Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Dallas, From a Hotel in Middle of Nowhere

I'm feeling suburban/business hotel strip locked. I can see the Dallas skyline, but on map, it looks about five miles and two freeways away, so unless we decide to cab it into the city, we will be spending another night in a nondescript, duller than dishwater, part of Texas.There's a couple shots below to prove my point. I totally understand that property is cheaper, therefore the hotels and conference centers can offer lower rates than if they were in the heart of the city, but if I am going to be away from home, it would have been nice to at least enjoy the few hour of downtime. I'm in a basic Doubletree Hotel, nice and friendly staff, comfortable rooms, of which I have a balcony. The hotel left a fruit bowl out along with a big icy dispenser of fruit water, so I had grabbed a banana last night and ate it for breakfast, along with the leftover chicken from my lettuce wraps from last nights dinner. I ate with three colleagues from Minnesota.There was intermittent showers, so we stayed in their hotel, a huge modern thing, with several restaurants, with overpriced drinks and dinner prices that were double my per diem rate. The appetizer size was more than enough though, and with leftovers.

I saw a former younger colleague who left my previous employer just a few months after I did to go to grad school in the East, and now she works for a big national organization in Washington D.C. Visiting with her was a nice unexpected surprise. I also met up with a former co board member from a different national organization housed in DC. She and I served together for two years and remained Facebook friendly, so had an opportunity for a live catch-up. I attended a data workshop, mistakenly thinking it was going to be a different type of presentation, but was pleasantly  surprised on how much good information I received that I will be able to utilize immediately.

When I'm away, I always seem to straddle both the hone front, the office front, and trying to engage in the meetings at hand. I had an 8:000 conference call that went long so would have missed 1/2 the first workshop, so I decided to finish up a couple e-mails and a task left from Monday and feel very accomplished on the work front. Nothing I could have done to prevent the IT glitch, but we have a plan of action, and a message ready to go later today giving our system users the heads up on the change of plan. I talked with both DH and DD2 briefly yesterday. She pulled off the meatloaf and instant potato dinner-no one is starving at home. I'm off now to head don the road to the conference hotel as a new session starts in 45 minutes.

Cloudy early morning photo-building blocks this view of downtown Dallas.

Early evening photo of Dallas-and the ugly parking lot and streets that surround the hotel.

10 comments:

  1. Oh dear, that is a very uninspiring landscape, I hope you aren't there for long! On the upside, glad to hear that the presentations are interesting, nothing like a bit of information you want to get using straight away for a bit of motivation!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'll be hoe tomorrow night. A bunch of us took a ride into a more scenic neighborhood for a little authentic Tex-Mex dinner tonight. We also got out of the air conditioning this afternoon and did a work group meeting in some shade-until the sun moved and started burning us up.

      Delete
  2. I typically am in the middle of the city when I"m traveling (London, Tokyo), but never have time to sight see, which makes me feel bad. I've been to Tokyo around 10 times & have never done a touristy thing. Same with London, although probably 5 times.

    Hope your time in Dallas flies by!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That would be equally tough-to see it all at your disposal but no time to partake. It's a god conference, which is the point of the trip, so I'm satisfied.

      Delete
  3. Concrete for miles! Talk about stifling creativity! Oh well, by the sounds of things you're not outside a great deal. I always find that after being in that type of environment that "gee it's good to be back home!"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aye, yep, I'll be happy to walk in my own neighborhood, and enjoy my Minnesota landscape. Ask me again in 6 months though and I'll say, I bet Dallas is nice this time of year.

      Delete
  4. Have a great time even though you're so far away from the hubbub. But wouldn't a nap be nice??? :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I actually did head back-skipped a receptiony thing, and got an hour of down time. while I didn't sleep, shoes were off, feet up, and I ahd a quick shower and clothes change before dinner.

      Delete
  5. I understand cost and what not but conferences can be dull and uninspiring. A view would help.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree. As Jane said, concrete for miles. We did pass on toute to dinner a lovely green lush park by a river. We all sighed!

      Delete

Join the conversation. Your comments are welcome. Dissenting and different opinions are welcome as makes for good conversation. I moderate comments to be sure I read them all and stay ahead of the spam. Advertising products or services without permission will be deleted, as will anything that may be harmful to others-read promotion of debunked "experts" and conspiracies. If you're a blogger, feel free to include your blog URL.