Yesterday was kind of a weird day since we woke up early after staying up late packing, went to the airport, took a flight north to Minneapolis where it was apparently about 30 degrees out (very glad we didn’t get stuck there with the clothes we packed) and then another flight south to Charlotte where it was already well past dusk by the time we landed.  At 9:00 p.m. when we checked into the hotel we felt like we had barely done anything but still were not exactly energetic after our travels.

Fortunately, our hotel, perched on the 5th floor and above of Charlotte’s Epicentre, was clearly a party hotel in the middle of what seemed to be the liveliest place in the city.  I’m not joking — the Epicentre was basically an urban mall filled with bars and clubs.  A little artificial, but probably the best way to have a Saturday night on the town when you’ve just arrived (it’s also not clear that there was anything particularly “authentic” to experience elsewhere).

We ate some not particularly authentic but decent 2-for-1 Asian tapas at IndoChine Grill, where I also had a pretty terrible glass of wine.  The California selections looked unimpressive so I went for a Chilean one which was equally unimpressive which was probably why I was served an overflowing glass.  I clearly should have gone for the blood orange margarita that Dan ordered after his $4 special vodka Red Bull.  I learned from this lesson tonight, and when the wine bar we wanted to try was not open, I passed on wine entirely in lieu of attempting to trick myself into thinking I still like the Beringer White Zin I used to buy in packs of six for $18 at Costco in college.  We moved on to the fancy Asian restaurant, Enso, for dessert and after dinner drinks.  It got us in the mood for dancing, so we walked around all the long lines to pay cover at the clubs, but when were solicited for a bribe at the back door of one of them we mutually decided that the experience was worth no more than about $2 each since there was not much inside that we couldn’t get elsewhere (each other) so we’d rather go back to our well-designed hotel bar.

This morning, we hurried out of Charlotte in hopes of making it in time to Boone Hall Plantation for Taste of Charleston, a once-a-year event we were fortunate enough to overlap.  Apparently Boone Hall was the location of some scenes from the delightfully almost porny film version of The Notebook. Along the way, I wanted some caffeine so we went to the drive through at Bojangles, a ubiquitous local “chicken ‘n biscuits” chain.  My coke was served in a styrofoam cup which made me die a little inside and the sweet potato pie didn’t really taste bad but the way it looked reminded me of why I never eat true fast food anymore now that I am able to avoid it.

Taste of Charleston was a great introduction to the city’s restaurants and a creative use of what would seem like lost space other than for tourism/preservation.  While the food was tasty, it left me with what I am sure is the incorrect impression that Charleston mainly serves not-so-different varieties of sliders.  My favorite parts were beautiful wooden shoring being used for restoration of one of the old buildings and the swamp we had to walk through (on a boardwalk of sorts) to get to the event.  Getting in and out of the plantation was a total nightmare.

We checked into Notso Hostel this evening which so far has been… interesting.  We struggled for a while to get the sheets on our bed until we realized they were the wrong size.  On the bright side, we don’t have to pay $20 for parking like at the other hotels and it seems that the little shared kitchen outside our room is basically ours.  Over dinner, we examined a bunch of tour brochures we picked up, ultimately concluding that the City Slicker iPhone application looked by far the most promising.  Even on the internet, there was an overwhelming number of ghost tours and carriage rides leaving both of us with the fear that every tour would be perhaps unbearably kitschy.  Fortunately, the app turned out to be on special for $0.99 instead of the usual $9.99 meaning there was nothing to lose.  Since Charleston seems like more of a daytime kind of place, we turned in after dinner and downloaded the app which looks great so far.

With the Walt Disney Family Museum officially opening to the public tomorrow, a vacation is long overdue.

Back in the spring, we wanted to escape to Hawaii but had friends get engaged shortly after who are likely to get married there.  I love Hawaii but don’t properly vacation all that often (where a proper vacation is defined as a week or more), so it would be silly to go twice within the course of a year.  And did I mention that Hawaii is expensive?

Then we came up with the idea of going to Buenos Aires, the Paris of the West.  Although a plane ticket can be double a ticket to Hawaii, the stay would be much more economical than most other locations of similar appeal.  A multi-course meal at a top restaurant, for example, would cost only $40.  I had plenty of PTO that had piled up over the life of the project, but my somewhat unpredictable work load made it difficult to isolate the full two weeks I am sure we’d need to do Argentina justice and truly make the expensive ticket worthwhile.

We stayed in the vein of beach vacations for a while but didn’t want to wait long enough to sufficiently avoid hurricane season on the east coast.  The southern west coast was too close to home and I’m not enough of a fan of Mexico to take a chance on another trip there just yet.  To reference David Foster Wallace, I’d group Mexico in there with cruises–supposedly fun things I’ll never do again (until I forget or grow bored enough with the other options).  Without the time to go abroad or inclination to head north where it’s getting cooler, we needed a trip that wouldn’t be ruined by weather.

So now we’re touring cities of the southeast!  Charlotte, Charleston, Savannah, and Atlanta to be exact.  Atlanta has intrigued me ever since I worked on a project there (research, no visit) at my old job.  However, Atlanta has sort of taken the back seat to Charleston and Savannah in the course of our planning.  Atlanta almost got dropped from the itinerary entirely because we liked North Carolina’s Outer Banks (in part due to a flashy web site that mesmerized Dan and my excitement about potential hang gliding lessons at Kitty Hawk), but we decided that Atlanta added significantly less driving time.

In the case of a hurricane, we can head inland from our coastal destinations a little more easily than we might have from the Florida keys.  I’m looking forward to doing something fun and a little unusual, hopefully without blowing a ton of cash.  So the challenge of the last weekend was selecting accommodations.  We stayed in this fantastic 1920s Hollywood-inspired boutique hotel in Portland that we raved about so much that our roommate booked a trip to Portland and stayed there.  It felt especially good because we got a great rate that included half off truly gourmet breakfast in their dining room.  We set out to replicate that success and will let you know how it goes.

Charlotte – 1 night – Aloft Charlotte Uptown at the EpiCentre

Aloft is a downmarket brand of the tres chic W hotels.  Since we arrive late on a Saturday night, we wanted to be in the center of things and it sounds like there will be lots to do right in the building (a highrise).

Charleston – 3 nights – Notso Hostel

I read about the Notso Hostel in the New York Times (“Charleston on the Cheap”) but Dan did not quite share my enthusiasm.  Researching accommodations in Charleston was a huge time suck because everything was either outside the city center, super old fashioned (and not even in a particularly tasteful manner), or very expensive.  While Charlotte hotels all offered a discount for longer stays, there were few deals to be found in Charleston.  I had finally unearthed a potentially risky but potentially awesome vacation rental studio that I was ready to try for better or worse when Dan woke up from a nap and decided to check out Notso Hostel’s web site.  One look at the pictures of all the visitors having tons of fun and he was sold!  I should have known to show him the web site in the first place because I’ve never really done the whole hostel thing before and it got me excited.  Because Charleston arguably has the most going on, it makes sense to go light on the luxury and focus on experiencing all the city has to offer, maybe with some new friends.  This also allowed us to splurge a little more on Savannah where we could get more for our money.

Savannah – 2 nights – AVIA Savannah

The web site tells all.  On the waterfront, centrally located, and very stylish.  We might take some time here to watch the 42″ flat panel TV.

Altanta – 2 nights – Artmore Hotel

More than anything the bar had a similar appeal to the cozy one at Hotel Deluxe in Portland where we had a most excellent time.

Charlotte – 1 night – TBD airport hotel*

And… drumroll, please… average cost per night per person: $53, including tax.  That doesn’t even take into account the super cheap night we’ll spend at an airport hotel.

Next up – activity planning.