Mary M. wanted to know about hotel living. Personally I don't love to live in hotels but Wayne does. He says he feels more at home in a hotel than he does at home. Hotels are where he grew up and he loves the familiar feeling. Amy also loves living in hotels, probably because that is where she spent the majority of the first 6 years of her life.
When I first started traveling in the 1970's it was fun at first having new sheets and towels every day. But that has ended with the "save the ocean and land" propaganda. USUALLY there are clean sheets and towels. I was reading Mary's post on my IPhone in the hotel right before I went to bed. I pulled down the sheets and there was a little black feather that I had been sleeping on. I wonder where that came from?
One time in the 70's we stayed at a hotel because it was close to the concert hall where the family was performing. It grossed me out! The carpet in the room were soaked with liquor and alcohol from spilled drinks. When we walked it actually would swish under our feet. It wasn't just that way in our room either. Amy was a little toddler at the time and we couldn't let her down on the floor to play or crawl around. When we complained to the hotel management they sent up a bunch of old blankets to put on the floor. Yuck! A year later we returned to the area and the hotel had been condemned and torn down. No idea why?
Until Amy started Kindergarten I toured with the Osmond family most of the time. It seemed like every tour we had to find a hotel doctor because Amy and Steve got sick. One tour Steve and Amy both got strep throats and then on top of the strep throat Amy got a really bad case of herpes. They were all over her swollen face and inside her swollen mouth. She couldn't eat or drink anything. We left the tour and Wayne's dad flew back to Utah with us. We stayed at my parents house until the tour was finished and Wayne returned to Utah. Amy hardly ate or drank anything for about a week. She would only suck on water Popsicles. The only benefit of the whole ordeal was that it hurt her to suck on her pacifier, so my mom talked her into throwing it away so she'd get better faster. She was almost 3 years old at the time and I was wondering how I was going to get that pacifier away from her.
When Amy was about a year old the family was filming something in Hawaii. Maybe it was "Going Coconuts." I can't remember for sure. The morning we were leaving Utah she had a runny nose but seemed to feel fine. By the time we arrived in Hawaii and were at the hotel she wasn't feeling fine at all! In the middle of the night her fever had climbed to 107 degrees and even after giving her lukewarm baths, we could not get her to keep any Tylenol down. We jumped into a cab which drove us to the closest hospital.
After arriving at the hospital they made her stand in a big metal tub and we kept pouring water over her head until her temperature went down a little and she was able to finally keep some Tylenol down. She was shaking severely and screaming the whole time we were pouring water over her head. It was horrible. We finally went back to the hotel after she was able to keep down the Tylenol and her temperature went down, but I spent the whole time in Hawaii in the hotel, except for one evening. Wayne's parents watched Amy in their hotel room so Wayne and I could have a little break and we went out to dinner. That was really nice of them.
Whenever I get bugged at hotel living now, I remember what it was like traveling with babies and little kids. The trip then becomes really easy and fun fast. After awhile I started to bring a can of Lysol when we would travel and I would spray the toilet, tub and other kid areas, but now I don't. Everyone used to think I was totally overboard, but when I found out that other people did the same thing I wasn't so embarrassed about it.
I always wear flip flops in the hotel rooms and shower but hardly anything bothers Wayne. Most of the hotels use futons now where they put the quilt inside two clean sheets. I love that! I feel like I can lounge on the clean spread. I always used to pull down the blankets so the kids would play on the sheets instead of the blankets. Who knows where the blankets had been. Like Mary, I don't think that the hotel management ever washed the blankets either. I also like to drink bottled water in the hotel instead of tap water, especially outside the United States.
I'll have to finish my hotel living stories later because Jacob needs to use the computer now to do his homework. He loves to write stories. He's going to be a writer just like his mother. He actually helped me edit my stories this afternoon. He's so intelligent and reads at a 12th grade reading level. I'm not a proud grandma.
12 comments:
I remembered when I went to Branson last year, my mother told me to take the Lysol and spray the room when I get there. I thought it was crazy because I've never done that before. I'm glad I wasn't crazy for taking Lysol with me.
I am a sitting in a tub to take a bath person. I hate showers. So I really don't like taking showers when I'm in a hotel, but I have no choice. I wear flip flops too when I take a shower. I've been doing that for years.
Poor Amy.
It is so funny that the morning after we get home after being marooned in a hotel room like we were during that snow storm that you wrote this.
Every time we stay in a hotel room Eric and I both end up with sinus infections. This time even our 8 month old Shih Tzu pup, Liebchen, had breathing problems until we got back in car to drive home.
There is no place like home.
What a frightening experience you, Wayne and the family experienced in Hawaii when Amy was so sick. It is extremely hard traveling with children. I've had quite a few with my children while driving to in-laws only an hour away, can't imagine having to live in hotels all the time. I also pull down the blanket in hotel rooms so their faces are on the sheets. I wear slippers in the room at all times too. Before I make hotel reservations I ALWAYS go to TripAdvisor.com and read the reviews for cleanliness. That's #1 priority in choosing a hotel even over location or price. Thanks for shring your story.
Dear Kathy,
Thanks for responding to my post. I enjoyed your stories about hotel living and look forward to hearing more. Glad they closed the hotel with alcohol soaked carpets down. That is just gross. Glad your getting to enjoy your grandchildren.
Mary Modesitt
That poor little Amy! How terrible! I never gave much thought to the cleanliness of hotels until reciently. I guess because I'm a mom now. Thank you so much for your posts Kathy. They are always entertaining. Keep up the good work!
I'm telling you Kathy - you could write a book about being the Osmond wife who traveled and saw it all. The hotel room stories were gross and scary. Never realized how sick your kids got when you traveled when they were so young. I like the hotel living, but am so glad to be back at home and in my own bed. I know that my blankets/sheets have been washed. Hotels are not as careful as they used to be (just my opinion). I understand about the save the ocean, going green - don't wash the sheets everyday kind of thing. But, too many pass through the hotels and you just never know what germs are being passed on. I never thought of taking Lysol with me - good idea - I'll have to remember to do that next trip to Branson - HAH!!!!! Keep the stories coming - I love reading about the '70s and how it was traveling.
Kathy,
I have loved the Osmonds for year, (like everyone else here), But I was always interested in your family life outside of performing, (I know celebrities need private time to themselves and I would never asked anything) So I find your hotel stories interesting and insightful. A lot of people(including me) would find traveling like you guys did fun, until they have to go through what you did.
Poor Amy, an awful thing to have to go through.
I, too, wear slippers or flip flops at in my room in hotels but I have to admit I never thought about the sheets. Always thought they would have cleaned them. ugh! Thanks for the stories.
OH yes Sherry! A book by an Osmond wife! I'd buy it!
Sherry in IN has a great idea. How many "groupies" have written books about the depraved part of the music world and traveling?
There are folks like the Osmonds in the industry have had to juggle family and music. You could write your story and maybe even interview others who have been on the road and maintained their marriages and family life. It could work either way, about your story, or maybe a compilation.
I don't know how you guys did it. I really don't.
I remember when my in-laws came to visit a few years back and my husband and his parents went on a holiday through the US.. my husband told me at one chain hotel the window was broken and the toliet wouldn't work. When my husband went down to the front desk to compain, it seems that my FIL had just phoned and let loose with some profanities... the guy at the counter said, my husband must of got some good woopings as a young boy...
The toliet did get fixed but not the window. I would have thought when going on tour, the Osmonds would have stayed at some better hotels if not for the security.
Oh my, you have had some terrible experiences and poor Amy - I do feel for you that must have been a very terrifying experience for you all, so happy things worked out in the end. I too drink bottled water wherever I go Kathy, not just abroad but even here in the UK too! I have such a sensitive stomach that I always play safe and drink bottled water and find this works for me. I do find if you take great care in what you eat and what you drink leads for a healthier life whilst out on the road, don't you think?!
Love reading your stories Kathy - keep them coming! :)
Dianna
It amazes me that you guys of all people had bad experiences in hotels. I mean seriously, as a hotel manager I would think you would want to treat the celebrities well. DO you guys ever complain about stuff? If my husband would of walked into a room with carpets that smelled of liquor and were soaked - he would have demanded a different room or his money back or something! I guess we all go through things that are scary and yukky, in a way things like this make you easier to relate to. I've never had that bad of an experience at a hotel, I love staying in them myself!!! Glad your kids survived growing up traveling so much, I bet they have some stories to tell as well.
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