Comfort Inn Suites, written 2/14/11

Checked into the Comfort Inn Suites in Columbus for a Valentine's Day rendezvous with my current love interest. What a fabulous little hotel in my favorite area of the city, German Village!

We brought our own romantic dinner - rotissirie chicken, gourmet salad, corn on the cob, and rolls; my sweetie brought the wine and we had the chocolates he gave me for dessert.

The room includes a comfy and spacious king size bed three-feet off the floor with a mahogany-looing tall headboard. There's a pull-out sofa in the office area, and a nice little alcove with a mini-fridge and microwave, as well as a coffee pot.

We prepared our dinner there, using the plastic ware stored on a shelf on the oppostie wall. The muted colors of the decor and paintings provide a subdued, relaxed setting.

The large bathroom is not only functional, but elegant.

I've been negligent this year writing about my urban camping adventures. Actually, they started last fall when I attended a conference in Birmingham, Alabama, as a presenter. I had one of the worst urban camping experiences ever at the Sheraton Hotel there. Let's just say, I won't be staying in a Sheraton again any time soon after the hotel, which charges for using the internet ($9.95/24hrs), put charges for three 24hr. periods on my credit card after agreeing not to charge conference participants. I only used the service because I had to complete some work for school. Every single amenity at this hotel costs. I was impressed with the Presidential Suite where the president of the organization had a reception for all the grad students attending the conference. I have been accepted to present again at this year's conference in San Antonio, but if it's held at the Sheraton, I'll find other accomodations. Actually, I'm from Texas, and have relatives in San Anton, so I'm good. In February, I attended another conference where I was a presenter, this time closer to home since it was a state conference, not a national one like the one in Birmingham. Having learned from my experience with the Sheraton, I did not get a room at the pricey hotel where the conference was held, but went online and found a great local hotel on Priceline. The Dayton Historic Hotel is in downtown Dayton and the price I got from Priceline was so nice, I spent the weekend there. I was glad I did. The old hotel has been completely refurbished but still retains its original charm. Night staff were amazing! The maintenance guy spent half an hour finding me a portable refrigerator that worked. Once I had food prepared by the hotel's amazing chef, I was glad I had a fridge. Not only was it good, it was enough for two meals! I camped out there after the very disappointing conference (the only things that were memorable was the excellent food, seeing the President of the state organization who is from Toledo and along with the rest of the officers and committee members were the only ones beside convention staff and one attendee that were nice to me, and the aforementioned attendee who was the sole attendant for my presentation, although she is a secondary teacher and my presentation was about younger children learning science. Amazingly, I was treated better down South than I was up North. Go figure! I spent the weekend doing classwork and enjoying the ambience of this hotel which I will endure a ride on Greyhound with the worst drivers ever to stay in again. I missed an opportunity recently when I flew from Dayton to Dallas to spend the night at this hotel, but I didn't get word in time. Speaking of Dallas, I've stayed there twice in the past six months. Once during the holidays at the beautiful DoubleTree Hotel where I fell in love with the Margaritas at the bar and those incredible cookies. I camped out while a friend worked on his novel to get it ready for me to read and give my opinion. Well, when I got back to Toledo, I read it and could not put it down! I ended up editing it at the last minute when his original editor backed out. Got it three weeks before the semester ended when I had a load of papers to do, but managed to get it done in time for a debut book signing May 18, in Dallas' beautiful Mosaic Building, a downtown residential facility. This time I camped out with some lovely ladies in our entourage at the Hilton Garden Inn. My previous experience with this hotel when I attended another state conference in Columbus in October 2012, where I again was a presenter. The conference was held at the Embassy Suites which was full, so I registered at the nearby Hilton Garden Inn. Everything was great - customer service, the room, the amenities - until I called back to try to get the phone charger I accidentally left in the room in my hurry to check out and attend the conference. One of the managers even gave me a ride! But I was treated quite curtly when I asked about the charger and given the run around. My phone, which had my presentation notes on it but couldn't use due to its battery being low, was about to go out at the end of my presentation. I mentioned it and one of the hotel staff took me to a room where there were dozens of unclaimed chargers and kept looking until she found one that fit my phone. I wasn't even staying at the Embassy Suites and they treated me better than the hotel I'd paid to stay in that I swore I'd never pay to stay in again. I didn't. My host paid for our rooms in Dallas and although they were not as nice as the one in Columbus, good customer service continued throughout our stay and they have a delicious and extensive breakfast buffet that only cost $10. I had work to do for school as usual and missed going out with the gang for dinner the day after the book signing and debut. But I enjoyed the room and ended up staying up most of the night after the others returned. I am still not a big fan of the Hilton Garden Inn(the one in Dallas has a regular price of $169/night, but my friend got a substantial discount due to his acquaintance with an employee who pulled some strings - I wouldn't count on that, however, since the employee actually was not supposed to do that), but I enjoyed the dorm-like atmosphere of hanging out with a roomful of females for a couple of nights. We have book signings (my books, too!) scheduled for San Antonio and Austin Texas, this summer, and more in Europe next year. I'm excited to see where we'll be camping out and hope I get to spend some quality relaxcation time in the hotels we choose.