Motel rooms in Ludington Michigan.

Last summer I went to Michigan on a photo trip. I did not book any rooms in advance. Why?  Flexibility. What if the conditions were so good at Trillium Ravine Nature Preserve (SW Michigan) that I wanted to stay another day? What if a photo location didn’t pan out and I wanted to move on much earlier than I had planned? The point is, I often don’t know where I will stay overnight until late in the afternoon.

So before I leave home I go online at Trip Advisor and check out several places to stay at each potential overnight town or village. I make a 3×5 card for each town with motel names, addresses, and their current overnight rate. I stick to places with at least a three star rating, and preferably 4 stars. This is one side of my card for Ludington. There are more motels on the back side of the card. I have stayed at the Ventura Motel and Ludington Beach House before and they are two of my preferred places to stay in Ludington. When I was at the point on my trip that I decided Ludington would be my place for the night, I started calling. The Ventura Motel and Ludington Beach House were already booked full, so I found a room at the Vista Villa Motel, a new place for me.

It was that way for the rest of my trip. When I decided where I wanted to stay overnight, I pulled out the 3×5 card for that town/village, started calling, and found a place.

Why not look up places to stay on my phone while I am on the road? Because that is time consuming, and also because the internet is iffy in some areas of Michigan, especially up north. So I want places and phone numbers on a 3×5 card all ready to go.

I do Michigan photo trips during the week to avoid busy Michigan weekends, and I also avoid holidays.

Do I ever get stuck without a room? So far, in 30 years of photo trips in Michigan, only once was I not able to find a motel room. I slept in my car in a campground.

Do I always travel without advance reservations? No. There are exceptions. When I want to shoot in Rocky Mountain National Park, I know in advance I will want to shoot for at least 2-3 days, maybe more. Motels book up early in nearby Estes Park, especially in the summer, so I book ahead by several weeks or even months.  The same is true for Yosemite, or Acadia National Park in the fall.  So whether or not I book ahead depends on where I am going, how busy the area is at that time of year, and how much flexibility I want.