November 7 2008: Holiday wish lists.
I am only doing this because people keep hounding me about it. It's not even hard to find mine, though, so I don't know why!
These are my online wish lists. ( Read more... )
These are my online wish lists. ( Read more... )
I'm really flattered Mr. Neutron thought of me to help ya!
First, as a disclaimer, I can only vouch for Memphis. I've never stayed more than a couple hours in Arkansas, and never been to Nashville period (I know, crazy!).
It depends a lot on what your priorities and limitations are. The biggest headache re: Memphis for travelers is that it is NOT remotely pedestrian-friendly. It is very spread out, and the car culture/highway-dependence is rampant. If you come from a city that has its shit together AT ALL in this regard it can be quite a shock (I moved here after living in Pittsburgh and was very dismayed initially...it took a lot of getting used to). This becomes an issue if you don't plan on having a car, because you are limited by distance to anything to actually do versus price as well as safety. But it sounds like you might have one (?), since you mention traveling for an entire year...if so, phew. That's over half the battle.
The other thing is how much specifically your budget for lodging is...it varies somewhat, but some people's idea of pricey isn't to others...
One approach is considering the hotels right next to the airport, even if you're not flying maybe. It's a fair drive from there to anything to do, and the neighborhood immediately surrounding that area is sketchy. But within the airport grounds would be fine, and the idea would be you would would hardly spend any time in your hotel anyway so...
But personally, my approach to the hotel problem has always been recommending staying in one of the safe, reliable but boring chains in the suburb of Bartlett. They are all either at or well under 100 a night. Nobody ever takes my advice though, because they can't get over the notion of not staying in the city proper and think it'll be too far from anything. But I promise it's not (well, relative to other options--doing ANYTHING in Memphis tends to require at least a 15 minute drive)! Those chains--Days Inn, the Super 8 or whatever, etc etc--are all practically sitting on the exit ramp to I-40, which is the convenient backbone to most every interesting part of Memphis. Get right on it and it's a straight shoot to all the places you'd probably want to visit--downtown for specific stuff (the Civil Rights Museum, the Belz Museum, Gus' Fried Chicken, the river and any seasonal festival going on around it, the National Ornamental Metal Museum, the Peabody, Beale Street if that's your sort of thing...), Midtown for the most fun hole in the wall and "locals only fun" stuff (lots of great restaurants, divey bars, and show venues like the Lamplighter, the Cove, the Hi Tone, the Young Avenue Deli, Huey's, etc etc), a bunch of parks and museums and zoos around Overton, etc...
Staying right downtown will either cost you an arm and a leg (seriously, last I checked we're talking 150-300 a night) or be dangerous. There seems to be little in between, but I'll check with some friends and see if they know more than I do. Speaking of dangerous, avoid staying in the areas immediately north and south of downtown.
There are hotels in Midtown too; none within a reasonable price range are by any means posh, but you'll be right in the thick of a bunch of stuff to do if you're younger and hipper than the normal tourist, and midtown's closer to downtown than a lot of the other relatively safe areas.
East Memphis is where the richies live, not the suburban white flight kind of sorta richies, but the old school, tiny-bit-hipper sort. It's still a glut of shopping and hassle (driving on Poplar is a major pain in the ass relative to I-40, and totally unavoidable in East Memphis), but it's slightly more interesting, and not as far as the other suburbs mentioned below. It is, in relative terms, quite safe (safer than midtown, but personally midtown is safe enough for me). It's a possibility, but it may be very expensive.
Unless you're rich and/or family-oriented and hyper obsessed with safety, I would avoid staying in Germantown or Cordova. Aside from being a relatively long drive to downtown, midtown, or any of the national tourist sites, those suburbs look like commercialized suburbs in any town, with endless strip malls and traffic from hell. BORING.
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