I have stayed in some “interesting” places, but the one that will always stand out in my mind was a shelter I turned down. I’d been working as a migrant worker in Greece for several weeks when a farmer offered my (now long-since ex) husband and me a gig with “room and board” supplementing the meager pay. It sounded good because it was steady work and the cheap hostel we were in normally ate up half our daily pay. I drove up with a friend while my husband worked in town that day. It was a STALL. In a BARN. With straw bedding over a dirt floor. I was almost desperate enough to say yes; thankfully, my Greek friend turned it down for me. Within 2 days the same friend found us a much better job (running an olive grove that was the hobby farm of the owner of one of the hardware stores in town.) We lived in a cottage on the property, which not only had a proper floor, and a real bed, but a kitchenette and a wood stove for cooking and heat! Soooo luxurious! Lol
Jeeze! That description ... um ... "exterminated" any memories I may have been harboring of bad hotel experiences! I wish I'd known you were going to be in Tyler. I have cousins there who could at least have made some recommendations!
I had to google the Fiddler's Inn to be sure. It wasn't that one, but it was in Nashville and the bed had a quarter slot that gave me nothing for my quarter. The rooms rented by the hour, but 30 years ago that's all I needed it for.
My worst hotel stateside was north of Chicago at a place called Bob’s Motel. Nasty indoor/outdoor carpet that felt damp and a rather questionable dire appearance. It’s been so long ago I’ve erased the specific’s from my mind, but my husband and I always hold it to the example that we judge other hotels by. But the real topper goes to the Mitla Hotel in Mitla, Mexico where we stayed in 2003. They had a pit bull called Bini, short for Osama bin Laden (I kid you not) who at first wanted to eat us until he was whooped by the owners, at which point we became members of the family and heh proceeded to hump my husband’s leg. The room we stayed in had no windows as it was in the interior of the courtyard and had a mattress I can only describe as ropey with lumps throughout. The pillows felt like knotted rags. Whatever paint graced the walls was of questionable age and the attached bath harbored stains and mildew so much that you hardly wanted to touch anything or use it. We huddled together in that dank, extremely dark place with a dim reflection of light coming from the 4 ceiling glass blocks above our heads.
After surviving the night unscathed we exited early the next morning with our luggage and a small plastic bag of pastries we’d bought the night before for our breakfast. Sitting on a curb outside my husband started to take a bite from one when he noticed a Cucaracha sharing his meal.
The delights of travel!! Thanks for sharing your experience!
I have stayed in some “interesting” places, but the one that will always stand out in my mind was a shelter I turned down. I’d been working as a migrant worker in Greece for several weeks when a farmer offered my (now long-since ex) husband and me a gig with “room and board” supplementing the meager pay. It sounded good because it was steady work and the cheap hostel we were in normally ate up half our daily pay. I drove up with a friend while my husband worked in town that day. It was a STALL. In a BARN. With straw bedding over a dirt floor. I was almost desperate enough to say yes; thankfully, my Greek friend turned it down for me. Within 2 days the same friend found us a much better job (running an olive grove that was the hobby farm of the owner of one of the hardware stores in town.) We lived in a cottage on the property, which not only had a proper floor, and a real bed, but a kitchenette and a wood stove for cooking and heat! Soooo luxurious! Lol
Jeeze! That description ... um ... "exterminated" any memories I may have been harboring of bad hotel experiences! I wish I'd known you were going to be in Tyler. I have cousins there who could at least have made some recommendations!
I had to google the Fiddler's Inn to be sure. It wasn't that one, but it was in Nashville and the bed had a quarter slot that gave me nothing for my quarter. The rooms rented by the hour, but 30 years ago that's all I needed it for.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfPFfKcMW6s This is what came to mind when you mentioned the red boxer short clad dude
I probably would have asked for a different room
My worst hotel stateside was north of Chicago at a place called Bob’s Motel. Nasty indoor/outdoor carpet that felt damp and a rather questionable dire appearance. It’s been so long ago I’ve erased the specific’s from my mind, but my husband and I always hold it to the example that we judge other hotels by. But the real topper goes to the Mitla Hotel in Mitla, Mexico where we stayed in 2003. They had a pit bull called Bini, short for Osama bin Laden (I kid you not) who at first wanted to eat us until he was whooped by the owners, at which point we became members of the family and heh proceeded to hump my husband’s leg. The room we stayed in had no windows as it was in the interior of the courtyard and had a mattress I can only describe as ropey with lumps throughout. The pillows felt like knotted rags. Whatever paint graced the walls was of questionable age and the attached bath harbored stains and mildew so much that you hardly wanted to touch anything or use it. We huddled together in that dank, extremely dark place with a dim reflection of light coming from the 4 ceiling glass blocks above our heads.
After surviving the night unscathed we exited early the next morning with our luggage and a small plastic bag of pastries we’d bought the night before for our breakfast. Sitting on a curb outside my husband started to take a bite from one when he noticed a Cucaracha sharing his meal.
The delights of travel!! Thanks for sharing your experience!