Damascus, Syria "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times," wrote Charles Dickens in the opening line of A Tale of Two Cities . He was referring to life in an area of Europe in the late 1700s, but one could also feasibly slap this line into a book about overnights...

I know, I know, we're vagabonders...we don't like hotels! We prefer to rent apartments, or stay with friends...but what if we're going on a trip somewhere away from our main crash pad (yes, I just saw the movie "Taking Woodstock"), and we need a hotel? What if your mother is coming to visit you in...

I was browsing CNN.com's travel section today and found this article entitled "Confessions of a hotel housekeeper" . In the article, Allison Rupp tells all about her experiences as a hotel maid, including some techniques she would use to make things appear cleaner than they really were: Instead of vacuuming, I found that just picking...