Tuesday, February 3, 2009

hotel warrior

FSP discussed her travel for work recently and concluded that despite travelling a lot of miles, she didn’t consider herself a “road warrior”. I wouldn’t call myself a road warrior either, because most of my travel over the past several years has been relatively local (within 200 miles, mostly) and once I get somewhere for the week or for a 10-day shift, I don’t move around too much. What I am, however, is a hotel warrior.

I stayed in a hotel recently, and when I checked out, the desk clerk asked if I wanted to keep the key card. I asked why, and she said that some people like to keep them as souvenirs. I had to laugh at that one – I told the clerk that if I were collecting key cards, I would have a stack several inches high. I think that qualifies me as a hotel warrior.

That led me to thinking, what else makes someone a hotel warrior? So here’s a list.

1. You have a hotel rewards card that is so full of points, you never have to pay for a hotel room on vacation, and you got most of your major appliances using hotel points.

2. You never bother to pack shampoo, but you always have a bunch of conditioner. Why is it that hotels give you free lotion (and shoe polish, and shower caps) and no conditioner? 2-in-1 doesn’t count.

3. Your travel (in this case fieldwork) suitcase or duffel never makes it into a closet when you get home; it’s always waiting for fresh clothing or already packed.

4. You don’t bother taking hotel pens (or shampoo, or anything else) home anymore.

5. The entire hotel staff knows you (only applicable if you’re in a long-term project).

6. It takes you 3.5 seconds to unload your stuff to your satisfaction when you get to your hotel room.

7. The only things you really care about in a hotel are internet and breakfast.

8. You are a master of every type of alarm clock known to man.

9. You know off the top of your head which major hotel chains give you conditioner (score!), which have the pillows you prefer, which have fridges for leftovers, which have non in-room internet, and which have lame continental breakfasts.

Am I missing anything? Let me know!

3 comments:

Mathias said...

It's scary that dispite not having any degree, yet, I already qualify for some of the points you mentioned.

Silver Fox said...

Great post! The things I'm mostly concerned about in a hotel is internet, fridge, and microwave. I don't eat out that often after so many years! I once just went ahead and bought a microwave in a town of few microwaves, and so am potentially never without one.

Short Geologist said...

Silver Fox: yeah, a microwave is a close 3rd to the internet and breakfast (I can't stand fast food breakfasts!) for me