Saturday, April 27, 2013

Xenodocheionology

xen·o·do·chei·on·ol·o·gy
noun \ˌzenədəˌkīəˈnäləjē\
 
: the lore of hotels and inns

The Sofia Hotel

In my other life, I would own a hotel.  I love them.  Nice ones.  Not the ones that are grungy and so dirty you can't walk around barefoot.  I love really nice hotels.  I never stayed at the Sofia Hotel in San Diego but I did have coffee in their lobby during my lunch break when I had jury duty.  It was great.

One of my favorite hotel memories is when my husband and I stayed at the Le Merigot in Santa Monica.  We walked into the hotel, on a red carpet and the door man (who was wearing a long-tailed tuxedo and top hat) opened the door for us and our scruffy dog, Floyd.  Floyd walked into that hotel like he owned it.  People stared but we didn't care.  Our dog deserves the best.  If you are ever in Santa Monica, I would highly recommend this hotel.

When I was living in California my husband tried talking me into going to Vegas but I just didn't want to go.  Nothing about the place appealed to me.  In the 2007 firestorm, we were sort of forced to evacuate San Diego because the air quality was so bad.  We drove east and ended up in Las Vegas. 

It was not what I expected.  I had a blast and I think the main reason was because I spent 10 hours going in and out of really amazing hotels.  I love everything about them:  the vacation-like feel you get as soon as you walk in, the beautiful furniture and art, sparkling clean rooms and how everything you could ever want is in one place.    
  

*I'm participating in the 2013 A to Z Challenge. Every day in April (except for Sundays) I will be posting according to a letter of the Alphabet. To read more about my theme, click here.

7 comments:

  1. I love the lobby of the Bellagio with its Chihuly sculptures. Just gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Isn't it amazing? I could stay there for hours.

      Delete
  2. I used to want to run/own a hotel. But I think the reality of it woke me up from the dream. It's a lot of work and the schedule is tough. But I loved the idea of travelers coming and going and being a small part of their journeys. I guess that's what I like about traveling, too!

    Bradley Charbonneau's Pass the Sour Cream A-Z Challenge.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I definitely see this kind of thing being a lifestyle - one that the whole family would be a part of. Sort of like in the moving the Shining but without the ghosts and crazy husband:)

      Delete
    2. Ooh, the Shining! Now I'm really not running a hotel! :-)

      Delete
  3. I love good hotels too! I enjoyed wandering through all the Vegas hotels, when we stayed I booked us into the bellagio, it was awesome! I still dream about the cinnamon rolls :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I didn't stay at any of the hotels b/c we camped at the huge RV resort there. Next time I go - I just need more time to take everything in and stay at a few of the hotels.

      Delete