When describing my travel by the numbers it sure sounds
provocative...
"6 beds in 8 nights"
"3 females in one hotel room"
"Broke the law at 2 hotels"
"Barely had a chance to sleep (if you know what I
mean)"
"Naked 360° panoramic photos taken...and shared"
But, is it really what it seems? Here's my latest travel
experience between Friday 11/30 and Friday 12/7...
Bed 1: Minneapolis
My girls are gymnasts. They compete at different levels so
the "Peppermint Twist" meet was Friday night and Saturday
morning...forcing us to stay in a hotel. Luckily I had enough hotel points to
stay for free at Holiday Express Inn and Suites. It was only one block away
from the Convention Center so it was perfect location. Free breakfast, too! It
was a small room (didn't get the room I booked) so the 6 of us crammed into a
normal hotel room and barely had a chance to sleep with all the kids fit-ful
(and one a nightmare-filled) sleep.
Was it legal to have that many humans in one room? Most
likely not. But my life-long motto is "Ask forgiveness, not
permission".
Results: Girls had 2 very strong events, and are now ready
for state meet (see Bed 6).
Bed 2: Golden Valley
My wife is an actress. The problem is that she doesn't get
to do it much anymore. Our niece played "Little Red" in the musical
"Into The Woods"...and that made my wife cry.
She LOVES that musical (so do I), and her dream is to play a
role in it, but it doesn't appear often around us, so while she was crazy-proud
of her niece, the second she started singing, my wife teared up. it hurts to
see her obviously long to experience something she can't...yet.
We slept on a blowup bed at my wife's brother's house, and
enjoyed a nice morning and then made our way back home that afternoon.
Bed 3: Rochester
A short respite in our lovely,
so-grateful-I-should-scream-but-too-often-I-forget-what-abundance-I-have home.
Bed 4: Las Vegas
Now THIS is a bed!
But, I was only awake in here for about 40 minutes.
I also discovered that the Venetian is the first Vegas hotel
that is not overly sleazy and wanted to spend some time in. For example, I loved the 2nd floor...complete
with "outdoor" italian river walk.
An amazing place...but what a waste without my wife along.
I had a crazy-good dinner at B&B Ristorante, not only
because of the amazing food and wine, but becasue it was FREE! Thanks Gartner!
And finally, I can utter the sweet, sweet words,
"Pre-Check Status" whenever I fly. No more having to walk through the
x-ray camera thing where 360° panoramic naked photos of me are taken then
shared with someone in Washington, DC to check for bombs and guns (can't help
not flexing a bit a the camera swirls around me)
Bed 5: Raleigh
Comfort Suites is my go-to hotel because it gets me points
that my family could use, and it has a free breakfast. My 20 hours in RTP
consisted of arriving at 11:30pm from Vegas, waking at 6:30 for a customer
briefing, all-day demos at IBM, and flight to MSP at 7pm...arriving at home in
Rochester at 10:30pm.
Bed 6: South Minneapolis
The very next morning, we all woke and drove BACK to
Minneapolis. I rarely stay at the Sheraton because IBM doesn't offer discounts,
but since the State Gymnastics meet gave a discount, we stayed there. Good
place. It snowed like crazy the evening we drove up, and since it was another
small room we dropped the boys off at their cousins in Golden Valley, dropped
the girls off at the hotel, then went to our annual Fujiya sushi dinner and
"The New Standards" christmas concert. It was awesome! I simply love
sushi, and the band is always a treat to watch.
The next morning was the State Gymnastics Meet. It was
another awesome/sad meet where one girl got great scores and placed high (14th
overall for bars from 191 competitors), whereas the other girl struggled.
We actually stayed in a 7th bed in 9 days by sleeping in the
guest room of my wife's brother's house. A wonderfully restful end to a crazy
travel week.
~~~~~~~~
There ya go.
So tell me, is that 8 days of travel as glamorous and
attractive as the numbers portrayed?
