2022 US Trip – Day 29 (Comfort Suites Newark – Harrison)

I’ve been to Newark before and after 24 hours on board a train, I wanted to get straight to my hotel so that I arrived before it got dark.

I’d booked using Priceline as it was cheaper than booking directly with Choice Hotels themselves, always a slightly ridiculous situation that they’re paying a third party. It transpired that I was charged twice, once by Priceline and once at the hotel despite them saying they were only taking the deposit. I queried this when back in the UK with Priceline who immediately phoned the hotel up, who then denied this could have happened. However, ten minutes later I got an alert from Chase saying that my account had been refunded, so the hotel made what I assume was an inadvertent error and at least corrected it without delay.

The room was on the ground floor which I don’t usually like as it can be noisy, but I didn’t have any issues during the stay. I had a desk, a sofa and plenty of space, it was a bit more expensive but it was comfortable and it was my last night in the United States on this trip. I always feel the need to sit on a sofa in a hotel room, well as long as it doesn’t look like it’s been lifted out of a skip, just to get use out of it. However, I read a book for about five minutes on the sofa and then return to the desk chair or lying on the bed, but I feel better from getting value out of the furniture. I sometimes wonder just how sane I am, but there we go.

There was plenty of choice at the included breakfast, but as usual, little was to my taste and I remained unconvinced about American chain hotels and their options. The turkey sausages and eggs looked frightening, the waffle machine isn’t my sort of thing, but the cereals were sufficient along with a heap of cakes that I didn’t need. The orange juice is processed but tastes fine, although the coffee always tastes slightly odd. I was starting at this point to really be craving some proper breakfasts as might be served in Poland….. There we go, I have to mention Poland at least once every five posts.

I felt slightly guilty as the hard-working breakfast attendant asked if I liked their breakfast and I didn’t have the heart to say that some of it downright frightened me. I don’t know if they actually wanted feedback anyway, but they didn’t get any from me on the matter. That’s not least as judging from the reviews most of the guests seem to love their breakfast, my continental European tastes just aren’t quite in tune here. The rest of American cuisine is bang on target with me to be fair, so that’s not a sneering reference in general to the food in the United States.

I left the hotel refreshed and planning to spend a few hours in Newark before catching a bus to the airport and then leaving the United States to return back to the UK. That meant that unless anything went wrong, I wouldn’t be spending any more nights in the United States on this trip. And as an unexciting spoiler, I can confirm that nothing did go wrong.