When looking for a place to stay, make sure that it starts with an H. What significance does an H have? A Lot. Usually an H comes with room access from an interior hallway, little soaps and lotions, hair products that will get the job done if necessary and movies on pay-per-view before they are released on video. I never realized that after years of H experiences an M experience could be so eye opening.
The M word, or Motel style lodging has definitely fallen from grace. Popularized by the family summer road trips and roaming salesmen, the structures once proudly scattered along the American highways have become eerily vacant. The long summer family road trips, filled with road sign bingo and “Point of Interest” Kodak moments have been replaced by activity filled vacations on the latest Disney cruise. The roaming business man now travels via jet plane to his sales call in the morning and is back tucking his kids in bed by 8. There is little need for bare minimum lodging when Hotels.com can get you 4-star accomidations on the cheap.
What experience opened my eyes to this interesting layer of American culture you ask? A trip to Pullman Washington. What was intended to be an in-and-out event at the Washington State University has turned into a 4 day reflection of my travel standards. Trying to spend as little money a possible to ensure that we don’t break the bank on the rising Vet bill at the WSU teaching hospital, we opted to the M style lodging.
The best way to describe our car viewing quarters? Like a B-movie scene. My fiancé would be out getting a new pack of smokes, our drug of choice and a bottle of something containing some level of alcohol. I would be sitting on the bed with light coming through a crack in the black out curtains, my hair would be disheveled, eyes darting back and forth while chewing on my nails, waiting for the phone to ring. This movie of course would go straight to video, possibly pay-per-view at the lower level H style lodging.
Its pretty funny really, my only choice it to laugh and to appreciate the turn-down service and lotions that I procure at the Four Seasons San Francisco. There's no Four Seasons in Pullman so I don’t feel like Im missing out. But when there is a choice between the M word or the H word, take a moment to remember if you packed shampoo. And in the even that there is no H style lodging within a 50 mile radius? Make the best of it.
1 comment:
This is the perfect example of form vs. function. Motels are functional...they have a bed, a door that locks (usually) and a coke vending machine in the parking lot. Everything I require to make it through a night. Hotels add form to the function. They (the good ones) have feather beds, massaging shower heads, and room service. Everything I dream about while I am spending 37.95 on a motel room. In my practical world, function wins out....I should definitely marry for money.
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