Is having a TV in your hotel room when you are on vacation important to you?
The reason I'm asking is that I have been investigating a vacation in the Okanagan/Methow Valley of Washington State. Really just dreaming...
Anyway. Most of the lodging I've found there has no TV in the room. I'm not a huge TV watcher, but in the winter it gets dark before 5pm, generally. I'm always done skiing by about 4 or 4:30pm. After that it's usually hot tub, dinner and then TV. I stayed at a place w/no TV once in Lake Placid and I was bored out of my mind. I can only read so many hours... those winter evenings are LONG!
But I guess I must be the only person who feels this way, otherwise they'd offer more rooms w/TVs... sigh.
Anyone else want their TV on vaca?
Mohonk Mountain House in your neck of the woods is famous for not having TVs in the rooms! My ex-BF's stepson worked there, and he told us that some celebrity stayed there once and insisted on having a TV to watch a particularly important event (I think it might have been the World Series) and they actually did hook up a TV in that person's room.
FWIW, I would prefer a TV in the room, but I suppose I could live without one. DH is a TV addict and would freak out of there were no TV.
Not a dealbreaker, but I have never stayed at a place that didn't have one. Even the bed-and-breakfast places we have stayed at have had a small television with basic cable.
I understand the not having one to extent. Some people look at it as the ultimate get-away.
Perhaps there is one in the main lodge area or a couple public rooms off the main floor.
If I really wanted to go, but was afraid of being too bored. I would see about getting a portable DVD player to go with and some movies or a CD player with some radio plays, books on tape, or old radio variety shows.
When I'm traveling for business, I must have one. If I'm there to look at the environment or go shopping, I don't need one.
I don't have a TV at home, so I wouldn't expect to have one in my hotel room. That said, I don't mind if they have one and on a few occasions I have had a great time watching shows that I had heard about but never seen.
Right now there is a TV at work but we barely watch it (usually just for something interesting on the news) and I don't have any access other than that, including the fact that I used to watch the Daily Show and Colbert Report online when my connection was better but had to stop. In fact given a choice when I travel for work I would rather have a room with wifi than a TV.
Oddly enough, I traveled in Ecuador in local hotels that were $3-5 per night and they all had TVs with complete cable. I never quite understood that, but I didn't mind!
I bring a variety of things, including books, knitting, word puzzles and occasionally my laptop.
I put that it's not a dealbreaker but I prefer it. It does depend on the vacation and where.
While living here in the UK, and when I go to Europe, most of the time I stayed in Hostels without TV. Now we were gone all the time so no TV wasn't a problem.
But sometimes if we are tired and want to relax in the room I like to have it. In the US when I'd take roadtrips with friends I liked the TV - while the other person was in the bathroom, I like to have it on to help me wake up and check the weather, etc. I always liked to watch the local news programs in the mornings.
If it's a more relaxing trip where I will have time to be in the room, where we take time to relax more, then yeah. If it's one of those up first thing in the AM and gone till late night, then no.
Yes, I have to have one, mainly because of DH. I would be ok for a few days with no TV myself, but he would not be happy. When we are traveling, we mostly use the TV to see local news, weather, and "winding down" shows at bedtime (usually history or science documentaries). But DH also wants to keep up with his sports teams, and he has one for every season.
I prefer it if there's not much to do after dinner. When I'm in non-English speaking countries, it doesn't really matter because the TV shows are pointless if I can't understand the language.
I stayed in the famous haunted Myrtles Plantation in Louisiana for my first anniversary with my first husband and they don't have TVs or radios in their rooms. It was fine with me, but my first husband is an infantile alcoholic and he must have TV to stare at while he drinks all day and all night, so he was furious and took it out on me the whole time. Gods, how I hate him.
I've always had one when traveling, but then I am usually alone and it makes the evenings go faster. Also, helps to find out the weather every morning before finalizing plans for the day.
I have never stayed in a hotel without a t.v. and while I certainly prefer it for winding down at night, I wouldn't turn down a room without a television. I really enjoy watching local news or even better-local public access t.v. when traveling and it's nice to have some background noise or something to do while the other person is hogging the bathroom.
I can't vote, I'm another for whom it depends on what else is going on for the vacation. If I'm with a bunch of friends for a weekend, TV is unimportant. If I'm road tripping and the hotel is an overnight while I'm on my way to elsewhere, it's nice to cool down with.
I do not watch too much TV at home. I tend to watch more TV when I'm on vacation. I have been traveling solo, so I tend to watch more TV. I rarely ever go out at night when I'm somewhere else.
When I've been at my sister's place, the TV is on the whole time. At night they have it on Fox News, and it's on from 6 to midnight. I find it very depressing. One very good reason why I don't want to be there.
This is a bit of a thread drift, but it also drives me nuts when a TV is on constantly. I feel as if it hinders conversation and creates distracting background noise. DH is the opposite. He likes the background noise, and every time I come home or downstairs when he's been alone, the TV is on even if he is not watching it. His parents are the same way, so I suppose that is how he was raised.
dune67 Wrote:This is a bit of a thread drift, but it also drives me nuts when a TV is on constantly. I feel as if it hinders conversation and creates distracting background noise. DH is the opposite. He likes the background noise, and every time I come home or downstairs when he's been alone, the TV is on even if he is not watching it. His parents are the same way, so I suppose that is how he was raised.
My mother was like that dune67 and still is.. Her TV is on 24/7
Drove me nuts when I was a kid.. But now, since she brainwashed me with it. I too cannot live without it either.
Only instead I use TV (on Vacation) as a way to fall asleep to.
I find some boring program with a guy with a montone voice and I am able to drift off to sleep. Despite the lumpy mattress or the rock hard pillows that are often found in hotel rooms, lol.
So yes I voted I have to have one!
At Home: I am guilty of watching a lot of TV programs. So yea, I am considered a TV Nut still.
Bob however, he maybe watches about 2 hours of TV a week if that.
So, I don't know if it would bother him as much not having one for vacation time. But I know it would bother me.
dune67 Wrote:This is a bit of a thread drift, but it also drives me nuts when a TV is on constantly. I feel as if it hinders conversation and creates distracting background noise. DH is the opposite. He likes the background noise, and every time I come home or downstairs when he's been alone, the TV is on even if he is not watching it. His parents are the same way, so I suppose that is how he was raised.
Hehe, I'm just like your husband. Especially if I'm cleaning or working on stuff. I NEED the background noise.
As far as hotels, I definitely need a tv because I need to know the weather and the local news. However, since I enjoy pie and often eat all my meals on the bed in front of the tv, I chose the pie option. XD
dune67 Wrote:This is a bit of a thread drift, but it also drives me nuts when a TV is on constantly. I feel as if it hinders conversation and creates distracting background noise. DH is the opposite. He likes the background noise, and every time I come home or downstairs when he's been alone, the TV is on even if he is not watching it. His parents are the same way, so I suppose that is how he was raised.
My DH is the same way. In fact, all of his family and friends do this. I don't know if it's a Southern thing or what.
It's funny, because DH will yell at me for leaving lights on or leaving the computer on, but he thinks nothing of turning the TV on and leaving the room or going outside.
I prefer a tv, but I wouldn't die without it. DH got food poisoning on vacation & spent the day in the hotel room. He would have gone nuts without the tv.
dune67 Wrote:This is a bit of a thread drift, but it also drives me nuts when a TV is on constantly. I feel as if it hinders conversation and creates distracting background noise. DH is the opposite. He likes the background noise, and every time I come home or downstairs when he's been alone, the TV is on even if he is not watching it. His parents are the same way, so I suppose that is how he was raised.
When I was in Ecuador they did this too. All over the country, to the point where I wondered if it was a South-American thing.
When I am home alone I like having the radio on, but only if I am listening to it. I won't turn it on for only background noise. Most of the time I will listen to CBC shows, where they have music occasionally but the also have documentaries and stories.
sharon g Wrote:I prefer a tv, but I wouldn't die without it. DH got food poisoning on vacation & spent the day in the hotel room. He would have gone nuts without the tv.
Funny; that happened to my DH when we were in San Antonio last year! Ditto on the TV.
in the past i definitely would want one in the room in the evening, but over the last month or two i have gotten away from watching TV, and would much rather go out and see what there is to see in the evenings when on vacation. I am there to experience the place i am at, and that includes the night life. even if it is just going to a local pub and having a few local brews. I would much rather have free Wifi access, i can get all the news/weather/etc that i need that way, and can listen to music for background noise. I prefer to sleep in silence so normally when i get back to the room, im going to bed shortly after and just kill the lights and that's that.
-Joe