Temporarily Homeless? Try The Hotel Lobby

Just a quick PSA here. If you find yourself in a strange city, with time to kill and no particular place to go, don't overlook the advantages of the lobby of a random hotel. I currently write you from Bloomington, Indiana. We still have a couple hours till we hit the stage, and our hotel is up the road 50 miles or so in Indianapolis.

I don't really want to hang out awkwardly in the venue, which is not equipped with a good green room. No particular place to sit, trying awkwardly not to look like I'm hoping somebody's looking at me. So what's a weary boy to do?

Well, make himself comfortable in the Hilton Garden Inn lobby, of course. Here you have only a partial list of the luxuries afforded the person bold enough to avail himself of them:

1) clean (pristine, in fact) and unpopulated restrooms;
2) lightning fast, complimentary high-speed internet;
3) air conditioning;
4) comfortable seating.

Okay, maybe that doesn't sound like a little slice of heaven here on earth, but compared to the alternatives, it kinda is.

Here's a few tips you can file away, should you need them later:

- Choose a nice hotel, and make sure it's fairly big, but not super high-end. You don't want your Best Western, cause first of all it's just not that nice so what's the point. Secondly, the staff tend to be a little gruffer, which means you're far, far more likely to get a "Can I help you, sir?" And finally, the lobbies are small enough that even if you don't get direct unwanted attention, you might feel kind of uncomfortable lazing about.
- You don't want your Ritz Carlton either, cause you probably aint getting free wi-fi. And a hotel lobby with no free wi-fi is just a parlour room.
- When entering, just smile and nod at the front desk and then sit yourself right down in the lobby, like it's the most natural thing in the world. Nobody will give you any grief. Like, ever.
- Don't give up too quick on the wi-fi. There may be an obstacle or two, but you will almost always be able to get on (as long as it's complimentary for hotel guests). You should know that a lot of the 'passwords' are actually charades. For instance, here at this location, you can enter absolutely anything in the required fields of 'name' and 'room number' and find yourself posting a blog mere moments later.