Offerings

During my stay in California, which by the way has been pretty cool seeing Sequoias and going to Yosemite, having my butt handed to me on a trail by mother earth, it was great. However once the day was over in the parks, the hotels weren't always completely truthful in their offerings.

Basically all of the places I stayed at offered "Free High Speed Wireless Internet", as is somewhat common now-a-days in destinations around the US of A. However, each one wouldn't really connect to the internet, or maybe it would but then be horribly slow and the connection would drop. I tested the connection on 2 iPods, my Netbook, and my Zune, all having poor results. It isn't until I get to a "classy" hotel like the Sheraton Gateway or Four Points by Sheraton Gateway that I have working internet.

Here is my gripe: If you offer something, please deliver it. If they had said they didn't have Wifi right off of the bat then I wouldn't have been as upset as I was, not that I was terribly upset but I like to wind down on the internet.

By the way, if anyone is good at giving a massage, I would greatly appreciate one.

Personal Space

I am fine with sharing space with people; we do it all the time. Think of on an airplane, on the bus, or even on a family vacation in your car. However, note the keyword here: share.

Today, we are on our way back home and we stopped at a hotel about 2/3 of the way home with a pool. I was so excited for the pool since it was more time with the water. I frantically search for my suit in the suitcase in the car. Then I go to my room and set everything down, put on my trunks, and then head down. I am greeted by about 3 groups in the pool. This normally isn't any problem, except when one of the groups decides they want to take up half of the pool.

Again, I have no problem with sharing, but leave at least some space for people to move about. Not to mention there were many dirty looks from that group as well. There were maybe only 5 of them, but they wanted to pass a ball around and ended up taking up essentially the majority of the pool. I couldn't go to the shallow end to swim since I have long arms and they would smash against the ground. Then other places had small groups together so there was no decent spot to go. These kinds of things can ruin a night.

It is that feeling when you are in a plane that is just a bit too small and you have a real large guy next to you. Or when you are talking to someone and they are standing just a bit too close. You are uncomfortable but what can you do? You can leave, and that is what I just ended up doing.

There is also "personal sound space," where either people have their iPod's/Zune's volume up far too loud, or someone is talking loudly on a phone. It could even be SOMEONE YELLING ON THE COMPUTER USING ALL CAPS. I assume people have common courtesy and really I believe that most people do. However sadly, you don't tend to remember those who do exercise it and you remember those who don't.

 Just a friendly reminder to respect people around you :)