Tuesday, March 14, 2006

in the air

I’ve never typed in the air. Below me some 30,000 feet are snow capped mountains and cotton ball clouds. My window seat sits towards the back, so I can see the right wing and the little light at the very tip. Whenever I am on the ground and hear the rush of the air above, made only by a plane, I think of all the people up there, in the sky, looking out of their little airplane windows. I wonder if they are amazed that they are actually in the air, flying! Maybe they are also typing on lap tops, thinking of their next blog post, anticipating the end of their flight, looking forward to their fancy hotel for the coming week, wondering who the person sitting next to them really is.

Ordered room service and a goldfish last night (they offer the fish as a "free companion" to hotel guests...I thought I would take advantage of this opportunity...but this morning I decided I didn't need the fish and called to have it removed from my room).

This morning I was desperate to find Internet. At The Benson Hotel I have to pay...which is ridiculous. So I ventured outside to find a coffee house with free wi-fi...my first stop I couldn't get on...my second stop I was successful! Then I found this article about free wireless at Portland coffee houses.

It is raining here, I guess they say it rains a lot here, there was even an umbrella in my room.

7 comments:

the Wootang said...

gold fish from room service? that's a clever idea.

Cheryl said...

Sounds like a nice hotel! Enjoy your trip!

Paul Michael Peters said...

If you find any cool restaurants I'd love to hear about them for my next visit there.

Did you name the goldfish? Or did they tell you its name? If it lacks a name it is hard to bond.

Safe travel.

-p2

Scott said...

Why didn't you keep the golfdish?? That is a pretty cool idea.

Enjoy the rest of the trip.

scott

pb said...

I don't know how long you're there but can I recommend?:

- 23rd Ave (or as I heard it called trendythird) for shopping & dining
- Powell's Bookstore
- McMenamins (http://www.mcmenamins.com/), I particularly enjoyed the Kennedy school.

Teresa said...

Odd that they would have free goldfish but no Internet. I wonder how many goldfish they actually have and where they store them. Maybe the hotel lobby has a fishtank?

Have a great visit.

Anne said...

Wootang71, I thought it was clever as well!

Cheryl, thanks!!!

Psquared, I ate at Greek Cuisine last night and it was fun. I had a drink at the Portland City Grill on the 30th floor of some building and it was absolutely amazing.

Didn't name the goldfish, they didn't tell me a name, and I agree. I didn't bond.

Scott, I didn't keep the goldfish because I forgot they swim in their poop and it work me up at 5:30 am...sucking the air and swimming around. Typical.

Brads, thanks for the recommendations!

Mark, wonderful comment! Thanks! Love your photos on your blog.

Teresa, I know, isn't that funny?! I wondered about where they keep all these goldfish...it only took 5 minutes for room service to bring it up to me! I bet they have a room full of them....nothing in the lobby that I could see though.