Silence; awkward and uncomfortable: Hotel images

So, when I went to TechEd 2005 I stayed at the Renaissance hotel. One of the more expensive places, no doubt. However, I had never gone to teched before, and wasn't sure whether staying in the official MCT hotel would be a strategic necessity or not.

Nonetheless, I decided to play it safe and stay at the renaissance for the conference. I was lucky to get a room for the whole week apparently because it sold out more than a month before the event.

When I got to the airport in orlando, I tried to take the shuttle to the hotel (17$ vs $37 for a taxi). There is apparently a gov't driven monoploy in the transportation of the area. But take it from me, if you can avoid it--- DO NOT take Mears! I repeat-- avoid Mears transportation services. You wait forty minutes in line at their desk, then *another* forty minutes outside in the heat before your crowded shuttle actually shows up. I used the alternative, the only desperate, determined competition to Mears, the Beeline. I waited about twenty minutes (not good, I got there during a shift change) and *less than* two minutes for the shuttle. Seriously, I got my ticket and the shuttle showed up before I really got out of the building. Support those Beeline people, they really are doing a good job.

Oh, btw, it's the d@mn Mears shuttle service that trapped me at the renaissance hotel for an hour while I waited to be taken to the Universal Studios party. The buses started running at 6:45p, but I opted to eat a full dinner before going, so I opted to take a later bus (they were supposed to be running every fifteen minutes until 11pm). By the time I got done (new waiter, backed up kitchen, the usual) it was after 8p. I ended up taking a twenty dollar taxi to get to spend a little over an hour at universal, I got to ride one ride. Then, on the way back, Mears, who had buses for teched hotels organized by "route" number, had one bus number one (my route), and seven route elevens, four sevens, etc.,. Basically, just as there had been no buses to pick me up to take me to universal, there were actually none assigned to get any of us home. Thus, the people who were going to my hotel (and those nearby) stood outside in the parking lot for an hour, while all the other people got to go home. Finally, Richard Civil went and spoke to a couple of the eleven buses, and commandeered them for our sake, getting two busloads of people home. Hooray Richard.

Anyway, back to the hotel. Wow, whatta big place. Huge atrium style hotel. Like most atriums, there were two elevators, and inevitably my room was as far from the elevators as it possiby could be. Sigh. In the middle right of the lobby, there was a split level bar/lounge with attached waterfall/koi pond,

dead center was a large aviary, containing five birds, two of which were those loud australian birds that screamed only around 2 am,

and right is a nice little cabana, coffee shop. Very nice.

In addition there were two restaurants and store in there. Nifty really, especially at night. I have a bunch of photos. I really couldn't do the koi pond justice, especially at night. It was nice to be sitting on the edge of the pond, listening to the waterfall, and watching the fish. Peaceful.