#85: Stay in 5 nice and/or unique hotels. Blog them. (2/5)

Every year J’s company sends the top 10% of its’ sales force on an all-expenses-paid trip somewhere fabulous. It’s my personal opinion that they will never, ever, ever top last year’s trip to Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island, Bahamas… but I still didn’t turn down this year’s trip to Orlando. :) We stayed at the Grande Lakes Resort for four sun-soaked days and three wine-soaked nights. :P The trip included a park-hopper pass to Disney World, which we made 13 hours’ use of in Magic Kingdom, Epcot and MGM Hollywood Studios. (There were other options: the space center, golf, the Ritz-Carlton spa, Universal Studios… but nothing to match Disney World as far as we were concerned. J. had never been before.)

Anyway, the hotel. You know, every time I stay in these resort hotels I am tempted to be disgusted by the excess. Fancy fountains, fancy marble foyers, fancy shops, fancy landscaping. Fancy beds, fancy fixtures, fancy tubs, fancy dressers.  But then after a day or so, the luxury just becomes comfort. Who cares if the bed is ridiculously fancy or expensive when it is the most luxuriously soft mattress I’ve ever slept on? Who cares if the bathroom fixtures cost as much as my house (and I really don’t think this is hyperbole) when the tub is so deep and warm and bubble-friendly? Allowing yourself to succumb to the pampering for awhile is good for the soul.

The best parts of this hotel? Well, the mattress. Yes, the tub. Tuxedo chocolate-dipped strawberries waiting in the room. A lazy river pool behind the hotel.
The worst part? You might think I’m nuts, but the staff was *too* attentive - almost intrusive. No, thank you, we don’t need turn-down service. Ok, if you insist, I’ll take the mints, but really, I can turn down the covers myself. Really. Oh, and, please, dear maid, stop bagging up the clothes I’ve left draped over the chair. I know I should appreciate you saving me the trouble of gathering my own laundry, but I was gonna wear that dress again. kthx.

I don’t mean to sound ungrateful (though I’m aware that I probably do), but I *like* doing stuff for myself. And it feels kind of dirty having someone in a little French maid outfit doing things for me that I feel I should be doing myself. I did appreciate the maid who zipped up my dress for me when Joey had already gone downstairs while I got ready. And told me that I looked beautiful. Yeah, that I feel ok about paying for. :P

(How much would I pay to go back now that I’ve seen my to-do list for this month, which includes the year’s heaviest monthly workload, the last few weeks of classes, finals, and a visit from family that I have to somehow be ready for in a week? BTW, if you know someone who’d like to earn some extra money by spring-cleaning my house this weekend, call me. No, I’m not kidding.)

xo,KJ