I absolutely love traveling to places that have a rich history, even if I only have enough down time to read commemorative plaques and pretend I know history. I’m also a big fan of the prevalent spanish moss that eclipses streetlights and mutes traffic noise in the multitude of centuries-old park squares one encounters every other block.

In my three days there, I saw only two groups of people: 1) hipsters hanging out at coffee shops and 2) a couple hundred gray-haired couples getting on and off tour buses, river boats and hotel shuttles. They waddled up and down River Street buying tourist crap and salt water taffy. The lack of children (babies, toddlers, kids under 20) was downright eerie.

Some pics from walking around:

Oh, and this way to South Carolina…

At Wade Rockett‘s recommendation, we dined at Paula Deen’s The Lady and Sons Restaurant.

My wife is a huge Paula Deen fan and took it upon herself to send me nasty text messages throughout the meal to reinforce how unfair it was I was there and not her. It was justified. I had the Steak and Pie, which includes a tomato pot pie surrounded by steak tips. Really great, actually.

Liz had the Crab Stuffed Shrimp wrapped in bacon (three animals in every bite!), and we split the double deep fat fried friend green tomatoes.

Angie had the signature Chicken Pot Pie, which was made with enough butter that the sauce was separating before she took three bites. Now that’s southern cookin’!

My hotel this trip was the Hilton Savannah DeSoto.

The desk chair was boringly functional with little to no adjustments and no lumbar support. However, it had arms and a high back. I give it a C+.

And here’s a TP folding report for my pal Ed:

More pictures here.

And here’s the obligatory Alamo photo. Yes, there was a huge gift shop:

Here’s the view from my hotel room (1815) at the Grand Hyatt. That’s the Alamo Dome.

This is the desk and chair:

The chair had quality lumbar support, height and tilt. Truly an A-…

Here’s a TP Report for my pal Ed:

AND…while visiting Brooke Army Medical Center, I had the chance to see a sweet demo of the “Chung-bot,” a RP-7 remote presence robot used to care for patients remotely by its namesake, Dr. Kevin Chung….

More photos from the trip here.

The room artwork showcased giant portraits of kids playing on the famous grassy knoll:

When I travel, I spend a lot of time sitting at my hotel room desk and have been chronicling the quality of desk chairs for quite awhile now.

Here’s the desk:

And here’s the desk chair:

It was entirely aesthetic: no lumbar, no height adjustment, no arm adjustment, etc. I pity the business person who has to sit at this desk and actually work. Straight up F.

And in the spirit of a TP Fold Report for my my pal Ed, I have a follow-up report from my October stay at the Joule….

Better or worse? I report, you decide…

TP Fold in October 2008

TP Fold in April 2009

And a quick TP report for my pal Ed. I call this the “tuck and roll.”

But here’s the craziest, most backwards way to receive a hotel fax I’ve ever encountered:

1. I got a voicemail in my hotel room informing me I had a text message.
2. In order to retrieve this message, I needed to call the operator.
3. I called the operator and nobody answered.
4. Upon my automated checkout at the lobby kiosk, the system again informed me I had a text message and printed out this slip of paper.



5. The paper told me that I had a fax and to get it at the front lobby desk.
6. At the lobby desk, they called the business center to inquire about my fax.
7. I was told to walk up two floors to the business center to retrieve my fax.

The desk chairs at the downtown Austin Hilton are too wide, don’t have height adjustment nor lumbar support.

Unfortunately, I did have to conduct quite a lot of business from this chair. Good thing they give you extra pillows to fill in the ocean of space between by back and the chair.

(see previous business chair reports here)

For my buddy Ed, here’s a TP Report…

Day 1:

You call that a fold?

Day 2:

Better, but not great.

(previous reports here)

I’m staying at the Hilton Norfolk Airport. As part of my new Hotel Desk Chair report series, I would like to give the Hilton Norfolk Airport some props for their faux-leather chair model. It has built-in lumbar support, an ample cupping design, and height adjustment. I give it a B+.

Also, for my pal Ed, I would like you to see the TP Folding job here — just horrendous.

But perhaps a redeeming quality — the seat was up for me when I came in.

Perhaps this is a new service for Hilton HHonors members as part of the room set-up?

Staying at the W New York on Lexington this trip.

The room is the size of a converted laundry room in a one story bungalow.

Here’s a TP report for my pal Ed:

Damn clumsy, if you ask me. But he’s the expert. And, I had trouble EVEN FINDING IT!

I’m going to start my own series on desk chairs. For business travelers, the chairs provided for travelers are the very most important part of a hotel room. I often go an entire stay without turning on the television, but I’m rarely in a room for more than 10 minutes without powering on my laptop and sitting at the desk for at least 30 minutes — and sometimes for hours and hours at a time.

The W Hotel NY gets a D+ for their desk chair. As you can see from the photo above, the chair has absolutely zero lumbar support. It’s virtually an “L” shape and although it does have height adjustment (thus the +), after sitting on an airplane for 3+ hours, I’m going to need more than a basic L curve to sit here for more than 5 minutes at one time.