Thursday, September 6, 2012

Get a Room (at Room 77)!



My life of traveling -- really traveling, not that driving from Joplin to Tulsa or Kansas City to Nebraska -- began my junior year of high school when the Lincoln Northeast Rockets Concert Choir headed to the trenches of New Jersey for a choir competition. Luckily, the competition was a small portion of the trip that took a bus-load of white kids from Nebraska out of the corn and soybean fields and into places like Harlem, Ellis Island, and to shows like Les Miserables and out to fancy dinners. It was a world I had never experienced before, but that first trip sealed the deal for me. I was going to be a traveler, period. It was in my blood. I loved staying in a nice hotel, I loved having a million channels on TV, I loved knowing that a machine that produced ice was down the hallway and if I wanted an extra pillow, all I had to do was ask for one. That New York City trip back in 2001 changed my perspective on the world (and not just because we had what appeared to be New Jersey mobsters as our "security guards" at the hotel) ...

I want to apologize to Maryl profusely. But seriously, look at my hair!
You can't see the excitement on my face. I think I was pretty much exhausted.

And now?

I've got four flights booked in the next month. I'm heading to Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, and then on to Israel. If that's not globe-trotting, I don't know what is! (And when I get to Israel and have some money saved, the first thing I'm doing is heading to Europe ... I've been to Israel four times and I'm moving there, but that's my only out-of-the-U.S. experience!)

A few of the upcoming trips I have I'm staying with at-home accommodations, but with my trip to New York as I prep to head onward to Israel, I didn't have such luck. I had to dig around for a hotel, comparing Hotels.com with actual brand websites with other hotel search engines. Finding out that Room 77 exists makes me lament the stress it took to find a price-friendly, wifi-capable hotel with a free airport shuttle. It took some digging.

Had I had Room 77 -- “an intelligent and easy to use hotel search engine that allows travelers to find and book the best rates from across the Web in one fast and simple search" -- I would have found my hotel in about two seconds flat. Why? Well, Room 77 offers competitor rates (in the vein of everyone's favorite airfare search engines). D'oh! Where were you all my life Room 77?

My requirements for this adventure were a free airport shuttle from the hotel to JFK (where I need to be by 3 p.m. on October 15) and free wifi, because you know I'm going to be Tweeting and Facebooking every single second of my aliyah adventure. And guess what? Room 77 has that option. Genius!


I'm glad I found something, although I probably would have had better/more options to consider had I opted for Room 77. There's always next time, of course, and they do have international location, so that's a huge win for me!

Seriously, friends. Never wonder whether you've gotten the best deal on your hotel room again. Check out Room 77 when planning your next travel adventure!

I was selected for participation in this campaign as a member of Clever Girls Collective.