BEERS!
I’ve not yet begun to wade through all the comments. Will there be praise? Nays? Virgin sacrifice? Nine lords a leapin’? Booze faucets with single malt scotch in them?
Booze faucets are an amazing thing. Why? Because they exist. I went to Cabo for a wedding a few years back, and in each hotel room, there were five bottles of liquor affixed upside down to the wall with a little spigot thingie. Free booze? In a faucet? Sign me up!
At any rate, back to the point at hand: I had a little tantrum. It was an offshoot of a larger tantrum brought on by working 20 hours straight.
Who needs sleep, anyway? It’s for suckers! That’s what we insomniacs tell ourselves as we think about all the people who are sleeping without consequence, and who are mocking us as they snore. Bastards. We hate them.
I’m so tired, my mind is misfiring like… like… something that misfires a lot.
I wonder how much whisky I can drink before I fall down? (Spoiler alert!) It’s a lot!
Here’s the clip I tried to post earlier, but which was disabled:
So who’s cringing out there? Raise your hand! Now slap yourself with it.
I’m not going anywhere, so you better figure out where your scroll button is and use it.
Oh, and just so this post doesn’t seem entirely meaningless, I’ll throw a question out to you BJ-lifers (am I becoming one? The horror! The horror!). How about… unexpected luxuries while traveling: It doesn’t matter where you went; what niceties surprised you and made your trip more enjoyable?
I’ll start:
BOOZE FAUCETS.
[This post was brought to you by the letters A D and D, as well as every punctuation mark I could summon. Kisses, ABL]
burnspbesq
Powell’s bookstore in Portland. Unreal. You could spend an entire weekend in that place.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I took your earlier post to refer to your continued hiatus, people projected a lot of emo, I thought.
Free booze? In a faucet? Sign me up!
I’d be dead in a month.
Hunter Gathers
That time I found two joints in one of the dresser drawers at a seedy motel in Oklahoma. Fucking. Awesome.
slank
ABL, I am glad you are sticking around & it takes a fair quantity of rum to set me on my ass too.
AWL!!
Karen
I went to Canada and stayed at a Radisson in Toronto.
The room was actually a suite which was the first unexpected thing. The even better thing was the Sleep Number bed.
For that weekend I got to feel really really spoiled and I loved every minute of it. I promised myself that once I had some money I’d get a sleep number bed.
That was two years ago and with this economy there is no way that will happen. Still, it was nice to imagine what it would be like to be able to afford a luxury like that.
CT Voter
Having a balcony to sit out on at the Century Plaza in Los Angeles.
In November.
Made the whole conference I was at bearable.
suthrnboy
Almost as good as finding free fauceted liquor in your hotel room is finding the room carpet-less. Tile or hardwood floors in hotel/motel rooms should be standard issue in the US, as I hear it is in Europe and know it is in Tobago. Its a sanitation thing.
mistermix
Wine spigot, in the wall, we called it “wall wine”. Not bad. Geneva, NY (in the Finger Lakes wine country).
Hal
Is this how the next two years is going to be? I fear Dems will spend so much time fighting amongst themselves we won’t even notice there’s a general election going on, and the Repubs will slip in a barely passable candidate [i.e. not Sarah Palin] in and we’ll really be up shits creek.
Right now, Kos has a 1100 plus comment diary up quoting Howard Zinn’s statement that Obama wasn’t going to be a good President, and is therefor dangerous, followed by such helpful suggestions like Obama resigning and of course; primary challenges by Feingold.
Another actually quotes a brilliant political strategist who only has the Dems best interests in mind when he suggests again, that Feingold will primary Obama. Who is it? Lindsay Graham.
It’s going to be a fun 2 years…
CT Voter
Oh, and ABL? I think you’re an awesome addition to the Ballooners. Please don’t leave.
jacy
You know what would be an unexpected luxury while traveling for me? Traveling. I’m chained in my corner for the foreseeable future. (I just pretend I’m an isolated scientist working on a cure for my life sucking.)
We did take a car trip to Colorado to visit family this summer – with 2 kids under 10 in the back seat of a Pontiac Vibe for 72 driving hours. Unexpected luxury? No one ended up dead.
But I’ll join you in the drinking, I’ve got some leftover local craft beers and a half bottle of Reisling, all in preparation for tonight’s Fringe, when Peter find out he was sleeping with Fauxlivia. Whee!
Neutron Flux
Everything about the Alaskan Railroad vacation package.
Odie Hugh Manatee
Yer misfiring like a GM four cylinder engine with a waste-spark ignition system that has a bad coil box?
IOW, intermittently running on two cylinders.
Glad to see you’re still angry! :)
Xecky Gilchrist
my mind is misfiring like… like… something that misfires a lot.
pocketa-pocketa-queep-pocketa-queep
CA Doc
I once went to a meeting of association executives, ie people who put on meetings, at a nice resort in San Diego. Soon after getting to my room there was a knock on the door and I was given chips, salsa and a pitcher of mojitos. Took me a few minutes to realize this was probably not usual operating procedure for this resort, but rather over the top kissing up in hopes of snagging some meetings for their property. The fawning continued all weekend. It was awesome, especially since I’m not an association executive and have no say whatsoever in who meets where.
martha
This won’t mean much to you ABL being a left coaster and all, but to a midwesterner, to be able to sit on the terrace of the Gloria Ferrer winery in Sonoma County, overlooking the valley, and drinking her best “sparkling wines” (which are pretty damn good) in November is just awesome. It would be hotter than hell in the summer and not nearly as wonderful. But on a temperate day in the fall/spring…heaven.
JPL
I just had some hot cocoa and I plan on reading for awhile.
ABL Get some rest. We need your rants around here.
Jager
Driving in a snowstorm for 6 hours, trying to find a room, no luck at 5 or 6 hotels, its one in the morning, I pull into a Marriott in Buffalo, they have one room left, a 1 bedroom suite at the single room price. I drank three jacks and water, ate some peanutbutter crackers and slept until 11, had breakfast in bed and I was home in Boston in time for dinner…the highway department in NY can really plow snow!
gnomedad
I’ll have what the lady
on the floorwriting this post is having.Jim, Foolish Literalist
Oh, on topic, I do like those oil-can shower heads.
@Hal: I just love these fanciful primary challenges: St Russ just lost a statewide election, as an incumbent, so let’s run him nationally! No, wait, Alan Grayson! Down the Drain With Dennis! Or how about Al Gore, ’cause the same people who told us there was no difference between Gore and Bush will save us from Obama! Howard Dean, Mr Charisma! Oh, and while we’re at it, let’s piss off every African American voter to the left of Thomas Sowell for three generations! That’ll teach the Republicans!
PurpleGirl
Back when I worked as a paralegal I was on an contract arbitration case which was holding its hearings at a golf resort/conference center outside Phoenix (The Wigwam). This place was the most luxurious I’ve ever stayed at. When I called room service, they answered “How can I help you Ms (my name)”. They had golf carts making circuits of the grounds to pick you and take you to your destination. My firm’s client paid for everyone to have their own room — read small studio-like apartment. Based on what other paras had told me about their travel experiences, I wasn’t expecting this.
RinaX
Hi, Angry Black Lady, a Snarky Black Lady here and, seriously, don’t bring that emo shit again. Otherwise, like your posts.
bozack
Ohhh, OK, unexpected luxuries. For a sec I thought you were comparing yourself to free wireless internet on airplanes. I was like, “ABL’s pretty darn awesome, and all, but…”
Well, unexpected TV on the plane on the way to DC a couple days before the inauguration, allowing me to watch OT Big Ten basketball and the pre-inauguration concert, was pretty great.
Having lived in the Caribbean spoiled me a bit, though. Weather stuff, and tile floors, don’t really do it for me anymore.
smiley
Traveling between central Mexico and the Yucatan, I stayed in a hovel/hotel besides the railroad tracks where the toilet paper was newspaper. That was awesome.
Tattoosydney
Yay!
Yep – Banks Mansion Hotel in Amsterdam – bottles of free whiskey, gin and vodka in each room, with fixings, even more free booze downstairs in the lobby, along with free food three times a day. The only thing they didn’t supply was the dope, and that, I suspect, was because there were three coffee shops within a block or so. Best holiday ever.
kdaug
Drove through Monarch Pass on the way to Crested Butte, CO for a ski trip in the middle of January. In a snowstorm. Without adequate chains.
Lot’s of fun sliding on roads with 400 ft dropoffs, but didn’t die.
Definitely made our trip more enjoyable. (The not dying part, that is).
Unabogie
@Hal:
Hal, I’m right there with you, buddy. I keep trying to get those guys to wrap their heads around the idea that if they’re mad at what they Republicans are doing, they ought to be taking it out on the Republicans. It’s like: Boehner suggests kids with no money should be shot?
Obama!!! Why have you caved on the dead street urchin law!!!
This reminds me soooo much of Nader in 2000. People there are starting to use the “no difference between the parties” line. Really? What the fuck? Cheney? Addington? Torture? Iraq? Warrantless wiretapping? Katrina? Financial catastrophe?
It was just two years ago! Is it really so hard to remember that far back?
What does it take to get through to these people?
dr. bloor
My TSA agent agreed to put on an Anne Hathaway mask and velvet gloves for the security check.
Jager
The best unexpected luxury story, I’ve ever heard is from a pal of mine who is a member of the Fairmont President’s Club. He got stuck with a room by the elevator shaft next to the maid’s closet, called the desk and pitched a bitch. Next thing he knew the bellman was at the door and moved him to an upgraded room. The suite was so big it had a damn piano in it. He was in it for three days at the normal room rate. He liked it so much he had his wife fly down for a night!
Breth
Wow. Just….wow :)
Suck It Up!
@Hal: \
Forgive them, they are hurting and need validation.
JAHILL10
@CT Voter: I second this, with bells on. Don’t leave, please!
Most recent travel happiness was the trip to San Francisco I took with my husband this last spring. Bargain basement hotel deal turned out to be beautiful luxury room, plus fresh seafood, plus baseball games, plus one of the most clean polite, beautiful cities I’ve ever visited. If there had been liquor spigots on the walls I’d still be there.
AliceBlue
Mr. AliceBlue and I took a trip to DC years ago. I assumed we would be staying in our usual Holiday Inn-type hotel, but Mr. AB had gotten a good deal at the L’Enfant Plaza. Gorgeous view of the Potomac, furniture that looked like well cared for antiques, and a television and telephone in the bathroom. Not to mention the Lindt and Toblerone chocolate bars in the mini bar.
frosty
Similarly to Jager#18: Left Canyon de Chelly in the evening, ’cause we didn’t like the campground, figured we’d stop at a motel on the way to Grand Canyon. Every motel was booked. At 9:00 PM, after looking at the line of the people at the desk of the 3rd or 4th one we hit, we pulled out a campground guide and found the Navajo Nat’l Monument near Kayenta.
About 2 hours later we’re looking out the window of the popup at the moon and stars, the boys asleep in the other bunk and just thinking what a marvel it was that we were lying in bed … not like those other suckers still driving around looking for motel rooms that weren’t there.
Oh, and the campground was on the Navajo res, and it was free!
Angry Black Lady
thanks, peeps. i’m really not looking to have smoke blown up my arse. i just needed a little levity.
i’m so tired that i’m wide awake! blargh!
@Jager: i joined the fairmont president’s club. i should talk to your friend. i’m still not quite sure what it gets me.
i do love staying in hotels. i like that the drapes are so think that they don’t let any light in and you can sleep ALL DAY.
well, you can.
i clearly can’t.
WyldPirate
@mistermix:
That’s a nice place, mistermix. I’ve stayed there. Nice room on front right. I think it was turret-shaped wing, but can’t remember. Had too much wine from the faucet. ;)
What’s the name of that place?
Chauncey Baker
You know how I travel? The fucking internet. One of my main destinations…B-J, and after I leave the red-light district in Amsterdam I come over here to read what the Balloon-Juice front pagers are whining about.
You, ABL, are a God Damn fucking national treasure. If I weren’t so lazy I’d make it over to your site to read you daily. But I’m a fucking American…it’s my right to be lazy, and a hypocrite, and an asshole. So stay here so I don’t have to work, even the tiniest little bit.
Now that Cole guy…talk about whiny!…I bet you could put him in a room with 10 booze faucets and he’d still complain that the vermouth was too sweet and at the same time too dry. Typical American!
Omnes Omnibus
Hotel Mercure Roma Corso Trieste in Rome. $85 a night, 3 star. A Priceline find. After taking an overnight train from Paris to Rome with singing Italian students in the next compartments, stumbling through the train station which is not, I say not, adequately marked, and taking a bus full of sweaty people to across town, walking into this place was wonderful.
lamh32
This is so not for nothing, but I’m watching Wonder Woman right now, and I am realizing that Lyle Waggoner was kind of a hottie for a 70’s white guy!!
Plus that damn invisible airplane with what is obviously the Wonder Woman doll figurine flying it was so silly, it just makes me laugh.
MattMinus
OK, so the last post was just attention whoring then, huh?
Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
In Switzerland, after a loooooong day hiking up and down mountains (tip: down hurts more), my husband and I limped into a restaurant and ate awesome beef in cream sauce and rosti. When we cleaned our plates, they brought us seconds. That was awesome.
Also, snore-mocking is a skill I have not mastered, but I can mock-snore like nobody’s business.
Tattoosydney
@Angry Black Lady:
Kinky.
Mnemosyne
When we went to visit family this summer, I discovered that the hotel we were spending one night in had a couple of bicycles to rent and lots and lots of Rails to Trails within two blocks.
Sure, it was a crappy bike from Target that made strange rattling noises, but I still almost didn’t get back until it was time to check out.
Oh, and this past summer, when we went back to the bed and breakfast we always stay at in Santa Barbara, they gave us a bottle of wine and a box of chocolates for our fifth anniversary with them. That was very nice.
birthmarker
Once while taking the wrong route to Sanibel we ended up in a chain hotel in Perry, Florida. Imagine our surprise when there was basically a full bar in the lobby–mixed drinks, beer, wine and snacks–all complimentary.
JAHILL10
@frosty: SOunds awesome. Next time take me along!
Quaker in a Basement
@kdaug: Monarch pass? No chains?
You crazy or what?
Quaker in a Basement
Pune, India. Room service. By day three, we weren’t even ordering any more. They’d just show up at the door with something fantastic.
Also, the laundry service. For about $.25 US, they’d starch your shirts so stiff you could sail ’em like a frisbee.
John - A Motley Moose
My brother and I were on the second day of a week-long canoe trip when we discovered a nearly full roll of toilet paper left at a campsite by some other campers. We had discovered our lack of foresight the first day of the trip. Dried oak leaves do not make an adequate substitute.
Quaker in a Basement
@Tattoosydney:
I’m gonna regret asking, but if that’s where it goes in, where does it come out?
Calouste
@Omnes Omnibus:
Mercure is a pretty useful chain. Modern, comfy and clean. Quite a few of them are really 4 star hotels but only rated 3 star because they don’t have their own restaurant (which you won’t really care about because those are the ones in the city centre at walking distance of dozens of restaurants.)
scav
So long as you insist on “unexpected” it was being bumped to (at least) business class on British Air on an international flight and with a cute steward who called me luv and coddled me for the rest of the flight. Orrrr, wait, discovering heated towel racks in the UK during the late 70s. That’s it: heated towel racks.
SiubhanDuinne
I hate to admit this, but on my first quick read-through I read “scroll button” as “scrotum.”
Luxury while travelling? I have been a low-level functionary for some very high-level government dignitaries on occasion, and sometimes hotels aren’t quite sure who’s important and who can safely be dissed, so they default to “treat everyone in the delegation like a VIP.” I’ve stayed in some awesomely beautiful and comfortable suites through being attached to a retinue.
Mostly, though? “Wow, free shampoo! Cool!”
Roger Moore
The jetted tub in my room at Ruby’s Inn in Bryce. Bryce was beautiful, but cold enough to freeze my camera’s autofocus motor. After being out in that weather for a few hours, it was fantastic to come in and soak in a nice, hot jetted tub for a while.
Jager
@Angry Black Lady:
ABL…I think the deal is if you are somebody like my friend who (at the time was on the road getting his business started) was staying in their hotels around a 100 nights a year. If you’re spending that kind of money, Fairmont will stand on their head for you or at least bend over backwards or something. He liked Fairmont because they have those free meeting rooms usually attached to the President’s Club. He could invite prospective clients and have a place to meet with free coffee, breakfast, snacks and the bar would open around 4. I’ve run that scam a time or two, in fact, I did 5 meetings in row one day at the Fairmont in Newport Beach.
Omnes Omnibus
@Calouste: The Yotel in Schiphol airport is pretty cool too.
Angry Black Lady
@RinaX: yes ma’am! never again.
Angry Black Lady
@SiubhanDuinne: that should be some sort of testicle cancer awareness slogan or something.
Chris
Swissotel…downtown Chicago in Feb…Snow coming down, looking out the full glass wall at the Navy Pier..Sliding around in the eleventy million thread count sheets.
Grover Gardner
I read your earlier post with dismay, but I was at work and couldn’t really delve into the comments.
I’ve gravitated to BJ for several years now, ever since someone posted a song about “Sharia” in the comments that made me choke with laughter. (Whatever happened to that fellow?) I like the mix of political spikiness and mushy animal love. I’ve even enjoyed the ED Kain scandal/melee/frisson. Often I don’t read the comments because I’m not in the mood for brawling (it used to be a wittier crowd, frankly–could folks take note?) so I missed the unpleasantness, but please ignore it and continue posting. I very much like your contributions.
S. cerevisiae
All I can say is go take your honeymoon in Costa Rica. If they know you are honeymooners they will treat you like royalty (although Ticos and Ticas are awesome all the time).
Ripley
The inkjet-printed, butt-centric pr0n stashed under the entertainment center, The Luxor, Las Vegas, summer 2003. Good times, good times.
Wait, what?
Grover Gardner
Oh, and as for bookstores in the Northwest, yes Powell’s in Portland is wonderful but a bit of a headache to navigate. Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle is a store I would cross the country to browse in. I love bookstores but I don’t always go nuts. But my wife and I came away from Elliot Bay with–literally–armloads of books. We practically filled the back of the station wagon for the drive back to Medford. They’ve moved so I don’t know if they’ve preserved the specialness, but at the old store you could pass table after table of irresistible books on all sorts of compelling topics. We were just grabbing stuff right and left. Probably the most fulfilling browsing experience for the eclectic reader I’ve ever had in a bookstore.
Tattoosydney
@Quaker in a Basement:
In a purely theoretical sense, I suspect it doesn’t. More detail would probably involve detailed discussion of mucus membranes and their superior absorptive qualities.
ETA: and lead to an warning of the resulting danger of the vodka enema.
iriedc
DH had a 4 month posting in Guam in 2002… I joined him for a week,the Hotel had all you can eat food EVERY night including excellent seafood. I gain weight just thinking about it.
P.S. Glad you’re here. If you left I’d just follow you back to ABL, after getting my daily dose of BJ.
Anne Laurie
@Quaker in a Basement: __
Check the early ‘cudlips’ thread.
kdaug
@Quaker in a Basement:
Not NO chains, just horribly inadequate POS plastic things we got with a rental in Texas (ie, not enough to keep any control on the ice & snow in a blizzard).
Crazy? Guilty as charged – though in my defense I was in my early-20s at the time, so the stupid ran deep with the lot of us.
Nothing quite like arriving safely after a white-knuckled drive like that, though.
Jager
@frosty:
On our way back from Colorado a few years ago, Mrs J and I had reservations there, didn’t stay, flash flood warnings! We ended up driving (through the desert in a rainstorm) to our friend’s house in Scottsdale, we were welcomed with wine and a nice lasagna dinner…
Its one helluva of long drive from Telluride to Scottsdale when half of its in a rainstorm, ever see the lightning shows in the desert…wow!
Omnes Omnibus
@kdaug: I once road from north of Nuremberg to Kitzbuhel, Austria in a car with driver who had no night vision. We averaged over 100 mph and that includes a long stretch on two lane mountain roads. I navigated by saying “A little left… good… right, right, RIGHT… okay good….” When we walked into the Londoner, much drinking ensued. In some ways, it amazing I survived my 20s.
mistermix
@WyldPirate: Bellhurst (sp?) Castle
Gin & Tonic
@Jager:
Ahem. Driving from Buffalo to Boston, that’s not the NY highway dept — that’s the Thruway’s own plowing crew. The Thruway is a toll road. Cue ED Kain…
Anyway, I drive the Thruway fairly often, and there really *is* something to be said for paying a toll.
ruemara
hawt tub. I visited Arizona in the early 90’s to check out UoP and discovered the wonderful joy that is the hot tub. Not only that, no one else was trying to use it, so me and mine had the whole thing to ourselves for the whole week. We would grab food and sit in the hot tub while the sun set. Best vacay.
Jager
@Gin & Tonic:
Okay, those Thruway guys can really plow snow, they really can!
Angry Black Lady
@MattMinus: in a word: no.
frosty
@Jager:
On that same trip we saw a lightning bolt hit in the New Mexico desert a few hundred yards away from the van. Awesome.
The awesomest though was the stars in the desert night sky on the way road into the Navajo NM campground. I stopped, turned off the lights, told the boys to cover their eyes, got them out and looking up, and then take their hands off their eyes.
One of those moments you don’t forget.
Zuzu's Petals
@burnspbesq:
Hey, just Portland is a nice surprise.
NineJean
Oh, my. Don’t go away… I’m usually way too late reading the posts here to think anyone might care if I comment. But I do read.
And as to whiskey… I spent about an hour of my time on Monday morning standing in line – in the rain, no less – to score a couple of bottles of McCarthy’s Oregon Single Malt. Sold out after less than three hours, wonderful stuff, it is. I understand they’re shipping some elsewhere; find it if you can…
It’s going to be cold here this winter, think two bottles won’t be enough, dangit!
Jager
@frosty:
On that trip Mrs J, the dog and I back packed well above tree line and spent the night at close to 14k feet (the GSD was about 5 at the time and he was much slower than usual, as were we) the stars were spectacular, the weather was perfect, still and around 40 degrees. We fell asleep and I snapped awake two or three times that night because the falling stars were so bright they seemed like spotlights sweeping the tent.
BruceFromOhio
Booze faucets and Walter Mitty in one thread.
Fvcking juicers.
Unexpected: sitting in the sand in the blazing sun on the beach at Anna Maria, discussing the finer points of Tom Clancy’s writing with my uncle, with my cousins in various states of lazy arrangement around us. In January.
Bonus: At the bar that night, piles of quarters ready for billiards, and the waitress asking us all for ID. The eleven of us reside in eleven different states. By the fifth ID, she looked up at the group and asked, ‘are these all fake, or what?’
suzanne
Last year, I flew to Munich—but the first leg of the flight was a non-stop from Phoenix to London. A long-ass flight, to say the least, and I HATE flying, I typically white-knuckle the entire flight. I was on antibiotics at the time, and couldn’t drink a drop. Severe turbulence in two places… the worst I’ve ever experienced. Drinks flying off the tray tables, people hitting their heads, I screamed out loud, etc.
But… but… they brought me a toothbrush and toothpaste, and some bottled water. At that moment, brushing my teeth made everything all right with the world.
It made up for my worst airplane experience in recent years: flying to San Jose for my husband’s high school reunion, two passengers (one in the front of the plane, the other in the back) had simultaneous and unrelated medical emergencies that led to much screaming and freakout.
BruceFromOhio
@dr. bloor:
FTW!
Ozymandias, King of Ants
Emergency brain surgery and 24 days in the Ukrainian equivalent of an ICU for $3,375 (US). Payment had to made in US dollars, but the embassy kept my family members with a steady supply.
Given that the “ICU” had no potable water on tap, I doubt you’d find that a luxury, but I do have to say that it was extremely nice given the situation.
Redshift
Best unexpected travel luxury: We once drove out to the western edge of Pennsylvania (one border of the town was the Ohio line) for a wedding and when we arrived the night before, quite late, they had lost our hotel reservation. The desk clerks, in their muddled way, were apologetic and trying to figure out what they could do for us when the night manager came out and said “give them that” and they handed us a key.
We went to the room and opened the door, and immediately realized there was something wrong with the room: there was no bed in it. Then we noticed the spiral staircase going up, and found the full-size whirlpool and very nice king-size bed.
As a bonus, it meant we also knew where the couple was staying on their wedding night, although we and their other friends decided to be nice and not go sing outside their window…
Jman
An old town with a bike shop and rental road bikes with one my size and free all weather bike route maps and beautiful shoulders on the coastal highway and pizza at the turn around and tail winds both directions and sunshine and cool ocean breeze with sand beaches and golden retrievers romping on the shore next to the white waves rolling in from the blue Pacific.
Taylormattd
Yay! So glad to hear this ABL. Best news I’ve heard all day. Also, you’ve inspired me to purchase booze on the way home. Ok that’s a lie, I was going to purchase it anyway.
xjmueller
Back in the early 90s I took a late Sunday flight to Baltimore for a conference and arrived around 11:30 pm. Apparently, they didn’t have any more tiny government-rate rooms left, so they gave me a four room suite. There was a phone and tv in every room, including the john. It (the suite not the john) was big enough to have friends over to watch Twin Peaks – sofas, comfy chairs, etc. While it was an older hotel north of Harbor Place, it was still pretty nice, and the room had a bit of view – overlooked a little park. I think I paid $60/night for it. That don’t happen often.
btw – glad you’re sticking around.
RalfW
As a college student who made literally like $5/hr, my Urban Studies prof invited me to Reno to help deliver a paper we co-authored. Unusual for an undergrad. Well, dude was the chair of this giant association of 1,000s of academics, and he had heavy sway in picking the conference hotel each year.
So he got a suite at the MGM Reno. And I got a Jr suite. Free. Awesome for a 20 year old who looked, in a blazer, just barely 21 enough. Heh heh.
Origuy
Three friends and I stayed in a condo in Whistler this summer for a week. We could walk to most of our events and all of the resort area. It was something like $400 for all of us, including the hot tub, propane grill on the balcony, etc. The unexpected luxury was the Japanese toilet with all the gadgetry. Gotta get one of those.
On the topic of nice places to stay, I got a room at the Palmer in Chicago a few years ago between Christmas and New Years. They were doing construction, so it was really cheap (except for the parking garage!) The room wasn’t big enough to swing a cat, but it was luxury in miniature. The Palmer is one of those classic old hotels where celebrities stay.
Another nice old place is the Moore Hotel in Seattle. I wouldn’t call it luxurious, but it has charm, is well kept, and cheap, especially the rooms sans bath. A very European feel, and right in the tourist area.
sven
Japanese hotels have these and they are awesome.
jerry 101
honeymoon in Rio. We had enough Marriott points to stay at JW Marriott on Copacabana beach.
Sad part – we angled for a free upgrade to the Honeymoon Suite when we made the reservation. They said maybe, but no dice when we arrived. Heck, we didn’t even get a room with a beach view.
Unexpected luxury part. We were marked as VIP’s. Free access to the lounge for special guests – free beer, free Caipirinhas, free hors d’oerves and free breakfast. Good stuff, too. From sushi to Brazilian treats that I can’t even describe. And lots of fresh papaya and mango and other tasty treats.
Plus, if we went to any restaurants in the hotel, which we did for dinner one night and drinks another, we got free stuff – a free maki roll at the sushi place, and a very, very tasty desert when we went for drinks.
Oh, and for our honeymoon, the hotel sent us a comp bottle of champagne and some really, really good cake.
Not too shabby, given that our hotel bill amounted to all of 0 reaiis.
Too bad that we had just about the worst weather possible in Rio. Rained off and on all but one day of our time there.
mclaren
Once again, proof ABL is the best writer on Balloon Juice.
Angry Black Lady
@mclaren: once again, proof that you haven’t figured out how to use your scroll button.
miwome
Firstly and foremost…ly: this post cracked me up. I’ve tried to answer the important life question, how much whiskey can I drink before I fall down, but it never ends well. I can never get anybody to keep count.
Secondly, unexpected travel luxury? I was flying from Chicago to Damascus, Syria via London because I was about to spend a summer in Damascus for study abroad. Needless to say, that is a loooong way to fly (about 18 hours not counting layover, IIRC), overnight, yada yada.
One other girl was flying with me. On the first leg of the flight, which was the overnight leg, she got upgraded–for no reason, just for funsies–to business class. And this is not just any business class. This is British Airways business class, where the seats will go all the way down flat and you don’t have to see more than one other person the entire flight and you will actually sleeeeep. So here I am staring at her like a puppydog with my jaw on the floor, and somehow I guess we were blessed with the one airline rep with a soul because she looked at me and said, “You two together?” and upgraded me immediately while I nodded furiously for the next twenty minutes.
As a result, we made it there in solid, not liquid form, and still able to remember our own names. That was pretty much the unexpected luxury.
Mwangangi
I was flying out of the Orlando airport and I got pulled out of line and I expected to receive a full service rubdown but it was only because new line opened so I got through quicker than I expected to.
My name is Arabic.
drunken hausfrau
WHERE IS THIS BOOZE FAUCET HOTEL??? I MUST KNOW THE NAME OF IT RIGHT NOW!!!! You cannot imagine my extreme jealousy….
Betty Cracker
On the rare occasions that I leave The Compound, I stay in cheap dives that do not offer amenities such as booze faucets. (They don’t even “leave the light on fer ya” as advertized, the liars…)
Booze faucets? They’d never dislodge me. My expectations are so low that I’m bowled over by chocolates on the pillow in the fancier joints I visit by crashing someone else’s vacation.
I did go on a cruise once, and my dinner leftovers were wrapped in tinfoil and shaped into an aluminum swan. Oh, and they wrapped a hand towel into the shape of a dog somehow and put my sunglasses on it. Cute!
Trinity
We are departing tomorrow for an all-inclusive resort in Jamaica to celebrate the hubby’s 40th. All-inclusive means ‘dranks’ are covered too so I have basically packed nothing but bikinis, sunscreen, b-vitamin complex and advil.
If they have booze faucets…I may never return.
susteph
i heart you, abl. don’t ever leave. you complement john’s cranky white guy [cwg] perfectly.
and fluffy robes in the park plaza in nyc were kind of fun.
not as much fun as booze faucets would have been, mind you, but fun.
where is the booze faucet place again?
kc
Yay, you’re back!
liz
haha, sounds like the best vacation ever… hope the wedding was nice too, lol. Thanks for sharing, really enjoyed reading :)