What NOT to eat on a road trip

[hotdogPi]

We should start a "restaurant", give it a couple of 3-5 star ratings, toss in a couple of bad ones to test it out. Then see what happens for sure when Yelp's sales-holes come a'calling.

Alanland's: Try the goat!

I thought Yelp only did real restaurants. Is it something you sign up for, or is it something that just gets added when one is found (you don't need to tell them)?

[sammi]

I thought Yelp only did real restaurants. Is it something you sign up for, or is it something that just gets added when one is found (you don't need to tell them)?

Only one way to find out.

[hm insulators]

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I frequently stay at the Days Inn in Frankfort when I have to go down there for work. It gets a lot of bad reviews, including from those folks who bitch and moan because it has tube TVs and not flat panel TVs. 

"Your hotel stinks because it doesn't have flat panel TVs."

Oh, brother. Boo-hoo, boo-hoo.

[exit322]

That doesn't pass the smell test either. People sometimes have bad experiences at good places- that's something that will inevitably happen, and the people that post reviews of things online are typically people who are riled up one way or another. Your super frequent contributors will leave good reviews, but I bet a good chunk of the drive-by reviewers are bad reviews.

On Trip Advisor, unless an establishment is consistently panned, I generally don't pay a lot of attention to bad reviews. I realize there are a lot of hotel/motel snobs out there and I think a lot of them hold some places to an impossibly high standard. To date, I have had no problems staying in a place that has gotten a few bad reviews but with some positives mixed in.

I frequently stay at the Days Inn in Frankfort when I have to go down there for work. It gets a lot of bad reviews, including from those folks who bitch and moan because it has tube TVs and not flat panel TVs. I have never had a bad experience there and quite frankly have never experienced the problems that some of the reviewers claim that they have.

If on Trip Advisor the only complaint of a place is that they have CRT televisions...I'm probably going to be fine there!

We did recently stay at the Econo Lodge in Walterboro SC on the way home from a trip to Florida.  We were a bit surprised when the room did have the old CRT television...but goodness, the thing still worked.  Why throw it out?  It's Walterboro, South Carolina...not too many people are going to be staying there that long (no offense to the town, it seems a nice place...but I don't think too many motels along I-95 in rural SC have any need to rent by the month)

[formulanone]

Nearly all the hotels I go to have a flat-panel screen, but maybe half of them have a decent picture. I might watch 20 minutes a week over my typical four-night stay, so I don't care.

[realjd]

Nearly all the hotels I go to have a flat-panel screen, but maybe half of them have a decent picture. I might watch 20 minutes a week over my typical four-night stay, so I don't care.

I'm with you. Personally, I wish hotels would spend money on providing usable internet access instead of flat panel TVs.

[roadman]

Nearly all the hotels I go to have a flat-panel screen, but maybe half of them have a decent picture. I might watch 20 minutes a week over my typical four-night stay, so I don't care.

I'm with you. Personally, I wish hotels would spend money on providing usable internet access instead of flat panel TVs.

Every hotel I've stayed at in the past five years has had good (i.e. password protected) and reliable Internet access for no additional charge.  I especially like Holiday Inn Express's approach, as they give you a wired connection and have an Ethernet cable in the room for your use.

As for TV in hotels, I totally agree.  The one that always gets me is "Free HBO" (translation - in exchange, we omit most of the other cable channels people might actually watch).  Although what little TV watching I do in hotels has put me off the idea of getting satelite TV at home - just too unreliable in even a mild rain strom.

[vdeane]

Most of the hotels I've been have had really bad internet, but then I can't afford to stay anywhere that's more than two stars.

Satellite TV reception varies by area too.  Some houses will lose reception if there's a raindrop anywhere on the planet.  Others can go through a blizzard and still get full quality HD.  A lot of it depends on how clear the view of the southern sky is, how well the dish is mounted, and where you are relative to the satellite.

[Brandon]

As for TV in hotels, I totally agree.  The one that always gets me is "Free HBO" (translation - in exchange, we omit most of the other cable channels people might actually watch).  Although what little TV watching I do in hotels has put me off the idea of getting satelite TV at home - just too unreliable in even a mild rain strom.

"Free HBO" seems to be a holdover from when HBO was the one movie channel on TV.  It means they need to update their sign and literature from the early 1980s.  I still remember when TMC, Showtime, and Cinemax were new, and MTV actually played music videos.

[roadman]

As for TV in hotels, I totally agree.  The one that always gets me is "Free HBO" (translation - in exchange, we omit most of the other cable channels people might actually watch).  Although what little TV watching I do in hotels has put me off the idea of getting satelite TV at home - just too unreliable in even a mild rain strom.

"Free HBO" seems to be a holdover from when HBO was the one movie channel on TV.  It means they need to update their sign and literature from the early 1980s.  I still remember when TMC, Showtime, and Cinemax were new, and MTV actually played music videos.

I also remember when TMC was new, as my parents had it for just over a year.  They cancelled the service when the programming changed from mostly first run movies to mostly also-ran films.

As for MTV, it's a good example of what's gone wrong with cable TV lately.  The trend of going away from unique programming to the "well, X now has a (insert any topic here) reality show, so we've got to have one like it" is accelerating the inevitable death of the medium.

[1995hoo]

I'd just like it if more hotels would provide a printed channel guide, especially ones whose system doesn't offer an onscreen guide.

[ZLoth]

I'm not going on a road trip to watch television. I can watch movies on my laptop and tablet anyways.

[NJRoadfan]

"Free HBO" seems to be a holdover from when HBO was the one movie channel on TV.  It means they need to update their sign and literature from the early 1980s.  I still remember when TMC, Showtime, and Cinemax were new, and MTV actually played music videos.

I've seen hotels with signs that still advertise "In-room Hi-Fi"! Perhaps they could alter the "H" into a "W".

For those that don't know what Hi-Fi means, the rooms used to have a stereo in it. This later morphed into a TV with a built in AM/FM radio tuner.

[agentsteel53]

I've seen hotels with signs that still advertise "In-room Hi-Fi"!

I don't recall ever seeing such a thing.  for me, the sign of an old motel is not just "color TV" but also the acceptance of BankAmericard (changed to Visa in 1976) and MasterCharge (changed to MasterCard in 1979).

[1995hoo]

I'm not going on a road trip to watch television. I can watch movies on my laptop and tablet anyways.

Agreed, but I do like to have the news or the sports highlights on when I'm getting ready to turn in and in the morning when I'm shaving/getting dressed.

[realjd]

Nearly all the hotels I go to have a flat-panel screen, but maybe half of them have a decent picture. I might watch 20 minutes a week over my typical four-night stay, so I don't care.

I'm with you. Personally, I wish hotels would spend money on providing usable internet access instead of flat panel TVs.

Every hotel I've stayed at in the past five years has had good (i.e. password protected) and reliable Internet access for no additional charge.  I especially like Holiday Inn Express's approach, as they give you a wired connection and have an Ethernet cable in the room for your use.

As for TV in hotels, I totally agree.  The one that always gets me is "Free HBO" (translation - in exchange, we omit most of the other cable channels people might actually watch).  Although what little TV watching I do in hotels has put me off the idea of getting satelite TV at home - just too unreliable in even a mild rain strom.

Of the maybe 25-30 hotels I stay in yearly, maybe 5 per year have workable internet connections. Can't VPN to work? The free internet is worthless. It's a mix of overuse (everyone trying to stream Netflix means I can't get work done) and poor network planning (a wifi access point every three rooms all on the same channel means nobody can talk to any of them). It's to the point where I much prefer hotels with paid internet because it's much more likely to not be terrible.

[formulanone]

I stow a 3-foot RJ45 cable in my luggage, because sometimes the internet speeds are faster that way. I've heard of a few places charging you to borrow that cable...

About 75% of the places I go to have decent internet, but those last 25% make it impossible to use Skype, other than for voice. Maybe one hotel per year would rival my home internet up/down speeds, and it's probably the cheapest broadband internet plan I could find in my area. (Seems to stream Netflix without disruption, so that's fast enough.)

[Duke87]

I never watch TV anyway, so I really don't care what if any a hotel provides.

Free wifi is more useful although I'm growing wary of such things. I discovered an odd bit of rogue software on my computer last year which I concluded must have come via a hotel's unencrypted wifi based on the date it was installed. It's probably wise in general to avoid unencrypted wifi, it's kind of the digital equivalent of unprotected sex.

[PHLBOS]

As for MTV, it's a good example of what's gone wrong with cable TV lately.

Lately?  MTV lost its original Music-Television focus roughly 10 to 15 years ago, maybe even earlier.

[hbelkins]

If you have HughesNet satellite internet at home, even the crappiest hotel wifi connection will make you think you're on a dedicated T1 line.

[1995hoo]

As for MTV, it's a good example of what's gone wrong with cable TV lately.

Lately?  MTV lost its original Music-Television focus roughly 10 to 15 years ago, maybe even earlier.

I'd argue that whenever they started "The Real World" and "Road Rules" they went off-track. They had previously had some non—music video stuff, but if memory serves, it was still music-related–that game show "Remote Control" comes to mind as an example. It had to have been on when I was in high school because they had a category called "Sing along with" whoever the co-host was–I remember my junior or senior year of high school we were hosting an interscholastic competition and the teacher in charge put in a round called "Sing along with Jin" as a send-up of "Remote Control" (it was a foreign-language competition and for that round a Korean kid named Jin read song lyrics in the other language and the competitors had to figure out the rock band who sang them).

[Laura]

As for MTV, it's a good example of what's gone wrong with cable TV lately.

Lately?  MTV lost its original Music-Television focus roughly 10 to 15 years ago, maybe even earlier.

I'd argue that whenever they started "The Real World" and "Road Rules" they went off-track. They had previously had some non—music video stuff, but if memory serves, it was still music-related–that game show "Remote Control" comes to mind as an example.

Yep. Pretty much every cable channel now is a reality TV or psuedoscience channel that airs programming completely unrelated to its name. Just tonight, history channel was running psuedohistory "who really discovered america" alien stuff, lifetime was airing "The First 48" crime murder show, the military channel had unsolved bible mysteries, natgeo was showing some redneck show, bbc was showing kitchen nightmares.

[realjd]

As for MTV, it's a good example of what's gone wrong with cable TV lately.

Lately?  MTV lost its original Music-Television focus roughly 10 to 15 years ago, maybe even earlier.

I'd argue that whenever they started "The Real World" and "Road Rules" they went off-track. They had previously had some non—music video stuff, but if memory serves, it was still music-related–that game show "Remote Control" comes to mind as an example.

Yep. Pretty much every cable channel now is a reality TV or psuedoscience channel that airs programming completely unrelated to its name. Just tonight, history channel was running psuedohistory "who really discovered america" alien stuff, lifetime was airing "The First 48" crime murder show, the military channel had unsolved bible mysteries, natgeo was showing some redneck show, bbc was showing kitchen nightmares.

IMO cable has gone bipolar. There's a lot of trash (reality shows as mentioned) and there's a lot of actual quality content:
Breaking Bad (ended, I know)
Walking Dead
Psych
Mad Men
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Archer
Orphan Black
The Americans
Broadchurch
Anything on HBO or Showtime
Any Netflix original series (not really cable)

In the past 5 years, television has overtaken film as where the great stories are told. You just have to ignore the Hunny Boo Boo nonsense trash shows and look for the quality conetnt. Stick to channels like AMC and USA.

[leroys73]

I love Mexican food, but not while on a road trip.

[1995hoo]

As for MTV, it's a good example of what's gone wrong with cable TV lately.

Lately?  MTV lost its original Music-Television focus roughly 10 to 15 years ago, maybe even earlier.

I'd argue that whenever they started "The Real World" and "Road Rules" they went off-track. They had previously had some non—music video stuff, but if memory serves, it was still music-related–that game show "Remote Control" comes to mind as an example. It had to have been on when I was in high school because they had a category called "Sing along with" whoever the co-host was–I remember my junior or senior year of high school we were hosting an interscholastic competition and the teacher in charge put in a round called "Sing along with Jin" as a send-up of "Remote Control" (it was a foreign-language competition and for that round a Korean kid named Jin read song lyrics in the other language and the competitors had to figure out the rock band who sang them).

This is very, very eerie. I posted the comment above on January 23. This morning, my brother e-mailed me an obituary: The former teacher I mentioned in the comment above died on January 27 of pancreatic cancer. He was only 50 years old. I hadn't thought of him in a long time and I just find it really eerie how I'd mentioned him here and then that happened right afterwards.

Sorry, totally unrelated to the thread. I'm just kind of a little freaked out by the weird coincidence.