Vacation Part 1

3 Star vs. 4 Star

Last week we decided to have a little family vacation before Alex started working again. We got on the internet and found the cheapest hotel with a swimming pool and just camped out there for a few days. By eating pb&j all week I ended up being able to save enough money on not eating out and was awarded by my husband with another night in a hotel. The first three nights we stayed in a nice Comfort Inn but for the last night my husband found an awesome deal on a 4 star hotel. I was very excited as we were driving to this fancy hotel, but after checking in we decided that the difference between 3 star and 4 star is that with 4 star you get many more ammenities but you get to pay for all of them after you check in.

Parking:

3 star: parked 15 feet away from our door

4 star: paid $18 to park in the parking garage across the street

Luggage:

3 star: kids learned not to be sluggards and helped carried in all the bags

4 star: had to tip the bell hop to bring our luggage up

Breakfast:

3 star: free continental breakfast which included waffles and eggs

4 star: could have continental breakfast (pastry, fruit, juice and coffee) brought to room for only $15/person

Pool:

3 star: heated swimming pool with jacuzzi

4 star: bigger pool, but not quite as warm - no jacuzzi

Internet:

3 star: free wireless in room

4 star: free wireless only in the lobby nine floors below our room; in the room there was a charge for using the wired hookup

TV:

3 star: almost 100 channels, but really the 10 home shopping networks don't count

4 star: about 50 channels

Refridgerator:

3 star: free medium size fridge - no complaints except it didn't keep my ben & jerry's cold and I ended up drinking my splurge

4 star: fee for key to mini-bar, however, room was stocked with a tray full of snacks and water bottles. Just before we dived in I saw the price list for each item and quickly put it all out of reach of little kids who don't understand that paying $4.50 for a bottle of water and $6 for a handfull of jelly belly's is just ridiculas.

The bed

3 star: I wanted to steal the pillows. My husband reminded me that was stealing. Duh, that's what I said, "I want to steal these pillows"

4 star: luxurious and in my mind worth the 4 stars. In my sheltered life I have never been to a hotel that provided bathrobes. I reminded myself that the bathrobe had been throughly cleaned since someone else's naked body had been in it. My husband laughed at me as I lounged in the oh so comfy bed with the hotel provided bathrobe and pronounced the hotel 4 star worthy. It helped that the kids were fast asleep at this point and I was in my luxurious sheets with no kids crawling on me. It was quiet and I was comfy.

It's become a little game of our family to guess the color of the comforters of the bed before we get to the hotel. It's silly I know, but it does add to the excitement. In anticipation of our 4 star experience I had scoured the hotel's website to see what we were in for. One thing I had noticed and worried a little about was the picture of the white bed spread. Most of our meals had been eaten in our hotel room up to this point so I was a little worried at what kind of damage we were going to do. Turns out you can get peanut butter out of a white comforter using just some baby wipes. (And I'm sure the bell hop thought we were quite the odd family when he followed us into the room with our bags and heard the kids all scream, "Mommy won, she guessed the right color of the bed." Little do they know I cheated and looked ahead.)

Before and After

This was the view from the 10th floor of our 4 star hotel.

It was a fun and relaxing time. So glad we took the time out. I'll post more pictures in the days to come.