Family room vs. parents’ holiday and hotel restaurant vs. self-catering. Two issues we’ve had to deal with over the last five days.

Fridge: we asked the hotel for a refrigerator and lo and behold: no problem at all to get a minibar-sized refrigerator for our room. So nothing stood in the way of self-catering, at least for the youngest, and we were able to retain a bit of flexibility. A kettle was part of the standard inventory and the bottle warmer we brought with us… In addition to the opened porridge, we could also conveniently chill beer and cider.

Which brings us to the topic of parents’ evening off. As we all know, it’s called when the little ones are in bed. But does that really work when everyone sleeps in the same room? Our kids have already gotten used to sleeping two to a room at home. It actually works surprisingly well and our fear that one of them would wake the other up at night with his screaming and that we would then turn the night into day because no one was sleeping anymore, did not come true. The other point is that the (big) TV is of course consequently left out for adult education and we catch up later on the iPad with headphones. But fortunately our kids are also such a sound sleeper that they don’t wake up because of every little rustle and you can talk again after they fall asleep. Turning on the lights isn’t a problem either 😉

The only thing that is not really practical in a single room even for a comparatively short stay is the space. Everything is cramped, cribs squeezed into a corner, the beds hold for picnicking, as a playground to build building blocks and last but not least then to sleep here.

Baby monitor: Small side note – we (unfortunately) do not need the monitor as the bar is out of reach, so we stay in the room and thank the hotel quietly for the refrigerator.