Forgive me Blog Readers...

...for I have sinned. When I should have been updating last night, I confess: I was playing Donkey Kong.

I know, "For shame!" I should be tar and feathered, drawn and quartered, or worse, made to eat fresh gooseberries. But I believe I have a valuable gift that I want to give to you in exchange for your forgiveness.

You see, before becoming an innkeeper I fancied myself a pretty wise traveler. When Dan and I first vacationed to Massachusetts, we left NY with 6 pages of places to visit, food to eat, and events to attend. I had a page for each city, and each establishment was categorized and itemized to provide a name, description, address, phone number, and rating system. We were ready to attack anything those cities could throw at us!

Of course, I didn't come up with these lists telepathically. I had a bouquet of resources that I scoured for days in advance so that I could find easy to overlook events and local haunts. Very few places we hit were misses, and we experienced the true joy of a great vacation: five days feels like three months when you're having a great time.

And so, to make recompense for my sins against you I've decided to start a series of my favorite traveler's resources. Today's lesson is a quick one so that I'm not confining you to your chair, forcing you to read my words for another day and a half (I'm full of wind today!). So, without further adieu:

Brande's Favorite Traveler's Resource #1:
-GOOG 411-

When I first got my cell phone I hated that it cost $1.25 to use 411. I mean really. It's an automated service. Is such a steep charge really necessary?? Then one day, I discovered this incredibly useful marvel of Google engineering. Let's say you're in Lenox, Ma and you're dying for a good cup of coffee.

Here's what you do:
-Dial 1-800-466-4411 (1-800-GOOG-411).
-An automated voice will ask you for the business** and city and state that you're inquiring about. Say "coffee, Lenox Massachusetts"
-The voice will speak back to you what it heard (which is occasionally something hilarious like, "hair cut, Hartford, Connecticut". If it's wrong say, "Go back" and this time say just the City and State.
(Personal Tip: I usually just say the City and State at the beginning and it tends to work better that way. If you do this, you'll be prompted to say the business afterwards.)

After this point, GOOG 411 is so easy that I will make it seem terribly complicated if I further explain. In short, just follow the prompts to either be connected to your destination. Or you can say the number of the listing (i.e. "Number 1") and then say "text message" to automatically receive a test message with the name, phone, number, and address of the business.

And it's FREE! How great is that?

But it gets better.
If you're a traveler, presumably, you're unfamiliar with the Village of Lenox. So when you choose "Lenox Coffee" on "52 Main St" you probably don't know how to get there. Google comes to the rescue again!

..But you'll have to wait until my next installment of Traveler's Resources to find out how.

Until then have fun GOOG-ing!
~Brande N.


**If you know the name of the specific business you're looking for, you can say that instead of a category. For example, saying "Fin Sushi, Lenox Massachusetts" is just as effective if not more effective than "Sushi, Lenox Massachusetts" Also, if you'd like to watch a handy-dandy video of how to operate GOOG 411, click here.