Close Encounters of the Traveling Kind
Where quick stops meet long journeys – travel tales for families, pros, and wanderers alike
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Category: Terminal Thoughts & Pit Stops
Travel is shaped as much by transitions as destinations.
This section covers airports, rental cars, hotels, and short stays — the practical in-between spaces that can either add friction or quietly make a trip easier.
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Some hotels are destinations. Others are simply places to land — to get warm, get quiet, and reset before the next day takes over. The DoubleTree in Dayton was firmly in the second category, and it handled that role with calm competence. Why This Stay I was in Dayton for a single overnight business trip.…
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Some airports impress you with scale. Others impress you by staying out of your way. I tend to appreciate the second kind — especially on short business trips, when efficiency matters more than spectacle. Dayton International Airport falls squarely into that category. Why I Was Here This was my destination airport for a quick weekday…
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There are rental cars that simply get you where you’re going — and then there are rentals that quietly change how the trip feels. This was the latter. I picked up a Tesla Model Y in Dayton for what amounted to a very typical business itinerary: airport to hotel, hotel to meetings, meetings back to…
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Sometimes, loyalty really does pay off. On a recent overnight trip to Falls Church, Virginia, I was booked into the Hilton Garden Inn by my company — nothing fancy, just a Two Queen room for a quick stay before heading to the next stop. But here’s the thing: when you’ve logged enough miles, you learn…
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There’s something oddly comforting about rolling into a small town in summer and realizing you have it (almost) to yourself. No crowds. No waitlists. Just enough locals to remind you this isn’t a ghost town—just one that breathes a little easier when the semester’s out. I was in Blacksburg for a few nights—technically work, but…
Close Encounters of the Traveling Kind 