One of my Circle of Sisters suggested that we take a trip up to Ottawa , Canada , the capital.
She had never been to the city and secondly, our favorite hockey team, the New York Rangers , happened to be playing the Ottawa Senators .
Plus you know the other motto of the Sports Diva , ” have a team, will travel.”
The arena is located in the suburb of Kanata, but there are so many hotels in Downtown Ottawa.
My friend chose the Econo Lodge, which is located at 475 Rideau Street .
It’s a cab ride or two buses away from Ottawa airport and a bus ride away from the Ottawa bus terminal on Catherine Street, which I happened to take.
I try to read as many reviews of the hotels that I stay in as I can .
I wasn’t liking what I was reading about this place.
‘It’s in a bad neighborhood ‘
‘There are roaches in the place’
‘Too many homeless people around’
I thought to myself, “Stop it people. This isn’t the Westin or Waldorf Astoria”
When I got to the hotel, I was pleasantly surprised .
There’s no elevators because there are only two floors and you need your key to get to your room and in the place where they serve continental breakfast every mornibg from 6am until 10am.
The hood isn’t that bad, I’ve stayed in worse in my own country .
There were homeless people, but they were mostly near the library, which was four blocks away, and besides, every city has homeless people now, so stop judging .
There but for the grace of God, you could be in a homeless situation so again, stop judging .
The hotel is close to public transportation and even closer to shops, restaurants, the Sparks Street Mall and the big Rideau Centre Mall.
It’s even close by Parliament Hill , which is about a 20 minute walk.
As for the room, what roaches?
The room was clean , bed was comfortable with two big pillows for both my friend and I .
Most importantly in the middle of fall, the heater in the room was working fine.
I also read where people said, ‘front desk staff was very rude and not helpful’.
Really?
Sorry, never experienced that.
The United States customs agents, as usual , were ruder, but that’s nothing new and that’s another blog post for another day.
Would I recommend staying at the Econo Lodge Downtown Ottawa if I come back, with or without my friend ?
Oh you betcha I would.
My friend agreed.
If we come back to Ottawa, God willing, Econo Lodge , we WILL be back!








