How to check a room

This story was posted under the categories: Cycling South-East Asia, Big Asia Trip

Travelling for 6 months means that you’ll sleep in a lot of different towns and different beds. One of the first things to do when you arrive at your new destination, is finding decent accomodation. It’s usually not the most pleasurable activity as it involves carrying around your heavy backpack across many streets (or putting getting on and off from your bicycle).

So how can you evaluate a hotel room as quickly as possible. Here’s the 5 step plan.

1. Smell the place: does it smell humid or damp? Cigarettes? If so, it’s a no-go… turn around and find the next place.

2. Feel the matras: there’s nothing worse for your condition than a bad night of sleep. So feel if the matras is hard enough (or soft enough) for you.

3. Is it clean? I usually pick up the pillow and smell it. If it smells like it has been washed, it’s all right.

4. Water? Depending on your level of luxury, you’ll expect running water in the bathroom. Test it. Far too often, there’s only 2 drops of water coming out of the hose.

5. Surroundings: look outside the window. Is there a school next door? A factory? Are they demolishing the neighbours house? The bus station is just across from the road? If yes, don’t expect to sleep in late… perhaps you should look for something else.

So, if you follow this, you’ll cover all the bases, avoid most surprises and spend only 1 minute to check a room. Unfortunately, sometimes there’s only one hotel in town…