Tag Archives: hotel stories

Another Day In Paradise: My Crazy Myrtle Beach Christmas

Posted on by John

…except not. As I write this, I keep hearing (I think) country singer Phil Vasser singing “Just Another Day In Paradise.” The Paradise Resort hotel in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, that is. We’d stayed there in 2024, and my wife enjoyed the facility particularly because she could park on the same floor as our room if we stayed on either the 2nd, third, or fourth floors. This is easy to do during the relatively low-occupancy Christmas period, so I opted to book the same hotel again thinking it would be better than some unknown property that might give me variable results. All was well until… well let me set the scene first.

Before I get into the meat of it, I should say that at no point were we in any real danger. Everything was fine as things unfolded, at least with regard to our physical safety.

Ok, so we’ve sort of established a routine for our Myrtle Beach Christmas vacations as this is our third: day one, arrive, walk along the ocean, eat at Olive Garden, buy snacks. Day two, wake, have a leisurely breakfast (preferably at Hot Stacks Pancakes though this year they were closed so we had to do Waffle House), walk along the ocean, eat at Paula Deens Family Kitchen for dinner. Day three, (usually Christmas) wake, have a light in-room breakfast, watch TV and speak with family for a while, walk the ocean, pick up food at IHOP then bring it back to the room for eating. (You can only eat out so many times right?)

So we had just wound up the last of those activities, and she was headed in to start preparing to call it a night. As she made her way into the bathroom, I settled into the somewhat squeaky couch to enjoy some of my audiobook. Suddenly, I hear… really? An alarm? The funny part is that earlier that day, my wife had played a video clip of some kind of siren that made me jump and stand, ready to evacuate the room thinking it might be the fire alarm. So perhaps I couldn’t be blamed for doubting the veracity of this new sound, even as I again stood and positioned myself for a quick getaway. A voice then came over what I assume is an ingrained PA system informing us that “the fire alarm has been triggered. You must evacuate the building.”

My wife, rapidly re-dressing, scampered over to me and told me to grab my Mantis braille display and jacket. She said she also got her purse and phone. And I’m happy we did, because we discovered on entering the hall that it was not fire, thank goodness for that, but water sounding like the ocean was gushing full-force down the hall and already entering many of the second floor rooms. As it turns out, a pipe had burst in the housekeeping area.

‘What the…” she said as we made our way pel mel to the second floor exit.

As we tore up and down ramps trying to work out the best approach, I guess because of the stress my heart rate accelerated nerve-wrackingly. So I took a grateful seat in the car and tried to breathe deeply and relax as she made her sloshing way back inside to retrieve as much of our stuff as possible. It didn’t take me long to get back under control, but man I’m way too far out of shape as I’ve already sort of discovered in just taking those brisk walks along the sea. I know I gotta start moving more.

Anyhow, I asked her to as soon as possible help me find some water, and happily sucked on a bottle once it became available. We managed to get pretty much everything out of the room, but much of it was soaked as we had it on the floor near or just inside of the nightstands. There were not many suitable places to place luggage, as these units are usually owned by individuals who can decide what is or isn’t inside of them. Fortunately, the only thing of real concern I would have lost besides my electronic equipment, which I already had, would have been my medicine. It was mostly just a giant aggravation.

After sloshing in there a couple more times to retrieve whatever else we could grab, as they had already started sucking out as much water as they could as quickly as possible, we entered the check-in area to see what we would have to do. We had to wait a while as they scrambled to find available rooms to put us all. My wife said one man in particular was doing most of the work, fielding phone calls, dealing with unhappy customers, and beginning to turn red from the strain. Once we got our turn, we were placed in a room on the seventh floor. Luckily, her sister had also come to the beach and helped us steer a cart with our sodden stuff onto the elevator and up to that new room. It was nicer, with better furniture and an actual bedroom, instead of the room with a bed we pass through on the way to the ocean-facing living room in back. At this point though, we barely cared about the upgraded surroundings. We took a little while to eat snacks, try and relax some, and again! Finally! Headed for bed. Yes, I was glad to return home after that.

So that was my wacky Christmas Day at the beach, about which we will likely be talking for years. I did receive about 20% off in compensation, though surprisingly there has been little communication from the property as this all unfolded. All they said during its happening is that “a leak” had caused the WiFi to be shut down. A leak sounds like nothing, and as we noted if I’d seen that while we were, say, at a restaurant, we would not have known that we needed to hustle over there and get our stuff. Interesting. Ah well, thankfully all is well that ends well and we only lost a couple of easily-replaceable things. Till my next travel adventure.

NIB 2024: First General Session, and Good Eatin’!

Posted on by John
The FDR statue. He’s sitting in a wheelchair. There were braille plaques nearby, too.

So, this is what happens when I am left to pack.

Tuesday October 15 dawned cold and blustery, as we knew it would. My wife had stacked sweaters on my couch that were to accompany my dress outfits so that I could stay at least minimally warm, but of course I didn’t notice they were there. This meant all I had was my sturdy jacket, which doesn’t always make the best dressing piece, comfortable as it is. So we needed to make a store run.

but first, we had to get ready. The bathroom in our room, and I presume throughout the hotel, was designed oddly. The showers had no curtains, only a half pane of glass that seemed to allow water to wet the floor more easily, and the head was of the rainwater variety, coming down from straight above. The bed was decent enough, but well let’s just say we have exacting standards about pillows that are rarely met in hotels.

These things were ok though and certainly did not cause a high degree of displeasure. Once dressed, we made our way down to the teeming ballroom for a light breakfast of yogurt with granola and peaches among other things (pretty good) and an empanada with egg and sausage. Then we made a quick trip back to the room to grab everything we needed before shoving off for Target.

I used the Lyft app to get around during this trip, and I was amazed by how accurate the locations were. For instance, it could tell me that we were standing inside of the Hyatt Regency Crystal City, of course, but it also pinpointed exactly which storefront we were in while waiting for our return ride. That kind of exactness would help blind folks more easily navigate, I would think.

In the store, we joked that we were exploring by doing something we could just as easily have done while in North Carolina. But that’s the truth, perhaps sadly: almost all of the world is now a big chain. Local stuff does exist, but it’s becoming increasingly harder to find.

We quickly found two nice, relatively inexpensive and versatile sweaters, then made our way to a Barnes and Noble to await said return ride. What I hadn’t known, because I wasn’t looking as it happened, was that Lyft had switched my car because a closer driver was available. This caused some confusion as a ride that looked nothing like expected pulled to a stop in front of us, but the driver called me on the phone to clarify and my wife could hear my voice coming through the window. So we felt ok about hopping in.

Back at the hotel, we opted for another meal at Cinnabar. This time, I chose a cheeseburger. It was ok, but didn’t come with any sauce or have a whole lot going on in the way of toppings. I had some mayo added, and thus managed to consume a fair amount of it with fries that were different from those we had on Monday. Then we briefly ran to the room for some R&R and to grab whatever we needed before the main event, the general session.

The ballroom was again teeming, with nearly every chair occupied. We’d located spots kind of far back from the speakers, so I could hear decently but maybe not well. This would definitely be a theme throughout my experience, unfortunately, due to my own issues and not anything conference-related. The session itself was interesting: the usual pageantry that accompanies such events. I listened with some interest as they talked about some of NIB’s achievements, especially as relates to helping those of us who are blind experience greater upward mobility. These metrics have definitely improved, and I am, I hope, an example of that.

What I most enjoyed though was the hearty reactions that went into celebrating employees of the year. It boosts morale among the workers, making us feel like what we’re doing matters. And it certainly matters in creating more jobs for blind folks in a way that is or can be transferable to the mainstream as attitudes towards disability improve. The session was supposed to be done by 4, but it actually lasted closer to 4:30 as a long discussion continued on areas that were slightly above my head.

Then the elevator madness ensued. This was another theme, especially as not all of the hotel’s elevators were working the entire time. They slowly brought more and more of them online, but until then massive lines and surges dominated. When we did wrangle a spot, we still had to wait as stops were made at nearly every floor.

After another brief respite in our room, we headed back down to the lobby around 5:30 to have dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse. First though, we had to work out how we’d get there. The two of us LCI employees who had won Employee of the Year, our guests, and the higher-ups who had come to the conference as well were to be treated to a delicious meal at this pricey restaurant. The Arlington, Va. location was only about a half mile away, but given that it was already darkening and cold out, we summoned two Ubers and made the short ride over.

Into another elevator and up to the 11th floor of some sort of office building where the restaurant was housed. My wife said it gave a great view of planes landing and taking off from Regan. Though we ate in a private room, it was so buzzing with activity that I could, again, barely hear anything. Yup, same as always. But the food was good though. I had stuffed chicken, with cheese and a sauce of some sort. It was definitely filling. I also consumed a glass of wine along with some water, because why not? I mostly just took it all in and reflected on the significance of even being part of such an occurrrence.

And that was all for Tuesday. More in our next entry.

The Real Deal 2: Sunday Fun Day!

Posted on by John

Sunday arrives, slow and sweet. I allow myself to lay in bed, luxuriating in the fact that I have no immediate reason to rise and can enjoy the time away.

As always, my favorite thing to do is listen to road morning shows. I initially reach for what I think is the clock radio, but quickly give up on that and start playing with the Tune In app on my iPhone. I hate that they no longer make it as easy to change stations, other than once they’re in the Recent Stations feed. They have some sort of cumbersome social media-type interface now, which just makes it harder for me to find stuff.

Of course, most Sunday mornings are given to religious content. So, I listen to a bit of some pastor in Vegas before rising at 10:30? 7:30? something:30! What is this time thing we’ve made up anyway. They say humanity is really the only species that so closely watches it.

After spattering water all over the floor from my shower, as there seems to be no way to stop it from flying out the side, I slip into a casual pair of slacks and button-down shirt. I hope to look just presentable enough for new sets of eyes that I might encounter.

Then into the hall for the fun elevator game! Gah it drives me a little bit crazy when places have four of them from which to choose. Whack the button, stop breathing, stand really still, and there it is! Only BANG! no? wrong one. Oh that one wait, I nearly lost a finger! Relax, begin cycle again.

I play this annoying sprint around the vestibule a couple of times, until I hear some, I guess high, heels come clicking into the room.

“Sir, may I help you?” she asks. I’ll finally get down!

I don’t notice till she tells me, but she is from Scotland. One of my favorite accents, for sure. She says she’s about to check out of the hotel and head back, I think.

She kindly walks me to the jam-packed Java stop, where I latch onto an endless line. I try not to pound the person’s back who stands in front of me too many times, but also to balance that with moving up when I need to. I sometimes feel I’m the worst at waiting in line.

Audio recorded from therein: Initial Craziness

Then I meet a kind volunteer from Georgia, cool accent too, who agrees to help me find somewhere to sit while I await my city tour. Only everything is pretty much full, so I go back into the Java Stop and sit till she again comes to collect me at 12:45 to board the bus for the 1:00 departure.

I love heat! But, that Vegas heat is something different somehow. The second we step into it, I feel all of my water leaving my body.

“I couldn’t stay out in this for more than ten minutes,” I say.

More audio: City Tour Snippet

And that woman continued being just as entertaining, having us all applauding, laughing, or groaning in turn. One thing became clear from her words: Vegas was built by rich folk who had that kind of money to throw around. I know she said one person built a casino at the request of his wife, so that his love for gambling wouldn’t end up costing him everything. He’d just be recycling his own money. Not surprisingly of course, Vegas is seeking to diversify beyond strictly a gambling Mecca of sorts, as well.

I had always wanted to get to convention early enough to do the city tour, just because I love hearing people talk about their area. Yes, it would’ve been cooler to walk around some of those places, but I’m not sure how much of that I could have handled anyway.

Back into the hotel by 3, I finally decide to make my way to the exhibit hall. Here, I meet a couple of long-time online friends and folks who were selling products for the first time.

From the AT Guys, I purchase a Soundpods portable Bluetooth speaker. I’m pretty satisfied with it, and think for its size it doesn’t sound half bad. It does make it easier for me to take in content from my iPhone while in bed.

From Elegant Insights, I acquire a Braille-embossed, copper key chain that reads “ACB 2014. It’s a nice little souvenir. I also volunteer to be this vendor’s first experiment using a credit card, a task made interesting by the fact that she uses a somewhat challenging iPhone app that requires turning VoiceOver off and back on a few times to get it to record the card info. Still, it is great that such technology is even moderately accessible to blind folks, and I hope it continues to become more so.

Finally, it is the part for which I have most been waiting: the tweet-up! I am surprised that the crowd there isn’t larger, but it works out for me as I can easily hear everyone in attendance. Here, I meet one of my longest-running online friends from our neighbors to the north, Canada. I also meet a long-running friend who stays in Vegas for the second time ever. We all introduce ourselves by name and Twitter handle, then spend the rest of the time chattering away about any and everything.

I plan to go to the opening ACB General Session, but as soon as I make my way out of the tweet-up location around 6:30, my Canadian friend, one from Indianapolis, another person from Canada and I think yet one more ask me if I wish to join them for dinner.

“Hmmm, that sounds fun,” I reply.

We then spend the next half hour working our way to the Wicked Vicky’s Tavern, being given spotty directions and losing each other a time or two in the process.

“Hey, this is how we roll at convention,” I say. “We’ll get there eventually.”

Once seated, I opt to have some delicious-sounding meatloaf and mac and cheese. The mac and cheese wasn’t the “real” baked stuff I most prefer, but then I guess I shouldn’t have really expected it to be. It was pretty good anyway, though I had to stop eating it once that runny cheese began to make me feel sick.

This is really the last thing I do, after which I retire to my room to see how my speaker works. I know that, not being the most technologically adept person, it would probably take me a minute to figure out the Bluetooth component. In the meantime, and this is probably unfortunate as I may never get around to learning said component, I discover that the cable they provide for charging also has an end that will allow it to be plugged into a headphone jack. So, I’m still kind of just using that.

I play with the volume, trying not to turn it up too loudly as those walls seem to retain no sound. As I feel myself flagging by 11, I finally slide under the covers and call it a night.