Bumped From Our Hotel by the Prince of Saudi Arabia

Once upon a time there was a mother and her tween daughter who set off on a fun adventure together during spring break to explore a beautiful city and enjoy some wonderful bonding time. The mother had carefully planned this trip, even calling the hotel the morning they were due to arrive and confirming their reservation. She was so excited to stay in this historic downtown hotel and knew it would be a lovely surprise for her daughter.

Fifteen minutes away from their destination, as they navigated the busy, unfamiliar freeway system with mom carefully listening to the directions being called out on her phone, suddenly that phone rang and the number for the hotel appeared.

“Hi! This is the Fairmont hotel in Seattle and we are calling to let you know that we have an unexpected event happening here that is causing us to have to move your reservation to another hotel. The secret service has informed us that they need any remaining rooms we have available. I can’t tell you why but I can tell you that we’ve booked you a lovely room at another downtown hotel.”

At first, the mother thought this must be some kind of a joke. The secret service? Really? She tried to get more information from the hotel representative but was basically given the “if we tell you we’ll have to kill you” treatment.

So, bizarre as it all seemed, mother and daughter had no choice but to embrace the change in plans and be redirected to another, less historic but equally lovely, hotel.

The daughter seemed a little bit concerned. How was this all going to work out? Would her mother know how to get to the new hotel? Would they really have a room there? Did her mother know how to navigate around this huge city?

And, as her mother easily found the hotel, parked the car, seamlessly handled the transition of being unexpectedly moved from one hotel to another and even got them a room upgrade(!), the daughter began visibly relaxing.

Upon entering their hotel room, marveling at the amazing view of the city and the water and then stretching out on the comfy beds, the daughter said that she had been a little bit worried about how it was all going to work out. The mother was quick to remind the daughter that this is just part of the adventure of traveling! And that, her mother traveled all over the United States on her own and managed just fine.

But, in that moment it dawned on the mother that she and her daughter had never really experienced a trip like this just the two of them. Most of the time, they went as a whole family and on those trips, the father took the lead (driving, navigating, negotiating) while the mother did a lot more of the ‘behind the scenes’ (making reservations, packing, stopping the mail).

The mother realized something. This was more than simply a fun mother/daughter vacation.

This was an opportunity.

Here was a chance to not just have a really great time adventuring with her daughter, but to show her how to adventure with CONFIDENCE.

How to navigate her way through an unfamiliar city.

How to ask questions of the locals.

How to open your heart and mind to new experiences.

And how to find the best views.

The mother wanted to show the daughter that traveling, like life, sometimes means making adjustments. It means that even though you should plan and prepare, you should also expect the unexpected.

Because, you just never know when the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia is going to bump you from your hotel. 😉

Thanks for meeting this mother and daughter at the fence today,