Have you ever been on an airplane and watched with envy as a fellow passenger slept soundly? The plane is noisy and cramped, the aisles are busy, yet that lucky person is sleeping through it all. Meanwhile, maybe you have a tough time sleeping under ideal conditions.
If I’m really tired, I might nod off during a flight. Good sleep? Ain’t happening.
I have three basic requirements for restful sleep: Darkness, quiet, and fresh air. At home, these requirements are easily met. My house is on a dead-end street with only a few streetlights. And I open my windows whenever the weather allows; seldom does the indoor air become stale.
On the road, it’s a different story. Hotels run the gamut from comfortable to dreadful, and price has little to do with it. I’ve stayed in $40 rooms that were clean, dark, and quiet. I’ve stayed in $150 rooms where I got little sleep (and it was more than the fact that I was worrying about the price).
One quirk that makes me wonderfully weird…When I’m driving across the country, I rarely reserve a hotel room. For one thing, I rarely know how far I will be able to drive on a given day. More importantly, I want to look at several hotels in my destination town. Not only do I check to see if the area is safe and quiet, I also look at the windows to see whether they can be opened. To me, there is nothing worse than trying to sleep in a stinky room with sealed windows and a noisy air conditioner whose filter has not been changed in years.
Shortly after moving to Georgia, I had several days of forestry work near Athens. I chose a nearly-new Hampton Inn as my home away from home. A new hotel, what could go wrong? Well, the place reeked of perfume, and the windows were all sealed, leaving me at the mercy of the heating and a/c unit built into the outer wall. The more I ran it, the worse the odor became. In desperation, I dismantled the unit to discover two perfume-laced potpourri bags in front of the fan! I tossed them in a trash can in the hallway, and complained to the manager.
Then there is October 26, 2014, a night that will live in infamy for more than one reason. It began as a wonderful day, as I hiked a mountain trail in Big Bend National Park. After darkness fell, I had to endure The Police-Stating of America. Following that misadventure, I needed a peaceful environment where I could unwind and get a good night’s sleep. Instead, I had to track down all four of the stink bombs that some folks euphemistically call air fresheners. They were hidden in heater vents and underneath the furniture. I set them outside, and opened the windows. The blankets were so saturated with the stench that I pulled them from the bed and slept in my sleeping bag. Then, promptly at 3 in the morning, the manager gave the adjacent vacant room to a couple with a young child. The kid was bouncing off the walls (literally) and jumping up and down on the bed with such vigor that I expected to hear it come crashing down. The parents were too busy yapping to silence the brat.
I kept expecting the room to go quiet. After all, traveling families usually stop at motels to sleep. Not these folks. I finally had to go to the office and complain to the manager. The only other available room was larger and more expensive. The guy tried to charge me extra money for moving, but I kept complaining until he gave me the key. If I wasn’t gonna get any sleep, he wasn’t getting none either.
I have plenty other adventures, but I shall stop here. Now it’s your turn.
Does sleep come easily for you? What’s your ideal sleep situation? Dark or light? Quiet or with white noise? Pets or no pets?
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