LA Trip, Day 6 & 7, the final strreetttcch

On the road…oh you get it. We busted out of Dodge, actually Abilene, and headed west, yet again. It’s a great day, no storms and we’re just heading into the wind. We felt like Leo and Kate on the Titanic.

  (whoa, not that one)  (ya, we felt like this)

We traveled all of two hours to Midland Texas, home of George W. Bush.   

Let us just say, this town is pretty big and got paper (money). That’s not a bad thing, for all you Bush haters. We drove into town looking for something authentic to eat, after the mess at Two Senorita’s…drive heave. We wanted something real. We noticed this one place, La Mission Restaurant, with the parking lot over flowing with vehicles, 90% of them being pickup trucks. So we pulled in.
The exterior was painted nice, like an old Spanish Mission.

 

We went in and the place was huge, complete with an upstairs for parties. 

The décor was very well done and we were greeted by the Hostess. Forbes immediately asked do you have carne asada, the Latino hostess smiled and of course we do. Webb then asked, who is the owner? The hostess replied, “Martinez”. We said, “we’ll stay”!
They have a small buffet, mostly for tacos. But we ordered from the menu. This is the sad part, we were so excited and hungry, we forgot to take pics of the food .  But let’s just say, our plates were clean when we finished eating. Nom Nom!
Upon exiting, we came across this little beauty in the parking lot. What a sweet, gentle soul.

We set off from Midland all fueled up both in our tummies and in our car. No Tums needed. There is literally nothing else to see for hours of driving in Texas. This is one of the days we dread each time, because it’s such a boring ride and very long.  But we always get a little crazy and have fun somehow.

That being said, we hit Interstate 10 and then New Mexico. Wahoo!

Then we hit traffic, oh joy. They always seem to be doing road construction in New Mexico, which is ok sometimes, if the roads are nice. But what wasn’t nice is the confusing detour signs. Instead of staying on the I10, we followed the traffic to go onto I25. As we got further and further from the 10, we planned on taking the first exit and turning around. Here’s a teaching moment, sometimes life gives us detours, if we ignore them we may miss out on something special. So we embraced our detour and got off the first exit to find a hotel. We stayed at the Sleep Inn in Las Cruses, N.M.

      (sunset view from our room, nice right?)

The front desk clerk was very nice and was able to give us a great price, much less than what we would have paid if we stayed on the I10. She also recommended a restaurant just down the street called Lorenzo’s Italian. It’s very nice when the desk clerk of a hotel knows of a good place to eat, saves a lot of wasted time searching for something.

So, we headed off to dinner at Lorenzo’s.      It was very quaint; décor was very nice and felt warm and cozy.   Like this would make a great place to hang out with family and hey, isn’t that what Italians are about, family?    That’s a rhetorical question. We were greeted very properly and we could tell right off that the server was a professional. She knew her menu inside and out, was happy to be there and gave some nice suggestions on her favorites. Webb had chicken cataloni and Forbes had grilled chicken over pasta fettuccini. Both plates were over flowing with food, typical. We enjoyed our meals and had a great conversation with one of the owners, Mary. The murals on the walls were fantastic. We rolled out of there stuffed to the gills and headed back for a good night’s sleep.

Yawn, stretch and a scratch here and there. We’re off and running, back on I10 and with a few short hours we made it to Arizona, home of cactus’s or is it cacti?

We drove a little longer so that we can stay at a special Bed and Breakfast type place called Smelly and Paul’s. They had several guests staying, Jack, Lola, Lucy and Spencer, four friends we got to know very well. The local pizza they provided was great, along with the fresh pastries the next morning. Webb enjoyed taking a fast ride on their personal toy called the Genesis. We felt very safe there. When we tried to escape early to Starbucks we were locked in like Fort Knox. We shall return some time in the near future.

The final day of driving we were excited about our journey coming to an end. As we crossed the border to California  (we were so excited, the pic blurred!) we reflected back at all the faces we’ve seen, places we stopped at, and roads we’ve driven on. This has been one of the best trips we’ve taken across America and if you ever get the chance, we say experience it yourself and appreciate the land you live in.   (what do you see here)

Our next step is to help local businesses in Southern California to grow and prosper. If you know of a restaurant, hotel or business that could use a kick in the ass, let us know.

Follow us on Titter @forbesmeetswebb

LA Trip, Day 5 (day 2 in Texas)

“On The Road Again” by Willie Nelson, seemed appropriate to start out for this state.

One thing we love is real, authentic Mexican food, we are not too crazy about Tex-Mex that America have become accustomed too. So when we came to our lunch time and pulled off, we chose this place;
Two Senorita’s Mexican Restaurant 17279 Interstate 20 Frontage Rd, Canton, TX.
The parking lot wasn’t too full, but when we went in, it was kind of decorated nicely. Then we noticed all the Caucasian waitresses, we’re sorry “Servers”. Our server had the personality of a bowling ball. Perhaps she had a bad year. We asked who were the owners. She said, “Al Schmidt, for 20 years” (we should have run out then). When Forbes asked about the carne asada the waitress said “it’s hamburger, or ground beef”. Well, that is NOT carne asada. We ordered a #9 and #5, I guess it’s easier for the servers to remember a number than an actual dish name. The food came to our table minutes later, hmm that tells us it’s not homemade.

The beans were from a can, probably El Paso brand, the rice was from a box and the cheese was Cheese Wiz. We both had one bite of each from our plates and then called for our waitress, we were not going to eat this slop. She said, “fine, I tell the boss” and then took the plates to the kitchen. She came out two minutes later and said that the boss has taken care of the check. We offered to pay for our drinks, that we hardly touched, but she said no (with a zombie look) and then left to the kitchen again. We got up to leave and noticed every single server was gone, they had all gone into the kitchen, maybe to hide or something.      (this is real carne asada)
On the road again, just to get the heck out of here and never to return.
About forty minutes later we came to Dallas area. We stopped to get gas and we noticed all the trash behind and next to the gas station. Oddly, there were trash cans outside, but all were empty. Webb told Forbes how he has noticed a lot of trash on the sides of the highway as well. Not a pretty sight Texas, take Pride, clean up your state. This is not what America is about.

(wanted, trash crew. Apply to Texas)

We stopped for the night in Abilene Texas, as we did a year ago. Abilene seems to be the last affordable town heading west. If you try and go to Midland or even Odessa you will pay well over $100 for a Motel 6 and who wants to stay there! We called ahead and got reservations at the Quality Inn and Suites. They had a good price and nice place.  

day 5 has come to a close. Good night John Boy!

LA Trip, Day 4; the storm

We woke up in Monroe Louisiana with all the news and weather channels screaming about a large storm headed from Dallas Texas area and headed east. Well that’s just great, that is exactly where we are headed, to Texas. Although no one could pin point where it will hit and at what time or how severe it will be, just that it was large and gonna effect many states.     (The head of the storm)

So, we said a quick prayer to keep us safe and got ready. We got out onto the road around 8 am and the clouds were rolling in fast. We had one heck of a time fighting the wind, our gas mileage suffered too. Our plan was to drive until we feel it’s safe to and pull off when we don’t. If we could make Tyler Texas, that would be great, but anything is better than nothing.

We drove roughly three hours and then the dark clouds got darker, the wind got windier and it started to rain lightly…We’re not in Kansas anymore, ah we mean Louisiana. No, no we weren’t, that’s because we hit TEXAS, Yeehaw!

The first real town, we say real because when the cows outnumber the people, then there’s not too many places to eat or stay, so it was Marshall Tx. We used our cell phones to quickly check the rating of the hotels and prices. We picked two hotels to look at, one was the Quality Inn and Suites, which had all good ratings and the other was Comfort Suites. We drove up to the Quality Inn and then turned around and headed to the Comfort Suites. The Quality didn’t have the quality we were looking for at this time. We past a Baymount Inn, which was more money than Comfort and Quality, but by the looks of it, it’s had its day.

We pulled into the Comfort Suites parking lot and the place looked brand new, Score!  

They have professional landscaping, complete with flowers that run all the way up to the front entrance. We walked in and the place was spotless and decorated very nice, yup we picked a good one. We took a quick look at the pool and dining room while the manager helped another customer at the front desk. When it was our turn, the manager was very nice and helpful. Even though it was only 10:30am, she still allowed us to check in, we explained we were coming in for the day to get away from the storm. We got to our room and it was homey and large. The décor was very nice and we felt very relaxed after a few hours of stressful driving into a storm.

Then after we took in all the luggage Webb was hungry, so he walked the fifty yards or so to the Wendy’s and got a Baja Salad and a grilled chicken sandwich, both were great.

We checked on the storm and sure enough it was getting bigger, but most of it seemed to be headed north of us, but again they couldn’t pin point, how frustrating is that?

A couple hours later we decided to venture out to WalMart for some supplies (i.e. snacks and water). We drove into the town of Marshall and on one side was a large high school football stadium, looked like a college stadium. On the sign it read MARSHALL, we thought, was this the Marshall from the movie, We Are Marshall? No, just so you know, and so you don’t look like a fool for asking a local!

We got our “supplies” and headed to eat at the Golden Corral,     I mean when in Texas, do as Texans do and wrangle up some grub at the Corral. We grabbed our drinks and headed to the right side to find a seat, then Forbes stopped, turned around and headed to the left. Even though there were plenty of seats to the right. We found a seat and put our drinks down. Immediately Jack, our server came by to welcome us. Forbes had a very strange look on her face, almost like she was holding her breath too long and she was. Jack walks away and Webb says, “what’s wrong with you”? Forbes replied, “he looks like Mr. Clean”. Webb says, “and”? Forbes says, “Mr. Clean and The Jolly Green Giant freaks me out. Had a bad experience as a kid”. Never the less, we had our food, which was pretty good for a buffet.

Back at the hotel the storm came closer as the night grew darker. We said another quick prayer as we went to sleep.

The next morning the local news said the heavy part of the storm blew north of us and we got mostly wind. Our car was covered in dirt, but that we could handle.

That was the ends day four.

LA Trip, Third Day (We love that band)

After a crappy night’s sleep(less) in Oxford at Comfort Suites, run by GM Theresa, we headed out for a 6 hour tour of Interstate 20 West.

Our travels along the Alabama roads were bumpy due to potholes. We past a large white factory on the left side, it was the Mercedes factory. And further down the road we came to Mississippi.

And here’s where the whopper part comes in (see day 2), we stopped at Burger King, at roughly 11:00 am or so we thought…oooowwwweeeeooooo! We entered the empty dining room of the Burger King. Two employees stared us down as we looked at the menu and then it happened. They asked, “can we help you?” We said, “We want a burger”. The confusing look on the employees told us something was wrong, very wrong. The cashier replied, we don’t serve lunch until 11:00am. Suddenly Forbes & Webb realized they had lost an hour, as their phones said 11am, but it was really 10 am. We quickly exited the building, got back in the car and noticed several other restaurants not opened. What had happened here, where did we lose an hour? With a call to Cat to ask, had we had been abducted and probed somewhere in Alabama? Dun Dun Daaa! She confirmed, no you weren’t probed, you past the time zone yesterday coming into Alabama. Oh!

So we hopped, skipped and bounced our way across the roads in Mississippi (they really need to improve their roads). We finally stopped for something to eat at, we’re embarrassed to say, but at a gas station. Hey desperate times call for desperate measures. Not wanting to venture too far off the road for a real restaurant, we took a chance at a Country something, something restaurant just before Jackson MS. Forbes wanted a salad, but they didn’t offer a side salad, yet they had a salad bar. Oh the logic here in Mississippi! JK. The food was exactly what we would expect from this type of joint and we would pay for it later (if you know what we mean). Webb had to run out of the place because they allow smoking (get a grip people). Forbes held her breath as she paid and we got the hell out of there.

Onward! We crossed the mighty Mississippi River and said goodbye to yet another state.  (not such a good pic, but ya cant stop on the bridge, hello)

Hello Louisiana.

Home of New Orleans, crawfish and Cajun talk:

peeshnick—————–to thump something with your finger

fuh shore, for true————that’s the truth

go play; go to bed————I don’t believe you!

rodee’——————to run the roads and never stay home

pirogue————————small boat like a canoe

Just prior to stopping for the night, we paid a little visit to the Days Inn Monroe, 5650 Frontage Road, Monroe, LA 71202. We stopped here last year, about this same time. We contacted the Wyndham Group prior to our leaving on this trip, to see if they would like for us to quietly report back to them about their hotels. After all, Days Inn and Super 8 have been rated some of the dirtiest hotels in the US. After a few emails from Christine Da Silva VP, Marketing Communications of Wyndham Hotel Group, which Days Inn is affiliated. Christine replied to our email: “Thanks so much for thinking of us but we already work with a variety of partners at this time.” 

And here’s the result of our findings. Upon pulling up to the hotel two employees were standing at the front door smoking, when we stopped the car near the front door, one employee ran inside. We went in, asked the price and we were quoted $76 for a double. We notice the tiny lobby area was just as we remembered it from the year before, old, smelly and tired, just like the rooms. We asked for our AAA discount and were quoted $68. We asked if any remodeling has been done and the desk clerk said “no”. Forbes said to Webb, “so it’s still a dump and $68, way too much for this place”. Politely the desk clerk said, “sir you should listen to you wife” and gave us a slight smile. We walked out, looked around the parking lot and hotel, noticed nothing had changed, even though we talked to the manager last year about how dirty and smelly the place was. This picture is the only thing worth taking, and yes the hotel is in the back of a Sam’s Club. Christine we sadly report your team is doing nothing to help the Wyndham cause for the customer. Shame!     (old tv, old comforters, old carpet and you can’t smell with a picture)

And our third night on the road comes to an end at the Comfort Suites, Martin Luther King Jr in Monroe, La. This place was under renovation, but you couldn’t tell, we had to ask. That’s a good thing, just because a hotel is renovating, doesn’t mean you have to see it, especially after work hours. We were offered one of the already renovated rooms. The front desk clerk was very helpful, friendly and even though there were many guests checking in, she handled it with no problems.

Our room was very spacious, although we didn’t care for the busy carpet.  

The bed was soft and comfortable. The bathroom was nicely done and spacious. But the best part was the place was so quiet. With all those guests, you would think you could hear something, but nope, very nice and quiet as we drifted off to slleee

Shhh!

(whispering) Wait for day four, it’s a crazy storm of a story…no literally wait to you hear about the storm.

follow us on Twitter @forbesmeetswebb

LA trip, day uno (one).

Captains Log.
Star date: the day of Saturn, twenty sixth day of the first month of the new year, twenty thirteen.

Ouch, I just got smacked in the back of my head and was told to write normal! So, here’s the boring way; Saturday. January 26, 2013. Blah

We hit the road precisely at 3pm, leaving Charleston South Carolina in our rear view mirror. However, we did not get very far, about 1 hour 20 minutes, as we pulled into Columbia SC for some eats.

Our first official stop was at Maurice’s BBQ. A home brand which was started in the 1950’s by Maurice and it’s still going strong. Side Note; only 20% of the business started in the 50’s are still in operation. So that’s saying something, especially for a restaurant.

That being said, here’s our break down on what we thought. The entry way is filled with old awards and old photos and then we wondered where are the awards from recent years? The place seems pretty large, although has a funky layout with different sections. They have a counter to order, which the cashier is eager to take your order. The menu is pretty large, but somewhat confusing. They also had out a buffet, if you want to call it that. We took a pass on the buffet and just ordered the ¼ chicken and a brisket sandwich. The bbq sauce is mustard based, very Carolina like. It had a nice taste, not too overpowering, as mustard can be.

See Picture (sorry, Webb took a bite before we could snap a pic): 

Once we started eating we looked around the place, read up on the memorabilia of the old Maurice’s and talked to the staff. The kitchen looked clean for the most part, but the décor of the dining areas are tired and a little worn out. Kinda of like the buffet equipment. All the staff were friendly and enjoyed working there. Perhaps a good overhaul on the place could bring in more than just the few locals that frequent there. He hopes for many more years in business for Maurice’s BBQ.

I.E. Forbes still has yellow mustard fingernails.

Enough stuffing our faces, we have to hit the road. So, onto Atlanta Georgia we go.

With the sun going down and blinding us as we headed west, we stopped for some gas and something to get rid of gas…hmmm BBQ returns!
By 9pm the headlights are on and we’re ready to pull off for the night. We chose the La Quinta inn and Suites in Conyers GA (Forbes loves their pet policy), just outside of Atl. This place was just down the street from where they filmed Fast Furious 5, which Webb was lucky to be a part of. The hotel was beautiful on the outside and inside. The front desk staff was very helpful and nice. Al, the manager takes pride in training his employees correctly, customers come first. The lobby has live plants and a great view of the pool.
The King Suite was very large and spacious. With the desk and couch, you could hold your own meeting. The bed was very comfortable and had full sized pillows (what’s with the little pillows these days).

pulling up.     The entry

 (courtesy of La Quinta website)

We received two emails from the La Quinta thanking us for staying with them. We highly recommend this place if you’re in the area.

This is the end of Day 1. Please keep checking back as we will be adding each day of our trip.

also, follow us on Twitter; @forbesmeetswebb

Forbes Webb has hit the road across USA!

Day two on our trip and we’ve met some great people thus far, oh yes you just read thus!

A new post will be coming very soon, check back and keep reading.

Forbes & Webb

Unmasking Forbes meets Webb

Up until now, Forbes and Webb have been keeping their full identity masked.

After many requests to know who’s behind the Forbes meets Webb blog. We decided to come out of the closet…oh wait, that’s not the correct expression, we’re bursting at the seams to be revealed. Let us introduce ourselves further. Forbes Meets Webb is like west coast meets east coast, Alpha and Omega, apples and oranges, oil and vinegar, Obama and Sarah Palin, ok you get the gist. However, it’s not about opposites coming together, it’s more like cutting the apple and orange up and making a fruit salad.
Our goal is to help people, but when we clash, we also come up with some amazing ideas and somehow it works, especially when both parties are stubborn and very opinionated. Working together is a must for survival for helping others.

The real deal behind all this work is non-other than Tinamarie Forbes and Philip Webb.

And our latest addition to our team is the chief editor, Cat Iafrate. She’s the glue that slaps us around and keeps us on track.

We’re on top of the World, with an bird’s eye view.      

Hotel Stakeout, the real deal

Hotel Stakeout          

Traveling across the USA for the 5^th time in the last 12 months, Forbes-Webb will enter Chain Hotels and discover what’s wrong or what’s right. They will be performing their normal duties as real customers pointing out the problem areas and bringing the issues to the owners. They will see if the franchise owners are following corporate policies. They will report back to the corporate companies they are working with.

This is your money that we are trying to protect, both the customer and corporate.  We’re not talking about roach motels, we’re talking about the places that families and the business travelers would trust to stay at.                 

We know there’s TV shows, such as Gorgon Ramsey’s Hotel Hell and Hotel Impossible that focus on the mom and pop/private owned, but we are all about exposing the chain hotels that should be up to general standards.

We have been told about franchise owners increasing the prices on a night stay, depending on the capacity, time of day or night, day of the week or just because they feel like it. We want to find out if you think that is fair? We also want to know if corporate know about this. We tend to find out and address this issue among others. Just about anyone who has traveled the roads has had to pull off late and find a place to stay. You’re exhausted and you just want a decent place to stay for the night. You don’t want to be ripped off by poor service, high prices and a dirty, smelly room.

Our past experiences dealing with some hotel chains have been ridiculous, to say the least. With dirty carpet 

moldy Showers   

and bugs 

We say enough is enough and then some. Why are these chains, such as Days Inn in Evanston Wyoming, (just minutes outside of Salt Lake City, owned by Wyndham) dirty, cracked windows and outdated décor still allowed to charge as much as they do. We also often wonder when there is an Owner that is from another country and the lobby and rooms are utterly disgusting. Where is the money going? Are they sending all their money back to their home country to support their families and not updating their hotel as required by corporate? We’re not saying all owners are bad or make poor choices, because we’ve seen some great places that corporate should visit and give notice, such as the Sleep Inn Biltmore (owned by Choice Hotels) in Ashville, NC.

We’re here to help the customers and corporate of these chains obtain and provide a good quality hotel.

If you have stayed at a place that is what we would call, “Ewe, what The!!”,  then email us and tell us your story, perhaps we can go and check it out for ourselves.

Break the chains on Restaurant and Hotel Chains

We don’t want companies to forget that it’s the Customer that keeps them going. We’ve seen many places that have become to big for their britches and not give a dam. We’re all about helping people get what they pay for and taking a stand for people who don’t know how to speak up.

On the flip side. We have also worked closely with Owners and/or Managers who have lost their customers and they don’t know why. Helping them see what customers are looking for and help bring customers back to the business.

We feel some restaurant and hotel chains have lost touch with their franchisees and that’s a no no in our book. We also feel franchisees We also feel that the franchisees are doing things their own way and not following corporate policy. We say Consistency is key! You should know when eating or staying with a chain, you will get the same service, quality and quantity at each facility. 

In the next few weeks we’ll be packing the car and hitting the road once again. Starting out on the east coast and driving to the west coast.

We will be choosing a couple restaurant chains and a couple hotel chains to work with. We will be making stops along the way to their restaurants and hotels and reporting back to the corporate big boss’s. Where needed, we will also confront managers or owners about the product they are selling if it’s not up to standards.

Come follow us along our latest journey and see how we can help put the Customer back in charge of Customer Service in America.

Charleston SC, the truth about the Reader’s Choice 2013 top vacation place

Charleston, SC.

Downtown and surrounding areas.

Our extensive research has come to a close and here’s the real truth about the city with History and Southern Charm.

Over the past 6 months we have done just about all things touristy, as well as ate, explored, shopped and lived as a resident would.

Now on the surface, our first impressions of the Downtown area were impressive and historical.

We walked the darkened streets at night, tip toed in the cemeteries, took in the sites, paid too much for parking, felt up the old walls, snapped too many pictures of old houses, marveled at the preservation of most things and snarled at others.

Then I stepped in a pile of steaming dog poop with one foot and a pile of cigarette butts with the other. Not really, but I’m sure someone has. We’re dog lovers and it disgusts us to see people walking their dogs with no bags in hand to discard waste. Also, the pile of cigarette butts outside of one hospital on the sidewalks makes us gag.

One summer day, the sky grew dark and the rain came and we were trapped inside by the five feet of dirty water flowing down the streets, heading towards the Art district, hospitals and fancy shops. The site of a car floating by did most certainly say, Historical Roads with No drainage. I mean, is this not a major concern for anyone…anyone, hello?

 (courtesy of City Paper) (courtesy of us)

You would think in this day in age that the Mayor (Mayor Joseph P. Riley, Jr. is widely considered one of the most visionary and highly effective governmental leaders in America. First elected Mayor in December 1975, Mayor Riley is serving an unprecedented tenth term) would have had a vision of fixing the roads so that the tourist that come to spend money won’t have a damaged car. Especially since Charleston Average rainfall in July, Aug & Sept is over 6”, national average is roughly 3”. The locals say anything over 5” of rain brings is “High Tide”, and they’re not talking about the beaches people. Having to use your kayak to go shopping may appeal to some, but us non-kayaker’s prefer the more traditional method of walking or driving. When we talked to many people who live and/or work downtown their reply to us was “there’s nothing we can do, this is Charleston.” Many have had their cars flooded and even totaled by insurance. I guess that’s Charleston’s way of cleaning up all the dog poo and cigs? Perhaps this explains all the potholes that are located everywhere in and around the city. We had to fix two tires in six months due to poor road conditions.

Eating:

Moving on to Food…we love food! But we don’t love Charleston’s food. Although we have Not tried every place there is to dine, we’ve tried enough to give an honest opinion. Seafood seems to be the big draw here, with many fine restaurants serving up their flare for the local catch (filled with dog poo and smoking a cigarette after it rains). You can also find plenty of steak and chicken on the menus, but that’s typical of any city. The few times we par took in some seafood it was good, but not great as for the prices are high. Some prices were the same as we paid in larger cities, such as Boston or LA. Most of the servers were pleasant, although a lot of people were transplants and couldn’t tell us much about the local tourist things to do, but they all knew about the flooding. The one thing we noticed was the inconsistency with quality and quantity.

Shopping:

Downtown there seems to be only one street for shopping and that is King Street, which has many upscale stores along with privately owned shops. If the upscale doesn’t suit your needs, then there’s always Walmart. There are more Walmarts in the Charleston area then I dare to mention, but I guess I just mentioned it. There are only two malls, if you want to call them an actual mall, since many of the stores are empty. Your other option would to go to the Outlet mall. The hotels here point you to shop at the Outlet, but most local people say they go to Charlotte NC to shop, but our experience in Charlotte is a whole other story!

Grocery stores; Publix and Foodlion are the most noticeable, with Piggly Wiggly and Harris Teeter here and there. The one thing we found when doing our food shopping is most the employees and managers don’t know their product. When we have to spend ten minutes educating them on a certain product, like Soda or sausage, then something is wrong there. We will say that Harris Teeter is among our favorite, however their prices tend to be higher, but you’re paying for a nicer shopping experience.

Lodging:

Hotels; you will pay a LOT more for a LOT less Downtown and there’s no free parking. On the outskirts, such as North Charleston, MT. Pleasant and West Ashley, you will pay a lot and get even less, but you have to drive everywhere, however the hotels have parking!

The couple Hotels we stayed at Downtown had a nice view and charm, but room service, especially at the Mill House, was terrible. How do you screw up scrambled eggs? When we notified the manager and he was smart enough to offer to remove the cost of the breakfast and throw in some complimentary meals. That does not make it ok to serve a poor quality and expensive meal. The pool deck was nice to relax and it is attached to a parking garage, which made it convenient. Let me mention the parking garages. They charge $1 for every half hour. The Hotel recommended a taxi service back to the airport, which is a huge flat fee of $40 for an 11 mile ride. Most hotels have their recommended taxi service. The other hotels that we visited, most were national chains, were typical, smelly, small and overpriced.

Bed and Breakfast places, OMG some prices of these places are insane. Most of them you will pay around $400 (more than Cali and New York) for a room in someone’s house. Yeah, they may have nice window treatments and the house may be on the historical registry list, but come on! This place isn’t paradise, its Charleston. I guess when one magazine rated Charleston as one of the top places to vacation, the owners of these places saw dollars signs and a tax breaks rather than customer service and a great experience. I’m not talking about all the B and B’s, because there are some good ones, but you really have to do your research before booking.

Rental property; if you’re a student at one of the many colleges, then you may be ok with sharing a room in a house downtown, but I hope your parent have money. One of cheapest places downtown to rent is at The Courtyard on Meeting street. You will pay almost $800 for a very small studio. New Yorker’s right now are saying, Hey that’s a good deal, but this aint New York! Given that the Estimated per capita income in 2009: $28,043 and the Median gross rent in 2009: $914 (I’m sure the rent average is much higher now, but this is an example) that means almost half your income goes to rent. That does not include the high cost of utilities. You will pay roughly $120 in electric during the summer in a 600 sqft place and roughly $54 in water with only two people (that’s without a washer and dryer).

Bottom line is this; Charleston is very expensive for what they provide, which is not much. They expect you to pay bookoo bucks and only offer the basics. When vacationing, if history is your thing, I would consider an alternate location, such as St. Augustine Florida, the oldest city in America. If you have a large budget, I would consider a cleaner place with more to do. If you are considering living here, reconsider! The cost of living here is 11% above average, but the income is slightly below average, you do the math. There’s not too much to do here and after a few weeks Downtown, we were bored and broke!