Seems worth writing down
Sep. 4th, 2021 03:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
branchandrootSo, as I start to look at traveling for work again, I have also started beefing up my "feel luxurious by staying in your room" kit. And it occurred to me that the process might bear documenting, in case anyone is early in the process and thinking about how it might work.
First Principle: this generally requires checked baggage.
So the parallel process is to make sure your carry-on is fully stocked with three days worth of necessities: socks, underwear, toiletries, foldable brushes, spare contacts, coffee/tea, enough meds, that sort of thing. (If your luggage hasn't made it back to you in three days, that's when you call work and make sure you'll be reimbursed for whatever you have to buy.)
Back to the luxuries, though.
The Personal Spa: even a mediocre hotel bathtub can be made to serve with the right add-ons. One is a good bath pillow; my personal choice was an inflatable one with terry-cloth on one side--soft but packs tiny. Another is your choice of bath bombs. And my addition this year is a nice bath-caddy, a wood one with a prop for my book and a secure place to put a wine glass. Maybe throw a couple of tea-light candles in. But the wine glass issue brings us to...
The Personal Bar: this took a little thought. First was a rigid, reasonably waterproofed lunch box (in case anything leaked in travel). Second was a set of six-ounce, wide-mouth bottles with silicone seals. I can fit four of them into the lunch box. Pretty sure they were made for throwing child-supplies in purses, but they work just as well for pre-mixed cocktails. This year's addition to the kit is a miniature cocktail shaker (8oz). Without the ice, you can get a whole lot of cocktail into a couple 6oz bottles, and hotels always have ice handy. Giving a pre-mixed drink a solid shake with ice really does make it feel/taste like something a bartender just made for you. The lunch box also fits mini-bottles of wine nicely, if that's your preference, and travel wine-glasses that pack the stem inside the bowl work for either purpose.
The Personal Theater: truly room-filling speakers (at least for something the size of a hotel room) can be had for relatively cheap, these days, and also quite small. Most rooms come with a decently sized screen, and even if you don't have a Netflix subscription, an HDMI cable plus adapter will put anything you have on your phone/tablet/laptop onto that big screen. If, like me, you want to go all out, quite a small hard drive will hold quite a wide selection of video, and even a phone or tablet can play those videos out via that HDMI cable. The correct combination of adapters can take a little research (this was my project for this year), but it's amazing what a handful of cables and adapters will do if you figure out which ones you need.
Feeling Fancy: it also helps to settle on a bathrobe and slippers that you really like, and throw a set of those in your luggage also. Hotel bathrobes really aren't especially plush until you get into the ridiculously high-end hotels, but nothing stops you from rolling your own. It's kind of amazing how luxurious it feels to sit around in a really fluffy robe and slippers, maybe sipping some high quality milk tea that you packed along and finished with the cream singles from the room's coffee maker.
The alternate title of all this, of course, is "luxury travel for the serious introvert". Because needing to hide in your room at the end of the day is no reason to miss out on feeling fancy or having nice things.
First Principle: this generally requires checked baggage.
So the parallel process is to make sure your carry-on is fully stocked with three days worth of necessities: socks, underwear, toiletries, foldable brushes, spare contacts, coffee/tea, enough meds, that sort of thing. (If your luggage hasn't made it back to you in three days, that's when you call work and make sure you'll be reimbursed for whatever you have to buy.)
Back to the luxuries, though.
The Personal Spa: even a mediocre hotel bathtub can be made to serve with the right add-ons. One is a good bath pillow; my personal choice was an inflatable one with terry-cloth on one side--soft but packs tiny. Another is your choice of bath bombs. And my addition this year is a nice bath-caddy, a wood one with a prop for my book and a secure place to put a wine glass. Maybe throw a couple of tea-light candles in. But the wine glass issue brings us to...
The Personal Bar: this took a little thought. First was a rigid, reasonably waterproofed lunch box (in case anything leaked in travel). Second was a set of six-ounce, wide-mouth bottles with silicone seals. I can fit four of them into the lunch box. Pretty sure they were made for throwing child-supplies in purses, but they work just as well for pre-mixed cocktails. This year's addition to the kit is a miniature cocktail shaker (8oz). Without the ice, you can get a whole lot of cocktail into a couple 6oz bottles, and hotels always have ice handy. Giving a pre-mixed drink a solid shake with ice really does make it feel/taste like something a bartender just made for you. The lunch box also fits mini-bottles of wine nicely, if that's your preference, and travel wine-glasses that pack the stem inside the bowl work for either purpose.
The Personal Theater: truly room-filling speakers (at least for something the size of a hotel room) can be had for relatively cheap, these days, and also quite small. Most rooms come with a decently sized screen, and even if you don't have a Netflix subscription, an HDMI cable plus adapter will put anything you have on your phone/tablet/laptop onto that big screen. If, like me, you want to go all out, quite a small hard drive will hold quite a wide selection of video, and even a phone or tablet can play those videos out via that HDMI cable. The correct combination of adapters can take a little research (this was my project for this year), but it's amazing what a handful of cables and adapters will do if you figure out which ones you need.
Feeling Fancy: it also helps to settle on a bathrobe and slippers that you really like, and throw a set of those in your luggage also. Hotel bathrobes really aren't especially plush until you get into the ridiculously high-end hotels, but nothing stops you from rolling your own. It's kind of amazing how luxurious it feels to sit around in a really fluffy robe and slippers, maybe sipping some high quality milk tea that you packed along and finished with the cream singles from the room's coffee maker.
The alternate title of all this, of course, is "luxury travel for the serious introvert". Because needing to hide in your room at the end of the day is no reason to miss out on feeling fancy or having nice things.
no subject
Date: 2021-09-05 11:09 am (UTC)("luxury travel for the serious introvert", yay!)
no subject
Date: 2021-09-05 03:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-09-05 10:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-09-06 03:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-09-07 04:43 pm (UTC)May I also suggest, space permitting, a small selection of shelf-stable foods that you do not normally indulge in? I'm thinking the fancy spiced nuts, or good chocolate, or even an assortment of local snacks to try.
no subject
Date: 2021-09-08 02:04 am (UTC)