As a travel blogger (at least part-time), I’m always looking for inspiration on what to write about. I may have 1,000 topics, but somehow they don’t always find their way to the screen. What has occurred to me lately as how I’m omitting my hometown. Somehow, the most obvious topics get lost sometimes. Nashville has become a hotbed of activity and with 80-100 people (depending on your resource) moving here every day, there are some very good reviews or tips on Music City.  And of course to get to our city, you may end up traveling through BNA (Nashville International Airport) And with all of the time my family spends in airports the days, I have neglected my own for the most part, mistakenly of course.

One place my daughter reminds me on each trip that we could actually refer to as our second home is the Admirals Club in Nashville. I guess you sometimes become numb to the places you frequent the most. On a recent trip I tried to pay particular attention to the club that I spend so much time relaxing and of course, waiting. Having visited many of the past few years, beyond the Admirals Clubs, I had a good baseline to compare.

The Layout

Upon entering into the reception area, the first obvious welcome is simply that, the welcome. The staff at this club is beyond friendly, almost extremely cheery. That could be partially due to the proximity of the club, Nashville. I’m a local and was raised her but I even notice the extreme gratitude afforded most people who happen upon our beautiful city. It’s an infectious attitude and one that I wish would find its way to other areas of the world. So if you’re only in town for a few minutes, you’ll still get a taste of Southern Hospitality. Yes, we capitalize it in these parts. We also say these parts.

Anyways, once in you can’t help but notice the size of the club. It’s small, quite small actually, but in all of our visits we’ve never hurt for a place to kick back for a while. I’m sure that’s a far cry from the years gone by when Nashville was an American hub. Yes, that has been a long time. With our growth rate, it’s a matter of time before that changes but that’s a discussion for another day. A quick glance shows that the upgrades that have been occurring in other Admirals Clubs haven’t made a stop here as of yet. You won’t see a vast selection of chairs that run the gamut of comfort, only a few options actually. And those are quite standard.  The club is quite clean and the discarded items are picked up quickly to retain that clean look. Not to suggest that this is an issue in other clubs, just an observation after spending many hours here. The pictures below give an idea of the size of the club which is accurately depicted by taking the picture and turning around and doing likewise.

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The Food

For those of you who frequent the Admirals Clubs, you can probably skip this paragraph as you know full well what is served. The lack of change in the menu, in my opinion, has been one of the bigger disappointments of all Admirals Clubs, save a few. If really never changes. Block cheese, pita chips with humus, soup, generally tomato based, the occasional salad and some cookies. The beer selection is also a bit on the weak side when it comes to the complimentary styles, but you do have paid options that can even include some local brews. Still, as an avid beer drinker and having vast options in competing clubs, I would expect American to take note of what others are doing.

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But the bottom line is this and it’s important for me to remember. The main points of the clubs in my regard is the privacy and a chance to escape the maddened masses in the concourse. Escaping that insanity has always made the end result worth it to me. We’ve been to some very well-appointed clubs and those that didn’t offer anything but some water and a chair. That peaceful place is my goal and the Nashville Admirals Club provides just that. I do hope that we see some upgrades to the facility in the future but I know we fall a little farther down the list. For the time being, we’ll continue to enjoy the rent for a second home in Nashville International.