Today’s throw-back is about how a hotel can be more than just a place to stay.

I’ve been travelling through Florida over the last week and a half, staying in a mix of hotels and stopping at a variety of kitschy cool tourist traps along the way.

Example:

The Fountain of Youth in St. Augustine, Florida

As I had a chance to really appreciate my surroundings on this trip and take in the unique flavor of each, I noticed how every hotel has a mood. Every room has a certain feel to it when you open the door. The air is thicker or thinner, or has the faint smell of 20 year old cigarette smoke (even in a non-smoking room) mixed with Pleadge. And we all know how smells can evoke memories of days gone by…

I walked into my room in Boca Rotan and suddenly I was six years old walking into a room near Silver Dollar City (now Dollywood) in Pigeon Forge.  This was a Marriott, but it smelled just like my Dad’s favorite Howard Johnson nestled in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. If I’d closed my eyes, I would have sworn it was 1985 all over again. Continue reading