Currently Obsessed With: Skipping the Small Talk at Nashville's Vandyke Bed & Beverage | Condé Nast Traveler
"Two months ago, I took a road trip from Kansas City to the East Coast—a trip I've taken at least a dozen times to visit family in Virginia. My usual route includes a lot of evangelical billboards and Casey's General Stores, so this time, I decided to take a slightly southern detour to spend the night in Nashville. I thought of it as a 12-hour mini-vacation instead of a required pitstop. It took nine hours to get from my apartment door to Nashville; my car's air conditioning stopped working around hour five. When I pulled off I-24 E, I didn't want to talk to anyone, see anyone, or be seen by anyone. All I wanted was a shower and a bed. Luckily, I had booked a room at a new property called Vandyke Bed & Beverage, which ended up being this grumpy introvert's dream come true. The night before my reservation, I received a text prompting me to download OpenKey, an app which allows hotel guests to enjoy keyless entry via their smartphones (all hotels should have this, in my opinion). This meant I didn't have to speak to a single person upon arrival; I simply swiped my phone at the hotel's back entrance, then again at my room door. No doorman small talk, no cheery check-in. I simply threw my suitcase on my bed and took in my surroundings. As its 'Bed & Beverage' name suggests, there's an emphasis on drinks at Vandyke. Instead of a typical hotel lobby, the building's focal point is a bar that opens its doors onto East Nashville's Five Points neighborhood. And instead of concierges, there are bartenders with the knowledge to answer any of questions (drinks-related and not) and fill your ice bucket at the same time. The property has only eight rooms, each with its own alcohol-themed name and decor that plays to the moniker in graciously subtle ways: The 'Champagne' suite features a bubbly pink couch and French coffee table books, for example, while the 'Tequila' room has southwestern-print tapestries and potted cacti. I stayed in the 'Gin' room, which looked like a playful Mad Men set with mid-century modern furniture and velvet pillows. When I entered the room, which overlooked 11th Street, the immediate vibe I got was 'apartment I wish lived in but could never afford' (my personal favorite, albeit vague, hotel aesthetic). Then I took my shower and had one of my best nights of sleep in recent memory, which could be because I was dead tired or because of the bed's super-cozy Brooklinen sheets. When I departed for the second leg of my road trip the following morning (after enjoying breakfast on the empty rooftop patio and checking out on my phone), I realized I hadn't had to speak to another human being during my entire stint in Nashville. And when—eight hours later, sweaty and tired—I was greeted by a chatty valet at that night's hotel in North Carolina, I sort of missed the invisibility cloak the Vandyke had allowed me to wear. Luckily, the B&B will be there waiting for me the next time I need a socially acceptable way to hide from humanity."
