I’m staying in a nice little hotel suite this weekend.
Each year for a weekend in October, I’ve been sent off from my condo to a hotel on someone else’s dime. I look forward to this staycation because I’m a girl who LOVES, LOVES, LOVES hotels – luxury hotels. What I love even more is that I don’t have to pay for the hotel stay.
My cousin graduated from a nearby college. My condo is walking distance from his alma mater, so he has me choose a hotel on the other end of town (we do that because it’s more reasonably priced) and pays for me to stay in it while he stays in my condo. This allows him to fully immerse himself in his homecoming weekend festivities and not have to worry about renting a car or dealing with traffic getting to and from the events. Plus, my place is located in a neighborhood that has several lounges, restaurants and cigar bars, so it’s a fun and popular area.
If I’m going to staycate, I’m going to do it in a place that is high-end enough to offer room service and other luxuries. As I told my cousin years ago, I will not be put out of my home to stay in a Comfort Inn or anything else in that class of hotel. He knows what’s up.
I used to be the queen of staycations. Queen. Once every 4 to 6 months or so, I’d get a room at a 4 or 5-star hotel in the city. It was my way of getting away without going away. Though I was less than 10 miles away from my home, the aim was to get out of my home environment – to break my normal routine. By being in a different space, I could focus my energy in another direction. If I stayed in my house, I’d be inclined to do little things around the house – clean up or sit at my desk and work. I haven’t had a television in my bedroom in 13 years, so being able to lay in bed and watch television is also a small treat that I appreciate.
For some of my staycations, the goal was to relax. Being at a 5-star hotel helps with that because a luxury hotel usually has a full spa with amenities like a swimming pool, sauna, steam room and hot tub. If you get a service – even the smallest of services – at the spa, you can stay and enjoy all of the spa amenities for the entire day. Once done, you have the convenience of going right up to your room.
Other staycations have purposes rooted in productivity. Several years ago, I designed a staycation model that had a two-fold aim: (1) to allow me to reflect on where I was in life and (2) to help me focus on where I wanted to go, moving forward. So, the first day of the staycation involved me actively journaling and reflecting on what I had done or not done over the prior few months. The second day focused on me dreaming and planning for the future. For a couple of these more purposeful staycations, I didn’t even turn on the television during my stay.
I learned how to get cheap 5-star stays by using the Priceline.com Hot Deals function. When you’re familiar with the 5-star hotels in your city and in what areas of town they are located (which I was because there aren’t that many of them), you can kinda guess which hotel is the subject of the deal. Believe it or not, by being flexible with my dates, I was able to get 5-star stays for just around $100 per night. It’s hard to get a Hampton Hotel room in any city for that price.
Though my staycations are now on hold during this debt-free journey, I still do and will stay in hotels occasionally – either for business or for getaways that will be financed by others. My approach to booking rooms these days is different and, instead of using Priceline Hot Deals, I stick with directly booking Marriott brand hotels (especially the ones that used to be under the Starwood umbrella). I’ve learned that by attaining a level of status through these loyalty programs, one’s experience can be enhanced. That’s the reason I ended up getting this nice suite. Through my status as a Marriott Bonvoy member, I get automatic upgrades if a better room is available. When I stayed in a hotel in a neighboring state to get sworn in at court to practice law in that state, I booked a regular room, but ended up in an amazing suite – slightly better than the one in which I’m staying now. I also usually get the benefit of gaining access to the member lounge areas, which provide for complimentary beverages, snacks and breakfast. By having access to these small amenities, I get both the benefit of money savings and convenience. Staying loyal can help with the budget.
I created a line item in my October budget for food associated with the staycation because I knew that I would be spending money on eating out. This time, the food piece was a little different for me because I’m being so deliberate about my spending. In years past, I would have delighted in going to whatever restaurant I wanted to go to, would have ordered whatever I wanted, and would have just paid for it. This time, I had a budget and was very mindful about the food choices I was making. I made choices that I thought I would enjoy; it just felt very good to go about the process in a way that demonstrated control and money management.
A Getaway to a Cabin
Next weekend, a guy friend of mine is taking me to a cabin. Truth be told, he’s really an ex boyfriend of mine. We’ve known each other since we were children. He had tried to get me to date him for several years and, because of the relationship between his family and mine, I was thoroughly uninterested. When I was in law school, however, I changed my mind and we finally started dating. We dated during the summer before my last year of school and for a little while after I graduated.
We broke up when he had an extended mantrum (i.e. a tantrum perpetuated by a “grown” man). I’ll have to share the details of that some time in the future. He blames the mantrum on his youth. Unfortunately, it was the beginning of the destruction of our romantic relationship. Despite a couple of attempts to resurrect it, the relationship just has never quite gone back in that direction since. Nonetheless, he’s a good guy and we’ve managed to have a solid friendship over these decades. He claims to not have had a girlfriend since me (and that was over 16 years ago because we dated in our twenties). He’s a good-looking and gentlemanly guy, so despite his unwillingness to enter into a relationship since then, he’s played in plenty of lady goodies.
We’ve been friends for way more years than we actually dated. It’s an interesting relationship. I step back from our friendship everytime I get into a romantic relationship because no man really wants an ex of his woman hanging around that closely. My friend knows this and I’m very transparent about my priorities. Again, I’ll have to talk more about this in a future post.
He framed the invitation as a work weekend. That was an exciting proposition for me because, as someone who works for herself, it is necessary to have those focused weekends that are dedicated to getting particular things done. Being able to do it in a relaxing and unusual environment will be a good thing.
When he asked me to go to the cabins with him, I confirmed with him that he’d want to be in that kind of environment with me, considering the current nature of our relationship.
“You sure you don’t want to go with someone where . . . you know . . . you know it’ll go down?” I asked.
“Yes, I’m sure.”
“Why is that?” I’m a curious kind of gal.
“First of all, I just really enjoy spending time with you. Second, if I go to a cabin with another woman, she’ll be in love with me by the end of the weekend. You won’t.”
He’s right about that.
I’m really looking forward to going. It will be a chance to work in a very comfortable and relaxing environment. These cabins are well-appointed. The one in which we will be staying is a 2 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom unit with a hot tub, fire pit and pool table.
I told him – up front – when he made the invitation that I would only make a “small” contribution to the food. Everything else related to this adventure would be entirely on him. If not, I’m fine with staying home. To be fair, he’s not the kind of guy to invite me to such a thing and expect me to contribute anything. But, for some reason, I felt compelled to offer my mini contribution. When I’m feeling led by instinct, I try to follow. So, I’ll contribute a little something – a little something – to the groceries , but my major contribution will be in handling the meal planning and cooking. I’ll make sure that we eat well during the getaway.
A Super Las Vegas Trip
In December, a dear friend of mine is flying me out to Las Vegas to hang out with him. He lives 4,500 miles away and I have only seen him when he has either come to my city (even when I lived on the opposite coast) or when he has come to town within driving distance from me. Despite being able to count on my fingers the number of times I’ve seen him, he is one of my favorite people.
Being single is an advantage in these situations because I don’t have to reject opportunities on account of a significant other’s feelings.
~ Single Girl
Originally, Las Vegas was not the plan. I expected him to fly into a neighboring state; I was going to drive over there to visit with him and the family. A couple of conversations into the planning, he said, “Lemme just put you on a plane so you don’t have to drive.” Later, it became, “Well, hell, since it’s all about us hanging out, we can really hang out anywhere, as long as it is on my way to see my family and it isn’t in the cold.”
Soon, we were focused on trying to figure out the city in which we should meet. Houston? Dallas? We landed on Vegas because . . . it’s a fun city. He’s going to send me the money for the airline ticket so that I can book it myself and he’ll handle getting us the two hotel rooms (yes, we really are just friends and have always been just friends). This is another getaway to which I’m really looking forward. I get to hang out with my buddy and we always have a great time together.
Being single is an advantage in these situations because I don’t have to reject opportunities on account of a significant other’s feelings. Even though I’ve been seeing Mr. Nice For Now, neither of us have expressed a desire to be exclusive so how he might feel about my getaways is a non-factor. I’m grateful to be able to have these experiences, despite being on my debt free journey.