I arrived in San Diego late Sunday afternoon and have checked in at the lovely La Avenida Inn on Coronado Island. It's a very comfortable (and affordable) little motel which is the perfect place for my psyche. They have friendly staff, clean and spacious rooms and a top notch cable TV selection. I've never really felt comfortable at the 'five star' accomodations where one usually stays during business travel. I've had my fill of Pan Pacifics in Vancouver, Fairmonts in San Francisco or even Marriotts in Minneapolis; lovely buildings with a lobby to match their high pricetag, but no real soul.
La Avenida Inn is exactly the type of hotel I would stay in if I were travelling with my family. However there are two things missing that I now realize are Essentals when I'm travelling on business. The first is an iron in the room. I don't pack very well so my shirts are creased up pretty good, but a quick steam in the bathroom should fix them well enough. The second missing item is internet access. I've grown used to free wireless internet, but I thought every hotel in the planet at least had a for-money broadband service available. La Avenida has neither. So I'll get to spend part of each day at one of the nearby coffee shops posting to the blog. Not as 'live' as I originally planned but I'm adaptable!
For me, it's worth checking in advance for irons + internet before I book my next hotel.
(Posted at Cafe 1134 in Coronado -- worth walking to!)