Sitting in your hotel room scanning the day’s receipts, reading email messages, catching up on Facebook, and watching bad TV is a ritual we all endure while on the road.  Over the years I’ve discovered programming on strange addictions, elaborate cup cake contests, and the history of skateboarding.  All riveting material I know.  But there actually is some late night television worth checking out. Here are my top channel searches:

Food Network – It’s not all about cupcakes, in fact there are some great shows on this network worth staying up an extra hour to watch.  “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives” is a great show for the traveling consultant!  Host Guy Fieri can be a bit obnoxious, but he finds all these great places to eat all over the country.  Hey, we are traveling here.  I’ve gone to several of the places he has shown on his show including The Duluth Grill.  “Restaurant Impossible” is another great one to watch as they travel over the country finding establishments in big trouble.  A makeover show for sure, but it’s great to see how businesses can bounce back.  A couple shows to avoid, “Sweet Genius” is absolutely stupid and Iron Chef America is on my nerves about cooking a dish with starfish, oak bark, and black licorice.  Don’t bother with either of these.

Discovery Channel – “Deadliest Catch” is an eye opener every week and the networks most successful show.  It’s drama at seas for sure, but a lot of fun.  I also really enjoy “Storm Chasers,” especially when I’m in parts of the country where they actually get tornados, hurricanes, fires, and other natural disasters.  “Final Offer” is the best antiques show out there, especially if you are into buying for investment.  I always learn a ton of history and where to find things.  Antique Roadshow puts me to sleep in comparison to this fun show.

Travel Channel – Finally a show about hotel management issues!  “Hotel Impossible” is awesome.  I know, I already suggested Restaurant Impossible, obviously the two channels have the same producers.  It’s the only show I know of that tackles hotels in management crisis.  “Man v. Food” is a twist on finding great places to eat with over indulging in who can eat the most contests.  It’s not exactly the smartest show ever, but they always go to great places across the country.

HBO– If you haven’t watched any of these shows, watch one episode and you’ll be hooked; “Games of Thrones,” “VEEP,” “Girls,” “True Blood,” and “Boardwalk Empire” are all award winning fantastic shows.  You don’t need to know all the character stories to catch up with maybe the exception of Games of Thrones…but it’s so good, you’ll rush home to watch the rest on demand.

One more place to go if you can’t find anything…Netflix.  With the ability to download thousands of movies and tv shows, it is so worth the $12 a month.  I lean towards movies on my iPad 2 or laptop when going to this option.  I just watched “Midnight in Paris,” “Hugo,” and “The Crazies” this week alone.

Have you ever had to ask yourself; “Can I go into this meeting without socks, belt, undershirt, or other essentials?”  Never a good position to be in while on the road.  You would think packing every week would be so habitual you would never forget a thing.  Well what happens when you forget something big…like socks?!  I’ll tell you, having had this just happen to me, you wear whatever your have with you.

White socks were all I had with me this trip.  I considered going barefoot…but thought that looked even more ridiculous.  You become so self conscience throughout the day.  “Everyone is just steering at my feet…I know it!!”  Not the case at all.

At the end of the day, pondering my hideous outfit, I realized no one noticed at all.  My colleague that I attended the meetings with me would certainly have said something if he noticed.

A couple suggestions if you forget essentials:

• Department stores generally don’t open until 11am, but grocery stores and drug stores open earlier and often times have some clothing items.
• Ask your hotel front desk.  They have lost and found items including chargers, belts, ties, and other items that can come in handy. DO NOT TAKE SOCKS!  LOL
• Call your travel companion…most people over pack, so they may have something you can borrow.
• Don’t draw attention to it.  Focus on what you are there to do instead of convincing yourself everyone notices.

My favorite was when someone I was working with realized they were wearing two different shoes, brown and a black.   They weren’t even the same style.  We all laughed and went on with our day.  It wasn’t that big of a deal.

I had an opportunity to stay at the famous luxury Omni Parker House in Boston this past weekend.  I had accumulated many free nights from all my stays at the Omni in Indianapolis, so I put my parents up as well.  For years I’ve always put them up at the Marriott Waterfront or Marriott Copley.  Let’s put it this way, we’ll be going back to the Marriott.

The hotel is in a terrible section of town on School Street and Tremont, directly across from the Boston Common.  Traffic is non-stop 24/7… and then put the circus tent on the other side of the street to add huge foot traffic.  Our arrival was rather erupt as the with door men were grabbing bags and practically pushing my parents out of the car.  There is no place to pull over, not even an indent in the sidewalk.  Rushed through the doors to be greeted by stairs, a challenge for my mom…with no alternate unless you walk around the building.

The rooms were nice, but small.  Comfortable king bed, but it took up 70% of the room.  Bathrooms were way too small with no counter space and old fashioned tubs.  We did receive our nice welcome gift of cheese, fruit, cracker, and  a bucket of Sam Adams.  I drank the beer!

Our first evening we ate at the Parker House.  Very high end old school restaurant where we were quickly told it was an hour wait.  The place was totally empty.  As soon as we sat at the bar, a table mysteriously became available.  The rest of the tables remained empty for the next two hours of our stay.  Why do places do that?  Anyway, complaints all around on the food.  Steak and lobster was cold, waitress rang in my order incorrectly (I ordered 2 lb lobster, got lobster risotto) and the “famous” Boston Cream pie…was terrible.  All this for the bargain price of $400.

I can’t stop without a few positive things.  The Omni is directly across from the cemetery where John Adams is buried, so that was cool.  We were an easy walk to Faneuil Hall and the North End.  The lobby of the hotel is really neat, with original chandeliers and fixtures.  The bar in the lobby, The Last Hurrah, was a lot of fun with great service.

I looked at rates to see what we would have paid…don’t ask!  I would not have paid, let’s just put it that way.  Travelers beware, if you like old historic hotels…stay and the Lenox on Boylston Street.  If you like rooms with a view, stay at any of the Marriott hotels or International in Rowes Wharf.  And if you are looking for a cheap night, stay at the Buckminster in Kenmore Square.

We all would think that hotels would make sure their beds are clean, sheets fresh, and the mattresses free of bedbugs.  Well, even the finest of hotels appear to have these little issues with bedding.  I love the commercial for Hampton Inn showing the woman getting into bed in an air tight suit.  I feel like sometimes I should wear one of those as well.  So what can we do??

Some tricks I’ve learned over the years are as follows:

• Remove bedspread – These are not washed very often and who knows what on them or in them.
• Pull sheets down and inspect linens – I’ve found M&Ms once on the bottom of the sheets.  How the heck to you put clean sheets on and miss candy at the foot of the bed?  You’ll know if the sheets are clean, trust me.
• Push the mattress to the side and exam the edge of the box spring – Turn the lights off and use your cell phone light.  Look for a black line around the edge of the box spring.  If you see a black line…that is bedbug poop…run!
• Remove pillow case and exam pillows – If I’m going to put my head on something, I want to know there is nothing crawling around on it!

A friend sent me a wonderful website this week, http://bedbugregistry.com.  I was shocked to see the hotels listed here.  You can actually type in your hotel address and it will show you any history of bedbugs.  A lot of the lower chains are listed here…but what would you expect at a Super 8? Sleep well….