Admit it. In your childhood, you definitely watched an episode or two of The Suite Life of Zack & Cody. As kids, the hotel life looked like the dream life. Staying in a hotel was the highlight of the family vacation. The most depressing part of the trip was packing up those mini soap bottles in the bathroom and waking up early to check out before noon.
But Zack and Cody got to live, well, the actual suite life. They never left the hotel because it was their home. How cool was that?!
That's exactly what I was thinking when I checked into a temporary living facility at the beginning of summer 2016. The house we were building wasn't quite finished yet, so imagine how pumped my sister and I were when we found out we would basically be living in a hotel for a few weeks. It was like an extended vacation, and we couldn't wait for the dream living experience.
But now, after seven weeks of the suite life, I've found out that life in a hotel isn't all it's cracked up to be. Here's a list of five things I found to be the subject of most of our complaints:
1. Things Got Very Cramped Pretty Quickly
Imagine this: your whole family. One room. Half the summer. The first few days were all right, but between my dad's snoring and the long line for the shower, I was calling all of my friends to see whose couch was available first.
2. Forget About Baking Cookies
I missed the oven. I missed the oven so much. Everything I ate had either been some sort of sandwich or food that was frozen and reheated. We were lucky to have a stovetop and a microwave, but I really did miss baking cookies and eating a freshly cooked Stouffer's Mac n' Cheese.
3. You Better Wake Up Early for Breakfast
One of the things I always look forward to in a hotel is the complimentary breakfast. In this case, the dining area was only open from 5 AM to 9 AM. If you really wanted that breakfast, you had to get up early. I'd given up on that weeks before we left. You won't catch me awake before noon in the middle of the summer.
4. Washing Clothes Gets Expensive
My sister and I were quite lucky to be able to visit our parents in another facility where there was a free washing and drying service. But I can't say the same for where we were staying. If you wanted clean clothes, you either had to get out and find a laundromat or scrub the clothes in the sink. After six weeks of this madness, I am eternally grateful to rely on the constant availability of a washer and dryer.
5. The Fight for Clean Towels
All of our stuff was in storage, including most of our towels. For the record, I really dislike hotel towels. They're flat, thin, ragged, and riddled with mysterious stains. Plus, each room only received four towels. If my sister and I weren't arguing about what channel the TV should be on, we were fighting about who got to use the last clean towel.
Don't get me wrong, my family and I are incredibly lucky to have had a place to stay while our permanent home was being finished. However, I can honestly say I have never been so happy in my life to live in a home of my own. I never realized how much I took for granted, especially for things like an oven and a dishwasher. All in all, I learned a lot, and I'm grateful to have had such a humbling experience.
