 |
| Photo by Nick Jio on Unsplash |
It was spring 1999. (God, this makes me feel old!) My ex boyfriend and I spent a week or so in Florida.
It must have been the same trip we got in trouble because we couldn't find the correct freeway exit. More about this when it comes to the letter E though.
I don't remember where we came from that night, but we had been driving the whole day and were stuck in the worst possible traffic jam for the last 2-3 hours. It was getting dark, and all we wanted was to take a shower and go to sleep.
 |
| Photo by Jesse Adair on Unsplash |
During that trip, it had never been a problem to just walk into a hotel and ask for a room. Well, that night it was.
As we were going to learn, some basketball game was responsible for every hotel, motel, b&b and private accommodation to be fully booked within a radius of 50 miles, which explained all the cars and TV vans making their way into the city!
The receptionist who told us this, must have felt sorry for us, and he started to make phone calls to his fellow receptionists across town, and they were all laughing at him.
In today's day and age we would just pull out our smart phone to use apps like booking.com. Back then a nice and helpful person, who was not going to make any money, made it his mission to find a bed for us!
It was getting late, and I came close to accepting that we would just camp out in the parking lot, when he was starting to make signs while still listening to somebody on the phone. As it turned out, one of the basketball players didn't show up at his suite, and they were giving it away!!
The receptionist wrote down a number on a piece of paper. It was the price for the hotel room. It lwas 215 Dollars. Yeah, well. We were desperate.
We gave the guy a fat tip and hopped back in the car to get to our once in a lifetime accommodation.
I googled it today, and I'm prety sure it was the Embassy Suites at Busch Gardens.
 |
| Photo Credit: Jamison M |
I googled some more, and once again I am so fascinated by the internet. You get to find out stuff that goes way back!
Turns out it wasn't just some basketball game. It was the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Finals, the highlight of a tournament that included 64 teams!
That night, the Connecticut Huskies defeated the Duke Blue Devils 77 : 74 at Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, which is located across Howard Frankland Bridge, at least a 45 minutes' drive from the hotel.
Here's another twist.
We fell victim to a common mistake us Eurpeans make when dealing with Americans.
See what to us looks like 215 Dollars, was in fact 275. Ouch.
Have a look:
Bottom line: we spent the night at a very nice hotel, and as we made our way down to the breakfast room the next morning, it was crawling from basketball players. We were wondering which one of them was missing, and where he had spent the night. On the other hand we didn't need to know the details. We were grateful!
Have you ever been desperate to find accommodation? How did things turn out for you?
You sure have an exciting life! I wonder what the price of the hotel room would be today, I'm guessing maybe double!
ReplyDeleteThe timing of this post is so appropriate. Tonight is the final of the men’s NCAA basketball tournament and Connecticut is in it.
ReplyDeleteI always like your posts; they are always informative or interesting. I’m glad you were safe.
Once we were traveling to Florida and had an interesting experience at a hotel. It was very late at night and of course we were very tired. All my husband, my kids and i wanted to do was have a good night’s sleep before getting back on the road. We went to two other hotels which were full and checked into a third. My husband went in the bathroom and it was clogged. It was about 11 pm. He went down to the front desk to inquire about moving to another room. Imagine my surprise when he entered with a plunger!
Wow. I can only remember a couple of times when I went somewhere without making reservations first. I guess I was never that spontaneous! Even now $275 a night is a lot!
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like fun! And that suite would have been astronomical today!
ReplyDeleteIronically, the finals of the NCAA Basketball tournament this year are TONIGHT here in Houston. Perfet time to share, right? LOL
I loved this story, especially the new information you discovered. I have two, one was in the mid-90s when I traveled for work. I lived in Rochester NY but our main office was in NYC. I was on a one day trip and weather forced plane cancellations. Hubby got on the phone at home (no cell phones in those days) to try to book me a room. But the hotel van never showed so I ended up jumping on a van with three other travelers, one of whom assured me the hotel still had rooms. That was the night I decided to add a shirt and underwear to my briefcase, even it I wasn't planning to spend the night.
ReplyDeleteThe other was during my solo motorcycle trips around the country as a 58 year old widow. I was in northern California and had attended a "do" at a friend's house. I was headed back the same way I came, up the 101 (Pacific Coast Highway), and I planned to stay at the same hotel before heading easterly. When I got there, they were booked except for one suite - way over my budget. But it was getting dark and I needed a room (no other hotels in the area). So I took it - it was bigger than most NYC studio apartments and had a HUGE hot tub in one corner. Yes, I indulged. LOL!
My A to Z Blogs
DB McNicol - Small Delights, Simple Pleasures, and Significant Memories
My Snap Memories - My Life in Black & White
That's a great story! I'm glad you were able to find a place to stay, even if it was last minute. I've never been desperate to find accommodation, but I have had a few close calls. One time, I was traveling to a conference and I had booked a hotel room months in advance. But when I arrived at the hotel, they told me that my room had been canceled because their a/c wasn't working. They sent us to their sister hotel, but I was just glad to have a place to stay.
ReplyDeleteThat is an interesting story! And so true that in those days (the ones that make us feel old), we had to rely on the goodness of people rather than the smart apps of today.. and so glad that you found that receptionist who helped.
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I also had a few such things happen to us (a little over two decades ago now, before we had smart phones at least), and thankfully, we found helpful people too...
What a amazing night and in this day and age its nice to find out there was nice people back then to help you out. Sometimes I wish we still didn't have Cell Phones. As for all the Basketball Stars my son would have thought he had died and gone to Heaven.
ReplyDeleteIt's an ill wind that blows nobody good! you will never forget that room...
ReplyDelete