Hotel or Rental Stay?

Hotel or Rental Stay?

When considering travel plans, they are many options for where to stay. Many people have a preference due to budget, availability, and risk, to name a few. As I mentioned on a previous blog post, travelers need to prioritize their likes and dislikes, research their options, and determine their value.

Hotels often outrank rentals due to the experience of hospitality and luxury accommodations if that is their specialty. If these are not priorities for you as a traveler, then a rental may be a better choice.

When it comes to a preference for amenities, hotels are usually a better choice. They provide lean sheets and towels every day as well as cleaning services upon request.

Rentals offer more privacy as there usually will not be as many people on the property, and you will probably know beforehand exactly how many people are occupying the property.

Although a hotel and rental both offer benefits. A hotel stay is usually in a more public environment and may provide more safety consideration. It usually is a private residence with a rental, and you may not know the owner or how they handle cleanliness or guest bookings.With a hotel stay, rules are more in your favor than a rental visit. Hotel stays are pretty standard, and regulations are often uniform. With a rental, you are subject to the owner’s rules, and they may vary depending on the owner. For example, refunds due to cancellations are much easier to negotiate than with a private individual.

Rentals tend to be more budget-friendly, especially if you are sharing the costs with a group. A traveler may book a single rental with accommodations for up to six or more guests, whereas a hotel might require a booking of two rooms or more to house the same amount of people.

Finally, the issue of transparency is more evident with a hotel than a rental. Rentals are usually private property and subject to the likes and dislikes of the owner. Although you can experience racism and bias with both accommodations, there is more recourse with a public property like a hotel rather than a private rental.

What would be your choice and why? I’d like to know.

Five Tips for First-Time Flyers.

Five Tips for First-Time Flyers.

Although airplane travel happens every day, the fear of flying for many is genuine, and there is even a name for it, Aerophobia. It is an anxiety disorder people experience when anticipating flying. After years of flying as an international flight attendant, I can safely say that the fear is real to many. However, I can also say that with over 23 years as a flight attendant, I have never had an airplane emergency other than sick passengers.

1.Every airplane traveler has a first time, whether it was years ago or a plan in the making. The angst you feel is widespread, and there are even courses given to first-time travelers. Jitters are normal, humans and flying do not go hand in hand, and the idea of being in the air with no control can be frightening.

2.Be excited about your destination and the plans you have made for your trip. Thinking of more pleasant thoughts can keep you from thinking of the idea of flying.

3.Make yourself comfortable for travel. Don’t overdress but be comfortable in your outfit. Make sure to charge your electronics fully. Many airplanes now have outlets for charging at the seats; all aircraft don’t have this capability. Choose music or videos you enjoy and have it already downloaded to your device. Wi-Fi is still incredibly expensive in flight and not always reliable.

4.Do not over medicate yourself for your anxiety. I can’t tell you the number of times passengers have gotten on my flight, taken a sleeping pill, and become incapacitated. Or worst to have drunk so much alcohol beforehand, they have become sick, belligerent, or denied boarding. It’s just not worth it.

5.Practice calming tricks like breathing or meditation beforehand. Let your flight attendant know that it is your first time flying. They are very experienced and will keep an eye on you and talk to you during the flight. Flight attendants are much happier to see you calm than anxious. More so, they will keep an eye on you, and you won’t feel so alone. Think of your flight attendants as friends, and they are so much more than waiters in the sky!

Have you experienced any first-time jitters? Let us know; we’d love to hear.

Staycation tips.

Staycation tips.

Being a frequent traveler, COVID left me mentally exhausted.  I was living on an island state and Singapore, took the lockdown seriously.  The missed travel opportunities left me consumed with lockdown exhaustion, so when Singapore came up with the idea of a staycation, I was immediately on board.  Here are my five tips for making your staycation a pleasure.

1. A big bed! You’ll be spending plenty of time in bed so enjoy the pleasure of a nice large bed. The hotel will make your bed every day, and you’ll feel pampered sleeping in a freshly made bed during your stay.

2. A room with a view.  Staying in is part and parcel of the staycation so try to have a room with a view.  The higher the floor of the hotel, the more you will enjoy the view. Some hotels limit guests at the pool, gym, restaurants, and most public spaces in the hotel. While I understood this safety measure, it can restrict your hotel’s enjoyment, so having a nice view can make a big difference.

3. In-room service.  Dining out can be a big part of your travel plans, and dining in during a staycation was a guilt-free pleasure.  Even if it’s one meal a day, it can make your stay feel more like a travel experience and a way to pamper yourself.

4. A bathtub.  A bubble bath can be another indulging experience.  You will want to soak in the tub as long as you desire, so first, make sure the tub is clean.  Since you’re on a staycation, taking liquids such as bathtub cleaner with you only makes sense. Take your favorite bath oils, scents, or even floral petals like roses. The best part is you don’t have to clean the tub!

5. A night out.  Even though all restaurants are not open, some will be.  Make a reservation well in advance at a restaurant you’ve always wanted to try.  I was pleasantly surprised to get a reservation at a Michelin star restaurant that previously had a six-month waiting list. There was plenty of social distancing at the restaurant. I just told the chef my preference, let him do the cooking and deciding. It was indeed a dining-by-design experience.

Have you taken a staycation? It is well worth the splurge and can maybe relieve your travel angst.  Not to mention no airline tickets! I’d love to hear your thoughts.

5 Flight attendant annoyances

5 Flight attendant annoyances

There are many things that flight attendants find annoying. Some are more annoying than others, and some may not be an annoyance based on the individual flight attendant. The following are some that I still remember as being annoying to me. For disclosure, these are from my lived experience as a flight attendant.

1.Coffee: Having been raised and based in New York as a flight attendant, if a passenger said, “regular coffee,” I understood it to mean coffee with milk and sugar. If they said, “light and sweet,” I like most flight attendants had no idea how light to make the coffee or how many sugar packets the passenger needed. Some passengers meant just a drop of milk, and others wanted half milk, half coffee. Deciding how many packs of sugar meant sweet to a person you’d never met was a pointless guess at best. Like passengers, flight attendants are people from all over the country and the world; knowing each passenger’s specific coffee requirements was most times an exercise in futility.

2.Aisle Passengers. Most passengers prefer aisle seats because of the ability to have a little extra room. This preference was often a perception that overlooked the fact that the aisle they assumed to be extra space was the flight attendant’s working space. Airline service carts could be a hundred pounds or more and somewhat challenging to maneuver. Weighted down with beverages or food to serve the number of people on board, often proved a challenge for a flight attendant to operate. Aisle passengers often extended their body parts into the aisle, and it was not uncommon for the cart to inadvertently hit a passenger. In many cases, the passenger got angry at the flight attendant without considering that the service cart was at least 3 feet long and even higher. Hence, the flight attendant seeing over the cart, and the extended body part was unreasonable at best.

3.Touching. Passengers often think it is ok to touch or poke a flight attendant to get their attention, which is often very annoying to flight attendants. A flight attendant call light is within every passenger’s reaching distance, and using this is much preferable than to be poked. Moreover, a hand wave or similar gesture is universal regardless of language. Having your body nudged several times a flight could be rather annoying.

4.Lavatory doors. They are not automatic, and standing in front of them will not make them open. Often passengers would stand in the lavatory area waiting for flight attendant instructions on how to open the door or be told whether it was vacant or not. Bathroom doors, like every other bathroom door elsewhere, has a lock. Unlike most bathrooms, airplane bathrooms have instructions, and most often, if not in the native language, there is visual signage. Along with signage, airline lavatories also have an occupied/unoccupied sign, which in most cases are red and green and are universally understood to mean the same everywhere. To be seen as a bathroom attendant is very frustrating to flight attendants.

5.Asking “where are we?” Flight attendants walk up and down the aisle, usually positioned several feet above the window level. Furthermore, like most passengers, they cannot pinpoint locations 30,000 feet above the ground. Yes, several landmarks are apparent to some, but flight attendants do not have the luxury of sitting and looking out the window on flights, nor do they have an inner GPS. Your guess is as good as theirs.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this glimpse behind the scenes. These are perceptions of my lived and actual experience as a flight attendant. I hope they’ve been eye-opening and will make for more happy travels.

5 must have items that stay in my carry-on.

5 must have items that stay in my carry-on.

As an avid world traveler who has done this both professionally and personally, my carry-on is always semi-packed. Here are my tips and advice on the 5 items I consider must-haves and should always be in my carry on.

1. A lingerie organizer bag (details on another blog post). The one I use has two sides, one for clean underwear and the other for dirty. You never want to get them confused!

2. An electronic organizer bag (blog post coming). With people being so connected it is so inconvenient to lose connectivity and most hotels do not provide enough power outlets for the technology we use in our daily lives.

3. A toothbrush which in my opinion is even more needed than the electronic organizer. Many people pack this in their suitcase but with the chances of your luggage being lost, I like to always have this at hand.

4. A medicine bag with items like Tums, ibuprofen, cold medicine, etc. I tend to also have eye masks, face masks, prescription medications, band-aids, Neosporin, alcohol pads, and such (more on another post).

5. Finally I always have a small makeup bag with the basics like mascara, lip moisturizer, lipstick, makeup remover cloths, toner, and face moisturizer. These are always found at beauty supply stores and pharmacies in travel sizes.

You make have other priorities for your carry-on. If so, what are they? I’d love to find out.