My husband and I recently snuck a weekend away from every day life. The hotel on the beach we stayed in, when asked about an upgrade to a ocean view room, said none were available, but we could pay for a “Horizon View.”
Huh?
I have to upgrade to look at the sky from this place?
Where is this amazing room? Are we talking the penthouse? ‘Cause that would be worth throwing some extra dollars at.
Nope. This would be an ocean-facing room that you can’t quite see the water from. But the beautiful clouds and such that hang over the ocean could be ours to stare at for just a little more per night. Then, I suppose, we could use our imagination to conjure all that watery stuff that would be swirling about just beneath our visage.
So, we’d be paying for a top-floor room, only the angle wouldn’t be quite right to see the water?
Nope. This would be a ground floor room. And we’d have to settle for two double beds (did I mention this was a getaway for my HUSBAND and me, you know, sans intrusive teenager forever breaking up our cuddle time with one demanding need after another, like food and transpo and clean clothes and all that nonsense!).
So, there we were, expected to be excited about about paying more for a ground floor, tree-obstructed, water-facing (sort of) room, from which if you looked out at just the right angel from the corner of the window, you might be able to catch a glimpse of the blue, blue ocean sky above the sea we’d never see. Oh, and if my husband and I wanted to do what we’d come there to do (after we’d slept late for the first time in–how old is my teenager? Oh, yeah, SIXTEEN years…), we’d have to get busy on a double bed, which while cozy isn’t nearly as much fun as the palace of a king size number we’d originally booked–which, the desk clerk had already told us, would be on the 5TH floor.
Yep, that’s the point where I completely lost it all over the poor guy. I know he was merely doing his job. We were there on a discount package I’d booked over the Internet, and his job was to make more money for the hotel once we’d arrived. But come on! Who in their right mind would think you could see the the sky better (from the ground floor) if you’d only paid a little more money for the privilege?
“Don’t we all have sky outside our window?” I asked the kid. “Can’t we all find a way to stare off into the distant sky from our own view, without you putting a monetary value on it and telling us that a lesser, more restrictive perspective is actually better because it cost more? Do we really seem that ignorant TO YOU!!!”
Like I said, poor guy. My husband was holding my hand by this point, squeezing reassuringly. I’d come to detox, and this was why. This, right here, this push to pay more and want more and do more, because what you have isn’t enough and it’s always better out some other window, so you have to work harder to have that window instead of being grateful and satisfied with your own off-kilter view of the world, whatever that looks like.
The desk clerk merely blinked, numbed by now by other guests (hopefully) seeing through his shameless sales tactic, only they no doubt had found kinder, gentler ways than I of saying no thanks. He scanned our door keys and sent us on our way to the 5th floor, hoping he’d be off the clock by the time I called down for extra towels or a hair dryer or whatever else I found I needed in my lovely room where the sky was still there outside my window, just as I suspected it might be.
The Horizon View… I stared off into it as often as possible that weekend, whether we were inside out out combing the sand. Looking outward for the calm and peace I wanted to mirror inside me upon my return to the teen and the hectic every day.
And, nope, I didn’t have to pay a cent for it. It was there every day and night. And there when I returned home. Free of charge. A perspective to meditate on, always mine, always waiting for me to sneak away, always simple and easy. All I had to do was look out my window, away from the demands of my day, and relax for a few moments into its possibility…
Tags: Anna DeStefano, anna's world, creativity & inspiration
Enjoyed reading your comments. Good for you demanding your room with a view. A similar thing like that happened when we went to Hawaii. It didn’t bother us since we didn’t spend much time in the hotel. But they did try to get more of your money.