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” All that raw land that rolls in one unbelievable huge bulge over to the West Coast, and all that road going…” -Jack Kerouac

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“He who would travel happily must travel light.– Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

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Hotel Intel

“I knew it. I knew it. Born in a hotel room – and God damn it – died in a hotel room.” -Eugene O’Neill

Recent Posts

  • Review of the Boca Suites Deerfield Beach: Hotel Intel

    Review of the Boca Suites Deerfield Beach: Hotel Intel

    If you’re searching for a hotel around Boca Raton you’ve got plenty of choices. But if you’re coming in peak season and not made of money those choices get narrow pretty quickly. In that case you might find yourself looking at the Boca Suites Deerfield Beach as I did recently. Can this Best Western property

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  • Review of the RTIC Everyday Cooler: Gear Guide

    Review of the RTIC Everyday Cooler: Gear Guide

    Personal day-use coolers have always been a staple of road trip travel. Driving around the Florida coasts as much as I do, mine was getting daily use. Eventually an upgrade was in order and I wanted something with some size and substance. But I was still a bit hesitant to shell out Yeti money for

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  • Review of the La Quinta Ft Lauderdale Airport: Hotel Intel

    Review of the La Quinta Ft Lauderdale Airport: Hotel Intel

    If you’re searching for a hotel near FLL or Port Everglades the La Quinta Ft Lauderdale Airport may not be the most obvious choice. I’ve been staying in hotels in this area for two years and still haven’t booked it until now despite being very budget conscious. Was it worth the wait? Let’s find out.

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  • Florida’s Best Free Attraction? Manatee Lagoon in West Palm Beach

    Florida’s Best Free Attraction? Manatee Lagoon in West Palm Beach

    I’d been aware of West Palm’s Manatee Lagoon for a while and had it on a list of attractions to check out. Manatees are found throughout Florida but Manatee Lagoon is known as the best place to observe wild manatees in Florida. When a post popped up in my Instagram feed recently I clicked through

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  • The Cost of Living In Hotels: Update #4 July-December 2025

    The Cost of Living In Hotels: Update #4 July-December 2025

    There’s not a lot of content on the Internet about the cost of living in hotels full time. Most people who adopt a nomadic lifestyle opt for some combination of AirBnb, monthly leases, or extended stays in hostels. The purpose of these updates is to provide a picture of what it actually costs to live

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  • How to Fly With Overweight Bags for Free

    How to Fly With Overweight Bags for Free

    After nearly 20 years of going to sea I’ve learned how to pack exactly 49 pounds of gear to avoid being charged for overweight bags. But that was before I threw in the towel on carrying a military type sea bag and capitulated to the practicality of a bag with wheels. I settled on a

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  • Bangkok Transit: Complete First Timer’s Step-by-Step Guide

    It is not enough to say Bangkok Transit is fast and efficient. Public transit here might be the best in the world, at least for a city of this size. It is extremely fast and easy to use, but even the easiest system has a bit of a learning curve when you are arriving in

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  • Review of the April Suites in Pattaya: Hotel Intel

    There are a lot of hotels in Pattaya and most of them are budget friendly. You have to try hard to really spend a lot on a hotel here, but the $20 a night category is low even by Pattaya standards. The April Suites is in that category and the value it delivers for that

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  • Review of the Ibis Sathorn Bangkok: Hotel Intel

    When looking around at Asian hotel rooms on TripAdvisor or Booking.com it can be difficult to believe that rooms so cheap could match the hotel’s photos or be of very high quality. If you are considering booking the Ibis Sathorn a high quality room in a well kept property is not a gamble, it’s a

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  • Review of the Nanatai Suites Bangkok: Hotel Intel

    Anytime you’re visiting a very large city there’s a competing interest in finding a hotel. Part of you wants to be in the central district and near the heart of the action. The other part wants to find a secluded hideaway where you can sleep peacefully through the night. If you’re visiting Bangkok for the

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  • Review of the Thong Ta Resort BKK Airport: Hotel Intel

    Flying to Thailand from the US is a schlep. My trip from Nashville took more than 24 hours just in flight time. Even with everything going smoothly I arrived at BKK after 10 pm local time, which is early morning back in the US. Rather than spend another 90-120 minutes trying to deal with traffic

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  • Review of the Ramada Sea-Tac: Hotel Intel

    There are times it makes sense to splurge on a nicer hotel and times it makes sense to be as economical as possible. Spending one night near an airport before a flight is certainly not a special occasion and paying a premium for a pricier hotel brand seldom makes sense in this scenario. That’s where

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