Our transatlantic roadtrip: from hotel to hotel
We didn't travel on our roadtrip in a camper as many people wonder, but we traveled from hotel to hotel, with the exception of a couple of nights where we were staying with friends. All hotels were pre-booked in Belgium but most had the possibility to cancel until the evening before planned arrival. For our stay in Canmore, we did take that advantage and changed to a resort apartment.
The arrival in a new hotel
The arrival in a new hotel is always exciting: what is the hotel like? What is our room number and can we find our room (search assignment for the children). Who gets to push the elevator buttons? Who can get and ride a luggage cart? Where is the pool? Where will be the breakfast room?
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| the arrival of a jetlagged traveller in the lobby |
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| we found our room! |
As said, we changed our last hotel in Canmore from a traditional hotel room to a resort apartment. We enjoyed the extra space with 2 bedrooms, a fully equipped kitchen, laundry machines etc. It was perfectly fine to stay in one room with 2 beds for several weeks, but it sure was comfortable to have more space to move around, to have a fridge full of snacks and the choice of having a home made cooked mail made if feel quite homey (although I admit we only did it once..it was vacation after all). It makes me wonder if I'll ever be fit for a camper vacation :D.
Sleeping:
Both boys had to sleep for the first time together in a double bed. Most Canadian standard rooms come with 2 double beds or with a double bed and sofa that got turned into a bed. Previous vacations Beertje still slept in a baby bed. At home he had transferred to a big boy's bed, but now he had to co-sleep with his always moving brother.
We usually had to guard for a short time so they got tired and stopped stumping each other in bed and allowed each other to fall asleep but then it was fine. We also usually guarded the bed on Beertje's side a little with an extra sofa, pillow, suitcase or something that could prevent Beertje from falling down.
In the evening the boys had a little iPad time before bed while we had some too, in the morning they visited our bed for extended snoozing time. I loved it. It was also fun to be able to observe them in their sleep.
Dinner time
Staying in hotels meant that we usually had to take dinner (and lunch) in restaurants. At the first dinner upon our arrival, the boys didn't make the arrival of their kid's meals awake :D .
At breakfast there are usually pancakes or waffles and bananas to be eaten.
Waiting time at dinner was usually filled with coloring. Most restaurants have a kid's menu that ranges from some pasta or chicken nuggets or pizza with potentially a side dish of broccoli or so. The children weren't eating as healthy but that's not my biggest worry during a vacation.
For lunch we often picknicked so we did some grocery shopping now and then and we drove with a cooler bag and some cooling ice packs that got refrozen for us in each hotel.
Swimming
Swimming in the hotel pool was an essential part of the hotel life. We had selected mostly hotels with a hotel pool. A high number of those even had a pool slide, but some were too steep and fast and scary as we experienced first hand so that didn't proof to be added value. After a succesful first hotel with a slide, Kabouter immediately went to try the next one ...only to come out white as a sheet . "too fast, too dark" was all he could mumble. Jan tried it afterwards and he got catapulted to the other side of the pool....hmm we didn't do more tries afterwards.
Kabouter did his best to practice under our supervision each day a little moment without his floaties, as he'd miss a few weeks of swimming classes at home. He really got more confident while doing so. It was great to watch him.
I mostly enjoyed the hot tubs that are everywhere next to the pools.
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| The scary slide |
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| The heated outdoor pool in the Stoneridge resort was our favourite |
For 5 nights we stayed with friends which gave us a lot of new sleeping experiences e.g. sleeping in a bunk bed or camping in the play basement.
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| Leaving our last hotel on our way to the airport :( |
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