Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Road Trip!

 Just Sweet Mesquite and I.
We loaded up the party-mobile last Friday at lunch time, and hit the road for New.York.City!
Ta-dah!
The drive was fun--we talked about school and summer plans and life; and before we knew it, we were on the lookout for our mystery accommodations on West 38th Street.
I booked our reservations many months ago using Expedia, and found a place in the Theatre District.  Having been there before using the same planning strategy, I figured we couldn't go wrong.  Boy!  I might have been wrong.
We laughed.
A LOT.
First, because we followed our GPS to our destination, and drove down the street, and didn't see it. 
Anywhere.
We circled around the block and tried again.
Then, we laughed again when we spotted the fancy entrance:
That awning with plastic and duck tape was our 'welcome home' and howdy-do to The Americana Inn.
I know--pretty snazzy.
When we climbed the narrow staircase to the tiny second floor lobby (with no air conditioning), we were met with a busy, sort of ruffled looking fellow behind an unimpressive counter.  He checked us in, gave us our room key, and told us the bathrooms were shared.
I was beginning to wonder if I had inadvertently checked the "hostel" box instead of "hotel" box on my reservation requirements.
 We made our way to the third floor room to which he gave us the key.  We opened the door to find this:
 Sweet, SWEET Mesquite exclaimed with delight 
"Oh look!... Free Stu....." 
when it abruptly dawned on her that the toiletry bag and other assorted personal belongings were NOT free stuff. 
I wasn't even remotely TEMPTED by the cool-looking red shoes.  That's how weird-ed-out I felt.
And I'm thinking "Oh fantastic... we're going to be undressing or slumbering, and someone ELSE is going to come waltzing into OUR room."   It was a tiny bit unsettling.
I wasn't really feeling up for the whole Goldilocks thing.  I laughed again, to protect very very sweet Mesquite from having terrifying thoughts (like her mother) and also because I thought of my traveling Mr. Dub, who would NOT have thought these were suitable accommodations.
I laughed nervously as we shut the door, and, because nervous adrenaline triggers the need to take care of certain bodily functions, we took turns standing guard outside the third floor bathroom with our belongings.  Then we returned to the lobby and told the even busier and more ruffled looking attendant that we needed a do-over.  Our second try was better, and we didn't have to climb any stairs this time.  I think the laughing we were doing at this point was more out of relief to finally plop our stuff down in a private (albeit VERY tiny) space.
At this point in our adventure, Mesquite did have the forethought to suggest that we study the emergency exit plan on the back of our door.  I was all for it.  As we stood there deciphering it, I realized that our designated exit plan was out the window and on to the fire escape.  I lifted the blinds and laughed again (really, sort of hysterically at this point) as I made the observation that we were not in close enough proximity to be able to reach the fire escape.  It was attached to a neighboring room, which we would only be able to enter by navigating three hallways first.  We decided that jumping from the second story window and risking broken limbs would be better than trying to find our neighbor's door and beg for admittance onto the fire escape. 
We had arrived, and we now had a plan.
(...to be continued...)

10 comments:

LL said...

fire escape must be an additional charge.
GOOD HEAVENS!
How many stars did you mark when bidding for this room?
Funny moments like these are what makes the memories. You'll laugh about it for years!

Aaron H. said...

This is CRAZY!

Michael Stokes said...

By far one of my favorite post. Brings back memories of travel in Euro and bad rooms in NYC. Good to know somethings never change in the theater district

Jo Jo said...

Are you serious? I definitely would write a review for that travel website...they should not be allowed to participate!

Becky said...

Scared of that!

shirlgirl said...

Oh my goodness!! And shared bathroom in this day and age? Not me! Glad you could laugh about it. Looking forward to the next installment. I also agree with Jo Jo in her comments. Yikes! Great story for your journals.

Cynthia said...

My hubby and I ended up in a hotel in Florida that was a cross between the Bates Motel and the hotel in "The Shining". Not a very restful night as I had to to sleep with one eye open! Hope the rest of your trip is surprising and fun and happy ways!

Jeannette said...

I've always wondered about using that site, now I'm not so sure! But it definitely makes for some good reading, thanks for the laugh!

rad6 said...

ok, that is a little crazy, but down the road will probably make the trip all that more memorable.
Funny...

balmforth.family said...

This story made me laugh and laugh and be thankful for my own shower and bathroom all at the same time. You are a brave lady. Looks like a FUN trip!!