Triangle Trip

The Triangle Trip team wishes our global travelers a happy and prosperous Lunar New Year!

Regardless if you’ve corporate accounts with Hertz, Avis, Budget, etc., National Car Rental offers the most flexibility when it comes to return locations.

Hertz and Avis offer one way rentals but they often want you to stick to the itinerary. Any last minute changes will cost you $75 to $100. National however allows you to return it to any of its regional locations.

I had a car from Hertz last month from LAX and needed to return to Burbank due to a flight change. Hertz wanted to charge me a drop off change fee of $75. I had to escalate the issue to a supervisor to get rid of the fee.

I had a car from National last week that was picked up from LAX and scheduled to be returned to Burbank. Due to my travel schedule change, I had to drop off the car at SNA. I rang. National and just told them about the change and they switched my return without hesitation. I actually didn’t have to call. National is very good about just accepting cars at their facility. I also had similar experience in NYC when I said I would return the car at the 43rd street facility and dropped it off at the 12th street lot.

National is flexible and they get business travel!

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