It Just Won't Be the Same!

The husband just called with information on the hotel at which we'll be staying in Hue. We knew it would not be the same hotel at which we stayed three years ago, but we were hoping it would be similar in terms of being homey and, well, Vietnamese. Instead, we are staying at a hotel I remember passing by three years ago and thinking something along the lines of, "I'm glad we're not staying there. It looks like a hotel at home." You can check it out here.

If you roam around the hotel's website, you will note that it has a fitness center and a pool. I was looking forward to not having those! If there is a fitness center, I will feel guilty if I don't use it. Three years ago, the sons and I walked and walked and walked each and every day. I wanted that sort of real-world exercise again. The mere existence of a gym to which I have access ensures that, even if I do walk an incredible distance on a given day, I will feel some small pangs of guilt that I do not go do some strength training or some real cardio or whatever. Comment all you want and tell me I don't have to feel this way, but I'm a classic Type A and will. I know myself all too well. At least the pool is some strange, round, kidney shape that does not scream lap swimming.

Why the change? I asked the husband if the university perhaps thought that professors from the U.S. would prefer a Western-style hotel. He said that could be the reason, but it could also be that because the manager or some other higher-up of this hotel is the spouse of a physics faculty member at the university, the university gets a good deal on the cost. Since we are not paying for this, I am not going to complain more than I already have. There may, in fact, be a silver lining to the cloud. I may spend even more time walking or bicycling the streets and seeing the city up close rather than through the window of a room that could be anywhere.