Just got back from a week’s stay in Charlotte, NC yesterday. I was out there to visit a client site making sure that everything was going well and to insure that any issues that were present were addressed and taken care of properly. It was more of a political show of force but it was nice to meet with the client and make sure that they knew that we are committed to making things work the way they should.
While in Charlotte I did a little driving around and had the opportunity to spend one evening with some very good friends. We had dinner and then I was given the tour of their home. Lots of cool stuff if you’re into cycling and fitness and machine shop paraphernalia. Ok, lots of REALLY COOL stuff.
I stayed at the Hyatt Summerfield on S. Tryon not too far from the airport. I’m usually indifferent when it comes to this class of hotel as far as what they offer and how well things go. This time though I honestly could not stand the beds & pillows. The first night I attributed it to me just being away from home and not being used to the bed. Despite being completely exhausted I did not sleep well. Very restless and uncomfortable sleep. The following nights were each similar repeats. Even one of those nights, having had a few beers did not help. The beds are simply that uncomfortable. I mentioned this to the vendor that was in town with me and was staying at the same hotel. They said that their experience with the beds were the same. So it wasn’t just me. Oh well, lesson learned. All of the other aspects of the hotel were great. The staff was excellent and the complementary breakfasts were great.
One funny thing to note was the “used towel gnome”. For the first two days that I was there it seemed like every time I left the room and came back my used hand and bath towels disappeared. It was almost disturbing by day two and the fact that I no longer had any bath towels left and no hand towels left but only a couple of washcloths and a kitchen towel. However, when I came back from dinner all of my towels had been refreshed. Housekeeping must have been watching me very closely and deemed me as a heavy towel user.
The flight from DFW to CLT was miserable. I was in the middle seat of three with a rather large gentleman on my left and a cranky woman on my right. Thankfully he was quite polite and she slept the entire flight. I fired up the music on the iPhone, plugged in my headphones and read my sailing magazine the entire time.
Not thinking that the return flight from CLT to DFW could be any worse, especially since I had selected a seat on the port side of the plane where the rows were only two across. I was wrong. I was against the window with a very nice woman on the isle. She wasn’t the problem though. I just don’t fit these coach class seats very well and about 45 minutes into the flight my butt went numb and my hips hurt. I spent the remainder of the three hour flight shifting and scooting around in my seat attempting to stay comfortable. I even attempted sleep thinking that if I could just fall asleep I would sleep through the discomfort and the entire ordeal would be over sooner. Not so. I would doze off and then wake up due to the discomfort, rearrange my rear, fall back asleep then wake up 5 minutes later. Rinse, repeat. It sucked. I am too tall, my shoulders are too broad and my legs are too long to properly fit in those crappy seats. Do I recall American Airlines saying that they added more legroom a while back? Ya, that’s a load of bullshit. Don’t let them fool you. THAT is not legroom.
All in all, a decent trip minus the flights and beds. I’m glad to be home where I can sleep normally. Not that I sleep that good in my own bed, ever. But at least it’s better than I slept in Charlotte and I have more room in my little Nissan Pathfinder than an airliner.