0n the road again …

I am writing this column on my iPad sitting in the passenger seat as we drive north for the holidays. Our car, a 2014 Honda Odyssey that we purchased in September, has a variety of innovative features, one of which is HandsFreeLink, which automatically provides a Bluetooth cell phone connection to the car’s speaker. Bluetooth is a wireless technology designed to pair electronic devices over short distances.

A few minutes ago we received a phone call, which Eddie answered by pressing a button on the steering wheel. The radio was automatically silenced, and we were both able to talk through the speaker. To hang up, he pressed another button on the steering wheel. The call was from the TR Times, requesting a new photo of me for my column. The phone call reminded me that I had a column due this week, and Eddie suggested that I write about what I had been doing for the past hour, which was searching online for a hotel for tonight.

While our new car is extremely computerized, it does not boast its own WiFi network, but my cell phone does have a data connection through AT&T. I much prefer the larger screen of my iPad for online searching, but it is WiFi only, and cannot receive data unless it is connected to a WiFi network. The solution was to use my cell phone as the conduit to the internet. Most newer cell phone models can be used as a hotspot to create a private network that other devices can join. The connection can be made by WiFi or Bluetooth, and I choose to use Bluetooth.

 Once online I visited TripAdvisor.com to search for hotels in the vicinity of our planned stop for the night. There are many travel websites that offer reviews, some of which I plan to write about in a future column, but I have found TripAdvisor to be quite reliable. Enter the location and dates and TripAdvisor generates a list of hotels in the area, ranked by ratings and including the price you can expect to pay. Once I selected a few hotels that meet our criteria of price and location, I started reading the reviews – primarily the negative ones. Too many negative reviews and I pass on the hotel immediately. If several reviewers complain of dirty rooms I move on, but if most of the complaints are relatively minor, I will then read some of the positive reviews to narrow down my choices. My final search criteria is to look for reports of bedbugs on bedbugregistry.com. In the past several years bedbugs have been reported in hotels around the country (even 5-Star hotels), and just one mention of bedbugs in a hotel and I immediately cross it off my list.

 When I am ready to make a reservation, I go directly to the hotel chain website (or App). In my experience, the prices offered through direct booking are as good, if not better, than those offered on booking sites such as Expedia, Hotels.com, and Priceline. When booking I either use an organizational booking code, if available, or the AARP/senior discount, to get the best rate. For tonight I reserved a room in a Comfort Suites in Florence, South Carolina using the Choice Hotel mobile app (also available for Android devices). Postscript: The Comfort Suites in Florence proved to be an excellent choice. The hotel was new and about a half mile off of Interstate 95. We had a good night’s sleep and continued on our way north in the morning.