One of the downsides of travelling is that you have to sleep on strange beds in hotels and motels. The excitement of visiting new places is necessarily tempered by the loss of the familiar comfort of one's own bed. Now there are those who regularly commute on a weekly basis being consultants (have brief case, will travel) and such. I suppose they can get used to a different room every week. My job requires no travel and so the only times I am confronted with this problem is when traveling for pleasure.
I must confess that even at home I am a fidgety sleeper. But hotel rooms and beds present peculiar problems that I am sure you all have encountered. The pictures of the room do look inviting and comfortable. The colours are calming and the decor in general unobtrusive and muted though I have seen exceptions to this. The hotel management seems committed to ensure an uneventful and comfortable sojourn. So at least are the expectations.
When you check in to the room, you feel the sense of peace. But things seem to change when you turn in for the night. That inviting tucked in sheet turns out to be a trap. You have to insert yourself between the bed and the bed sheet like a cork in a bottle. It would be a perfect fit if you convert your body into a flat cutout cartoon-style. The impossibly tight space makes you feel like you have been placed under restraints. There may also be a sense of apprehension - what if the fire alarm goes off and you have to get out in a hurry?
You can always loosen the sheet before getting in (after you are in you are completely helpless) but it is quite a job to pull the sheet completely out from under the mattress. I am sure people have thrown their backs out trying to do that. I really like the sheet to turn with my body when I turn in the bed and so have to have the sheet completely loose from the mattress. If you have seen the Seinfeld episode where George gets mad about this, you will agree that this is but a reasonable requirement.
If you do manage to get the sheet pulled out to your comfort, it is not all snores after that. The room turns pitch dark when you switch off the bedside light but a minute or two later as your eyes adjust to the darkness, you see that the curtains have these inevitable gaps either in the centre or at the sides that let in disconcerting streaks of light from outside that just fall on your face. You can try to adjust them all you want but you will fail. Some hotels place the the air-conditioning unit just below the curtain covering the window which results in the curtain being blown away from the window and creating a dancing display of light. Good for disco perhaps but certainly not for sleeping.
The bed itself is of unpredictable quality but it is the pillows that I find most troubling. Either they provide no support or they are so firm you feel like your head is on another floor altogether. I don't know who thinks it is a good idea to fill pillows with feathers but some hotels provide such pillows. As far as I know, birds do not sleep on feathers. The wonderfully fluffed up pillow sinks like an anchor the moment you rest your head on it. Good luck trying to reshape it after that.
The light from the leaky curtains may be enough to irritate you but it is certainly not enough to illuminate anything else. If you get up at night, you will need to turn on the bedside lamp which is as powerful as a search light. Now I know some people find it hard to get back to sleep (no points for guessing who) after being in the beam of a flood light in the middle of their sleep. But if you do not turn on the light, you will likely trip over your own shoes or bump into the furniture in the unfamiliar room.
If all this makes you get up somewhat tired and dreary-eyed, a shower is the perfect cure for that. The hotel shower is in my opinion the best feature of the room and will definitely make you feel refreshed. The building code regarding low flow shower heads (at least in CA) does not apparently apply to hotels. The shower is unusually powerful and you may find some of your hair being separated from your scalp but it is worth the risk. Best of all you don't have to worry about your water bill although the hotel bill may clean out your wallet.
I must confess that even at home I am a fidgety sleeper. But hotel rooms and beds present peculiar problems that I am sure you all have encountered. The pictures of the room do look inviting and comfortable. The colours are calming and the decor in general unobtrusive and muted though I have seen exceptions to this. The hotel management seems committed to ensure an uneventful and comfortable sojourn. So at least are the expectations.
When you check in to the room, you feel the sense of peace. But things seem to change when you turn in for the night. That inviting tucked in sheet turns out to be a trap. You have to insert yourself between the bed and the bed sheet like a cork in a bottle. It would be a perfect fit if you convert your body into a flat cutout cartoon-style. The impossibly tight space makes you feel like you have been placed under restraints. There may also be a sense of apprehension - what if the fire alarm goes off and you have to get out in a hurry?
You can always loosen the sheet before getting in (after you are in you are completely helpless) but it is quite a job to pull the sheet completely out from under the mattress. I am sure people have thrown their backs out trying to do that. I really like the sheet to turn with my body when I turn in the bed and so have to have the sheet completely loose from the mattress. If you have seen the Seinfeld episode where George gets mad about this, you will agree that this is but a reasonable requirement.
If you do manage to get the sheet pulled out to your comfort, it is not all snores after that. The room turns pitch dark when you switch off the bedside light but a minute or two later as your eyes adjust to the darkness, you see that the curtains have these inevitable gaps either in the centre or at the sides that let in disconcerting streaks of light from outside that just fall on your face. You can try to adjust them all you want but you will fail. Some hotels place the the air-conditioning unit just below the curtain covering the window which results in the curtain being blown away from the window and creating a dancing display of light. Good for disco perhaps but certainly not for sleeping.
The bed itself is of unpredictable quality but it is the pillows that I find most troubling. Either they provide no support or they are so firm you feel like your head is on another floor altogether. I don't know who thinks it is a good idea to fill pillows with feathers but some hotels provide such pillows. As far as I know, birds do not sleep on feathers. The wonderfully fluffed up pillow sinks like an anchor the moment you rest your head on it. Good luck trying to reshape it after that.
The light from the leaky curtains may be enough to irritate you but it is certainly not enough to illuminate anything else. If you get up at night, you will need to turn on the bedside lamp which is as powerful as a search light. Now I know some people find it hard to get back to sleep (no points for guessing who) after being in the beam of a flood light in the middle of their sleep. But if you do not turn on the light, you will likely trip over your own shoes or bump into the furniture in the unfamiliar room.
If all this makes you get up somewhat tired and dreary-eyed, a shower is the perfect cure for that. The hotel shower is in my opinion the best feature of the room and will definitely make you feel refreshed. The building code regarding low flow shower heads (at least in CA) does not apparently apply to hotels. The shower is unusually powerful and you may find some of your hair being separated from your scalp but it is worth the risk. Best of all you don't have to worry about your water bill although the hotel bill may clean out your wallet.
10 comments:
My thoughts exactly on the sheets and curtains! Your reviews will be much valued in TripAdvisor:)
One can't avoid using those extra bleached towels and the quirky coffee maker that is hard to get used to.
Great read. I have met the leaky curtains, but not had the blessing of the showers. Also wish there was a way to turn down "turndown service".
Kandu nice one.catching the fine prints
Of night stay at hotels is excellent.
Keep blogging
Nicely written. I usually end up sleeping on the floor as the beds are too soft, given my back problems.
Few more come to mind...
If you haven not hung out the 'Do not disturb' sign on the door, room service knocks on the wrong door or you have slept in that cleaners are busy in the corridors with their noisy vacuum cleaners.
Bathrooms come with an assortment of handles and push/pull combinations. Soon you realise that you came for a shower and not a swim!
Nice!My in pet peeve is the pillow! To add to the pains, figuring out various remotes and TV channels 🤔🤔🤔
Good one! Agree completely with the travails of pulling the sheets out to use as a blanket! we normally leave the bathroom light on and leave the door open just a crack to have some illumination and not have a pitch dark room!
Plight of the 'living by the suitcase' consultant nicely captured...I should know! The most frustrating aspect is the quirky stare you get when you tell the service guy (who comes in the next day) not to tuck in the sheets! One more frustration is when you do not have a master switch for the lights and are forced to take a room tour to put off one by one before you hit the bed.
Good read and so true!!
Very well written. I enjoyed reading it.
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