TRAVEL THERE: TAKING IT EASY
After seeing off the guys, my first stop was the laundry. I was wondering if they’d be able to press my dress and Bill’s suit for the wedding. Nope, they were closed for the holiday. That determined a lot of what I’d be doing for the day.
An Hour at the Spa
The spa was on the other side of the pool. As soon as I exited the building, a nice lady wanted to help me out with my pool arrangements, but I didn’t want a towel, a chair or a cabana. I was just passing through.
If you’re interested, the spa was quite nice. I spent my hour on the treadmill, I actually prefer a recumbent bike to a treadmill, but I wasn’t at home. There was a nice variety of workout machines and stations, but no bikes, so I made do. The gym area was neat, attractive and clean, not the cluttered mess of some hotel’s workout rooms and all the equipment worked! They had bottled water, towels, magazines and other amenities to enjoy. More than once an attendant checked on me to see I had everything I needed. High points for the spa.
Those Semi-Wrinkled Clothes
In spite of folding tissue paper in with our wedding clothes, as my mother had taught me to do, when I pulled them out of the suitcase in the wee hours of Saturday night, they looked like a wadded mess. Late Monday morning all Bill’s suit needed was a little touching up, but my dress was still pretty pathetic looking. The bodice with all the beads were fine, but that full skirt looked pretty bad and the sheer lace over-blouse was still a mess. Since attacking it with an iron almost ensured I’d melt some of the sheer chiffon in the skirt, I tried the old traveler’s trick – a steamy bathroom.
I hung the dress and blouse up over the toilet, glad for the commode’s lid, and took a very long hot shower with the shower door open and the bathroom door closed. By the end of the shower I had a lake on the floor and the room was pretty steamy, but the gown needed more.
I toweled down and put on the fluffy terry robe provided by the hotel. I made the water from the shower even hotter than I could tolerate on my skin, opened up the hot water tap on the sink all the way and escaped from the bathroom, trying to leave as much steam as I could behind. I gave it about 15 minutes and then checked on the progress. The room was all steam, but the dress was still a little wrinkly. I turned off the water, gave my outfit a good shaking out and then left everything in the steamy bathroom.
As the wrinkles melted, I caught up with my travel journal, spent some time on social media, read a little, did some crossword puzzles and entertained myself with various distractions. I’d opened the window to the perfect weather outside and was glad the hotel actually had operable windows. I enjoyed hearing cocks crow throughout the nearby neighborhood and I’m pretty sure I heard a peacock. Some kind of black birds cackles dominated the sound track for a while, but they moved on. I’m sure there were traffic noises, but thankfully, faint enough to ignore. From time to time I’d hear the crash of a metal tray or the sound of something heavy being dropped. It was pleasant.
A return to the bathroom revealed the steam had all dissipated. The dress was fine. The over-blouse still needed some help. The room had a very nice full-sized ironing board with a heavily padded cover which I wished I had at home. The full-sized iron had markings in both English and Arabic. I was in business.
The blouse took no time at all, but the suit actually ended up giving me some challenges. I wished I had put it in the steamy bathroom after all, but now it was too late to start all over. Just about the time I got it and Bill’s white shirt professional laundry perfect, in walked the man himself. He was earlier than I anticipated. Khan-il-Kalilli had been a big disappointment, a dearth of dealers because of the holiday and far too dirty to be enchanting. They’d found a cafe and enjoyed some down time, too.
Now Bill was ready for a nap and it was time to start on my hair and makeup. Comeback next week and see what happened next.
jane sadek 