I love hanging out with other travel bloggers—sometimes it’s just fun to know I’m not the only one closely studying my surroundings. Last year I took a road trip with my friend Mary-Alice of Dog Jaunt fame (with her lovely pup Chloe in tow). When we arrived at our hotel that day, we both did the whole travel-blogger thing: jotted down notes, snapped off phone photos, made a mental checklist of all the good points. Except the hilarious thing was that we were out to “review” completely different things. Since M-A blogs about traveling with a pet in tow, this was probably what her checklist looked like:

• pet-friendly policies
• clean, accessible rooms
• easy access to walkies outside

You know, things like that. My list of hotel highlights that day?

• squashy chairs for ease of sketching
• big airy lobby with lots of architectural details
• weird door knockers shaped like hands
• even weirder lamps with taloned bird feet
• cabinets containing taxidermy

Because, well, somebody else (besides me) might be looking for those things in a hotel. Right?