Recorded in the beautiful home office of Chateau’ Relaxo.
One trip since the last episode, and it came in the form of a 1500-mile road trip. Chateau’ Relaxo to Ft Oglethorpe, GA to Nashville, TN to Helen, GA, and back to Chateau’ Relaxo.
The Hampton in Ft Oglethorpe, GA gave me a surprise. They offered me an upgrade at check-in and since it was a single-night turn-and-burn I declined. The surprise was when I entered my room, one of the beds was significantly lower than the other one. Upon closer inspection, I found that the bed had only a mattress and no box spring. When I opened the blinds I saw a dumpster with seven or eight box springs and mattresses in it. I checked in mid-restoration
.The next couple of nights were in Nashville, and due to hotel pricing, which we’ll talk about in a bit, I couldn’t, in good conscience, stay downtown. As I pulled into the parking lot I saw yet another dumpster filled with worn hotel furnishings, but in addition to that, there was a building permit sticker plastered on the front door….. My heart sank…. Not again. As I checked in I asked if they were under renovations. They weren’t, the restorations were done, except for the landscaping. The tip-in was that my room looked like it belonged on the West Elm webpage.
It’s been several years since I’ve stayed at a Marriott property and I had forgotten that the toiletries supplied were done so in bulk. Three bottles stuck to the shower wall. I know we’re reducing our carbon footprint, but I want my own bottle of body wash.
Since Nashville was on the agenda, and my last visit was in winter 2021 I decided to throw in five Nashville tips.
* Nashville has been deemed Nash-Vegas due to all the neon signs that grace Broadway. And all the travel guides and experts will encourage you to visit Broadway, which you should, at least once. But don’t overlook the Nashville Zoo, Music Row, Belle Meade Historic Site and if you’re into cars there’s the Lane Motor Museum.
* If you’re into sports and you time it right you can take in ITitans (football), Predators (hockey), Sounds (baseball), or Nashville SC (soccer) game.
* Beyond music, Nashville is a great up-and-coming whiskey town. There are plenty of whiskey tours, they drive, and you drink. George Dickel and Jack Daniels are just south of downtown.
* Here’s a tip I picked up along the way. Hattie B’s, claim to fame is their Nashville hot chicken. No matter when you get there, there will be a long line stretching outside and down the block. Did you know that Hattie B’s offers online to-go ordering, I didn’t. Order online to-go, walk past the line, and enjoy your meal, and the time you just saved by not waiting in a line.
* Try to stay downtown. It’ll be pricy, more on that in a minute, but it’ll be worth it. Nashville is very walkable, but if you visit in the fall bring a jacket as the autumn wind seems to whip between buildings.
From Nashville, my next stop was Flowery Branch, GA. leaving Nashville I had two routes to select from. Nashville south through Chattanooga down to 285 and the up I-85 - 279 mile at least 5 hours not including Atlanta traffic.
The other choice is Nashville south through Chattanooga north to Cleveland, TN and across Lake Ocoee and coming out just above Gainesville, GA 317 miles and just a bit over 5 hours of windshield time.
I took the longer route, and it had been years since I’d taken that route and I forgot how many small towns are scattered across the north Georgia mountains. Sometimes it pays to take the longer route. In the word of Ferris Bueller, “Life Moves Pretty Fast. If You Don't Stop And Look Around Once In A While, You Could Miss It.”
That evening's stop was the Flowery Branch Hampton Inn. My last visit was in 2018 and they didn’t seem the least bit happy that I was back. However, this was the first Hampton Inn where they offered Cookie Time. A plate of warm cookies not individually wrapped on a tray. Grab one or two cookies with the tongs and head to your room. Yes, things are returning to normal.
The last hotel on the trip was another Hampton Inn located in beautiful Demorest, GA. I’ve spent no less than 30 nights here over the course of the last 12 years. The only thing unique about this location is that it took close to three years to complete its renovation.
If you are a fan of the Peleton bike or exercise craze, two of the three Hampton Inn fitness centers had legit Peleton bikes right down to the clip-in pedals.
It’s been 6 or 7 months since the last random show which means it’s time to revisit all the travel randomness.
Going into my 23rd year of business travel there are a few givens.
* The more important it is for your flight to depart or land at the scheduled time the greater the chance that it won’t.
* There are two chances that Hertz will upgrade you to a Porsche 911 or a Mercedes C63 AMG. None and less than none.
* Hotel prices will decrease going into fall and then increase again before Easter.
That last given, seasonal hotel price fluctuation is quickly becoming ungiven.
Fall hotel prices are not decreasing. On this last road trip, I had planned to spend Sunday night in Dalton, GA, but driving 20 miles up I-75 saved $30.00. The same thing with Nashville, I had wanted to stay closer to downtown, but staying north of town near I-24 saved close to $40.00 each night.
The Chateau’ Relaxo corporate marketer wants to spend her birthday in Savannah, GA. A great choice, but she struggled with finding an affordable room. I worked my best hotel price voodoo and the only affordable property I could come up with was the Mansion on Forsyth Park, another great choice part of the Marriott Autograph Collection hotels and one of my favorite Savannah properties. However, it was a distance away from the places she wants to visit. This location left her paying for daily parking, tipping the valet each time she needed her car, or spending the money for rideshare each time she wanted to head to the city center.
Back to my best hotel price voodoo and I found another Marriott Autograph Collection hotel, but this one is on Bay Street near the things she wants to do, and for some reason, I don’t have to pay for daily parking which will save her $45.00 and cover the difference between the two properties.
The takeaway is to decide what the focus of your trip is, food, recreation, convenience, etc. Then factor in things like daily parking fees, tips, and rideshare costs. Not to mention your time. See if your credit card offers discounts, AAA and AARP both offer great discounts.
Stuff you don’t need for travel. While I am a huge fan of HuffPost they could use some real-world assistance when it comes to their travel posts.
On April 17th they posted 32 Things I Guarantee You Won't Regret Having On Hand Next Time You Travel.
Then on April 22nd, they hit us with these 24 Useful Travel Products That Won't Take Up A Lot Of Space In Your Luggage.
56 items or products you need to travel with. Here are just a few of the things you don’t need, I promise.
* An RFID-blocking travel wallet - Is this still something we’re concerned with? This was all the rage 10 years ago and I was gifted one of these wallets. I placed the gifted wallet with my RFID office keys against the RFID food module and it still read my office key.
* AirFly is a wireless transmitter that'll connect your AirPods (or any other wireless headphones) to the headphone jack. This was on both posts and costs $54.00. It’s rare that I ever watch the seatback entertainment on a flight, but if I did I’d purchase a $15.00 pair of SkullCandy headphones.
* Odor eliminators you can stash in your luggage or carry-on. Or I can just was my dirty clothes at the end of a trip. If I was that self-conscious I could throw a couple of dryer sheets into my luggage before my next trip.
* A USB-chargeable fan. Possibly the stupid thing I’ve ever seen. First, is the juice worth the squeeze? This will bleed the juice out of your portable USB phone charger quicker than your phone ever will. Second, what’s more, important posting on social media or warm air blowing across your body?
* Some laundry soap sheets. While these are less than $8.00 I’m here to tell you that I’ve done laundry once while traveling. It was after spending the day rafting the Upper Gauley river.
Now there were a couple of nuggets between the two articles.
* A set of compression packing cubes. I traveled for at least 10 years before I ever purchased these, and I use them on every trip.
* A Wallet Ninja with 18 different functions. The Entrepreneur gave me one of these several years ago and it does have its uses. There’s an eyeglass screwdriver, letter opener, nail puller, ruler, and bottle opener, and it is TSA-approved.
In August the Points Guy posted - ’Til death — or a first-class upgrade — do us part: Testing wedding vows at 35,000 feet.
The author Cameron Sperance started with, “I’m not going to look like the best person in this story.”
The 3700-word post details how Cameron received an upgrade and his husband didn’t and the feelings and emotions that they both experienced.
Cameron summed the post up by asking this. What would you have done in this situation? Or, what have you already done when you cleared the upgrade list, but a loved one didn’t?
I’ve been married for the better part of 35 years and I can easily answer the question of what I would’ve done. I would offer the upgrade to the CEO, and then when she refused I’d pass on it. One of our best trips was when I still flew Delta and all of us were heading to Washington DC I got an upgrade which I quickly handed over to the Entrepreneur, and he had 3 of the best hours of his life.
When I flew Delta I got priority boarding, humble brag, I would still board with her.
Even now when we fly Southwest we pay the $30.00 so she can have early-bird boarding and we board in the same group. I am the giver
This next topic will make my therapist shake his head, or make him realize that he has a steady revenue stream with me as a client. Last May Tanner Saunders from The Points Guy posted Why I love hotel bars, especially when I travel solo.
Tanner spent several paragraphs talking about solo travel but I think he summed up the post up with this.
Hotels, in a way, are a microcosm of the world, and grabbing a bar stool at a hotel bar is like a front-row seat to a show performed in many languages and in many acts happening simultaneously. In one hour you can see a comedy, as a bachelorette party stumbles in from a rowdy night out; a drama, as a couple argues over whose fault it really was they booked plane tickets for an airport that’s actually a good two hours from the city center; or even just raw dialogue between yourself and the bartender — improv, if you will.
Tanner writes more eloquently than I could ever speak but a hotel bar, make that a good hotel bar is people-watching at its best and you can people-watch while you’re enjoying a Diet Coke like the CEO does. My pro tip is to sit at the bar, especially if you’re traveling solo. I’ve yet to meet a bartender that’s an introvert, they welcome conversation, they love to talk about their town and they love to talk about the craziness they see as a hotel bartender.
In late April Lifehacker asked their readers, What Are Your Unwritten Rules of Flying?
The article started off with this;
What airplane etiquette should be universally agreed upon, but other people simply don’t understand?
There are unwritten rules all around us, especially when it comes to marriage. The CEO and I have several, and I guarantee that anyone outside the two of us would never understand.
The reader's comments were along the lines of what you’d expect.
* Don’t carry the bag on the plane if you can’t put it in/get it out of the overhead bin.
* No bare feet. Socks are fine, but no bare feet, and certainly no feet off the ground.
* The center seat gets priority on shared armrests.
* Don’t be the jerk that puts their bag in a forward overhead bin when their seat is near the back of the plane.
My unwritten rules are a bit different.
* If my flight goes out of Gate 110 I never sit in the Gate 110 boarding area, I’ll sit in the 109 or the 111 gate area.
* When entering the plane I always tap the outside of the plane right above the door.
* I always sit on the left side of the plane.
In season 4 of The Office Michael Scott said, I am not superstitious, but I'm a little 'stitious. For me, I'm not even a little 'stitious as to why I do these things but I do.
What are your unwritten travel rules?
A few weeks ago a friend asked if COVID had changed how I travel and of course the easy answer was I guess, and then our conversation switched to something completely different.
My Nashville trip started on September 11th so I was packing on September 10th and during packing, I decided to clean out my laptop bag and came across a handful of masks that I hadn’t worn in months. As I was throwing the masks out I started thinking about the events of 9-11 and the COVID travel conversation I had with my friend a few weeks prior.
I’ve been through two major travel disruptions. With 9-11, I was a baby road warrior and really didn’t know what I was doing when It came to business travel all I knew was that I needed to be at the airport 3-hours before my flight, and more than likely someone was going to inspect my luggage..
With COVID I have noticed a few changes. Probably the biggest change is that I pay attention to cancellation policies with hotel rooms. Hotels have doubled down when it comes to revenue preservation and what better way than forbidding last-minute cancellations.
I don’t book travel as far in advance as I used to. This is changing a bit, as COVID numbers are decreasing but I’m not booking travel 30 and 45 days out. In case you haven’t checked airfare has increased.
I’m doing more road trips, but not for fear of getting sick while flying. The reason is that I don’t miss the hassle of the airport and flight delays.
Piling onto this was a last-minute post from View From the Wing - There’s Less Business Travel Than Airlines Expected, And It’s Going To Stay That Way
The post list several reasons, such as - That means there’s a lot of business travel which no longer makes sense.
* Visiting customers in their office happens less when those customers aren’t in their office.
* Consultants don’t need to spend the week at their client's offices. The “Monday – Thursday consultant travel week” doesn’t exist in the same way anymore.
* More work from home means former office workers have invested in becoming optimized for Zoom, and more meetings can be taken that way. It’s much easier to do Zoom meetings than it used to be, so at the margin, that means fewer in-person meetings.
People are returning to the office, I’ve had three trips in the last five weeks. Yes, travel doesn’t exist as it once did, but I look at it as travel is for good or bad ever evolving.
The Points Guy recently asked - Do you really have to check out of a hotel?
I’ve answered this twice, once in 2016 and again in 2020. Both times my response was that I rarely stop by the front desk to check out. Both episodes centered around being a travel snob, and that not checking out of a hotel doesn’t automatically make you a travel snob.
I’ve done a 180 on this. I now stop by the front desk to checkout, and for a few reasons. First with lifetime status, humble brag, with Hilton and Marriott I shouldn’t be charged for certain amenities parking for one, and Hiltons daily food and beverage charge of up to $15.00. Second, with hotels reducing their housekeeping staff as well as their daily housekeeping service I figured by 7:00 AM checkout might give them a jump on the day. From a time management standpoint, it’s easier to handle a billing error at checkout than it is while your filling out an expense report.
Most hotel apps do offer the ability to checkout without visiting the front desk to actually checkout, and there’s nothing wrong with that either.
There you have it, another random show in the books.
If you want detailed show notes, links and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/
Leave a message onAnchor, or shoot me an email atTravelFrick@gmail.com.
As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.
Thanks for listening.
