Tag: Lifestyle

Home Sweet Hotel

MeghanMcMartin.comLeave a comment

Welp, we live in a hotel. This should be interesting.

If you missed the previous post, here is what you need to know…Will’s contract was unexpectedly terminated five weeks into his assignment. In the two weeks that followed he accepted a new contract for nine weeks, we moved out of our rental, and set up shop in an extended stay hotel.

It’s been a little over a week since we moved into our new digs in the Twin Cities, and so far so good. However, we have found that there are significant challenges to hotel living, particularly cramming our lives into 540 sq. feet.

Currently, we are staying in a one-bedroom “suite”. All that really means is that there’s a door, albeit an important one, to the bedroom and bathroom. Amenities include a little kitchenette with a fridge/freezer combo, microwave, and a two-burner stove. The kitchenette also includes the basic utensils, dishes, pots and pans, and most importantly, a wine opener. Certainly more than adequate for a hotel stay, but somewhat lacking for a 9-week residency.

I’ll admit the kitchen is the hardest thing for me to get used to. I absolutely hate that we don’t have an oven and most of our meals come out of the microwave. Wife fail. But we are making it work and really, 9-weeks of lean cuisines can’t kill you, right? RIGHT!?

img_4770
Where the magic happens a.k.a. where the cat sleeps all day

img_4772
Living room and office space. Complete with coffee table/tote full of clothes.

img_4771
Kitchenette with state of the art microwave and non-functioning dishwasher. #blessed

Even with the teeny tiny living space, we’ve been pretty happy with our experience so far. There’s definitely a downside to hotel living, but some of the perks are pretty great too. A few of our favorites being:

  • Breakfast every morning
  • Dinner or snacks every Monday – Wednesday night
  • Free coffee ALL DAY (I have abused this privilege with abandon)
  • Housekeeping and linen swap 2X a week
  • Indoor pool and hot-tub (key for a cold MN winter)
  • Coin-op laundry on site (granted $4/load is not cheap and requires a lot of quarters)
  • Dog run area

The other great thing about the hotel is the location. We are right on the edge of Minneapolis/St. Paul and close to area attractions and hotspots. We haven’t had a chance to do much exploring yet, but we’re hoping to maximize the next 7 weeks and take advantage of everything the Twin Cities have to offer.

Hopefully, we’ll have plenty of adventures to report back soon!

Stay tuned…

 

The Beginning

MeghanMcMartin.comLeave a comment

Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start….

My husband Will and I decided long ago that when the stars aligned and the time was right, he was going to pursue working as a traveling physical therapist. Per usual, life got in the way and we lost our compass for a little while. After several unplanned delays to our grand plan, we came to a very serious crossroads. It was decision time.

Our lease was ending at our rental and the house was being sold, we couldn’t renew even if we wanted to. We weren’t ready financially (or let’s be honest, mentally) to leap with both feet into the nomad lifestyle. We threw several ideas around about how to move forward, but the one that kept coming back was traveling. It was something we had both always dreamed of doing. Something that just felt right in our bones. So we resolved to make it happen. Come hell or high water, we were going for it.

There were several months of uncertainty before traveling became a reality. We spent six months grinding out our plan, trying to get all the moving parts organized. It was a frustrating process, but it helped that we had a great support network. As summer turned to fall, our dream started to materialize.

In November, things kicked in to overdrive. Will began contacting traveling companies, looking for information. Within 24 hours, he had more than 40 recruiters vying for his attention. It was incredibly overwhelming. He decided on the company that left him the most professional voicemail and began the process of finding an assignment. We’ll save the dirty details of recruitment and placement for another day, but suffice it to say things moved REALLY fast.

Our original plan was for Will to find a travel job in Idaho – not very exciting to start in your home state, but we figured it would be the easiest option. That way there wouldn’t be any messy licensing requirements or moving shenanigans, and he’d be able to get to work quickly. Or so we thought. Best laid plans, right?

After a whirlwind few days of phone calls, emails, paperwork, interviews, and extreme anxiety, he got his first offer.

We were headed to…..drumroll, please…..Minnesota!

My home state.

The land of 10,000 lakes.

In the dead of winter.

Yay. (insert heavy sigh)

Truthfully, we were happy to be heading back to Minnesota. We would be close-ish to my family and it was familiar territory. We had three weeks to get our stuff, and ourselves, from Idaho to Minnesota…yikes.

We made it. It wasn’t pretty, but we made it.

For now we have settled in to our little rental and are slowly learning what this whole traveling thing is all about. I hope you’ll stay tuned, there’s so much more to come!

new-car
Can’t hit the road without a new car, right? Adulting is fun sometimes….