Tales of Living Out of a Suitcase, Pt 2
Back by popular demand, my latest hotel adventures.
My adventures in a hotel continue, and so will my stories! What started out as a random idea has now become its own miniseries. There’s some funny gems and a few ups and downs, so get your popcorn and a beverage and settle in. :) ICYMI, you can read Part 1 below.
Week 5
This was a short week due to the holiday, and there was a minute where I thought I might have to leave early again. Severe winter weather was threatened, but it never happened. There were a few flakes here and there, but it was cold AF the whole week. On the bright side, we got free lunch and donuts at work, and I got to catch up with former coworkers located at my new office.
Week 6
This week had the ultimate bonus room. I didn’t have a Keurig this week, but I had something even better: a personal microwave! I walked in the room and squealed, “Ooooh FANCY!” and I’m sure anyone overhearing thought I was nuts. It’s the little things. When I ordered carry-out the first night, I happily heated my meal to the optimal temperature and proceeded to live my best life.
One sad note: The awesome elevator music is currently silent. :( I hope they fix it soon.
Next week is an off week from hotel life, as I’m taking a last-minute trip to Florida to see my grandparents.
Week 7
I’m back at it after my week off. The weather has been really lovely, which is nice even though I don’t get out much while I’m here working. I’m also recovering from a recent bout of bronchitis, so I’m really prioritizing rest this week. I spend my downtime deep in a research rabbit hole about my next e-reader purchase after Amazon pissed me off. I couldn’t decide between my top two contenders, so I got both. Because of course I did. I have use cases for each of them, but I’ll see how I feel once I start using them. It feels somewhat indulgent, but I justify it by telling myself that I’m not spending a lot on anything these days, which is actually true. I also made sure to get them from places with a good return policy in case I end up hating one or both of them.
The night before I left, I was delighted to find that my 90s music portal is back! I happily added Follow You Down by Gin Blossoms to my ongoing playlist.
I found out in the middle of the week that my hotel adventures may actually have an end date, pending some approvals. I’m trying to get a seat at a couple office spaces closer to home, and I hope we’re able to make it happen soon. This is starting to get old, even though I know I’m where I need to be right now. I’m feeling more disheartened than usual, so I’m not really interested in any spiritual lessons of patience and persistence. I just want to be home with Bryan and Della.
Week 8
I arrive on St. Paddy’s Day, decked out in green. I don’t have any special plans, and I’m still in my feels about constantly being on the road. I open my CHANI app to see if I can blame it on the stars, and my affirmation of the week is, “My wellbeing hinges on being able to hold what hurts, love what’s been neglected, and enthusiastically work with what I’ve got.” Ooooof. Truth hurts sometimes.
Things that helped me feel better: Having a good cry. Hearing “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It” in the elevator and not being able to resist dancing. FaceTiming with one of my besties and making plans for dinner next week. New restaurant recommendations. Finding out that my company has a ticket lottery for some really legit events in the DC/Baltimore area. Making progress towards moving to an office closer to home. Getting funny texts from Bryan and hearing about how he and Della are doing. Looking forward to tinkering with my new e-readers that arrived when I was away.
Week 9
My travel schedule this week has been slightly modified from my usual Monday-Thursday routine due to some Friday meetings and a happy hour celebrating our program and all the promotions (including my own) on Thursday evening. I arrive and immediately go to an appointment to get another badge I need. As he checks my IDs, the man tells me he feels old because he started working there the year I was born. He starts telling me stories about how there used to be beer and cigarette machines where the vending machines are in the cafeteria. This is pretty wild, but I’m honestly just as shocked that someone could work somewhere for 38 years. You never hear of that anymore.
Thanks to an extra day at home at the beginning of the week, I’m already in better spirits than I was the week before. I get a room on the top floor again, with a Keurig in the room that I know I likely won’t use. This is the only floor that has both a filtered water dispenser and communal microwave near the ice machine, so this is truly the premium location.
I had dinner with my dear friend on Tuesday evening. We went to an Italian/Indian fusion restaurant and enjoyed butter chicken pizza, regular pizza, and gulab jamun for dessert. We talked and laughed until the restaurant kicked us out at closing.
I got back to my hotel to wind down for my evening routine and got a sneaking suspicion that I might be shampooing with body wash. I’ve noticed while staying here that there are usually 2 different colors for shampoo and body wash in the refillable pump bottles. This time, I noticed after using it that the shampoo was the same color as the body wash. My hair seems clean enough, but I resolve to ask about it later.
The next morning, I notified the front desk about my suspected shampoo/body wash mix-up, and they assured me that they would tell the housekeeping staff to address it. I returned to my room and found extra bottles of each formula in the shower, where the shampoo and body wash were indeed the same color. Oops. The font on the bottle also looks different, so it’s possible that a formula was changed, or that I remembered incorrectly. I’m guessing it’s a coded message for me: “We didn’t get this wrong. See? They’re all like this.” Point taken. My bad. Lol
After an old fashioned at happy hour, some of my coworkers now know that I have a Substack. So, if you’re reading this and you work with me, hello. Now you know more than you ever wanted and can’t take it back! Muahaha!
Week 10
We’re now in the double digit weeks of hotel life, and it feels wild. I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be doing this, as I’m still in approval limbo. On the bright side, I’m almost at Marriott Gold Elite status, and could possibly reach Platinum Elite or Lifetime Silver Elite if this goes on for a while longer. To be clear, I don’t want that to happen because of work travel. But if it does, I will happily accept my fancy pants hotel status as compensation.
For the second time since I started traveling, my preferred king bed arrangement wasn’t available (probably because I waited too long to book in the hopes that I wouldn’t have to). So I’m in a room with 2 queen beds, which feels excessive, but also novel. I could go crazy by laying in bed in my street clothes, which I would never usually do because it grosses me out. I will sit on the furniture, but will not touch the bed until I’ve showered and put on different clothes, because I’m weird like that. Anyone else? Just me? Yeah, it’s probably just me.
After work I decided to stop by a nearby Wegmans to get some pre-made meals for the week, and I think I’m going to do this more often. If you know me, you know I’m a Wegmans fangirl, and this one was a delight. It’s huge, not too crowded, and has plenty of parking. The little mini fridge in my room is stocked for the week with breakfast sandwiches, lunch bowls, and sparkling water, so I am a happy camper.
Week 11
On Monday, a potential new name for my Substack dropped in, and I thought it was so perfect and meant to be. When I got back to the hotel, I stayed up late working on a 3-year Substack anniversary post in which I was going to announce it, then I ended up second guessing myself and changing it back. Lesson learned: always sleep on it.
This was the same night as the NCAA Men’s National Championship, so I’m glad I stayed up late if only to watch the exciting ending. I correctly picked Florida to win, but still only ended up in 6th place in the bracket pool. Go figure.
I found out that my plans to move to one of the offices closer to home are on “bureaucratic hold.” There’s still another option that’s a much better commute, so now it’s a more focused effort, even though the end date is still uncertain. In other news, I got a challenge coin in recognition of my work. Even with the travel not being ideal, I work with great people and feel appreciated for what I do. Not everyone can say that, so I’m grateful.
Instead of going to Wegmans, I researched public libraries near where I work that participate in reciprocal borrowing with my local library. This will give me more options on Libby if my library has long hold times for a book I want to read. I didn’t get to actually obtain the cards, but I’m planning to go soon.
I also found a YouTube video on how to jailbreak my Kindle. Normally I’d feel too intimidated to do something like that, but because I’ve already transferred all my books to other devices, I didn’t have much to lose. I attempted it after I got home that weekend, and it didn’t work. Amazon recently pushed a firmware update that overrides the jailbreak, and they snuck in the update in the middle of the process. Bastards. I’m going to try again after they release an update and report back.
Week 12
As fate would have it, I ended up in the exact same room as last week. I’ve had repeat rooms, but never 2 weeks in a row. I notice that the elevator music is silent again this week, which is a bummer. But the weather is nice, so I will not be deterred!
Just as I was getting ready to go to sleep around 10 PM, the fire alarm started going off. I quickly put on some clothes, grabbed my purse and my Kindle (which I still use for travel to finish books in my existing library), and headed down the stairs. We all stood outside, taking cover under the car port/overhang as rain started pouring, and watched the firefighters go in with a fire extinguisher and fan. We went back in after we were told it was safe, and something smelled smoky, so I thought it was a kitchen fire. People crowded in the lobby waiting for the alarm to turn off, and I settled in with my book on one of the couches. As we climbed the steps to return to our rooms, I was told that somebody decided to microwave mac and cheese in one of the communal microwaves, and apparently didn’t use enough (or any?) water. And it actually caught on fire. Obviously everyone is okay, and this makes for great newsletter fodder, so silver lining?
I stay up late reading, unable to sleep right away thanks to the eventful evening. Also, I’m nearing the end of my book (Throne of Glass: Kingdom of Ash for anyone curious) and it’s getting really good. Shortly after my alarm went off the next morning, I was rudely awakened by yet another fire alarm. I sprang out of bed, ready to roll, and then it stopped. As I proceeded to get ready, it went off yet again, then stopped a minute later. What a way to start the day, with my nerves already fried. At least I was awake and didn’t oversleep, but I am very much ready to not be in a hotel anymore.
My other adventure of the week involved collecting library cards like Pokemon cards—gotta catch ‘em all! I went to 2 different libraries this week and happily added them to my Libby app.
Week 13
I’m back at it after a nice Easter weekend with family. It would appear that my hotel days are numbered, as a few options closer to home are actively being investigated, including some that I didn’t know were possible before. I’m also scaling back my travel schedule to 2 days starting next week to help ease the burden. On me, and also the company financials. Lol.
The elevator music started out silent at the beginning of the week, but was later reinstated, to my delight. I’m also in a great room this week with some unexpected advantages. It faces the back of the building, which means I don’t have afternoon sun that tends to overheat the space. Turning down the temperature on the thermostat actually cools down the room instead of fighting against the afternoon warmth to achieve homeostasis. I also have a batch of reasonably firm pillows, which is my preference as a side sleeper.
I’m pivoting from my fantasy novels and reading the first Bridgerton book, The Duke and I, through Libby. After finishing Kingdom of Ash (So good!), I’m taking a break from the Throne of Glass series before I read the prequel, Assassin’s Blade. I bought the whole series as a bundle, not realizing that the 8 books are crammed into a mega ebook that’s incredibly difficult to navigate. So even though Assassin’s Blade is a prequel and should be read either first or 3rd (depending on who you ask), it’s at the end of the series. When I converted my Kindle library to a different file format through Calibre, I used a plug-in called EPUB Split, which helps to break up large files. Now, the series lives in my Kobo as 8 separate books, as it was intended.
That’s all for now! Stay tuned for what will hopefully be the final installment of my hotel adventures in the coming weeks.