I was at an outdoor wedding near Wichita, KS this weekend, but that's another story.
I think I'm developing a phobia about motels. Is there a name for that? I can't find anything official, motel phobia seems to be popular. I usually stay in national chains and according to my budget they aren't really cheap.
Almost thirty years ago, the company I retired from frequently used to send me to Houston, TX for one, two, even three weeks for training. I stayed at a motel my fellow employees referred to as the Royal Roach. It supposedly had a reputation for cockroaches. I don't remember if I ever saw any, but I used to unpack my suitcase on the back step and shake all the clothes before immediately washing everything.
Unless it's a new motel, I always wonder about how clean the room is. I don't walk barefoot on the carpet and I don't lay on the bedspread. How often do those things get washed? Ever? The sheets are often threadbare and for sure don't smell like home. Is there a schedule for cleaning the carpet? Have you heard that bedbugs are on the rise in the United States?
See why I don't sleep well? Maybe I could take my own bedding, but how would I know what size? I'm thinking about taking a sleeping bag to just lay on top of the sheets.....and my own pillow.
I stayed in a brand new motel last summer. The bed was flat. The sheets were thick. There was no grime build up in the corners of the bathroom and no mildew in the shower. It felt luxurious and it was expensive!
Disclaimer: My house is not spotless and some of my towels are thin, and unlike a motel room, it doesn't get "cleaned" every day but it's MY dirt.
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- Mary
- I'm a grandmother in my fifties, who likes to travel in an old RV. I started blogging in April of 2008 to chronical a month long trip I took in the motorhome to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity. I lost my best friend and husband to cancer in 2005. I began working with the Care-a-vanner's the following summer. I've met some wonderful people, made new friends, visited new places and helped to build 10 houses. I find it difficult to be idle, so when I'm home I volunteer at church, spend time with my grandchildren and work partime for a brokerage firm.
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10 comments:
Back when we did travel, I definitely had motelaphobia!!! The motel bedspread really bothers me. Kinda funny cause my pets are all over my bed, but as you say, it's MY dirt!!!
I definitely share your phobia. I don't leave my bag open while at a motel: it is zipped tight, and I have a pair of traveling slippers. I do NOT go barefoot in motels. Sometimes, I even wear flip flops in the shower.
Many travel catalogs sell thin bed sacks (like a sleeping bag with attached pillow) to slip between the sheets and eliminate contact with the bedding. I don't think we are alone in our phobia!
Believe me, you're not alone! I agree that the bedspreads are absolutely a concern. I always take them completely off the bed or at least fold them way down to the foot of the bed.
Shaking all the clothes before immediately washing everything...so that's where Matt gets it.
Oh, I'm the same way you are about strange motels. They give me the creeps. I saw something for sale recently that was an actual travel sleeping bag for people like us. It folds flat into the suitcase and then unwraps like a sleeping bag so you can sleep on the mattress without touching anything.
I don't do any traveling any more.
Really enjoyed your post and I'm glad I'm not alone.
I am the SAME way....and I am concerned about *bed bugs*...saw something on tv...that shows how to check before you even open your suitcase...and we do it..to include...taking off the headboard...and lifting up mattresses for their telltale signs...sometimes the carpet just feel so....gross, for lack of a better word...
no...I am not a good traveler anymore...
and you are right..at home it is my comfortable dirt/mess...
Umm, years ago, when Julie cleaned motel rooms for a while, she said that the bedspreads are changed the first of every month. That leaves a lot of people to use them in between changes. Don't know if that's the practice everywhere, but it sure makes a person think.
Sheets are changed every time someone stays in the room.
I also heard one time that some places, the maids wash the glasses in the sink and then put them back out to be used again. How sanitary is that?
I hear ya on "my dirt". At least we know we don't have bugs living in our beds at home!! Yes, I am more nervous sleeping in hotel beds these days. I try to stay in newer hotels as much as possible, even if it costs me $20 or $30 more. Well worth the small peace of mind it may give me.
Oh, and I NEVER go barefoot in a hotel room.
And Vonita's comments just made me feel that much better about staying in a hotel now. Ugh.
I share your phobia. I have long wondered what happens on those comforters and blankets---showers curtains and drapes. Under tha mattress--how often are the turned? Ice buckets? Sterilized? Coffee pots? Microwaves? I can't think of a really 'nice' motel/hotel anymore. They all scare me. My dirt is so much more appealing to me. This is just part of the reason we have gone to 'daycations' and staying with family. Perhaps when we win that mega powerball, we will buy a grand travel trailer and use it to see what we have missed thus far. :)
your house doesn't have to be spotless, it is your dirt, its the possible 1000s of dirty strangers that are a problem....
just spent 15 days on the road - all hotels were 89-119 - taking what was availbable when I was ready to stop. the worst one was the most expensive. All but one was new, I love to stop in new hotels... if your lucky they are organized and clean.
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