Ah... sometimes, it is just easier to have work organise your travel and accomodation. Sure, it isn't going to be quite as cheap (as in you can't just pocket the difference...), but sometimes, the hassle of finding something to stay in is just a pain in the arse!
This particular time, there was a large event in Sydney that had meant that most of the decent accommodation was already snapped up... and everything that was left was stupidly expensive... so, this was a nice opportunity to just give up and not bother with trying to find a place!
... and the place that I ended up staying at was the Meriton Suites on Sussex Street near Darling Harbour. Nicely central in location... but not the really nice places that are normally part of the work package. But as a I mentioned, there wasn't going to be a chance in hell that I would be able to find anything within the budget allowance that was allocated for me!
So, upon entry... the Meriton suites were clean and quite impressive looking.... if somewhat generic in style.
Some nice illumination in the space above the reception was the only real sort of character... and even then, it wasn't really that daring. However, I did find the geometric interplay of the lights quite entrancing... but I have a sort of odd mind for these things.
What was pretty cool was the way that the elevators were allocated in the lobby. You scanned your keycard, and the system would direct you immediately to one of the five elevators... so, no waiting around to see which was the next one going up. And no need to share with other people who would potentially stop on every single floor going up!
... and when you were inside the elevator, you would be immediately taken to your floor. In fact, the floor buttons were hidden behind this panel... which you could open up if you were so inclined. I did, but I wasn't game enough to start just pressing buttons. I wasn't that curious...
... sadly, when you exited the elevator... all the interest was gone again. A modern looking interior... also known as sterile. I guess this is minimally offensive interior decorating.. but it is just so bland! On the plus side, it doesn't have carpeting designed to make you dizzy and disoriented!
A large screen TV dominates the bedroom and generous ensuite area. I think my wife would kill me if I ever suggested to have a TV in the bedroom... actually, I'm not even sure that I would want one anyway!
Again, a decently sized living room (with ANOTHER big screen TV...) with scenic views into the neighbouring apartments! I'm serious... you could see straight into some living rooms and some unfortunate bedrooms...
I didn't really spend that much time in the living room... just a couple of hours here and there over a few days. Most of the time, I was out of the apartment... and the few times that I was here, I tended to head straight to the bedroom.
A nice set of cooking facilities were present... Normally, I would take the opportunity to cook a few dinners for myself... but this time, most of the evenings were taken up with work and so I didn't really feel like cooking that much. Plus, there was a nice Japanese restaurant just downstairs... and I really preferred to eat different dishes there rather than eating the same meal for four nights in a row (the joys of cooking for a single person...).
... and as I said... nice views of other apartments. In the interests of privacy, I chose a direction that DIDN'T look directly into someone else's apartment... but you can see how easy it was to do that!