Don’t Make Decisions in the Dark That You’ll Regret in the Morning

Nobody thinks clearly late at night but sometimes our desire to escape everyday life leads us down paths that may seem exciting at first, but have an altogether different feel once the plan is in motion. You can avoid those awkward what-the-heck-was-I-thinking moments if you simply don’t make decisions in the dark.

How to Not Get Kicked Out of Bed at Dawn 
Your hotel may seem less than perfect when you arrive at midnight, but it’s usually best not to storm the front desk until you’ve seen things in the light of day. Often the stress of traveling, coupled with the edginess of stepping out of your comfort zone can make your first impression a lackluster one, especially in the dark.
Worse-case scenario is that they uninvite you on the spot, but at the very least they may cancel the remainder of your reservation, forcing you to follow through on your threat to leave first thing in the morning. Rather than yelling at a tired front desk host, try this travel happy approach.

• Step 1 is to secure the premises so that you feel safe.

• Step 2 is to do your best to calm the nerves of your traveling companions. Humor works great for that. Make fun of the old- fashioned curtains or the light switch that you have to position just right in       order for it to work. Laughter diffuses anxiety and makes you all feel like you’re in this adventure           together, bad accommodations and all.

• Step 3 is to get some sleep and wait for dawn.

When dawn arrives you may have a totally different attitude. What looked shabby in the dark may look shabby-chic in the morning. The darkness that felt threatening the night before may have simply been due to the fact that you left the bright lights of the city in your rearview mirror. And how cool is it that those weird noises you heard in the night were actually resident peacocks that are now standing on your front porch?

And if things really aren’t what you wanted, you’ll at least be addressing them with a slightly cooler disposition than you might have the night before, and most often with a person of higher ranking than the night crew.

With the wealth of information available on the Internet today, there is no excuse for ending up in a regrettable one-night stand with a hotel.

The real goal is to have done enough travel
research BEFORE you booked your getaway that you weren’t in the dark figuratively and knew all about the peacocks, the age of the facility, how far down a dark road it was, etc, etc.

That extra bit of research on your part can keep you from booking something that you really aren’t comfortable with and makes your arrival at any time of the night or day a happier travel experience for everyone involved.