Mom’s Weekend Away or a Fake Escape

My family and I had the recent pleasure of staying in a penthouse suite at the newly renovated Omni Austin located in the heart of downtown at 700 San Jacinto. The impressive suites are elegant, spacious and just what we needed to recover from a long two week trip in Colorado. A little vacation from a vacation? Yes, please.

We also happened to have an out-of-town guest visiting; our niece was here, all the way from Germany. This was her first trip to the U.S. so it was nice to pretend like we were big shots, spoiling her with a penthouse suite.

The Omni is everything you would think a fancy hotel should be: glass elevators that allow one to peer down to the lobby from the top floor, a nice restaurant, an absolutely outstanding fitness center, rooftop pool (more on this later!), bellhops, concierge, valet, excellent customer service and more.

The rooms are tastefully decorated in a Texas-theme (cause you know how proud Texans are) with comfortable beds that boast not one but two feather comforters! Heaven. I only wished it was colder so that I could have used them. Instead, I draped a sheet over my legs and dreamt of the cooler days ahead.

Our two-bedroom suite had two balconies that looked out to the city and all its splendor. The ever-cautious parent that I am made sure that the kids stayed a safe distance from the railing. Inside, there was plenty of room for all of us with the two bedrooms, a living room and dining room combination. There were also two bathrooms, one for each room, that were easily as large as my kids’ bedrooms at home. AND there was a large walk-in closet. Seriously, no details were missed here.

But the best part of the hotel is the rooftop pool. Of course, it’s wonderful to lounge in the cold water while peering down at the action of the city below. It’s nice to have sun chairs galore to warm up again after the cold water cools you down. But what’s nicest of all….. the non-stop flow of 80’s music coming out of the poolside speakers! I was so happy and found myself singing along (out loud, eek!) to many songs much to the horror of my thirteen year old son. Builds character, right?

We found ourselves tuckered out pretty early in the night so we climbed into bed, all six of us on one bed, for some quality television time. Since recently canceling cable at home, this was another plus for all of us. We were then able to wake up early enough to have ample time to enjoy the breakfast downstairs and have another swim in the pool before checking out.

The Omni is very kid-friendly which made for a very pleasant stay, but I could not stop the thoughts about how nice it would have been to be kid-free. I had visions of hanging poolside with my buddies, enjoying an adult beverage or two while having an 80’s sing-a-long. The Omni downtown is a great option if you have such a trip in mind with your pals. It’s close to home in case there is a catastrophe that calls mama back to the nest but far enough away (and close to downtown nightlife which is a rarity for some of us mamas!) that you feel as if you have the required distance to refresh and relax.

While I will be taking no such trip anytime soon with a nursing six month old, I also thought back to the occasions when I was a mom to only one child. Back when my first born was five years old, we took a couple of “trips”. I was quite broke at the time as a single mom, but I still wanted to travel with him. So we packed our bags and checked into a local hotel, pretending that we were deep in Antarctica. We turned the air conditioner on low and snuggled up in bed while reading books about the area. Another trip found us on a safari in Africa. Good times! So perhaps if you are looking for something fun to do with your kids while traveling to exotic locations (in your head), check out the Omni downtown for a cozy place to begin your expedition.

Disclosure: The Omni Austin Downtown provided LiveMom with a complimentary suite. The opinions expressed herein are my own.