ACTUALLY, IT WAS A VERY GOOD REASON: We have three young kids, ages 1, 3, and 5, so as much as we’d like to lead the luxurious jet-setting lifestyle of, say, The Points Guy or even Mommy Points, it’s not going to happen, because it’s too tiring. But we take what we can get, and in this case what we got was a fun, inexpensive trip to see a bunch of Christmas lights in Columbia, SC.
One overlooked virtue of figuring how to work the system is trips like this. Travel bloggers fall all over themselves to write about amazing hotels in major world cities, and we don’t doubt that the hotels and their surroundings really are top notch, but there’s something to be said for low-key trips to smaller, nearby cities that provide a great family experience and recharge your batteries a little bit–especially if the trip is almost free.
The lights in question were part of the “Lights Before Christmas” display at Riverbanks, a zoo and botanical gardens right outside of downtown Columbia, SC. The kids loved it because, hey, Christmas lights! Also, there were a few snow machines, and the zebras and an ostrich were still awake at 8 pm, so a good time was had by all. And we already have a family membership, so there was no cost of admission.
We’re only 85 miles from Columbia, but rather than go back home the same night, we elected to burn some Starwood points. That way we don’t have to drive back tired, we can get out of the house for a night and physically separate ourselves from the usual home responsibilities and routines, and besides our two boys absolutely love hotels. And as it turned out, we loved our hotel this time around as well.
The hotel in question was the Sheraton Columbia Downtown. We’re not the most discriminating hotel connoisseurs in the world, but for what it’s worth we just loved this place. It’s Category 2, so it only costs 3,000 points per night on the weekend, but we don’t know that many other Category 2s would give you the same level service or amount of character of this place. And we’re not just saying that because they upgraded us to a suite, despite our lack of Starwood status, although that certainly doesn’t hurt their case. (We need an extra bed for one of the kids, so they offered the suite on account of the sofa bed. Very nice of them!)
The staff was exceptionally friendly and helpful, the corner suite was spacious and well-appointed, the bed was comfortable, and the adjoining room we booked for our mother-in-law was very nice as well. The building has a bank-vault-turned martini bar on the ground floor, as well as another bar on the top floor overlooking the city. Sadly, we left both bars unvisted this time around, but we plan on going back in the future. Thanks to the staff there for a job well done!
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