I feel like staying in a decent hotel is like getting a big hug, it's relaxing and serene and quiet and the stress of day to day life isn't around - but I'm glad to be home and have a kitchen and the pets around and do laundry whenever I like!
I have a sneaking suspicion that somehow I've turned into a high maintenance traveler. It's a big deal for me because I used to pride myself on packing light. Six years ago, I took a month long trip to Australia and New Zealand with only a school backpack and a messenger bag. In college, my friend and I were quite pleased with ourselves for packing only a small rollerbag and carryon for our three week trip to London in the middle of winter, while some of our classmates had brought suitcases that were taller than they were!
I came to this realization while packing to leave Boston as I was placing a duvet cover and set of clothes hangers into my luggage. Why was I packing up clothes hangers and a duvet cover, you might ask?
I like the idea of triple sheeting, but in practice, it annoys the #$%@ out of me! I love down comforters and will always choose to stay at a hotel with those instead of the polyester coverlets given an option... but the sheets inevitably slip around and expose the comforter and it makes a big mess to fix when you make the bed in the morning. I just don't want to have anything on a hotel bed touching me that I know for sure couldn't have been washed between guests. After my first week, I decided that I would just scope out the duvet cover options at TJ Maxx... lo and behold, there was a yellow one for $30! I was sold (with 3.5 weeks left, I thought it was worth $10 a week!) It was so worth it. Come to think of it, this wasn't my first offense with hotel bedding purchasing. I got sheets for our two weeks in Cincinnati last year (I wish that hotels would use fitted sheets so that the bed wouldn't fall apart and expose the mattress the minute you sit down!) and a pillow for our hotel in Toronto last summer (another 5 week stay and I still use that pillow at home).
Most hotels seem to have fewer than a dozen hangers and when you're in a place for 5 weeks and sharing a room, you'll probably collectively have more than 10 things to hang up (especially if you're a girl... dresses, shirts, jacket, skirt, etc.) I ironed my shirts and dresses and then ironed my husband's shirts - and I don't play around with my ironing. I work in wardrobe, so I'm used to getting paid good money to iron, and I have yet to find someone to pay me for ironing my own clothing! So I headed over to my old friend TJ Maxx and bought a set of 18 of those skinny felted hangers for $10.
On a side note - even though I haven't dressed a show that involved me prepping button up shirts in a year and a half, I timed myself while ironing my husband's shirts and I can still iron a long sleeve shirt in less than 5 minutes. I haven't lost my touch! One of our favorite touring wardrobe heads, Mike, used to put signs up saying "If you spend more than 5 minutes on a shirt, you're not ironing it, you're making love to it." I was always a decent ironer, but after working Jersey Boys for a month and ironing over a dozen shirts every night and even more during work calls twice a week, I really got really good.
I wouldn't go to such lengths for comfort if I traveled for just weekend trips a couple of times a year. When I travel, it's for a good amount of time and my husband is working the whole time, so it feels more like we're living there, not vacationing.
I've been back home for a few days now, and I've been really struck with how much I like our house. I've always liked it, but didn't realize just how glad I'd be to see it again! I can't get over how awesome our skylights are in the kitchen and bathroom and just how BRIGHT our house is! I'm soaking it up, not having realized how dark our hotel room in Boston was. I'm actually enjoying the sunlight so much that I haven't stopped to notice that I'm back in the southern summer heat! My first night back, I was also surprised by how loud the insects and critters are even when you're in the house... it only took a month to forgot what nature sounded like!
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