There is some profoundly luxurious about the crisp white sheets, the fluffy white towels, movies on demand, room service. To me, the money I spend on a good hotel when traveling is totally worth it.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve stayed in my share of bad hotels. Baaad hotels. One in Inglewood, CA, I chose not to leave unless it was in a taxi – I was a bit scared of my less-than-salubrious neighbours hanging around on the street outside. So now I stay at the Marriott when visiting LA.
Sometimes it can be fun to stay in low-cost places. Staying at backpacker hostels is fun. You can meet interesting people and they tend to have better cooking facilities and free Internet.
But in general, I’m over sharing bathrooms and small dank rooms. Part of the pleasure of traveling for me is the sense of anticipation I feel sliding the keycard in the door, eager to see what’s behind it. After a long day of adventuring there is nothing better than kicking my shoes off and collapsing on a huge comfy bed.
And for a day or two I get to live another kind of life in that room, where I have a maid and cook on call and I never have to do the dishes. It’s the best, and I’m experiencing it right now. Bliss.
Month: July 2010
Comings and goings
My Meagle moved out a couple of weeks ago. It’s been a long time coming. When we moved into our place last June, we did so with the assumption that Ms Meagle would be moving out sometime during the next year. Even though it was expected and right, it was still a teensy bit sad to say goodbye to my youngest child.
Luckily I didn’t have to dwell on my empty nest for long. Over dinner that night Stephen and I discussed what we would do with our new spare room. A chillout room perhaps? A reading room? A computer room? Most likely a sport equipment room. We finished dinner (at Tulsi) and on our way to dancing I called Antony to check in with how he was doing. Five minutes later our spare room had become Antony and Grace’s new bedroom.
They were in the process of finding a new place – bigger and nicer for when the new baby comes. They had given notice at their current place but had not found anywhere to move to. So that weekend, three days after my baby moved out, my boy, his girl and their baby moved in. It was an easy transition for Wyatt to make – he has his own room at our place (and his own Nana-Poppa-Wyatt routines which somewhat surprise his parents).
It’s lovely having them there. It’s nice to come home to a full and bustling house. It’s cosy. I love spending more time with my son, getting to know Grace better, and having time with my favourite bubba. And it’s great for Bronwen to get to know her new big brother and sister-in-law better. It’s funny, Bronwen and Wyatt are more like sister and brother than auntie and nephew. They already spend quite a lot of time together – Wyatt follows Bronwen around like a puppy, he just adores her.
And now they have found a lovely new home and will move out in a couple of weeks. Empty nest syndrome is sneaking up behind me again. I’m just lucky that I have Ms Bronwen to keep it at bay for a wee while longer.
The Secret Life of Bebe 