Hotel Hell, but I finally have internet.

Whoa, lots of posts for you to read. This is what happens when I don't have internet and I have a lot to say. It's funny that I'm seeking out wilderness but my world comes crashing down without internet. It does, too. For the last few days I've been trying to find an internet connection like there's no tomorrow. Sadly, my desperation was for a sort of stupid reason. When I typed up some of my earlier posts I did it in a text document to be copied and pasted when I had internet. For the post where I was talking about the people native to the area I used the word Inuit. When I typed the post I wasn't 100% sure what the word was I was thinking of - I was thinking of the word that describes the indigenous people of the arctic. I couldn't look it up because I didn't have internet so I just typed something similar and figured I'd fix it later. Of course I posted the entry without remembering to check the word. I was in agony wondering if I had written something that made no sense and was offensive or something. I was picturing people trying to look up the word I wrote because it didn't make sense in context. I couldn't look at the post, either, to see which word I typed. I also wasn't sure if I wrote 'intuit' instead of 'inuit' which is ironic because amazingly the word that I typed was correct. I honestly surprise myself with these things. I think that I don't know things but when the information is needed it's somehow there, by some sort of intuition. I'm not aware of my random knowledge. When I don't think, I'm smart!

I actually stayed in a hotel last night because I haven't had cell phone service or internet so I couldn't give Frenchy (my employer) warning that I was to be there soon. I didn't want to surprise her like that so I decided to let her know I'd be there the next day and check into a hotel. I was also dead tired, as evidenced by my falling asleep at 5pm, so I didn't want to be a pile of luggage when I met her.

My hotel experience was crap. I'm a member of Choice Privileges which is like a fequent flyer program for hotels. I looked up a cheap hotel of theirs in the area I wanted to be in and found it was an Econolodge. I've never stayed in one before. The room is just like any other hotel room I've been in, so that wasn't the problem at all. It was too late to book over the web so I just called the hotel number directly and booked. After a look around Anchorage I plugged the hotel address into the GPS unit and was on my way. It kept telling me I arrived over and over and I was starting to get really mad at it because I wasn't finding the hotel. It didn't help that I was in an area jam packed with hotels. I thought I was crazy that I couldn't find it. I thought I must be looking right at it without knowing it. I called the hotel finally and asked for the address, thinking maybe I had it wrong and asked what they were near. She told me the address, which was slightly different than the one I had, and she mentioned there was a Tesoro gas station across the street. I plugged in the new address. I found the Tesoro. I did not find the hotel. I was starting to go NUTS.

I finally sat in my car outside of a random hotel and used the internet to do a reverse address search on the address she had given me. The address she gave me came up as a Best Western, which isn't affiliated with Choice Hotels. I was utterly confused at this point and wondered how I had ended up booking a room at a Best Western if I got the number off of the Choice Hotels website. After driving by the same area 100 times, which wasn't easy because it was a divided road in spots and was a bit congested because it's near the airport, I finally prank called the hotel just to hear what she said when she picked up. When she picked up she said Barratt hotel. WHAT!?! I got the number from the hotel website, how could I have called another hotel!?!?!

I finally got there and was dangerously close to a freak out with my lack of sleep and abundance of frustration. I resolved to check in without issue and later on call Choice Privileges and tell them that I booked a room at a rival hotel because their website is stupid and out of date and by the way, they better give me my damned points anyways! At that point it was too late to cancel without penalty. Turns out the hotel was part of Choice Hotels, but it had just changed ownership so the signage was wrong and the address was off. Good to know.

I checked in and was so relieved when she gave me my key. I was ready to just plop myself down on a bed. I also had to go to the bathroom REALLY bad because I hadn't been anywhere I could use the bathroom in a while. I took the room key and she said "your room is across the street" WHAT?!?! This is a busy street. My face was probably priceless when she said that. After my initial reaction it wasn't a big deal. I just got in my car and drove across the street (remember, divided road, so I didn't exactly just drive right across the street, but I made it there eventually). You know how sometimes your hotel room key card just doesn't work and they have to reprogram it? I was so sure it was going to happen to me at that very moment, but it didn't. It wasn't all bad. I was so cooked after that. That's probably one of the reasons I fell asleep so early.

It's 3:15am here (7:15 for EST) and it's still dark. I'm interested to see when it starts getting light out.