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Barbara Clough

Road trip and writing

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Technically it is not a road trip but a plane trip, but it's a road trip in that I'm out of my normal environment. Currently, I'm in a Marriott Bonvoy in downtown Washington DC. Unlike many people, I LOVE hotel rooms. I love the anonymity of them; every Marriott looks like every other Marriott or Hilton or Garden Inn. I like that they have what I need but not much else. They have even less now that covid has cleared out all extraneous materials, snacks, etc. from hotel rooms. Oh, and also ended daily cleaning unless you specifically request it - or you're staying at high-end, whereas I'm definitely mid-range. I think covid has given many businesses just an excuse to treat their customers - and their employees - even worse than before covid. But I digress.

I'm here because
1. I can be! Yay! I can be on the road again. See different places, different architecture, different hotels (even if they do all look alike).
2. Tomorrow I am going to see Trevor Noah. He is really the main reason I'm here.
3. I have friends driving up from Virginia and down from New Jersey to join me. This will be the second time in a month that I have connected my friend groups. 

For whatever reason, maybe because I've traveled and moved and my friends travel and move, I have good, long-term friends, but few of them live anywhere near me. Many are not even in the same country. So my last interaction was Switizerland-Ireland-US meet up in Ireland. At least this group is all East Coast, US-based. No need - or hassle - of getting through covid protocols.

But tonight, my goal is to write. I did my requisite hour of walking around DC. It's hot, and it's October, so I'm ready for it not to be hot anymore. I may even just order room service, because after my hour of walking around DC in the heat, I came back here and put my jammies on until I could cool off. It seems an awful lot of work to get re-dressed just to go get food, when hey! room service. (Yet another thing I like about hotels.)

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