Stay Awhile, Stay Fit - Extended Stay America

The exercise room at Extended Stay America

People stay at Extended Stay America hotels for a variety of reasons: price, convenience, the full kitchens, the huge discount for long stays.

But just because you are at a budget hotel, it doesn't mean you don't want to ignore your fitness routine. In fact, if you are at the hotel because you are relocating, on a long business trip, or renovating your house, you may NEED to exercise.

Breakfast is included

The exercise room at the Extended Stay America in Secaucus, where I recently spent a weekend, won't win awards, but the facility did let me continue my marathon training.  There were 2 treadmills and an elliptical machine and while I was disappointed that they didn't have individual screens, there was a television on the wall, and there wasn't anyone else using a machine while I was there.

The outdoor patio where I completed my exercise routine

I wanted to run outside, but the office park location was not conducive to an outdoor run.  There is a pretty enclosed patio, though, where I was able to go through a routine of squats, pushups and burpees.

There is also an indoor pool where you can get a decent workout.

The breakfast was also a good post workout touch: there were granola bars, packs of unsweetened instant oatmeal (alas, no milk to make them, though) and whole pieces of fresh fruit.

Fitness Challenge: Day 82

One of the things that can drive an eco-conscious person crazy is the amount of energy wasted at a gym. People take handfuls of towels, leave machines and televisions on, and exercise in overlit studios.

At Blink Fitness, (one Manhattan location, and several others around NYC and the NY region) the emphasis is on going green. There are no towels, no energy hog saunas or steam rooms, and energy star rated equipment.

Lighting is low, but if you exercise during the day at the NoHo location, the large windows flood the gym with light.

The state of the art equipment includes plenty of free weights and machines. You can plug into a cardio machine and watch one of the big screen TVs or use a machine with an individual screen; motivational sayings on the walls include reminders to turn off the TV when you are done.

Blink is also a budget conscious gym, yet the low monthly fees belie the clean, spacious gym. One thing is missing: classes.

Reading Material: saving money on vacation

If you are going on vacation, one of the best ways to save money is with ereader books. Once you make the initial outlay for the ereader, the books are much cheaper than hard covers.

Money savings are more significant, of course, for bigger readers, but even average readers who go on one or two vacations a year should save money pretty quickly.

Just a quick glance at Amazon's Kindle ereader books shows best sellers for less than 50% of list price. Kindle books include children’s books, fiction and nonfiction, and how-to’s.

Some ereaders, like the Nook and iPad also let you read magazines and newspapers on their devices.

Environmentalists may laud ereader books for saving paper, but the raw materials and energy used to make a tablet or ereader, plus the energy needed to charge the device, may negate those alleged environmental benefits.

You save further with ereader books when you are flying because your bags will weight less, and if you are the type to bring a couple of hard cover books on vacation, you save space. You might be able to avoid checked luggage fees and carry your bags on.

If you are the type of person who shares paper books, you might not be able to do so with ereader books. However, many libraries do loan these as well as paper books, so you can save money there, too.

Don't break the family vacation budget on on your books; save by going electronic.