All wired up and no place to go.

When I first started traveling, I hauled around a widescreen laptop that weighed around 152 pounds. I even bought a wheeled briefcase for it because I got so tired from hauling the darn thing through airports. Then I discovered the wonderful little HP notebook computer. What a brilliant invention. It weighs less than my purse.

Once I got this petite little laptop, I almost didn’t mind pulling it out to go through security. In fact, I remain a little proud of how smart I was to have made this purchase. I know I’m not alone. I think a lot of savvy travelers have purchased these handy little travel notebooks.

Handy unless you stay in the Intercontinental Hotel, in Dallas, Texas. But what a beautiful hotel! It exuded perfection. Décor, customer service - everything was wonderful. Well, the bed was a little hard, but I can live with that. It just makes me appreciate home a little more.

Just don’t try to use your little notebook say...across the room from the desk. Or while sitting in the comfortable easy chair. Or while in bed. Nope. You have to stay tethered to the desk with an Ethernet cord and a modem, which the hotel cheerfully provided. I thought it seemed a little cheerfully old-fashioned.

So there I was, all wireless in a wired world. What a dilemma I found myself in. The way I saw it, I had four choices:

1. Force myself to sit at the desk long enough to do some work and forget playing computer games for my evening entertainment.
   
2. Go cold turkey and just shut myself off from it for two days.
3. Use the wireless option the city of Addison offered, a weak connection but maybe adequate.
4. Make myself comfortable and/or tipsy in the lobby bar.
5. Sit in the hotel Starbucks and enjoy an grande iced caramel coconut amaretto chocolate macchiato with whipped cream.
   

My decision was all that, and had a cherry on top.