You have to have a sense of humor

The Holiday Inn Express in Macon, Georgia was interesting. There was no fluff or warm fuzzies when I checked in, and no acknowledgment as a priority member at check in other than having my keys ready.

But they had little bags of popcorn on the counter for the guests, so I figured they had a little culture.

This was an older property, and was the old style of the hotel chain. It was very different in that the decor in the hallways was deep blue, yellow, and sage green. I was surprised when I first saw it, but it actually had a nice feel to it.

When I entered the room, sitting on the table was a laminated card that welcomed me as a platinum priority member, a bottle of water, and a small package of Famous Amos cookies. I did not receive an upgrade, and was given a room with two double beds. I don't have a problem with double beds, but these were hard beds. They did try to disguise them with a pillow top, but it only helped a little. The room was small and felt very cramped. I had to fight past my clothes and out the door, because the space for hanging up clothes was right next to the front door. There were no electric outlets that were not in use so I had to charge my phone in the bathroom.

I've mentioned before that in hotels I need to have a fan running constantly to keep outside noise from waking me up. This hotels window unit cycled on and off all night, and so did my sleep - even with ear plugs. I think I'm going to invest in one of those small white noise machines so I can listen to crashing waves or whale songs instead.

The cabinet with the fridge and microwave was placed in a location that only left about two feet clearance to get by to the bathroom. But, since the toilet only flushed every other time and the bathtub wouldn't drain, I wasn't particularly inclined to spend much time in there anyway.

Holiday Inn Express breakfasts are legendary. You may remember that the hotel chain even featured them in an advertising campaign at one time. The food is always the same everywhere, so in theory there should be no surprises. Well, this one was a surprise from start to finish. Oh, the product was the same, but the preparation was virtually non-existent. I started out trying the omelet. I'm not sure if it was even heated up, because the slice of cheese in the middle was cold. So I tossed it and thought I'd have biscuits and gravy instead. I couldn't open the biscuit because it was rock-hard. Now, this happened to be the one day I really needed something for breakfast because I was going to miss lunch due to my meeting schedule. I was determined to find something. I got a bowl of cereal, and the cereal was stale. I moved on to my last resort: Holiday Inn Express has a trademarked hot cinnamon roll. While I know they are quite tasty, I don't usually get them because I have tried to reduce my intake of sugar carbs. I placed a cinnamon roll on a plate and went back to my table. Anticipating the forbidden carbs, I anxiously took a bite. It was cold.

I took my coffee back to the room and ate a few Famous Amos cookies.

But I have saved my favorite feature for the last. When I opened the curtains to let in the morning sun, I discovered I had a corner room with a view... of the dumpsters and the roof of the neighboring Motel 6.

Now that's class.