We have all seen those commercials with Captain Kirk trying to convince us to book our hotels through Priceline.com. Because of the bidding rules that Priceline uses (you can’t make another bid the same criteria for at least 24 hours) you are never quite sure that you are getting the best price. Also, you never quite know at what hotel you are going to end up.

BiddingForTravel.com aims to end some of that mystery. At Bidding For Travel, you can see what the hotes typically are in each of Priceline’s classes for each area. You can also find reviews of those hotels, as well as user posts stating how much they bid and what hotel they booked for that price. This is a great resource that you should check out if you are thinking of using Priceline.com.

Thanks to Legally Certifiable for pointing out this website.

Reid Trautz has great travel tips in a recent post. I love his suggestion about calling a hotel directly to check on unadvertised specials. Reid also points to this article from PC world on the best hotels for business travelers. If you are traveling in the near future, these are a couple of good resources to check out.

When I travel, I have a terrible tendency to over pack. If you suffer from the same issue, you will want to check out One Bag. The One Bag theory is that you can travel “pretty much anywhere, for an indefinite length of time, with nothing more than a single (carryon-sized) bag.”

The site has some great tips on how to travel light including lists of what to pack, as well as suggestions for the bag to use, and how to pack your bag.

Check the site out and see if you next trip isn’t a little better if you travel with less stuff.

While in Seattle, I had the opportunity to visit the community of Ocean Shores, Washington. While there, we stayed in a lovely place called the Judith Ann Inn. The Judith Ann offers suites rather than simple hotel rooms. The suite we had contained a comfortable sized bedroom, an eat-in kitchen and a large living room with a comfortable couch. Also included was a balcony that provided a view of the beach and “an elevated jetted tub” with a view of the ocean. These amenities are standard in all of their suites.

Additionally, the suite offered free internet, including both a wireless and a wired connection. The suite had speakers wired in both the living room and the bedroom, thus allowing you to listen to the free digital music throughout the suite. Additionally, the satellite channel selection was excellant. The suite also include a DVD player, in case you wanted to your own movies.

I found our stay in the Judith Ann to be quite comfortable and I would not hesitate to stay there if I again visit Ocean Shores.

John Scalzi has coined Scalzi’s Law of Hotel Internet Connections:

The more expensive the hotel, the more expensive and/or crappy the Internet connection.

Generally, I would agree with him. However, while recently in Seattle, I stayed at the Hotel 1000, which violated Scalzi’s rule. The hotel, which is not cheap, but is perfectly in line with similar accommodation’s in the heart of Seattle or any other major city, was one of the best hotels that I have ever stayed in.

Internet access was available, without any additional charge, bother wirelessly and via a standard Ethernet connection. Additionally, the room had very nice touch screen VOIP telephones, and a 40″ HD LCD television.

The accommodations were wonderful and the staff was very pleasant and helpful, giving excellant suggestions for dining as well as driving directions.

The desk chair was also quite comfortable, more comfortable than any other such chair that I have encountered in a hotel room.

The only complaint that I have about the hotel (and I admit that this is a very minor complaint) is that the complimentary paper was the USA Today. I generally prefer to receive the local paper, especially when I am in a larger city, rather than the USA Today.

That being said, if the biggest thing I have to complain about is the particular complimentary paper that is offered, I don’t think that I really have anything to complain about.

If you happen to be in Seattle and are looking for accommodations, I can unreservedly suggest the Hotel 1000. It is located at 1000 First Ave. Seattle, WA.

No, I have not fallen off of the face of the earth. Instead, as you may be able to tell from the above picture, I have been in Seattle recently. I have a group of posts I am planning on getting up shortly. Some of them deal with being able to stay connected while traveling.