Friday, July 09, 2010

Bad hotel karma

One of the reasons I am no fan of travel is that I have bad hotel karma.

I always end up with the room by the ice & vending machines, or the elevators, or the side entrance from the parking lot, or with a bed that as a huge dip in the middle, or the a/c that sounds like a freight train charging through the room whenever it kicks on, or with the neighbors who watch TV loudly until 3 am, or end up on a fold out couch bed with a mattress that is mere millimeters thick over hard metal bars.

Hotel pillows are terrible, soft, flat things & I hate them. They are too flat to lay on one pillow but piling two of them makes the pillow too high. So I have to travel with my own pillow.

Plus I travel with children who wake at the crack of dawn. When I was a child I traveled with adults who woke at the crack of dawn.

Does no one I am related to by blood understand that humans are meant to stay in bed until at least 7am, 8am preferably?

Oh. And I have insomnia, which makes sleep under the best of conditions a challenge and sleep under any of the above conditions damn near impossible.

Yesterday we checked into the hotel we will be staying in for 4 nights. It is a room by the ice & vending machines, with an a/c unit that sounds as if a freight train is rattling to pieces while emitting a high pitched whine. It is a room on the first floor by the door that opens on the parking lot & people were still coming & going, shouting & honking horns at one another until 2am.

And I left my pillow at home.

But the mattress was decent.

At 7am I went to the front desk & requested a new room, mainly because of the a/c problem. OMG! the noise. It sounded like this for about 8 minutes

WOMP!

WHRLLLLLRRRRRLLLLLRRRR

 

RRRRRLLLLLRRR!!!!!!!

rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle

rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle

RRRRRRRLLLLWWHHWWW!!!!

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle

rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle

RRRRRRRLLLLWWHHWWW!!!!

rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle

rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle

WOMP!!!

Then suddenly there was total silence for about 5 minutes and the humidity began rising then it would start over again.

Supposedly they will be moving our luggage to a new room while we are out today doing our family photos.

Given my hotel karma I somehow doubt this will happen.

 

5 comments:

SciFi Dad said...

Knock on wood, but we've actually been really fortunate with our hotels. The last one we stayed at (Doubletree by Hilton) had great pillows and beds (if a little soft), but had the same noisy AC unit I think is standard in all hotel rooms.

Just remember that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, so if they haven't done what they promised, go medieval on their buttocks.

Mel said...

Oh no!! Good luck.... We've mostly been lucky with hotel rooms (not that we've stayed in many!) - though really, should I say that it's 'lucky' to have a reasonably quiet and comfortable room?! We did have one *dreadful* experience the night before a flight; we didn't get any sleep at all on that occasion :-(

Carrie said...

Oh bummer - well hope you get a new room! I'm not a fan of most hotel stays either.

Debs14 said...

I have my fingers crossed that you are pleasantly surprised when you get back to the hotel later. Quiet a/c, comfy bed and lovely pillows. Keep us posted!

Ruth said...

I'm sorry, I shouldn't laugh, but I am. Not at you, but with you ...