#93 – Stay at hotels with free WiFi

Or getting more work done for no extra cost.

Meals for one?
When a travel writer is on the road, the evening can often be the most depressing time. It’s when you have to resort to meals for one, and sitting in a bar trying to strike up conversation with someone.
This is somewhat soul-destroying and – depending on how many drinks you have – can be rather costly.

Writing in the evenings
In recent times, I’ve gone for a change of tack. In destinations where I know I’m not really going to be writing about the nightlife and bars, I’ve taken to using that evening dead space for writing things up.

Fresh in the mind
Inevitably, I’ll be able to write stories up twice as quickly during these evenings as I normally would at home. This is often because the story is fresh in the mind.

In-room internet access
But in doing this, I’ll usually need in-room internet access, just for checking the odd detail. And thus I always try and stay somewhere that provides this.

Looking up maps
It is also useful for planning purposes – with in-room net access, you can check out little details, look up places you’re wanting to get to on Google Maps etc.

Free WiFi
The price of the in-room internet access counts too. Some hotels charge outrageously for this, and it can often make financial sense to pay a couple of dollars/ pounds/ euro/ groats more for a place that offers free WiFi. The cost of the internet otherwise can put 10 - 20% extra on the bill. Besides, offering free WiFi should be encouraged, and I like to give my custom to places that do this.