Traveling parent faces hotel reality check
Posted August 17th, 2007 by Sheila 
When I travel alone (or with Sainted Husband) and have the time/money, I prefer to stay in a hotel with character. I have no problem sharing a bathroom down the hall if that’s the only way to afford a really unique lodging option.
My kids, on the other hand, are much less tolerant of “funky” than I am.
When we pulled up to the Shack Up Inn in Clarksdale, Mississippi, a way-funky collection of converted sharecropper shacks in the heart of Delta blues country, the front-seat adults said, “Awesome!” The back-seat kids said, “Gross!”
Guess they didn’t appreciate the humor in a “Bed and Beer” establishment.
On a recent trip to Virginia, the kids were thrilled and the adults nonplussed by a one-night stop at the Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg. It was an amazing hotel in terms of scale and things to do, but I just don’t have a burning desire to play in a blacklighted video game room or climb a rock wall or play putt-putt or eat in five different restaurants (there IS a spa if you grow tired of all that hollering and activity.)
The enormous indoor water park section of the hotel was spectacular, I must say, and much easier to enjoy than tromping around a spread-out, hot, open-air water park.
Still….I guess I just don’t tend to look for indoor water parks in my hotels.
The kids, naturally, were in heaven. I don’t think I physically saw my son for about two hours in the water park, as he went from ride to ride and up and down slides.
Sitting in the park, surrounded by screaming, laughing wet children and adults and 300,000 gallons of water, I had time to reflect about getting over myself. Maybe I need to build a few more of these kid-focused places into our trips, even if they aren’t my cup of tea.
Don’t get me wrong; I don’t spend every waking moment taking my children to museums and finding interesting ethnic food to plop in front of them (they just think that I do.)
During our recent Midwest road trip, I made every effort to accomodate the last Harry Potter release by arranging for a book for midnight pickup with my teenager in Emporia, Kansas. I agreed to see the 10 p.m. IMAX Harry Potter in 3-D at Chicago’s Navy Pier entertainment complex instead of taking my daughter to hear some good live Chicago blues. Sigh.
My point is that I think I should try a little harder to look for lodging, or attractions or eateries that maybe I personally shudder to contemplate but I know that the kids would simply swoon about.
Within reason, of course….I draw the line at too much time in Chuck E. Cheese.
Technorati tags: travel, family travel
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August 17th, 2007 at 10:01 am
[...] State University Link to Article harry potter Traveling parent faces hotel reality check » This excerpt is from an [...]
August 17th, 2007 at 10:12 am
Well, to be fair, when I got a bite at the opportunity to travel to Dubai for free in July (which, unfortunately, fell through anyway), I hesitated longer than I’d like to admit because it crossed over the Harry Potter release date. Then I was trying to figure out which airport I could snag the book at on the way, and I’m nowhere near your kids’ ages!
My parents’ vacations were dictated by money, mostly, along with a love of the outdoors. So we camped. A lot. Whether we wanted to or not. I’m grateful for it now, wouldn’t trade it for any number of memories of Chuck E. Cheese or water parks. Although there was that one time we stayed in the Holiday Inn with a pool that sticks with me … ah, deprived childhoods.
August 17th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
Hi Antonia,
Yes, HP is both a kid and adult phenomenon — my daughter and I read the book that we bought in Kansas, and Sainted Husband had to go buy his own copy in Texas since he couldn’t wait until we got home.
Then his sister in California called him to commiserate about the book, because no one in her house had finished it yet so there was no one to talk to without spilling the beans.
The local library got our extra copy once everyone was finished.
August 19th, 2007 at 8:21 am
I’m convinced this is the main reason all-inclusive hotels with kids clubs are so popular. Parents know the kids will love it and there will be no fights over food. I learned the lesson a while back that you have to balance between the hip & funky and the uncool and kid-friendly. One lesson I’ve learned though: a big suite in a cheaper hotel is often better than a regular room in a larger one–kid(s) having their own room can make up for all kinds of other deficiencies, especially if there’s a bunk bed…
August 19th, 2007 at 8:11 pm
Yeah, the “room of their own” is a holy grail that my youngest isn’t quite old enough for yet, but boy am I gonna check that out when he is!
August 27th, 2007 at 8:24 am
This is hilarious. No free breakfast, no wake up calls, but even the Shack Up Inn has Wifi. If you are in the Santa Cruz area, I recommend Costonoa for family camping with a spa with nice bathrooms with heated floors, and even a spa for the adults. We’ve been trying get into a regimen of car camping, just to toughen up the rugrats a bit more before we go off on our next lux Hawaii trip…:) Thanks for this little gem!
August 27th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
[...] this week: Sandier Pastures (based in Dubai) featured my Perceptive Travel blog post, Traveling parent faces hotel reality check in the Carnival of Family [...]
August 27th, 2007 at 10:35 pm
[...] Scarborough asks, “What if you like funky and the kids want big n’ splashy?” in Travelling parent faces hotel reality check posted at Perceptive Travel [...]
January 22nd, 2008 at 6:59 pm
[...] is not normally my idea of fun, but as I wrote over at the Perceptive Travel blog, sometimes the traveling parent faces a hotel reality check: “The enormous indoor water park section of the hotel was spectacular, I must say, and much [...]