Four star hotel "Les Thermes" in Saint Malo, France

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hotel harrows

Hotel Four Points in Los Angeles, USA.

The bed just after arriving.

The bed the next morning...





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In the pit

Landing in Mexico City is plunging into a thick layer of pollution.
It is scaring to see how bad the air is and to realize that soon it will enter the lungs.

But once landed the pollution cannot be seen anymore.
Although the air smells bad and dirty.

Traffic is intense and hectic.
Still old diesel powered buses can be seen producing enormous quantities of exhaust fumes.
And one must make very sure not to want to move around during peak hours.
That is for example in the Santa Fé area from 5 to 11 pm.
Six hours in the evening of bad traffic jams.
Every day.

A room is rented in the Novotel Mexico Santa Fe hotel.
A tariff list behind the reception says a single room costs $ 265.
But through Orbitz one pays not more than $ 115.

The room is very ok.
Large and well equipped.
But one may wonder why the free wifi to access the internet is from the stone age.
Ultra low speed and often failing completely.
Amazing flaw for a modern hotel.



And unfortunately, outside, right in front of the room, a deep pit where a new building is being constructed.
Forcing the guest due to extreme noise to request a room on the other side of the hotel.



Santa Fé is the business area of Mexico City.
And is therefore well developed.
Looking like a modern town with high rising office buildings.
And conveniences like a Starbucks, a decent Japanese restaurant and a 7/11.
But soon a visitor notices that outside all the buildings men with earphones in black costumes are standing.
Security people.
Who immediately come into action when the visitor wishes to make pictures for example of a building called "La Lavadora" (the washing machine).
That is not allowed.

What about?

La Quinta Inns and Suites on West Century Boulevard in Los Angeles, California, USA.
Room 808.

What is this posting today going to be about?
A funny story about staying in a hotel?
Or a critical report how the hotel is?

Or maybe how it is to sleep in a bed in a room in a building and having a bathroom with plenty of warm water and a bath; things that were not in the existence for the last five months living in an expedition vehicle?

Or going up and down in an elevator sleeping on the eighth floor far above the ground?

Or maybe seeing from the window airplanes silently land while the heating in the room powered by a fan blows with lots of noise warm air into the room?

Or what about the toilet in the beautiful bathroom that has a broken flush so that the water keeps on running and running?

Or else the posting might be about those hairs that were found in the bathtub left behind by the former guest and not cleaned away by the room maid?

Or for sure it could be about the large king size bed in which one does not exactly feel like a king but as a long distance traveller to family, friends, the Queen of Dreams and to many engagements in Europe?

Or, staying with this bed, about the six large pillows that the hotel management decided to put on it while in fact they are only in the way?

Or maybe about the window that cannot be opened while there is a desperate urge to be able to breath and fill the lungs with clean and pure air.

Hence, what should this posting today be about?
Does anyone have a suggestion?


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Fire and panic in the hotel

The ExtendedStay hotel in Carlsbad, California, USA continues to offer exciting experiences.

Last night around 1 am the pioneering photographer was not pioneering but peacefully asleep.
Well, as much as was possible because of the intense and continuous traffic noise next to the hotel room from Highway 5 where people speed from Los Angeles to San Diego v.v.

But then, suddenly, the sweet dreams were interrupted because the smoke alarm in the room started to deeply disrupt anybody around.

It was not immediately realized what was going on.
Inside those sweet dreams the alarm and screaming sounds were believed to come from another planet where were no orgasms and those responsible for it.

Now, fervent and loyal blog readers must know that the smoke alarm is right above the bed so a sleeper may want to believe to be on another planet with his favourite fantasy princess but eventually the strong and persistent and insisting noise will bring anybody back to the realization that a fire might be close.

Once in London, in a high towered hotel, a fire has been experienced.
And do accept that this is traumatic.
Jumping from the window was not an option.
Panic all around.
The thought coming to mind to lose life in a hotel fire.
Reflected in the faces of the other hotel guests.
Grabbing their belongings to run for their lives.

All the images and the feelings of that experience in London are still present in the memory and returned when the smoke alarm screamed in the ExtendedStay Hotel in Carlsbad, California, USA.

Death knocking on the door again?
Being on the third floor?
The swimming pool outside too far away to jump into?

Somebody was knocking on the door.
Persistently and desperately.
Some clothes were put on and the door opened.
A man from the hotel.
Asking if there was a fire in the room.

Looking in the corridor it was blue of smoke.
And a strong smell of things burned.
And many people in the door openings of their hotel rooms dressed in an unorthodox way.
Looking what to do.
Collect the most precious things and run for the stairs to get out of the hotel?
Or wait for things to come?

Also the smoke alarms in the corridor were blasting there screaming sounds.
What to do?

The door was closed and impossible to go back to sleep due to the turmoil of alarm sounds, work was continued on the computer.

When new banging on the door.
But more rough than before.

The door opened, a rare view of a human being.
An American fire fighter!
Dressed in a yellow suit making him look double his actual size.
Wearing an immense helmet and equipped with all kinds of tools looking like a small-town hardware store.

“Any fire in your room, sir?”, he asked.

They couldn’t find where the fire was!
Somewhere in a room but where?

The guy from the hotel appeared with a key fitting all the rooms.
Opening the rooms that were not responding to the knocks of the fire fighters.

Returning to the work on the computer eventually the alarm sounds stopped and sleep could be found again.

Next morning the girl at the reception was asked what the heck had been going on during the night.
Her explanation was that a guest had been frying a steak in his room and this had been going out of control.

One steak broiled.
Hotel turmoiled.

Now where?

The bed in the room of the ExtendedStay Hotel in Carlsbad, California, USA has been repaired now.
That took 4 nights of unbalanced sleeping before a mechanic showed up to fix the problem.



Two more issues pestering in the room in the ExtendedStay Hotel cannot be resolved though.

In the room is WIFI.
The option to get on the Internet.
However, ExtendedStay Hotel offers this service for a price.
A guest has to pay for it.
Rather unusual for a room that already costs about $ 80 a night without any service of cleaning, bed making and no soap and shampoo.
The most irritating though is that the provided WIFI is extremely slow.
Too slow to use SKYPE to make international phone calls and see TV from a website.



The other irresolvable issue is the bread toaster.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the kitchenette is equipped with a bread toaster.


But it is a primitive one that toasts bread only on one side.
It means that a slice of bread is put in.
It toasts on one side.
It comes out.
And next it has to be put back to toast the other side of the slice of bread.

Now maybe we may ask if these issues described are of any relevance and importance?
Of course in a posting every little detail of life can be extensively described, but does that really matter?
Who cares that a bread toaster in an American hotel room is of outdated technology?

Whether it matters is a very good question.
Presumably not many people have any interest whatsoever in a primitive bread toaster somewhere in a hotel room in California, USA.

This describes quite accurately the current situation.
The usual position is to be in the centre of life and to expansively operate from there.
But now the creative and exploring photographer finds himself with a technically challenged bread toaster in a miserable hotel with turtle speed WIFI.
A situation miles away from the centre.
Pushed there by others.

Hellloooooooooooo.
Now in nowhere.
Where is somewhere?

Photo: Roland Krumm ©

A drugs raid in the hotel

There are hotels and there are hotels.
And when staying often in the rooms of those hotels and hotels, thankfully many stories can be told.
Good when daily publishing a blog.
Like getting plenty of ammunition while at war.

Now a room is occupied in a hotel called ExtendedStay in Carlsbad, California, USA.
A room is about a $ 100 (€ 71) a night but for this price they will not clean the room nor give clean sheets.
This hotel is used by people who need to be in a certain place for a longer period of time.
Because the room has a kitchen counter, some kitchen equipment, some plates and cups and a large fridge.
Carlsbad being close to a military base, soldiers for example make use of the ExtendedStay Hotel.

The first day already it was noticed that some really weird people were the co-guests in the Carlsbad ExtendedStay Hotel.
Covered with tattoos, a long string of hair growing from the chin and having a fancy car.
But there were also people who had a face like it was a carton mask.
Looking like something was dead there.
Absolutely no expression of any emotion.

Well, one and one is two and in the middle of the first night war broke out.
There was banging of doors and banging on walls like some people were trying to demolish the whole hotel.
The bed in which it was impossible to sleep was trembling like there was the long awaited California earthquake starting.

In such a situation a guest so deeply disturbed may want to call reception to complain and demand they interfere to restore order and peace in the hotel.
But this war-like noise going on made afraid to conclude to better stay out of the whole mess.

And for sure, the next day the news came there had been a drug bust.
Police had raided the hotel and some of the hotel guests are now lodged in prison.

Great !
Wonderful !!
What a hotel !!!
Better move out, right ?
But ExtendedStay Hotel knows to dance.
They make guests pay in advance so moving out means loosing the money.

And there are more reasons why ExtendedStay Hotel doesn’t qualify for any star so far.
When peacefully going to bed the first night, the whole bed collapsed.
What the hell was that?
Checking, it was discovered that one foot of the bed was missing.
It only had three of them.
Reception was informed but they said it would be after Memorial Weekend before a mechanic could come to the room to fix it.
Hence, for three nights dreams are about falling into pits and ravines or being an astronaut because obviously when taking a new sleeping position the bed goes up or goes down.

The kitchen has another problem.
The large electrical heating coil is broken and shows only dangerous sparks.

Another great experience was the laundry.
Downstairs in a large room are washing machines and dryers.
A large sign says: quarters at reception.
Quarters are needed to operate the machines, hence washing liquid was put in the machine followed by all the dirty clothes of the last weeks travelling in Europe.
Next step was to go to reception to get the damned quarters.
A young receptionist said: we have no quarters.
No quarters?
No, we have them tomorrow morning at 7.
How erratic!
Why not have quarters at 7 in the evening?
But the girl was used to the abstract version of reality that exists in ExtendedStay Hotels and was simply not interested let alone having one ounce of concern.
Fortunately she had a good advice: don’t let your clothes now in the washing machine overnight because they may be stolen and we are not responsible.

Did you ever, fervent and loyal blog reader, take dirty clothes drained in cleaning liquid out of a washing machine?
We hope you didn’t.
Same for staying in the Carlsbad ExtendedStay Hotel.


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Shampoo in bed

Let’s get things straight right away.
The people at the desk of the Best Western “A la Villa des Artistes”-hotel in Paris were informed that the WIFI was not working properly in room 404.
They made the appreciated guest move to room 302 the next day where WIFI manages to portal all brothers and sisters worldwide no problem.

OK, that’s out of the way.

What else?

More business in Galerie Baudoin Lebon.
Always complicated.
And finishing with Editions Robert Delpire.
Who decided to make it ugly.
That was not shared hence whistling a happy tune leaving his depressing offices.
While thinking something more important: “Shall I get a hair cut?”


In Paris this costs about € 24 (32 $).
At Franck Provost hairdressers saloons that have infected every arrondissement in Paris.
20 € for Franck and 4 € for the hard working hair artist who believes an extra 10 € shampooing is needed although the only urge is to boost nobody’s income but the franchiser.

24 € might be a reasonable price for a haircut.
But then in Mexico it will cost less than 3,60 € ($5).
So maybe better to wait?
The mind is occupied with this trivial matter as if it had any importance.
As if a difference and looking well justifies a meager 19 € ($ 25).

It is the importance of the trivial though that is needed to survive.
To counter the heavy-duty business coming into the face and the hair while dealing with the art world.
That is rough, hard, cruel, merciless and without smooth shampoo.

And then there is the issue that the trip to Paris was going to be an exercise together with the most special friend.
Who had to cancel at the last moment.
So we have this luxurious Paris hotel with WIFI, a double bed, an extra bed, plenty of clean good smelling towels, a fridge with drinks and Ritter Sport Chocolate and the freedom to scream and shout when merging most.
So we have this option to dine and wine in fabulous restaurants and dance in hot places feeling the body and the bubbles and the swellings for perfect rhythm and rhyme.
So we have the breakfast with wet hairs and memories of uniting urging odors and smells to release lasting a day for smoother memories than shampoo ever can.

But she is not here but somewhere else and life is lonely and loony.
Therefore refusing to go and have dinner in a restaurant alone as the lack of presence of the bolt that fits the nut is too painful.
Food is bought in a Japanese restaurant and Chinon at Nicolas and all this consumed in Best Western’s room and in many ways there is nothing best about this.

But it is the way to deal with the wisest lesson life always learns.
Everything happens for the best.
Paris life with her might not have been necessarily as romantic as the fantasy likes to make the dreamer believe.

Did Franck Provost say this while shampooing?




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Primitivism in luxury

A permanent traveller is always concerned about the quality of the hotel where the night is spend.

This has always been a difficult issue in Paris.
Unless one stays in a four or five stars hotel for very high prices, conditions in Paris hotels are often hardly human.
Very small rooms.
Tiny bathrooms.
Dangerously winding and narrow staircases.
And biggest problem of all, most Paris hotels are extremely noisy.
Of traffic passing by underneath the window day and night.
Cars, trucks and motorbikes loudly entering and leaving the room with their strong noises and fatal fumes.

But this time the permanent traveller has been extremely lucky.
A hotel has been booked that passes every test.
Except one.

The hotel is called “A la villa des Artistes” and belongs to the Best Western chain.
It has three stars and is near Boulevard Saint Germain and Tour Montparnasse.
In the Rue de la Grande Chaumiere.

The hotel is not a villa at all.
Just one of the buildings in the street.
And the price of the rooms, € 199 (270 $) keeps artists out of the villa.
To compensate, all the corridors are decorated with art.
By highlighting Paris artists showing how they lived, explaining who they were and having examples of their work.
For somebody in the art business himself, to be in this kind of hotel is like a basketball fan in a hotel with pictures of basketball stars on the walls.
It is like the right smell in the nest.
Buddies with similar bodies.

The room is huge for Paris standards. Modern, clean and very well equipped.


It has air conditioning but one can also open the windows to see Paris and a garden underneath.


Hardly any traffic noise as the room is in the back.



The ideal hotel is the conclusion.
With a most friendly and helpful staff.

But there is one issue with the “A la Villa des Artistes”.
The Internet is not working properly in the room.
Best Western has given the availability of Internet in the rooms to a company called “Meteor”.
A guest gets a certain time on the Internet after which “Meteor” starts charging.
What can cost money, will cost money is the motto.

However, in room 404, the WIFI signal is too weak.
The signal comes and goes and doing the work on the computer is sabotaged.
The friendly Francois at the reception called “Meteor” and they promised to fix it.
But to no avail.
“Meteor” is one of those companies that makes promises to keep everybody quiet in the short term but does nothing in the long term.

The only way to use the Internet and receive a strong enough WIFI signal is to sit on a bed near the window.
Forced to abandon the desk.
With the laptop on the knees.

Primitivism in luxury.



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Hell in hotel

For the second time in one year lodging in Paris was in the Cervantes Hotel in the Rue de Bernes near the Gare St. Lazare.
It is a nice hotel, it has air conditioning and is in a quiet street.
Very important because this guarantees peaceful sleep.
In hotels without air conditioning the windows must be opened for fresh air and this brings in loud traffic noise and heavy pollution.



However, this time there was disappointment with the Cervantes Hotel.

Two vital facilities in the small hotel room were not working and one thing was lacking.

It is important to have a desk in the room.
A table to work on.
The room had a table but on it was a large LCD TV and underneath the table the minibar.
Hence, to work on the computer one had to sit in a chair with the laptop on the knees.
Very inconvenient.

Then the TV was a disaster.
This had to do with the TV-cable system of the hotel.
Not one channel could be received with a clear image.
All were like coming from Mars.
Snowy and vague.
Impossible to watch.
It is incredible that with today’s technology a hotel cannot manage to have clear images on the TV’s in the rooms.

The same inadequacy was found in the bathroom.
In the tiny shower the hot water supply was unstable.
Taking a shower resulted in having water shifting from being hot to cold and vice versa.
Very irritating early in the morning.
Hot water supply should be no problem in a hotel.

The Cervantes Hotel is not cheap.
€ 129 (200$) a night.
And for this money a guest may expect a properly working TV, a table to write on and proper hot water supply.

But the worst was to come.
When ready to leave the hotel the electronic door lock card had to be returned to the person at the front desk and questions answered about use of the mini bar.
Coming to the front desk several people were already waiting.
These clients of the hotel were waiting because the young woman on duty behind the front desk was answering incoming phone calls of people who wanted to book rooms.

She had to make a decision.
Do I answer the phone calls or do I help the customers waiting in front of me?
It is a very strange attitude, already often witnessed, that many people always give priority to phone calls instead of people present physically.
Somehow they feel that a person calling by phone has priority.
Such a high priority that people presnt must wait.
While business from both the caller and the person waiting is equal.

It could be a very easy procedure to say to the person calling to hang on for some minutes to assist the customers present personally first.

But this young woman was choosing another policy.
You call and you have her.

Waiting with the other customers for the young woman to finish her phone call, she immediately would answer the following one on another line.
When she accepted the fourth phone call making the customers in front of her even wait longer, it was time to intervene.

Loudly it was asked:
“There are four customers of your hotel waiting in front of you.
Why do you give priority to your phone calls?”

The young woman blushed and demonstrated in body language and face expression embarrassment, irritation and being annoyed.
She claimed that she could not just let the phone ring.

“You could politely say to the callers to wait for some minutes so you have time to assist us checking out of the hotel.
We are still customers, as you well know, and we all need to go to our appointments”.

This made her really upset because she understood there was a point.
A hotel cannot give so openly priority to people who want to book a room letting guests who have already paid wait.
It is the attitude of giving adequate treatment before you have paid and lousy service after you have paid.

The young woman roughly took the electronic key card and said with a harsh voice:
“Good bye!”.
To focus immediately again on her phone call business.

The hotel was left with a feeling it just had dropped off from the list as a place to spend nights again.
There are plenty of other hotels in Paris.
Where the TV works.
Where there is a constant stream of hot water.
Where there is a desk in the room.
And where people work who respect customers.







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