Babymoon Bummer

Posted on September 23, 2007 23:20 by Sharla


Josh & I had planned a trip to Savannah, GA for this year for quite some time.  Once we found out we were pregnant, we timed it so it would be a nice babymoon - during early fall, in the middle of the 2nd trimester.  We went to Charleston a while back, and assumed a trip to Savannah would be quite similar.

WRONG!  Here are just a few of the reasons why this trip sucked:
  • The Hotel.  We stayed at the Marriott on the river.  It wasn't as nice as I expect a Marriott to be, so even though the room was ok, I felt like we were paying for more than what we were getting.  And, to top it off, we had issues with our TV.  Since it was raining a good majority of the time we were there, we wanted to watch a movie in the room.  Not possible!  The menu button didn't work, and the night maintenance man had no clue how to fix it.  The next morning, two AV guys spent about 45 minutes working on the TV, and finally it was fixed.  The hotel did comp us our parking fees for the trouble, so that at least helped my sour mood, while I laid in the bed at 8:00 at night with nothing to watch on TV.
  • The Weather.  It rained.  And rained.  Thursday night it sprinkled as we walked on River Street.  Friday morning and early afternoon were spent in the room because of thunderstorms and heavy rain.  We ventured out in the afternoon and walked around the city a bit, but rain was still threatening.  The forecast continued to call for rain the next day, but we had already made up our minds to leave early on Saturday morning, so at that point, it didn't matter any more.
  • The Great Public Shuttle Debacle.  I researched many things about Savannah online before going, and one of the things I found was that the city offered a free shuttle service around downtown and stops at many hotels, including ours.  We planned to take advantage of the shuttle and use it as our means of getting around to save our feet from aching by walking too much.  We headed out after the rain cleared on Friday afternoon to the shuttle stop in front of the hotel.  There were several people waiting for the tourist shuttle (that you had to pay for), so we were the only ones getting on the public shuttle.  I imagined it would be like uptown Charlotte's shuttle service - WRONG!  Somehow, we were the only tourists that didn't get the memo that it was dirty, smelly, and heavily used by locals.  We sucked it up and rode to our stop and got off.  When it was time to head back to the hotel, we boarded at a different stop.  After about 15 minutes, it became apparent that the driver had skipped our stop (the shuttle had to turn down a side street to get to the Marriott), and we were too far to get off and walk at that point.  So we rode the trolley hoping he would go by our stop the next time, and if not, we'd get off and walk it at the next one.  He did go by the Marriott on the next run.  He probably figured...."hmmmm....why have these tourist folks ridden the shuttle for a full hour and not gotten off yet?"  It was so awkward being shuttled out to the Marriott and getting off the bus like big old stereotypical tourists as all the locals probably bitched under their breath about having to wait the extra turns for us to get off at the hotel. 
  • Lack of Charm and Things to Do.  As I mentioned above, I thought Savannah would be like Charleston, and it was, in some small ways.  But add a bit of New York's construction & grunge, and take away a bunch of the charm of Charleston, and that was the Savannah I experienced.  Maybe the shuttle ride that drove us amidst the slum areas added to my perception, but nonetheless, there was much less to see and do than I had anticipated.  And therefore, after walking around for a couple of hours on Friday, we decided to leave Saturday morning instead of Sunday.
  • Kilwin's Not Open.  Josh & I love ice cream from Kilwin's, and when I was on the Savannah's visitor website and saw there was a Kilwin's, we were ecstatic...until were trying to map our walking route and found out it wasn't scheduled to open until next month, which the visitor's site failed to mention!

All that being said - there were a few high points of the trip, so to be fair and balanced, I'll enumerate:
  • Boats on the River.  Our hotel room faced right into the river, and it was neat to watch all the various boats run up and down the riverside.  Those were probably the most exciting views of the trip!
  • River Street. This street was what I had expected - charming, quaint little stores mixed in with several restaurants.  Too bad it was so short we walked the whole length of it Thursday night.
  • Savannah Sweets.  Since we weren't able to visit Kilwin's, this store did as a fine runner-up.  They had some great candy selections, and the chocolate covered marshmallows and different chocolate barks also helped with our sour moods :)
  • The Cotton Exchange.  We had great food and loved the atmosphere of this restaurant on Friday evening. 
Here's some pics from our sad little trip:


-- I got to use my Cinda b travel bag for the first time!


-- Me out on the river walk in front of our hotel


-- Josh reading some boring information at the museum
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September 24. 2007 04:07

Lynn

I'm really sorry you had such a bad experience in Savannah, I personally don't think it can hold a candle to Charleston, that is a town I never get tired of.

Lynn

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