10 Jul 2014

HOTELS AND SURPRISES

When I met Mr. G. he worked in the Hilton Hotel in Brussels in the Room service while attending courses in computer sciences. In the 60th you didn't need 4 years of University studies, you could get your diploma in 3 months and you were hired immediately. It was the start of the computer area.



The Hilton Hotel was in a huge modern tower in the 60th and was the best hotel in Brussels. Mr. G. saw President Nixon there, for whom 3 floors had been emptied one above his room and one below. Later Ted Kennedy came with his wife and they were using the room service mostly for ordering strong drinks and they were always well out late night. Breakfast started with a glass of salt and water.  Mrs. Kennedy once bumped in the door of the elevator, she couldn't walk straight anymore, hurt her head so badly that she needed some stitches and had a blue eye. Of course when you work in such a Hotel you also see a lot of famous people's private life, which of course is not always mentioned in the press. He really could write a book about what happened there. Today the awful looking tower houses offices and the Hilton moved into a more beautiful building and is not the best hotel in Brussels anymore.

Ever since I travel with friends I was staying in a lot of hotels.



Palace looking like Hotels are very common in the tourist areas of Egypt. They are beautifully decorated with marble and artwork and very spacious corresponding to at least a 5* hotel in our Western World. Unfortunately the guests, especially the Ukrainians or Russians demolished the rooms, stole everything which they could take, even toilet covers, cutlery, bath towels, pictures etc. For us "normal" guests it was just unbelievable.



In Tunisia too I always stayed in "palaces" and once even got the honeymoon suite. It was such a big room, that I almost got lost in there.



In this "royal" suite, I had a nice surprise. I sat on my bed and it broke, I found myself  sitting on the floor with the bedlinen and cover over and around me. Of course they promised to repair the bed immediately, but when we checked out it still hadn't been repaired, the room maid had even made the bed and had put the mattress back on the broken frame, on which I had finally slept on the floor !



The Falmouth Hotel in Falmouth was a very beautiful hotel at least concerning the common rooms, like the entrance hall, the reception, the bar, the dining room and the staircase.

The rooms were a different story. The toilet flush didn't work on the 3rd floor which everybody found rather annoying it was only working again the next morning ! Impossible to take a shower, the water mixer didn't work and only very hot water came out. I had set a temperature and my arm became red like a lobster. I decided to do a cat wash.  The cold water tap didn't work either it turning like a spinning wheel and only hot water came out. During breakfast we heard other shower adventures, so we hadn't been the only once.

The nicest surprise I had was in London this time. We stayed in the Swinton Hotel,  a small bed and breakfast hotel near the St. Pancras station . Our room had the size of broom closet, but everything worked perfectly and the beds were good. The surprise was this :



there was a door between the beds, leading into a beautiful little garden with palm trees and roses in the middle of London ! Needless to say that we spent most of the time sitting there in the sunshine.

Jenny Matlock
more participants at Jenny Matlock's Alphabet Thursday

15 comments:

  1. How fun to have a secret garden~ . What a lot of funny adventures you have had. And Mr G should write a tell-all book!

    We have never stayed in a palace. Mostly only medium-priced motels. But everything always works and they are usually clean ;>). In the Carribbean sometimes there was only lukewarm water but I just figured that was how they did things there. Once when we were taking a trip across country by train our toilet froze up (we were in Glacier Park Montana in February so it was real cold out)...we just used the public toilet until the next stop when they fixed it ... and they gave us a partial refund on our room.

    On this trip we are camping in our RV travel van, so if something doesn't work it is all Bill's fault! Not mine of course.

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  2. Wow, I bet Mr G can tell some stories! Good thing he's quiet and a man, else the rich and famous would be exposed, LOL! I remember when your bed broke in the Tunis hotel. I wonder if it ever got repaired. Great little secret garden in London. Have a great day. Jo

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  3. A fun post. There are lots of stories to be told about Hotels/accommodation places. We once had water coming through the roof of our river cruise boat cabin from the shower in the cabin above us. We were lucky to get an upgrade.

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  4. Years ago I stayed at the Hilton Hotel in Sydney. 'Liberace' had a show there and I loved his piano playing. The Hilton has seen better days and there are much nicer hotels now.
    The Swinton hotel looks good.

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  5. You could write a book about your hotel adventures. I think England is behind the rest of Europe with regards to standard of hotels unless you pay a lot of money. But now we have 'Trip Advisor' I have noticed things are changing for the better.

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  6. You stayed in some beautiful hotels. LOL at some of your stories.... unbelievable what hotel guests stole!

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  7. You're so fortunate to have been able to visit all those hotels. Quite an adventure.

    I bet that was the first Mrs. Kennedy. They said she had a drinking problem.

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  8. I stay in hotels a lot too, but nothing like those adventures!

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  9. The best 'hotel' experience I have had was actually a Bed & Breakfast. It was, still to this day, the best sleep I have ever had.

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  10. You have given many reasons to NOT stay in a hotel! My traveling days are over, because I miss the comfort and privacy of my own bathroom!!

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  11. it sounds like you had many adventures in your travels. I usually travel with my immediate family, We're a large enough group that we have rented houses many times, and that's always fun to use as a homeport.. {:-D

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  12. wow! What interesting hotel experiences! such adventures!
    And Mr. G should write that book!

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  13. What interesting adventures! I think I'd be scared to stay in another country in a hotel.

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  14. What interesting adventures! I think I'd be scared to stay in another country in a hotel.

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  15. Wow.

    You've had so many adventures in your travels!

    I haven't stayed in too many great hotels. I think I need to, though. These look amazing!

    I like to travel anywhere, though, as long as I have my own pillow!

    Thanks for an interesting and happy link for the letter H.

    A+

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