I’d call ahead & let them know I’d be in town, ask if they’d like to meet for a meal after whatever I was there for, and also innocently ask if they had a place to recommend for me to stay. Then it was up to them to offer their place or just give me their recommendation for elsewhere. Did my best to not imply any pressure for them to offer me their lodgings. Never any hard feelings this way. Sometimes they’d be happy to have the longer reacquaintance time.
Last I did anything like that was over 25 years ago. Very seldom travel now.
A cousin insisted that I stay with her when I was in town for a couple days. Talked to her several times and she was all excited about visiting. Email to say heading to the airport and would see her soon. Her response- where are you staying? So I am at the airport looking through options. I reserved a room at a place with a shuttle. Cousin is mad I didn’t stay near her. Keep in mind I had no idea where she lives and did not want or need a rental car.
99% of the time, when I visit another city, it’s a working trip - and I will have zero “free time”. So any local friends usually won’t even know I’m in town, because I might as well be elsewhere.
If I’m visiting the city for itself (rather than visiting my friend) then I will make meal arrangements for a lunch or dinner together. If they insist I stay for part of the time I will keep that in mind.
If I’m going specifically to visit the friend then generally I will consider the logistics of lodging with them versus staying somewhere else close by. Number of kids, lodging arrangements, pets, crazy significant others, amount of time they’ll have to spend dedicated to doing things other than visiting with me (IE work etc), all play into how vested I am in staying with them.
One time I went to stay with a friend and see had dogs that weren’t trained and it was the worst experience of my life. The dogs jumped up on the counter and ate my food right off it and she said “yeah you gotta watch that”. I’m not a dog person and am allergic. They crawled in my bed and went threw my luggage. I opt for hotels now.
Moral of the story-don’t stay with friends. There was this person who I had been good friends with since elementary school who moved to the east coast of FL a couple years before us. We invited them to our son’s wedding up in DC and they came over to the west coast of FL where we live-even brought their dog who swam in our pool. Anyway we they arrived we had a nice assortment of luncheon meats and salads to eat for lunch when they arrived.
Fast forward two years and we came over to the east coast to visit my wife’s aunt and stayed with them. They had nothing waiting for us like we had for them when we arrived and there was basically nothing to eat in the entire house the entire time we were there. I made some comment to him about the lack of stuff to eat when we arrived as compared to the spread we put out for them.
Never heard from him again and that was over 7 years ago. I am sure his wife got insulted when he told her what I had said.
@Kyeh Well kind of sad given that he lived near me, went to junior high and high school together, played basketball after school and golf together but the biggest was that he drove up to the Catskills with me in 1970 where I met my current wife. But bottom line is that even that the 60 year relationship was no match for his bitch wife.
Depends on the friend and city.
@yakkoTDI Also depends on if I’m visiting the city specifically to see the friend.
Bold of you to assume I visit cities and have friends.
How close of a friend and how many children are in the home?
Park my pickup camper by their place, assuming there is somewhere to do so, more-or-less legally and safely.
@pmarin Are you living down by the Wal-Mart in my city? Because it seems like alot of people are doing that now…Permanently
@sicc574 I live in van, down by the river.
@pmarin @sicc574 I think it works better with a visual:
Sleep in their bathtub
Friends? HA! I don’t have any of those. Any time I visit a city, it’s usually for family. I stay at a hotel so I can escspe the crazy.
I’d call ahead & let them know I’d be in town, ask if they’d like to meet for a meal after whatever I was there for, and also innocently ask if they had a place to recommend for me to stay. Then it was up to them to offer their place or just give me their recommendation for elsewhere. Did my best to not imply any pressure for them to offer me their lodgings. Never any hard feelings this way. Sometimes they’d be happy to have the longer reacquaintance time.
Last I did anything like that was over 25 years ago. Very seldom travel now.
A cousin insisted that I stay with her when I was in town for a couple days. Talked to her several times and she was all excited about visiting. Email to say heading to the airport and would see her soon. Her response- where are you staying? So I am at the airport looking through options. I reserved a room at a place with a shuttle. Cousin is mad I didn’t stay near her. Keep in mind I had no idea where she lives and did not want or need a rental car.
99% of the time, when I visit another city, it’s a working trip - and I will have zero “free time”. So any local friends usually won’t even know I’m in town, because I might as well be elsewhere.
If I’m visiting the city for itself (rather than visiting my friend) then I will make meal arrangements for a lunch or dinner together. If they insist I stay for part of the time I will keep that in mind.
If I’m going specifically to visit the friend then generally I will consider the logistics of lodging with them versus staying somewhere else close by. Number of kids, lodging arrangements, pets, crazy significant others, amount of time they’ll have to spend dedicated to doing things other than visiting with me (IE work etc), all play into how vested I am in staying with them.
One time I went to stay with a friend and see had dogs that weren’t trained and it was the worst experience of my life. The dogs jumped up on the counter and ate my food right off it and she said “yeah you gotta watch that”. I’m not a dog person and am allergic. They crawled in my bed and went threw my luggage. I opt for hotels now.
Moral of the story-don’t stay with friends. There was this person who I had been good friends with since elementary school who moved to the east coast of FL a couple years before us. We invited them to our son’s wedding up in DC and they came over to the west coast of FL where we live-even brought their dog who swam in our pool. Anyway we they arrived we had a nice assortment of luncheon meats and salads to eat for lunch when they arrived.
Fast forward two years and we came over to the east coast to visit my wife’s aunt and stayed with them. They had nothing waiting for us like we had for them when we arrived and there was basically nothing to eat in the entire house the entire time we were there. I made some comment to him about the lack of stuff to eat when we arrived as compared to the spread we put out for them.
Never heard from him again and that was over 7 years ago. I am sure his wife got insulted when he told her what I had said.
@Felton10
WOW. Sounds like good riddance.!
@Kyeh Well kind of sad given that he lived near me, went to junior high and high school together, played basketball after school and golf together but the biggest was that he drove up to the Catskills with me in 1970 where I met my current wife. But bottom line is that even that the 60 year relationship was no match for his bitch wife.
@Felton10 Oh … true. I’m sorry you lost your connection to him.