Jane is usually very choosy about the location of her hotel room. If, upon wandering up to her room after check-in, she finds it is too close to the elevator or the ice machine, she marches downstairs and demands a new room. But during a recent visit to Little Rock, Arkansas, Jane went against her gut. You see, her room was one of the few suites in the 95-year-old historic hotel. So, even though the second-floor suite was both by an elevator and at the top of the grand staircase leading down to the lobby, Jane stayed put. Jane suspected that since Little Rock is not a late-night town (even the security line at the airport closes at 8 PM), her beauty sleep would not be interrupted by noisy midnight revelers. However, she didn't consider that, when staying at an historic hotel, other spirited beings might cause a ruckus.
At 1:42 AM, as Jane was in the middle of deep REM sleep, dreaming about getting back to her hotel room in Poland from a downtown Warsaw location, when she heard piano music. At first, Jane thought it was part of her Eastern European dream. Perhaps local-boy-made-good (in Poland, that is) Chopin had entered the picture. But as the music continued, Jane emerged from her stupor to realize that the music of the night was no phantasmic sound. Now mind you, Jane is a music lover, and had the music been playing at 1:42 PM, she would have enjoyed it immensely. But at 1:42 AM, Jane was merely inspired to open her door and yell down to the lobby, "Hey, we are trying to sleep here." After that, the music ceased. The next morning, Jane went down to the lobby to discover there was no piano in sight.
But Jane digresses. For the point of this post is to describe how to avoid a noisy hotel room. As she mentioned in the first paragraph, avoid rooms by the elevator, the ice machine, or other cacophonous contraptions. Beware of a room facing the street if it is on a lower floor. Even if it's quiet when you check in at 8 PM, morning rush hour could mean bedlam right outside of your bedroom. Also, when you get to your room, look out the window to check for high-traffic trouble spots like loading docks and parking garages.
While Jane likes to unpack as soon as she gets to her room, she has learned to wait about an hour or so before doing so. That way, she can get a sense of noisy neighbors, street sounds, and other noxious babble. If sounds offensive to Jane's delicate ears pop up during her first hour in the room, Jane can easily pick up her bags and change rooms at a moment's notice. No repacking, no hassle.
As for that stay at the Little Rock historic hotel...well, dear reader, the story outlined above is 100 percent true, except the part about the piano-less lobby. Jane was just having a little fun at your expense. In fact, the music may have been haunting, but it was played by a mere (and thoughtless...1:42 AM-harrumph) mortal on a real live baby grand.
