Nothing too exciting to report from Philly. We got up quite a bit earlier than we wanted and caught an 8:30am train. The connections this time were much more sane and relaxing. Kim and Sabrina stayed on until Lancaster to visit family for a few days while I take care of work here in the city.
There was one nice spot to the day and that was checking in to the hotel. The Ritz-Carlton is one place I don’t see myself getting a chance to visit any time soon in our planned travels. With a hefty room rate and our penchant for cheap and ultra cheap travel (we like to spend no more than $50/night for the three of us if can help it and usually accomplish this by camping often) this type of five star accommodation isn’t first on our list. But, as work is paying for it, we might as well enjoy.
First off, Kim and I stayed here back in November on another work trip and it was a great time. Kim often just relaxed the morning away before heading off to visit a museum or do some shopping while I worked in our Philly office just blocks away. So this was actually my second trip to the hotel in as many months. Upon entering the front doors I noticed some rather large white screens pulled up around the center court area. A sign on the side noted construction of a new restaurant to be completed May 20th, 2007 and to please pardon the inconvenience. Skirting the edges brought me to the front desk but not before passing 3 friendly staff members all wishing me a good evening with a genuine smile.
Ample help and courtesy was again extended by the front desk and bellhop even when I declined to have him carry my backpack (don’t ask me why, I’m weird like that). I grabbed a juicy looking granny-smith apple and headed to my room, ironically enough (or maybe not so ironic if they plan it that way) 3 doors down from our last room.
The worries and stress of the work day vanished when I walked in the room. The lights were on, the TV had what Kim and I thought was a cheesy TV station that just played a crackling fine but when viewed upon entering a room, actually gave it a nice touch. Yummy mint coins on the pillow with a water and clean glass waiting by the bed and quiet music playing from the clock radio really made for a welcome feel I’ve never experienced in a hotel stay before.
Now onto something not very Ritz-like….laundry. Kim and I (and Sabrina without know it) are attempting to reduce the amount we carry on longer trips by washing more often. Some people agree with this idea, some don’t, but the basic premise is to carry about 3 or 4 changes of clothes, wear them more and wash them often, instead of bringing 7-8 changes. For this 11 day trip away from home we each brought 3 changes, more or less, including what we were wearing to the airport. I’m finally to the point where I need to do laundry (Kim, I’m suspecting, is using her sister or Dad’s washing machine :) ). With no other cheap option, I decided to give washing in a hotel sink a try.
I decided to let my wits give it an attempt before consulting my all knowing, all seeing, never wrong friend; The Internet. I laid out a towel on the floor to lay the clean stuff and filled the sink, pouring in just a little shampoo from the shower. A quick dip and scrubbing with a few dirtied items and it was time for rinsing with a pleasing, or maybe not so pleasing, amount of dirt clearly removed for the clothing. Rinse, wring, squish and time for hanging. It’s been two hours and they are still pretty damp. I will probably wring them out a little more. And for a longer trip I’ll take a serious look at some fast drying items as the big thick socks I have will probably take a week or more without heated air.
After doing some quick searching, I really like what Jeanna Leblanc has to say on her blog entry. I’ll be grabbing some of the items she noted to make my next sink based washing machine experiment a success.
