Given that we’ve just spent six nights camping, folding tents and stuffing sleeping bags and stumbling off to less than immaculate shared facilities every morning, we’d be pretty easy to impress with accommodations. A narrow bed with more than a half an inch of padding would have done me nicely, and a bathroom that maybe fewer than a dozen people share.
That’s not to say we’re not totally pleased with our landing pad. It’s swell, more than swell. We’ve got a three bedroom, two point five bathroom condo on the 38th floor. Right now, I’m overlooking the Navy Pier, last night I watched the giant Ferris wheel light up in patterns. I can see up the river to the Chicago Trib building, Trump Tower is just there.
I’m sleeping solo in a king-sized bed that you could pitch our tent on and still have room left over. I have my own bathroom. There’s a full kitchen and a washer and dryer and a staggering amount of closet space. We’ve got wifi and cable TV and outlets, which have been at a premium, are everywhere. Kelly actually got lost looking for the bathroom, no lie. Okay, our space has been small.
Our stay is sponsored by HomeAway, a vacation rental booking site. I hope you’ll believe me when I tell you that even had we not found a sponsored stay, I would go this route. You get great conveniences for your money by staying in an apartment. You’re not forced into restaurant food or room service because you’ve got a kitchen. You’re not stuck in a laundromat — you have laundry facilities in your unit. You have space, you don’t have to sit on the bed and watch TV because, hey, you have a living room. You get to go to bed when you want because you can close the door. I can go on and on.
I also hope you’ll believe me when I tell you that I used HomeAway before getting this sponsorship to look up cheap digs for our last trip to Hawaii and could not believe the deals I found. I absolutely recommend the service, I’ve used it, the properties I’ve seen look great, and I’m a big fan of getting out of the generic hotel and into something a bit more interesting, affordable and liberating.
I’ll say it again: We are super grateful for the help from HomeAway AND this is exactly what I’d recommend even without their help. Now, I’m going to make myself another cup of tea and it will not taste the least bit like coffee maker. How great is that?
I really enjoyed following you during your road trip. The Wondermap (and its creator!)deserve capes and seats in the Hall of Justice for their super powers.
Did you guys see the Wienermobile?
I wonder … does Oscar Mayer have ten Wienermobiles, but only eight parking spots?
Self-catering baby, it’s a winner.
The best is when it’s a gite in France, some charmingly tumbledown place, but the sun is shining, the people don’t speak English but can communicate nevertheless and there’s a bakery with a wine section just down the road.
Not that I’m dissing the City of Broad Shoulders or nuttin’. I’m just saying.
Lance Armstrong posted a tweet today stating HomeAway sponsored his family’s hotel stay in Paris this past week.
I am finally going to Chicago for the first time in October. We didn’t get such fancy digs as you did (hell, we have to pay for our accommodations) but have been are renting a cute little studio apartment. Not only is the self-catering thing good it gets us out of the downtown and hotel zone and into a real neighborhood on the north side. I can’t vouch for it in person yet but here’s the link if anyone is interested: http://5705magnolia.com