Triangle Trip

Demonstrating the depth and breathe of our travel experience, Terminal D and Captain G have put together the best practices for business travel in Dothan, AL. Where exactly is D-town? See the map below:

Below is a list of our recommendations:

Where to stay?

1.  Hampton Inn

Believe it or not, this is the nicest place to stay in town, if you can get a reservation.  Built within the last few years, it’s managed to stay fairly clean and has free wifi.  It’s recommended that you bring your own pillow.   (For a true best practice, steal a pillow from the Fairfield Inn by Marriott)  And don’t let those Hilton points expire!

2.  Courtyard Marriott, which happens to be connected to the Fairfield Inn, is our number 2 pick. We recommend the Courtyard because it is slightly cleaner, but “clean” is a very generous word in this case.  Only stay here if you are a true PW.

(Warning: Don’t be confused if your morning paper and coffee is interrupted with a bill.  The breakfast is not free!)

3.  Sleep Inn is next to the Hampton Inn. It’s fairly clean but clearly in 3rd place.

What to eat?

1.  Long Horn Steakhouse – it is the best restaurant hands down. It also has a great wine by the glass selection which is unheard of in D Town!  They have a St. Jean Cab!!  Woohooo.

2. The Bistro – A great lunch place located at the heart of downtown D-town! It has good food and nice pictures of Europe – probably the only place where you could find such pictures.

3.  La’Le Mediterranean Cafe & Bistro – A great lunch place offering classic greek and similar cuisine.  Odd hours, random closings and a difficult-to-find location may anger you the first 3-5 times, but it’s worth holding out for.

4. Atlanta Bread Company – We know, but it’s the only place you can get fresh fruit and $3 coffee — although Starbucks recently opened at Target which doesn’t open until 9:30AM.

5. Applebee’s – And you thought #4 made us look dumb.  Don’t go here for the food, but the bar is nicely stocked, it’s packed with locals every night, and its proximity to the Mariott makes it a great place to wash away the memories of this terrible visit.

5a. TGI Friday’s – This is a toss up with Applebee’s. Hence the 5a rating. They have karaoke night like 2x a week. It is probably the only karaoke place where you will find zero Asians.

We love to hear from you. You can reach by leaving a comment or via email:  captaing@triangletrip.com or terminald@triangletrip.com

Below is a Honorary Post from a Friend of Triangle Trip… He’s a travel professional but has not signed up to be a full time Editor yet.

December 23rd the wife and I went to O’Hare to take a 6:40am flight to visit the in-laws in Birmingham, AL. We got there very early, but United only had half of their check-in desks open.  After a lengthy wait, we were told at check-in it was too late to check in with bags – even though we were more than 45 minutes early.  The next flight was around 3pm – and sold out.  They would not let us alternate route to Atlanta. I was all set to just drive, but after asking the check-in lady for options, she suggested that if we could ditch the suitcase and stuff our things into bags, we could try to carry them on.

So, she gave us to two clear plastic bags like they use to wrap car seats.The wife ditched her oversized toiletries, and crammed everything into those two clear bags, abandoning the suitcase by a trash can (after informing the nearby security agent what we were doing). Though we were looking pretty ghetto, they let us through security and were able to get the bags gate checked.  Crisis averted.

… Contributing Editor from ORD