Ocean View Room
It was moving day for the soon to be married Ann. The Budget rental truck stood ready to go being fully loaded with Ann's worldly possessions the day before. My mission was to drive the truck 500 miles to Carpinteria California and be there by 4:00 pm when movers were scheduled to arrive. Marilyn's and Ann's mission was to get to Carpinteria and not ride with me in a moving van for 10 hours. They flew. I pulled into the apartment parking lot at 4:05. There were no movers. Peter called and they claimed they could be there in another hour or so. In semi professional mover terms, "an hour or so" means "sometime in the future or never". Peter canceled and we unloaded the truck ourselves including the piano.
One thing Marilyn really loves is the beach. For her there is nothing better than sitting on a balcony overlooking the surf with the sound of breakers and a sea breeze. Since we would be in California anyway for the move, she decided to add a mini vacation on top of the moving festivities. Several weeks before, she carefully scouted hotels on the beach near Carpinteria and selected the Crown Plaza in Ventura. She booked an ocean view room.
We arrived late in the evening and received our room key. We pulled back the drapes. Although dark outside, it was apparent that this wasn't an ocean view room. Marilyn wasn't happy. She doesn't like to make waves (even at the beach) so she has me do it. I trudged down to the desk and requested another room. One might be available the next day. Morning light confirmed that we didn't have an "ocean view room" but an "air conditioner and seagull poop view room". This wasn't listed on the hotel reservation options
In fairness to the hotel, if you stood on the bed you could see patches of ocean between the air conditioning units. Maybe this is that fine line between "partial ocean view" and "ocean view".
The next day the hotel made good on our request and moved us to another room. This was without a doubt an ocean view room. Marilyn was happy. I was happy, but my back still hurt. That piano was heavy.
One thing Marilyn really loves is the beach. For her there is nothing better than sitting on a balcony overlooking the surf with the sound of breakers and a sea breeze. Since we would be in California anyway for the move, she decided to add a mini vacation on top of the moving festivities. Several weeks before, she carefully scouted hotels on the beach near Carpinteria and selected the Crown Plaza in Ventura. She booked an ocean view room.We arrived late in the evening and received our room key. We pulled back the drapes. Although dark outside, it was apparent that this wasn't an ocean view room. Marilyn wasn't happy. She doesn't like to make waves (even at the beach) so she has me do it. I trudged down to the desk and requested another room. One might be available the next day. Morning light confirmed that we didn't have an "ocean view room" but an "air conditioner and seagull poop view room". This wasn't listed on the hotel reservation options
In fairness to the hotel, if you stood on the bed you could see patches of ocean between the air conditioning units. Maybe this is that fine line between "partial ocean view" and "ocean view".The next day the hotel made good on our request and moved us to another room. This was without a doubt an ocean view room. Marilyn was happy. I was happy, but my back still hurt. That piano was heavy.
posted by John at
5:19 AM
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