A List of Demands

[AccountingDrone]

Another use for a fan is white noise for sleeping, but that doesn't mean I would expect a hotel to have them available.

I travel with my tablet, and I have a music playlist, and I have a 9 hour playlist that is tones and rain designed to help induce sleep. I also stream netflix if I have the connection and there is nothing on TV. If I get really really desperate, my brother had a couple thumb drives and external hard drives of various movies that I travel with.

I have some breathing issues, which are sometimes made worse by having the A/C on all the time. It's either turn a fan on, or find myself gasping for air. Trust me, it sucks. Even so, I won't be an ass about it. If the hotel doesn't have a fan, it's a quick trip to the store.

5 years after my hysterectomy I *still* get hot flashes ... and for some bedammned reason I can be comfortable sleeping in a tank to/wifebeater, but wear the same weight tshirt with short sleeves? I will swing between cold sweats and hot flashes. I find that I prefer a fan to air conditioning, though at home I sleep with the window open about 6 inches [right now Western NY about 25 miles south of Rochester NY ...]

I am a tea drinker. Most room coffee makers have enough residual coffee flavor in them to make using the hot water for tea result in a terrible taste. And, the coffee maker doesn't heat to boiling, which is better for most tea. Never occurred to me to ask for a kettle, though.

Also, since most Americans are coffee drinkers, the token tea bag near the coffeemaker is usually of seriously unknown vintage. Combine that with the coffee residue and you get a beverage suitable only for supplying enough caffeine to make one semi-functional.

Blargh, I have a hot pot that travels with me, along with cannisters of tea and coffee and a pair of french presses, and good solid thermal mugs. I also have a small bottle of liquid splenda and a small jar of Nido whole milk for my coffee. It all lives in one of those cooler sized 'soft coolers' so it just looks like we are lugging along our travel snacks.

I am getting to be a regular at a Choice hotel in Eastern CT, and love the place. We stayed there for a couple weeks right after the house burnt down [with our cat, they are like the only pet friendly hotel in the area I think] and have stayed there at least one night every month for the past 6 or 7 months. I don't have any requests, though I have had some nice discussions about the best way to convert the current non accessible accessible bathroom as there are issues if you are not as mobile as I am. [adding a vertical grab bar, getting rid of one of two horizontal grab bars and installing a fold down shower seat as a fast instant cheap fix, long term fix would be to pull out the tub and replace it with a walk in/roll in bath tub sized shower stall with doors instead of a curtain. ] They also have a *pancake* machine instead of self serve waffle irons =) It would be nice if they served starting at 6 instead of 7, but their hotel, their schedule =)

[dalesys]

This coffee smells like shit.

Yes, but whose? (since you're such a goomwha afficionado)

[Mr Hero]

You use the plunger by the toilet?

This coffee smells like shit.

[wolfie]

I want my coffee now if not sooner in the morning!

Fortunately there's a product created specifically for you and anyone else who wants their coffee NOW - instant coffee.

[LesserSouthernFroglet]

As a non-coffee/tea drinker, I have to ask: what is "Plunger" coffee and tea?

Coffee plunger, aka coffee press, French press.

I've got a stainless steel plunger, although usually they're glass. They're like a jug with a top that has a filter in it, once the coffee or tea has steeped long enough you put the top on and press down. The filter takes all the crunchy bits to the bottom and keeps it there.

I'm a fussy bugger, machine-brewed coffee isn't hot enough for me and I hate the way it tastes. Also it takes a while longer than the plunger. I want my coffee now if not sooner in the morning!

[wolfie]

but she's had a few poachers who had a deer carcass they'd taken out of season, and somehow they expected her to accommodate them. Is there anywhere -- outside of a lodge that specifically caters to hunters -- that would?

Even such a lodge probably wouldn't accommodate them. After all, the lodge gets its business from hunters, and they'd probably get into trouble if it got out that they were catering to poachers.

[wordgirl]

I would assume it's a coffee/tea press?

The most recent jaw-dropping request I heard of came through my brother: He was staying in a nice mom'n'pop hotel in the Tennessee mountains this summer run by a lovely family. He was chatting with the owner while his room was being prepared and the talk drifted round to hunting ... she said she's had hunters get very angry because she wouldn't let them store dead deer in the walk-in cooler that she didn't even have (and if she did, would be so eager to let people shove random filthy carcasses into) and more than one time someone field-dressed deer in her parking lot.

During deer season she can refer them to a service that takes the carcass away and brings you back nicely wrapped cuts of venison, but she's had a few poachers who had a deer carcass they'd taken out of season, and somehow they expected her to accommodate them. Is there anywhere -- outside of a lodge that specifically caters to hunters -- that would?

[Alpha Strike]

You use the plunger by the toilet?

That would definitely take care of the residual coffee taste!

[dalesys]

As a non-coffee/tea drinker, I have to ask: what is "Plunger" coffee and tea?

You use the plunger by the toilet?

[Alpha Strike]

When I stayed 2 weeks in the US a few years ago I bought an electric kettle (for the princely sum of $12) at the nearest Mart of Wal, and just left it there after I checked out. This was to make plunger coffee and tea...

As a non-coffee/tea drinker, I have to ask: what is "Plunger" coffee and tea?

[LesserSouthernFroglet]

When I stayed 2 weeks in the US a few years ago I bought an electric kettle (for the princely sum of $12) at the nearest Mart of Wal, and just left it there after I checked out. This was to make plunger coffee and tea.

Why? I want more boiling water at a time than a cup in the microwave can provide. I'm also not a big fan of water boiled in microwaves - if you over-heat it, that 'boil over' thing can be dangerous. A kettle just turns itself off when it's done.

[WishfulSpirit]

I can understand not wanting tea that tastes like coffee residue. But all our rooms have microwaves. What's wrong with using that to heat water for tea?

[Sliceanddice]

I have a different issue, I grew up in Arizona, I can't sleep in the hotel without the AC at ice level and if it's too humid I get miserably.

[Shyla]

When traveling without a humidifier, you can feel a lot better with liberal use of saline spray and chap stick. It's not perfect but it's cheap and portable. I had no idea you could just demand a room at the exact temperature and humidity you request. Will the outside weather change as well?

[MrSmiley]

An electric tea kettle. No I can't use the coffee maker to make hot water for tea. Don't ask me why, I'm a cubic zircon member and that means I can make you buy me stuff.

So my mom's at the point where she brings a travel tea kettle with her in her luggage so she can have tea that "doesn't taste like coffee" in the aftertaste or whatnot. I understand, but I even think she's crazy like this. I drink lots of tea myself and I'm a lot less picky.