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Okay, by shoestring, I mean a fat shoestring.  But you get my point.

My husband, kids and I just rolled back into town after a few days' travel to Mechanicsburg, PA (near Hershey, PA, if you're not familiar with the area) and Pittsburgh, PA.  I was speaking for the PA Bar on business.  It's an annual affair.  It's hard for me to be without my children, so I plan to have them with me whenever it makes sense.  I know what you're thinking...  A business trip?  Kids?  Trust me, it works.

It can be expensive to pack everybody up to travel on business.  You don't get to pick the dates or the places, so you can't negotiate rates as well as you might if you were planning a full on vacation.  And, while some expenses might be covered by the company, there are a still a number of non-business mouths to feed - in my case, four, and one of them is, as of late, an eating machine.

My answer?  Homewood Suites.  Homewood Suites is a member of the Hilton family of hotels.  Wait, don't start skimming to the bottom yet just because you saw the word Hilton.  Homewood Suites is really very reasonable...  And let me tell you what's included!  At the Homewood Suites that our family stayed at, dinner was complimentary.  That's right, dinner was free.  Gratis.  And so was breakfast.  Two out of three meals done!  Even better, each room (even on a per night, non-extended stay basis) has a kitchenette with a fridge, sink, stove, microwave, coffee maker - the whole deal.  With picky toddlers and a baby, this comes in handy.  We bought snacks and drinks at non-hotel (read: normal!) prices and stashed them in our kitchenette until we were ready to use them.  I can't even begin to explain what a difference that made on our trip.  Not only am I not coughing up $5 per bottled water (at the hotel we stayed in the next night), but I was guaranteed to not have whining about the lack of availability of kid favorites.

The other great thing about Homewood Suites is the lay-out.  My kids are all under the age of five.  They are asleep by 8:30 p.m.  That's about the time I'm ready to settle in with a book or my favorite TV shows (for goodness sake, the elimination rounds for American Idol were on this week!).  In a "regular" hotel, I'd have to go to sleep at the same time as the kids:  any lights or TV would keep them up and that would be a recipe for disaster the following day.  And at their age, I'm not really comfortable with the idea of adjoining hotel rooms.  But the suites arrangement is perfect!  The girls and Charlie (yes, the hotel had a complimentary crib, as well) slept in one room - the girls on a king-sized sleeper sofa and Chris and I slept in the bedroom.

I almost hated to leave.  "Almost" since ultimately it's not quite home.  But as hotels go, it came as close as you can get.  It was a great way to keep my family with me even though I had to travel - important for a working mom (!) since every moment has to count - and it didn't break the bank. 

I checked out the little guide to the hotel chain just before I left.  It looks like there are Homewood Suites in every state and a few locations in Canada and one in Mexico.  None in Europe yet (we're planning our next trip to Germany) but a girl can hope, can't she?