for a one-way trip to downtown, and takes about 25 minutes to get into downtown (though when I googled it, it said it took us nearly an hour to get into central Minneapolis).
I remember the train being a decent experience, but not the walking to the hotel. The streets of central Minneapolis are not places you want to spend much time. More on that later though.
MintHouse
Price: ~$333.00 USD/ 2 days
We had the option to stay at the hotel close to where the conference was being held or stay in central downtown Minneapolis. I thought it would be easier to explore Minneapolis from downtown, so we choose the Minneapolis MintHouse location.
MintHouse, as I understand it, is a blend between a hotel and an apartment building. Some people staying here, lived here. Others, like my mom and I, were just guests visiting Minneapolis. It was a really interesting set up.
I remember getting into MintHouse was such a struggle. The security systems were really tight and there was no concierge on site. It was a lot of phone calls and waiting for an email or text with a door code. It was initially really frustrating, but by the end of our stay, I was actually happy it was so difficult. I'll explain why later on.
Because of the apartment like nature of this hotel, the rooms were much more like small apartments than hotel rooms.
They had a full kitchen like an apartment, but had little soaps, shampoos, coffees, and teas like a hotel. I honestly really liked our room.
After dropping off all our stuff, we went to explore the hotel some. Our key fobs let us in and out of the building, as well as into most, if not all, common rooms. This hotel had, by far, the most amenities of anywhere I've stayed.
There were all the normal things most hotels have such as, a business space with a printer and a lobby. But this location also had gym, a movie theatre, a rooftop pool, an indoor rooftop lounge with a full kitchen and pool table, as well as a outdoor rooftop lounge with a fire pit and TV.
It felt so bougie. I felt like I was living the life of someone else for the trip, someone to whom these things were normal. It was a nice change of pace. If I'm honest, this trip was a month after a break up, so I was really happy to be in such a nice place that was far away from home.
(I was gonna make the photos smaller, but you have to see them in all their glory. Just look at those rooftop views!)
The esthetic was absolutely my thing! Each common room was filled with vibrant colours, clashing patterns, and endless eccentric decorations. This chaotic style of interior design was definitely up my alley. My own home is filled with a variety of geometric patterns and abstract art pieces, so it felt cozy.
As nice as these common rooms were though, the one downside was that they didn't have any WIFI. If you wanted to do work outside of your room, it had to be on data, which I didn't have at the time. It was still nice though.
While writing this blog post, I discovered this location is now closed permanently. Couldn't tell you why though.
The Hilton
The night we arrived, we decided to go across the street to the restaurant at the Hilton for some nums. It is always hard for me to find anything I can eat anywhere I go, but thankfully the Hilton had this gorgeous plate of Hummus.
I can't remember if we had some chips or veggies for dipping, but I do remember loving the hummus. The portion was massive, so mom and I enjoyed it together and ended up taking a bunch of it back to the hotel with us.
This hotel also had a little market in the lobby. It made getting snacks and drinks a lot easier since I had to go through this hotel for the SkyWay anyway.
The SkyWay
Speaking of, the SkyWay is the largest continuous skyway system in the world at 9.5 miles (~15km) long and covering over 80 city blocks. Thankfully, there are maps all along the SkyWay and there is a downloadable PDF map you can take with you as you explore.
If I had to compare the SkyWay to anything, I'd say it is very similar to the PATH in Toronto in that it is a huge path that connects all of downtown without needing to go outside.
The main difference between the two, though, is most of the SkyWay is a series of glass walkways above street level, whereas the PATH is, in my experience, a lot more ground level or underground tunnels.
I couldn't tell you how grateful I was for the SkyWay in Minneapolis. I don't think I would've left the hotel at all without it as Minneapolis felt very unsafe when I was there. This was why I ended up being really happy about the tight security at the MintHouse.
Thanks to the SkyWay, there were only two time I needed to be on the street. The first one was to get to the nearest SkyWay entrance in the Hilton hotel across the street from the MintHouse. The second was when I was going to/from the hotel on the transit to/from the airport.
Maybe it's because I am Canadian, but downtown Toronto during the day doesn't scare me. The downtowns in major American cities though, are definitely not places to be, both during the day and especially during the evening.
Downtown Austin felt super unsafe too, but I wasn't staying anywhere near downtown when I was there. In Minnesota however, we were in the heart of downtown Minneapolis. If you're like me, I don't recommend staying right downtown if you can avoid it.
That said though, I'm still glad we chose the location we did. I don't think the hotel nearer to the conference would've offered as many experiences.
But as I was saying, the SkyWay helped me see a bunch of Minneapolis while still feeling safe. It's a beautiful way to experience the city.
If you know me, you know I went to the nearest Starbucks first because how can you explore without an iced peach green tea lemonade?
I went to the target in the SkyWay, which happens to be the flagship store, and got a stereotypical tourist USA sweater. I spent a lot of time wandering around the Nicolett mall, and saw a lot of caribou coffee shops all throughout the SkyWay.
There's a ton of beautiful artwork all along the SkyWay and the streets of Minneapolis too. Sadly, I didn't take any photos of it, so if you go, take pictures and send me all the beautiful pieces you find!
The Loop WestEnd
I was invited to tag along for one of the work dinners my mom and her colleagues were going to. We went to a restaurant called The Loop WestEnd.
On the way to the restaurant, we decided to take an Uber since it was half an hour away on the transit and only 10 minutes by car. The company was paying for our expenses, so we figured why not take a car.
The Uber we got just so happened to be Tesla, one of my favourite cars purely on esthetic (I don't know much about cars). It felt so bougie to be in a Tesla, on the way to a company dinner. Honestly, a lot of this trip felt bougie to me.
Once at the restaurant, I remember the staff being so kind and accommodating for my allergies (lactose and gluten) as well as my dietary restrictions (strict vegetarian at the time). I ended up ordering the Kung Pao, with some modifications, and it was so good!
The portion was so big that I ended up taking half of it back to the hotel with me and having it for breakfast before heading to the airport the next day.
Before going to this work dinner, I got all dolled up. Why? Because why not? I find I don't have many chances to do that nowadays.
We were in Austin for the second time prior to this trip to Minneapolis and while there, I picked up a few dresses I found at a thrift store called Austin Pets Alive. I wore the green one and, since I always travel with a pair of heels for moments just like these (didn't know I was going until the day of), I wore black heels.
Like I said earlier, I was going through a break up at the time, so getting to go to a nice dinner, all dressed up to the nines, in a Tesla felt worlds better than being back home.
My dad often says "your problems won't just go away by going to a different place". While that is true, a break from them - a chance to be someone else for a while - or trading them for others, may just be what you need to keep going.
Have you ever been Minneapolis? How was your experience?
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