beat writers: are you creatures of habit?

Back in the dark ages when I traveled for a beat, my philosophy was didn't care about the hotel as long as it was decent -- it was often the team hotel -- but tried very hard to eat "local" and rarely didn't. It was one of the perks of the job, to me.

The only variable was that "what's open?" one.

 

My God, you oughta have a habit on the road. Wandering around those first couple road trips gets real old.

Nothing wrong with consistency in hotels. It's smart, even. Hotels - that's one thing you learn. And the team hotel isn't always the way to go - that's another thing you learn. When the team hotel has a tiny lobby, no service and a bunch of asshole fans milling around - or my personal favorite, there's a 800-woman Mary Kay convention going on - but it's the team hotel cuz it's near the bowl stadium or the beach or whatever, what the hell good is it?

Now, restaurants? Your habit oughta be to find good local joints, preferably a steakhouse in there somewhere, that has some classy service, a little atmosphere and some food. Outback actually ain't half bad, but if you're not in the mood for heavy peppercorn and just want a old-school steak, just about every college town has one.

 

why would you ever not file from the stadium?

especially without testing the wireless at your hotel?

and once in that situation, why not just save your story on any sort of USB memory device or drive and transfer it onto the other computer instead of re-typing the whole thing?

 

when i was in the business i would frequent the same hotel chains but always try to get some local flavor if time. i miss that part of the business because my jobs took me to all sorts of places i'll never get back to, from tiny rural towns in east bumblefuck to big cities.

 

The only habit I'm in is sleeping on a friend's couch wherever that may be. Luckily I know people in most of the cities I travel to. If not, I've got some friends on the beat who help me out. If not for that, I think I may be sleeping in my car on road trips. But man, when 17 weeks straight are road trips, it doesn't really matter. And I try to eat local, as well. I don't think I'm helping you here.