Matching Robes
One of the joys of hotels is that everyone is from somewhere else. If you are hanging out in the lobby or by the pool, the people you see aren’t divided into visitors and locals. No one really lives here, so everyone belongs to the same degree. We’re all on the same level, and I like that.
One of the less joyous things about hotels is that when you arrive your room is almost never ready.
Last week I flew across the Tasman to work on the Gold Coast. Up before dawn for a three hour flight which landed – local time – about the same time it took off. Meaning early morning, and several hours before my room would be ready.
No matter – it was the Gold Coast so hanging about in the sunshine made a welcome change from endless rain at home. Plus that whole thing of everyone being from somewhere else makes it fun to people-watch, and build stories about your fellow hotel citizens in your head.
I’d packed my swimsuit and sunscreen in my carry-on luggage so I could amuse myself in those waiting hours by lying beside the pool.
It was one of those hotels where they haven’t gone for plain décor – it’s all colour and fun. I suspect hotels and motels often choose “bland” to avoid offending anyone, but a world of grey and beige can feel offensive in its own way. Better to risk all the colours and throw in some wild objet d’art, I reckon.
I spot a man in pink linen trousers and a dress shirt featuring palm trees and sun umbrellas and I think, He looks great! Until I spot another man in the same outfit and momentarily think, How embarrassing. And then realise it’s the hotel uniform and think, How cool.
Out by the pool, two middle-aged ladies arrive in what appear to be – and it takes me a moment to process this – matching outfits. Full length beach robes with vibrant orange, purple, yellow and green zigzags patterns on the towelling, with hoods. One person sashaying poolside in that outfit would have been striking. Two were show stopping.
I try out stories for them in my head. Were they on a fun holiday together and purchased matching robes for the trip? Not unknown - you see teams of matching family t-shirts at Disneyland, or clusters of identical raincoats at outdoor concerts.
Or maybe these two women live together and this is only the beginning of their identical things? Perhaps there are matching slippers back at home! And what other complimentary outfits might they be into?
We chat about the food I’ve ordered – tacos – and as they choose from the menu, I am trying to work out if they are a couple, or friends, or maybe just colleagues attending the conference I am here for. I decide that, based on how business-like they are with each other, they’re either workmates or a couple who have been together a really long time.
Eventually, my room is ready and I make my way to the twentieth floor where, from the balcony, I can look down on birds flying below. And there in my room I find two identical robes hanging in my wardrobe. Not the usual bland white you will find in other places, but vibrant orange, purple, yellow and green zigzags on hooded towelling robes.
And I am tempted to pop it on and go join the other ladies at the pool.