Not having a home during a global pandemic isn’t particularly easy.
We’ve certainly been luckier than many people over the last few months because we were both already working online and COVID-19 hasn’t had a negative effect on our income.
The hardest part has been knowing where to stay and what to do. When things started getting particularly serious in early-to-mid March, we decided to shelter-in-place in Albuquerque, NM for three weeks. After that we moved on to Pueblo, CO for six weeks, Wichita, KS for three weeks, Cincinnati, OH for four weeks, Cleveland, OH for a week and we’re currently in Inverness, FL for four weeks.
Our time in Inverness is coming to an end, so we’ve had to make some decisions as to where to stay next. Those plans have changed multiple times over the course of a few days, so here’s everything we’ve considered and what we’re fairly certain we’ll be doing for the next few weeks.
Plan 1
Shae and one of her best friends are having a long weekend away together for Labor Day. Our first plan was for the two of them to head a hotel on the beach on the Eastern Shore for a few days. While they did that, I’d be in Virginia Beach and we’d stay there for another week or so after they got back.
I’d initially booked a four night stay at a hotel in Virginia Beach, but it was much more expensive when looking to add another week to the end of that. That led us on to our next plan.
Plan 2
We still need to stop in Virginia Beach for a few days, so we decided to keep our existing four night reservation. Shae and her friend would also still head to the Eastern Shore, but rather than stay in Virginia Beach for longer, Truffles and I would also head to the Eastern Shore for a few days but stay at a different hotel to Shae.
We’d then go on to spend four weeks or so in Maryland. I’d found a good deal using points at a hotel in Ocean City for the beginning of October, so we just needed to decide where to stay for much of September.
This proved to be a little tricky as everything was more expensive both cash and points-wise than we’d like to pay. During normal times we’d have had quite a few options, but with COVID-19 those options weren’t ideal.
That’s because we ideally need a one bedroom suite at a hotel or something similar at an Airbnb. Shae and I both work online, but we keep fairly different schedules – she has classes fairly early in the morning, while I’m usually up until about 3:30-4am working. Being in a regular-style hotel room is therefore problematic because it means at night I have to work in the dark so that Shae can sleep, while in the morning I get woken up by her teaching.
That was less of an issue before the pandemic because we could find a quiet corner to work in the hotel’s lobby in the morning or at night so as not to disturb each other. That’s not a great solution right now though as we’d rather avoid sitting in public spaces for so long, especially seeing as a large number of hotel guests don’t bother wearing masks even when the hotel has that requirement.
With us having a hard time finding any suitable accommodation for the right price, it was time to come up with a different plan.
Plan 3
OK, so Maryland was more expensive than we liked. We wanted to stay on the east coast for the rest of the year, so our options were limited as to where to look next.
A seemingly good option was to visit North Carolina. There were several good value hotels for both paid and award nights, with a few of those offering one bedroom suites which is one of our key requirements.
Even better, one of those was a hotel on Atlantic Beach which only cost something like $60 per night before tax. That was a DoubleTree by Hilton, so it was a decent brand rather than being something like a Motel 6. Getting to stay at the beach while it would still be warm in North Carolina was an enticing option.
Visiting North Carolina therefore made it to our list of firm possibilities, but I then found an alternative.
Plan 4
While looking at somewhere else to stay near the Eastern Shore, I noticed that some hotels in Washington D.C. were much cheaper than normal. One of our road trip mistakes was staying several weeks at a hotel in Chantilly, VA when visiting Washington D.C. as it meant some long journeys to and from the city due to traffic, giving us less time to explore D.C..
Seeing how relatively cheap the hotels were compared to normal, it occurred to us that we could book a few weeks in D.C. to finish seeing the places we’d missed out on previously. Despite being fairly cheap by D.C. standards (there was a 1 bedroom suite at a Homewood Suites in downtown Washington D.C. going for only $71 per night before tax), it had a $250 pet fee and parking would be expensive no matter how we did it. We’d therefore be spending much of September’s budget on accommodation, leaving us only a couple of hundred dollars for food, gas, activities, etc.
While not ideal budget-wise, it was something we gave serious consideration to. That is, until we hit a snag.
Much of the stuff to do in Washington D.C. is closed.
We’re both trying to be as careful as possible with physical distancing due to the pandemic, but have found that some museums have been so empty that they’re likely safer than going to the grocery store where everyone’s in much closer proximity. At the time of writing this though, all the Smithsonian museums seem to be closed, as are a wide range of other museums and activities.
It therefore wasn’t worth spending much of our budget on accommodation in downtown D.C., only to not be able to actually take advantage of staying in that prime location. Which led us to what’s hopefully our fifth and final plan (for a few weeks anyway).
Plan 5
Shae and her friend weren’t tied to the idea of staying on the Eastern Shore – they just wanted to spend the holiday weekend together. Searching for hotels in D.C. had turned up some interesting possibilities, so I presented them with another option – they could stay at a fancy hotel in Washington D.C. instead.
Both Shae and her friend had some IHG free night certificates to use up that come when renewing their IHG credit cards each year. Those can be used at hotels that charge up to 40,000 points per night and IHG recently changed their loyalty program to dynamic pricing.
In case you’re not familiar with dynamic pricing, it’s where the price for something is reduced when there’s less demand and made more expensive when there’s more demand – similar to how flights are more expensive over the holidays, but cheaper for a flight on a Wednesday lunchtime at the end of January.
Seeing as hotels in Washington D.C. were cheaper for the dates we were looking, it meant there was a wider selection of properties where those IHG free night certificates could be used. That included all the Kimpton properties in the city, as well as the two InterContinentals – IHG’s most luxury brand.
With the prospect of getting to stay somewhere fancy, we moved their three night stay from the beach to the city. That still didn’t solve the problem of what Shae and I should do after that.
We think we’ve come up with a solution though. Although many of the attractions in downtown Washington D.C. are closed, there are some other places open in the general area. That includes George Washington’s Mt Vernon, Antietam National Battlefield, Gettysburg National Military Park and more.
Finding stuff to do is less important for us from a personal perspective, but it is important for Shae’s work. She teaches online via Outschool and one of her ongoing weekly classes is a series of virtual field trips. She therefore needs to visit places that she can then teach about to her learners, so having a number of these be open is awesome, especially because several of them are outdoors and so we wouldn’t have as much concern about COVID-19 as if they were all indoor museums.
Although these are somewhat near D.C., there’d be no need to actually stay downtown in order to visit them. That opens up all kinds of other hotel options, especially seeing as there are so many airport hotels in the Herndon / Reston / Chantilly area that tend to be cheap.
We haven’t actually booked anything yet (I should get on that seeing as it’s next week!), but it’s looking like we’ll be booking a few weeks at a Hyatt House. Although we’re not able to book into a one bedroom suite using points, I have top-tier status with Hyatt and they have one bedroom suites available, so I’m hopeful we’ll get an upgrade to a one bedroom suite.
That’s not guaranteed though because the Hyatt House and Hyatt Place brands aren’t actually included in the requirement to provide room upgrades. However, Hyatt in general is very good when it comes to customer service, so even though they’re not obligated to provide an upgrade, I imagine they will so long as there’s a one bedroom suite still available during our stay.
And After That…
So that’s where we are right now – we have a more-than-tentative plan through the end of September. The following few months are still up in the air though; we’re wanting to stay on the Eastern Shore, Virginia or North Carolina through the end of the year, so we need to explore all our options, particularly in terms of staying near places where Shae can get additional material for her classes. We’ll keep you updated once we know what we’ll do ourselves!
BethC. says
The Willard is a very pretty hotel. We have stayed there multiple times. They have a lovely tea, but are not serving it right now.
stephen says
Yep, it’s a shame that they won’t get to enjoy the full experience, but they’ll hopefully have a nice time there anyway.
GringoLoco says
Just FYI there is a quarantine restriction in DC if you’re arriving from a “hot spot” like Floriduh. Not sure how it’s enforced or even if it’s enforced.
I spent a week in the Willard’ s Woodrow Wilson Suite eons ago. Love the history of the place!
stephen says
Thanks for the heads up about that – I think they’ll just be sticking around their hotel room anyway and having food delivered, so that should work out OK.
ArthurF says
If you visit Antietam National Battlefield, I hope you have time to visit Shepherdstown WV, just across the Potomac River from Sharpsburg MD. It is West Virginia’s oldest town, settled in 1732!
stephen says
Thanks – I’ve added it to our list 🙂