I don't travel often, but lately I have found myself going places way more than I used to. (It helps that  my parents moved 3.5 hours away a year ago.) Most of the time the travel includes stays at hotels rather than at someone's house. There are a plethora of things in hotels that drive me crazy and I thought, "Hey, blog post idea!"Hotel Peeves

• light switch to bathroom OUTSIDE the bathroom. It's like this in every hotel I go to and I find it frustrating.
• having the toilet and sink in different rooms but all on the same light switch, with no way to block the light from the rest of the room. Very frustrating in the middle of the night. The only place I have seen this work is at Disney World in their resorts, they actually have a curtain that can be drawn across the sink area to block the light from the rest of the room. That's pretty smart.

• No light in the shower. One little light in the room that has the toilet & shower, but the shower itself is dark. I dislike showers that are not well-lit. Just a personal preference. (Also, it's hard to shave your legs in the dark!)
• crappy coffee machines. I was in one hotel in the last couple of years that actually had a keurig machine and that was BRILLIANT. That way you can go out and buy your own k-cups to make your coffee and you can get a decent size coffee. At least the machine in this hotel room was updated since the last trip. I am certain the machines were left over from the 70s.
• Rooms without mini-refrigerators. Even in this day and age, some rooms come without mini-fridges and that annoys me. (The room we were in had one, I am speaking in general.) I like to keep my bottles of water cold and I like to occasionally bring back left overs from a meal at a restaurant, so I'd like a place I can keep things cold!
• No safe in the room - and/or - a very unsafe safe. This mostly applies to when we travel to the US because I like to keep our passports safe and our extra cash. I am sure we could ask at the check-in desk, but I'd rather know I can access my stuff at a moment's notice. The last trip to Toronto the safe in the room was upside down, on the floor of the closet and could just be picked up and walked away with. What the hell? We didn't put anything in it, of course. What's the point. Build the bloody things into the walls of the closets, don't just toss one in there and hope for the best.
• Hotel staff that come in a clean the room even when the Do Not Disturb sign is on the door. Yes, this has happened. We complained about it the time it did. Thankfully we did not have our dogs with us that time and we do hide/make safe the stuff we have (i.e. electronics) but we are particular in that we don't want our rooms cleaned every day. We're not slobs, we can clean up after ourselves and mostly we only stay in a place for a max of 3 days, so why have staff clean our room each day? This time someone STOLE our Do Not Disturb sign from our door and we had to go request a new one. WHO DOES THAT? Seriously. We didn't want the cleaning staff walking into a room with dogs if we weren't there. So we took them on an hour-long hike through wet-land trails while we waited for the front desk to find us a new sign. But really, do not come into a room with the sign on. What is wrong with hotels that do that?
• Not enough electrical outlets. I know many hotels were made before we always carried technology around with us, so I'll cut them some slack. But it's really frustrating if you have to unplug the bedside lamp if you want to charge your phone. Our hotel this time had a lovely little power bar thing on the desk so you could plug multiple things in. Well done!

Rest Stop Peeves

• Not enough food options. I realize it's kind of difficult to be able to please everyone on the road with food options, but on the way from Montreal to Ontario the rest stops have two options - Tim Hortons and Burger King. The last thing I want to eat on the road is Burger King because it will make me very ill, very fast. Same goes for my husband. There is also a little market in each stop that has other items, but I find it very difficult to find food on the road. Yes, we could pack our own food, but we tend to use space that a cooler would fit in for the dogs.
• No garbage pails next to the Pet Areas. Ok, so you have designated a tiny patch of grass for people to walk their dogs on and a HUGE sign that says to clean up after them - but there are no garbage pails in sight. In fact, there are few garbage pails on the grounds. Recycling bins, yes... but where do you want us to put the dog poop? I'll bet you that's the main reason those tiny patches of land are covered in dog poop - why pick it up if you can't toss it away easily? We always walk around and find one, not just because it gives us all a chance to stretch our legs, but because we're responsible pet owners like that.
• Pet Area right next to the MEGA HUGE TRUCKS parking area. I get that you might want a spot to relive dogs to be farther away from the building with the food in it, but do you have to place it so close to the truck entrance and parking? I don't actually feel safe there myself, I don't feel comfortable walking my dogs when 18-wheelers are zooming by. I think rest stops should have small, gated areas that you might be able to let your dogs run off-leash. That will let them get their energy out and it can be a safe place for them to relieve themselves.
• Not enough bathroom stalls. This isn't a problem in the Ontario rest stops now. The newly renovated rest areas have ample bathroomage. The Quebec ones? Not so much. (But the Quebec ones DO have better restaurant options.)
• People who hang out in rest stop parking areas and take up parking spaces with their bodies. Everyone needs a place to park and stop when we get there. I get it. You're tired and need to stretch. Then MOVE OVER TO THE GRASS AND TABLES and get the hell out of the parking lot. And don't just wander around WITHOUT LOOKING while you're in the lot, there are people in cars who will run you over. YOU ARE NOT ALONE ON THE ROAD. Ugh.

Sometimes I think I should go into the Rest Stop business and make my own and fill them with things I think people would like. And include a fenced dog-run and make sure there are enough garbage pails around. Wonder how I can get into that business? Hmm.Do you travel a lot? What bugs you while traveling? What do you love about it? What's the best hotel you've stayed in? (I'm going to say that the Caribbean Beach Resort in Disney World was pretty close to my fave spot. But the Marriott I stayed in when I roomed with Kristi and Shanyn in NYC for BEA in 2012 was a close second when it comes to awesome.)