SEASIDE COMFORT, RAILSIDE RUMBLE AT THE SEAGRASS INN, OLD ORCHARD BEACH

Old Orchard Beach is a popular seaside resort in Maine and for a long time while planning this trip, we struggled to find a hotel to match our budget and availability. Many hotels were $700+ for 2 nights or would only accept bookings for a minimum of 3 nights. We continued searching via all the popular travel websites and eventually secured a 2 night stay at the SEAGRASS INN using Expedia. 

The Seagrass Inn’s motto is “a nice place to be” and we found that to be true. At check in we met the motel owner, Lisa, who gave us such a warm welcome it would be safe to say she is the friendliest American we’ve ever met! Later, we talked to Lisa about how she and her husband became motel owners and she told us their story. They had both worked in the corporate world and had decided to leave it and become their own bosses. They purchased their first hotel in nearby Wells, built a successful business and sold it on when they received an unexpected offer. In 2018 they bought the Seagrass Inn, when it was in a bad way, and used their finances and skills to renovate it and successfully build the business up. 

We had a room on the 2nd floor, with “ocean view, king bed”. We are well travelled across the U.S. and knew that the motel would reflect the locale, namely that the room would be aimed at sandy beachgoers. Indeed, there were hoses to wash sand from your feet, tiled floors in the room and a brush for sweeping rogue sand away in your room. 

Our room was what we expected; simple and functional, but clean and tidy: a nice place to rest between visiting the beach and local attractions. 

Our stay cost:

💵 Expedia online deposit = $263.71

💵 On arrival = $263.70

😳 Resort fee = $42.19

😢 Tax = $47.46

💰 Total = $617.76

This was a pricey stay and was not only typical of the costs of Old Orchard Beach at the height of summer, but similar for the rest of coastal Maine. For comparison, a friend recently spent the equivalent of $600 for 6 days in Ibiza, an island in the Mediterranean, and this even included U.K. flights, hotel, unlimited food and alcoholic drinks!

GOOD POINTS

👍 Not a chain hotel. 

👍 Located a 10 min walk from the Amtrak station. 

👍 Located a short walking distance from bars, restaurant and Palace Playland but not too close where the noise can bother you. 

👍 Super-fast free WiFi. Some of the chain hotels could learn from this. 

👍 A short walk away from a Walgreens. 

👍 Communal balcony with seats and a good view of all the comings and goings. 

👍 Large comfortable bed. 

NOT SO GOOD

👎 The room did not come with an iron or ironing board. We did ask at the office but the young attendant couldn’t help. 

👎 The Amtrak railway track passes the rear of the hotel and the trains can be heard and felt when they pass by, even in the early hours. This didn’t bother us, however as we found it amusing. 

👎 No room safe (typical for many hotels and motels in some U.S. states - not everyone needs them but we like to keep our passports safe). 

The Seagrass Inn had many facilities that we did not get to use on this short visit, including a heated swimming pool (“Pool out back, ocean out front.”), customer parking and BBQ area. 

If you’re visiting Old Orchard Beach, we would recommend this hotel based on its friendly owner, cleanliness and good location. 

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📌 SEAGRASS INN

50 W. Grand Ave., Old Orchard Beach, ME 04064

🌐 seagrassinn.me

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PAPER THIN SERVICE AT WALGREENS OOB

WALGREENS is a chain of pharmacy and health and beauty stores, which also stock groceries, cold drinks, alcohol, candy, potato chips, clothing, souvenirs and more (including liquor in some). 

The stores are always conveniently located, often in multiple places within short walks of each other, and we have found them ideal for meeting our travelling needs. In fact there is a Walgreens located within 5 miles of 78% of all Americans. Now that is convenience!

Over the last 30 years of visiting the USA, we have spent thousands of dollars in Walgreens stretching from Anaheim to New York City to Chicago to Atlanta to Nashville to Memphis to Orlando to Miami and many other cities in between. Walgreens had a reported net income of $3 billion in 2023, so they are clearly doing something right!

The Walgreens at Old Orchard Beach, Maine, wasn’t far from our motel, but because of the Amtrak railway we had a bit of a detour to get there, a walk at just under a mile. 

We visited early on the morning of Saturday August 3, 2024, before we were due to depart for a day at Portland, and picked up some Fiji Water priced at $2.29 each or the ridiculously good offer of 2 bottles for $3.00. 

What a bargain! 

The young associate serving us was friendly and called us “boss” as a term of endearment - and it was nice to meet a friendly worker in Old Orchard Beach (a rare occurrence we’d found on this trip).

While in Walgreens we eyed up the impressively premature range of Halloween greetings cards and made plans to come back and purchase some that night. 

Eight hours later, as dusk was approaching, we returned and stocked up on Halloween and Thanksgiving cards to the tune of around $40.00. They are generally not available in the U.K. so we wanted to make the most of this opportunity. We also purchased a cold 6 pack of Blue Moon to enjoy on the balcony of our motel, a bottle of Tito’s vodka, some candy and a 50th anniversary jumbo Archie comic at $9.99. 

Our purchases came to $72.48. 

At the cash register, the team member kindly bagged up our items in a large brown paper bag with handles. We made sure to adjust the contents, namely the Tito’s went in our rucksack and the Halloween cards and comics were moved on top of the Blue Moon bottles so that the condensation on the sides didn’t wet the delicate paper items. 

Not long later, the Halloween cards were soaked! The handles on the Walgreens paper bag snapped! The bag hit the sidewalk and the majority of the Blue Moon bottles exploded, soaking our purchases. 

What a disaster! 

Frustratingly we were seconds away from our motel and were passing a bar where the loud noise of the breaking bottles made everyone jeer and whoop. How embarrassing!

We couldn’t believe that Walgreens would give their customers flawed bags that couldn’t do the job they were intended for. 

We returned to the store (another mile walk) with all the damaged items and lined up to speak to a member of staff. We politely let them know that their defective bag had caused damage to the things we had bought. 

Did they care? 

Not one bit. 

The team member said that the paper bag should have been carried from the bottom and that they tell customers that. Of course we hadn’t been told that. We said so and tried explaining that the bags clearly weren’t fit for purpose but the team member wasn’t budging and offered no consolation. 

After a near 3 mile walk in 78% humidity, we returned to our motel room disappointed in Walgreens and feeling let down by a company which we had given decades of custom to. 

We walked this route 3 times during the Walgreens paper bag debacle. 

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📌 WALGREENS

15 Saco Ave., Old Orchard Beach, ME 04064

🌐 www.walgreens.com

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DOCKSIDE DINING: INDULGING IN MAINE LOBSTAH AT THE PORTHOLE PUB, PORTLAND

While exploring Downtown Portland, Maine, on Saturday August 3, 2024, we stumbled upon the Harbor Fish Market and had an interesting peek inside, but the best thing, however, was discovering THE PORTHOLE PUB & RESTAURANT opposite. 

Tucked away down a waterfront side street in the cobbled Old Port area of Portland, the Porthole Pub dates from 1929 and has a checkered history with various renovations and owners, with the latest change of hands being in 2022. Despite the changes, pub’s copper-top bar is still in place and is at least 60 years old. 

We were drawn in by the giant vintage ‘Coca-Cola Fountain’ sign outside, but it turned out this was just a relic. Instead we enjoyed cold draft Blue Moons (reasonably priced for these parts) and some respite from the strong summer sunshine which had scorched our necks and arms during our waterside walk. 

As we sat at the bar relaxing, enjoying the live music coming in from the outside deck, we eyed up the food orders being served and agreed we couldn’t leave Maine without trying the local “lobstah”. 

We ordered:

🦞 Porthole Lobster Roll (5 oz Custom House Wharf lobster, chilled and served with lemon aioli on a roll with lettuce) = $34.00

🍟 +Fries = $5.00

🍺 Draft Blue Moon x 4 = $32.00

😢 Food Tax = $3.12

💰 Total = $74.12

👍 Gratuity = $15.00 

Service in the Porthole was friendly and swift, even when our original server ended her shift.  

The lobster was well and truly local: it was landed at the Custom House Wharf, a 3 minute walk away from the restaurant! The roll was perfectly toasted and the lobster meat had a delicate flavor, with the claw meat being stronger. 

We learnt that the price of lobster could vary and was listed on menus as ‘MP’, or Market Price, but the lobster roll was listed as $34. 

We shared the meal, as earlier we had chowed down on Maine’s potato donuts and a whoopie pie, and were satisfied with the portion sizes. 

This was a pricey meal, to be fair, but we enjoyed proud food and drinks - and can now say we have tried the famous Maine lobster!

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📌 THE PORTHOLE

20 Custom House Wharf, Portland, ME 04101

🌐 portholemaine.com

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