Hotels Dreams

That’s what I’m thinking about this week. Everything about them makes me so happy and we’re going to be staying in two this weekend when we go to Toronto. I love everything them. I love choosing a hotel, going through all of the options, hoping the one I book will be perfect for us. I love the days before, buying a new bathing suit for someone (this time for me and the kids!) and deciding what will be the best book to bring (I take this decision very seriously and this time it might be Elizabeth McCracken who comes along). I love buying chocolates for the drive, maybe chips to eat before bed after a swim. The idea of using the tea bags and tiny kettle and taking a steaming cup into bed. I wonder if the free breakfast will have the excellent waffle maker the kids love and hope there will be strawberries and not just melon. Who will eat the most fruit loops? Or instead will we splurge and order poached eggs and pancakes from the menu! I remember the time I turned my back on the kids and they sent pastries through the toaster and started a mini fire.

I might break out my favourite shirt or wear earrings. It’s the promise of something different. The excitement of getting a break after days and weeks of predictability. It’s the moment we park our car and head into the front lobby that I look the most forward to, the tiny space filled with nothing but the hope of making my family happy. Excited for whatever is about to happen next. The possibly everything will go well and everyone will have a wonderful time. Maybe there will be something as wonderful as the first time we hit the rooftop hot tub at the Grand Hotel and had it all to ourselves while it started to snow.

While driving to pick up my kids from school today, I listening to a story one CBC about hotels and movies that take place in them. I’m not sure which program it was but they played a scene from “Lost in Translation” which got my head spinning of other movies with perfect hotel scenes. “The Grand Budapest Hotel” of course sprang to mind, but I think my favourite is from “It Could Happen to You”. Oh, the scene before everything falls apart and Bridget Fonda is falling in love AND discovers there are bathrobes in her hotel room. Perfection! And of course I thought of Amor Towles’ brilliant “A Gentleman in Moscow,” and entire world and life constructed from within the confines of a hotel.

It’s the chance for something different and surprising to take place. The CBC program spoke of how hotels can force people to behave, hide their fights behind closed doors and not necessarily be their true selves. But I think I’m often my best self in hotels, just so happy to be away and I want to do everything! I’m ready to make the perfect dive and swim all those laps, to stay up under the fluffy white duvet and read the best book all night, to eat something exciting and maybe we’ll have milkshakes! And if I’m lucky, maybe I’ll wake up with glamorous, non- frizzy hair for once.