To pay for parking or not pay....

[dereksbicycles]

You know many restaurants in downtown does not have parking so you have to pay to park somewhere then get to restaurant. Or may be pay for valet parking.

Same thing for museums, parks, etc....

My questions is when is it smart to pay for parking and when is it silly?

For example, I kind of think it is silly to pay for parking to go to restaurant to eat. I mean, there are many places to eat where you can get free parking. To me, a restaurant is a restaurant so I just cannot justify paying for parking to eat out.

If I was to go to Field Museum or Shedd Aquarium in downtown Chicago, I won't mind. Sure, there are things to do other than going to museum, but there is only one Shedd Aquarium. Only one Field Museum too.

I'm sure if you went to a place similar to Shedd Aquarium outside Chicago, you may have to pay for parking.

I just think that parking to go to museum is ridiculous, but my girlfriend do like going to museums. I'll admit that I like going to museums too.

 

[Reba]

I pick a restaurant for it's food, service, and ambiance. I don't pick it for its parking. If I want to go to a particular place (restaurant, museum, aquarium, etc.) then the parking is just part of the trip.

In downtown Charleston, there is essentially no free parking. The only free parking I've found there is at the VA hospital, for patients and visitors only. For everything else, I use the parking garages. There are some metered spaces at the curb but I don't like messing with those, so I stick with the garages.

At the beach (Isle of Palms) there is some metered parking but we usually pay for the all-day parking lot.

In the other surrounding areas (Goose Creek, Summerville, Hanahan, North Charleston, etc.) there is usually free street and lot parking, except at the North Charleston Coliseum, so it's not a problem.

 

[GrayEagle]

If I really want to go some place, special restaurant, museum, etc., then I just include the parking as part of the cost to do the activity. Most of the restaurants we go to here have their own parking and it's free. Eating out in a "sit down" nicer restaurant is a luxury for us and we reserve that for our birthdays or anniversaries or other special occasions. But even those, around here, have parking lots.