Some of you may recall the podcast episode that we did last year during lockdown about some of our craziest travel stories. Well, we’re coming back at you with another round of that, sharing another crazy vacation story!
This one happened on our recent trip to Kansas. We usually have good success booking hotels at the last-minute online. But well, things didn’t go so well this time. In fact, for the first time ever, we checked out of the hotel after only staying for one day.
I think this was one of those cases where if it seems too good to be true, it might be! 🙂 Although, I’m pretty sure that the window getting busted in in the middle of our stay might be one of those one-in-a-million sort of situations.
Listen in for all the details + an update on books we are listening to, some tips from our listeners, a Jui Jitsu update, tofu, a new hack for GMail, something I just learned about Hoopla, and more!
Sponsor Spotlight:
This week’s episode is sponsored by Annie’s — a company I’ve loved for a long time! Annie’s has the perfect subscription boxes for both boys and girls that will keep them, creative, constructive, and engaged this summer!
This week’s spotlight is Annie’s Creative Girls Club — a monthly subscription to introduce your girl to new crafts with every shipment. Each month, she’ll receive TWO fun kits, complete with easy-to-follow instructions. Kickstart her creativity through fun, easy-to-make DIY crafts that include painting, beading, and so much more.
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In This Episode:
[0:32] – We are bringing you another crazy vacation story!
[1:16] – Jesse has just started using the Libby app!
[4:12] – Jesse just recently finished reading Bill O’Reilly’s Killing the SS.
[9:28] – I have been reading The Last Year of the War by Susan Meissner.
[12:11] – You can change the settings in Gmail to delete emails (rather than archive them) when you swipe on them!
[14:36] – I read aloud an email sent in by a listener.
[15:55] – I share the story of having bought tofu recently and what I learned.
[17:36] – Jesse follows up on his recent Jiu-Jitsu story.
[20:04] – Jesse came home from sparring recently with bruises all over him!
[21:49] – Today’s sponsor is Annie’s Kit Clubs!
[23:56] – We dive into our latest crazy vacation story!
[26:11] – I looked at the ratings of a particular hotel that Jesse picked out.
[28:35] – I begin to reveal what happened when we pulled up to the hotel.
[31:23] – Find out what happened on our first morning in the hotel!
[36:40] – We ultimately decided to check out and go to a different hotel.
Links and Resources:
- The Crystal Paine Show – Episode 79: Our Craziest Travel Stories
- The Crystal Paine Show – Episode 129: My System for Keeping on Top of Emails
- Libby
- Bill O’Reilly & Martin Dugard – Killing the SS: The Hunt for the Worst War Criminals in History
- Susan Meissner – The Last Year of the War
- Annie’s Kit Clubs – Website
- Love-Centered Parenting
- 10 Days to Be a Happier Mom
- Sign up for the Hot Deals Email List
- MoneySavingMom.com
- My Instagram account (I’d love for you to follow me there! I usually hop on at least a few times per day and share behind-the-scenes photos and videos, my grocery store hauls, funny stories, or just anything I’m pondering or would like your advice or feedback on!)
- Have feedback on the show or suggestions for future episodes or topics? Send me an email: [email protected]
How to Listen to The Crystal Paine Show
The podcast is available on iTunes, Android, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can listen online through the direct player here. OR, a much easier way to listen is by subscribing to the podcast through a free podcast app on your phone. (Find instructions for how to subscribe to a podcast here.)
Ready to dive in and listen? Hit the player above or search for “The Crystal Paine Show” on your favorite podcast app.
Oh my goodness, what a bad hotel experience! That tops any we’ve had. We are at the end of a 3 week road trip / college drop-off and because we had so many hotel stays, we stayed at a few budget motels. Nothing to report except the one we stayed at in Kentucky. It’s a chain that was considered nice in the 1980s, but I’ve found many of their hotels are outdated and rundown these days. This location was no exception. My mother-in-law found it online and thought it was a good price. Well, you get what you pay for. It looked like it was nice in its heyday of 1983, but hadn’t been updated since. We had to switch rooms because the first one smelled like mildew – same thing happened with my in-laws’ room. The second one didn’t smell, but there was no alarm clock and the room set-up was weird. Let’s just say my husband’s status at Marriott and Hilton (due to his traveling job) has spoiled me, and I could not wait to get out of the dumpy hotel and into a Marriott brand! Yes, read reviews!
Our crazy hotel story took place on our wedding day (33 years ago). We arrived at the hotel, where my parents had booked a Jr. Wedding suite for us. My husband opened the door to our room and then quickly backed out, exclaiming, “There’s someone in our room!” I was incredibly nervous and thought he was joking. Nope! He assured me that he had seen shoes on the floor and clothing on the bed and was going no further. We went back down to the front desk and they were equally confused. They had no record that anyone (except us) should have been in the room. The people had hijacked our room AND the lady had gleefully accepted the bouquet of a dozen roses that my husband had sent to the room. My heart sank as the clerk added, “And we are completely booked. There’s not an empty room in the entire hotel.” In a crazy twist, rather than evict the interlopers, they promptly told us that they couldn’t seat us in the restaurant until 9pm and then put us in a long-forgotten room that was full of mismatched furniture and weird lamps from the 1960’s. There was a large deck just off the room and children were noisily playing on it. NOT what you want for your first night as a married couple. We lay on the bed, comatose and very hungry, watching reruns of “My Three Sons” until 9pm when we could eat supper. The hotel did send someone to our original room to collect my roses and the mushy card from my husband. The crazy thing is, it never crossed our mind to complain and ask for a free night.
That’s a pretty crazy story! Did they ever figure out how the people got into your room???
Nope. The hotel never said. In hindsight, we should have asked for them to be removed from the room, but we were young and it never occurred to us to ask for a room upgrade or a voucher for a free weekend stay. Actually staying in a cabin in the woods would have been our first choice and that’s where we headed for the next leg of our honeymoon. That’s when we really felt that our honeymoon truly began. In fact, the cabin was in the same state park where we had our first date and where Larry proposed to me a year after we started dating. On our 30th anniversary we went back to the park and took all four of our sons with us. Larry reenacted his proposal at the exact spot that he had originally proposed. People were watching and were super excited, thinking he was proposing. We laughed and said, “Nope. We’ve been married for 30 years. We wanted to reenact it with all of our sons with us.”
That’s too funny about the re-enacting! What a special memory!
I live in San Antonio. Now I want to hear that story. 😂
We will have to share it some time! It was years ago, but we have never forgotten!
Your gmail tips are awesome! Thank you! Thank you!
You’re so welcome! -Jordan, MSM Team
The book you are reading reminds me of a very similar book called “The Train to Crystal City: FDR’s Secret Prisoner Exchange Program and America’s Only Family Internment Camp During World War II” by Jan Jarboe Russell. It’s non-fiction and weaves together our nation’s history during that period with the personal stories of two American born teenage girls whose families are sent to an internment camp and ultimately deported to their parents’ countries of origin. Although it’s been a good number of years since I’ve read it, it sticks out as one of my favorites because of an unexpected and inspirational ending. Even in the worst of circumstances, God is working.