Travel peeves (And the perfect hotel room)

February 1, 2013 by Jo C 4 Comments

I’m currently living out of a suitcase, which is mostly fun and interesting, but there are a few things that I try very hard not to get annoyed about being constantly on the road…

• Hairdryers in hotel rooms are rarely very powerful. Luckily I don’t have an enormous amount of thick, long hair to dry, but even a little bob takes a very long time to dry in a pathetic draft
• While we’re on the subject of hairdryers, why are the cables never long quite enough to easily reach the back of your head? Those curly cables are stiff and frankly, unnecessarily impede the art of drying your hair, which, if you’re also affected by my first point, will not be a quick process anyway.
• The toiletry selection in the bathroom of hotels. Does anyone actually wear shower caps? Do women use the shampoo provided? I’d much rather see a hand cream or toothpaste, or a nice little box of applicator tampons, just in case. The exception to this is NH hotels, who have lovely toiletries, and the other extreme is Travel Inn, or Days Inn, or one of those ‘I used to be a prison’ hotels, where you can jolly well get yourself down to reception if you need toiletries, as they’re not prepared to enter your room during your stay, to clean nor restock toiletries.
• Designer bathrooms with no option but to cover the whole bathroom floor in water during a shower. It’s all very well (and indeed, rather pleasant) to lather up under a mammoth shower-head with your bare feet enjoying the marble floor, surrounded by glass, but if there’s no door to the shower, or no curtain, then you won’t be able to use the bathroom with socks on until the next morning.
• Airport security (particularly in the UK), has to top the list of travel frustration. There’s no eye-contact, there’s barely a grammatical sentence in sight, mere grunts targeted towards the traveller. ‘Got laptop?’ ‘Put it in the tray’ ‘Shoe bomb?’ … I wonder how we could make airport security more of a fun job for the poor souls who have clearly lost their soul to the full body scanners…I think if these grunting security staff enjoyed their jobs, I’d enjoy going through security more.

Going back to hotel room peeves, it doesn’t actually take a lot to have a fantastic hotel room; here’s my list of essentials for a happy hotel experience:

• A duvet and sheets rather than a mangy blanket and sheet covering it (Italy and France still seem to believe this is acceptable, Swiss hotels are good for duvets)
• Free WiFi
• A smoke-free smell and a window that opens, or a quiet air con unit
• A free bottle of water on arrival
• A kettle

Some hotels are now providing iPod docks, which I think is a fantastic idea. I also appreciate a magazine in the room.

If that’s really all it takes, maybe I should open my own hotel? Or stay home more often!