Settling In Properly

Today started the last leg of my training duties in the UK. Other than the last two times where I just came in the evening before, held a training session in the morning and took the flight home in the afternoon I’ll be here to help the developers work on a training project for the whole week. Today I got in around noon, so the taxi driver drove me directly to the office where I unloaded all my stuff and hauled my suitcase and bag directly into the training room.

Later we planned to go to Harpenden to have dinner which meant that we had to get back to the hotel first for me to carry my suitcase to the room and then catch a cab to Harpenden.

The very first thing I did when I got into the room was: Unpack. Unpack everything. Get ALL the clothes out of the suitcase. Set the books on the nightstand. Get the toiletries and stuff into the bathroom and out of their little plastic bags. Put my pajamas on the bed.

I found that this helps me get comfortable in any hotel room where I intend to spend more than one night. It might sound a little overdone, but I like to know that everything is in its place and I’m not living out of my suitcase. Even in a pretty boring hotel room it gives a feeling of having your own space.

After having a nice dinner at an Italian place in Harpenden (the evening was splendid, so we could sit outside) we also went to a supermarket to get some snacks. Unfortunately the biggest disadvantage of this hotel (apart from the WiFi not being free, which is like my reason number one not to stay here again) is that there’s no fridge in the rooms, so the options were limited, but I still got a decent selection of snacks that will help me to get away without having to pay for a breakfast I don’t really want while still not starving before lunch. Naturally there’s some crisps (So what? I’m in England here.) and chocolate involved, but also nuts and croissants (okay, not very healthy either) and some nut bars. And lemon flavored water, one of my favorites.

This also makes the place a bit nicer. I can see myself spending the evening watching TV shows on my laptop while having a little snack before going to sleep.

So, I have my stuff neatly ordered the way I want it plus some snacks I like. It’s not amazing, but it’s better than nothing and it helps making a hotel room far away from home feel at least the tiniest bit like something that is mine (at least for the time I’m staying here).