Where Will You Rest Your Head Tonight?

On one of our trips to Australia a few years ago we met up with some Brits who were touring on their own for a month as we were. We compared notes and places we'd been and in the process discovered that they were seat-of-the-pants type travelers. They told us that they had made reservations for a room on their first night and for their last night but had decided to chance it on all the other nights of their stay in Australia.

It seems it worked well for them most of the time but they did warn us off of one hotel in Alice Springs where they'd had a rough night. Thankfully we'd already booked somewhere else. As a matter of fact we'd booked all of our nights months before we arrived in Australia. Why? Well, there's a story that goes with that. . .

Years ago while we still had young children--at that point three boys, we set off for Niagara Falls, Canada for a summer holiday. It was a Friday night. We weren't supposed to leave until Saturday but we were feeling adventurous and decided to start driving and stop along the way for the night.

We stopped several places only to be turned away as everything seemed to be filled. There was some kind of big car show and several other activities that filled hotels and motels with people all along I-90 from Cleveland to Erie, PA. We raced a van to the last room left in Erie and lost. Rather than keep driving further, Bob decided to turn around and head back home--about a two drive.

We did find one motel that had a vacancy but it looked like it could have sported a Bates Motel sign. There was no way I was putting my children into something that dilapidated. We drove on.

At the Ohio/Pa border Bob decided it was crazy to drive all the way home so we stopped at a rest stop full of semi trucks. We folded down the back seat, grabbed beach towels to use as blankets and stretched out in the back of our station wagon for a restless night of sleep. The next morning we shared bathroom privileges with the truck drivers and drove bleary eyed the rest of the way to Niagara Falls.

Any time it has been suggested that we take our chances and not book ahead, I just say, "Niagara Falls" and Bob makes the reservations. We did decide we might get out of our comfort zone this last road trip home from Florida. We just made our first night reservation--only to get up the next morning and make reservations for the next place along the way. Our adventurous spirit gave way to our desire to be sure to have a place to rest our heads.