A chic room explosion by Chanel
There’s a travel phenomenon that my best friend and frequent travel companion Krista and I coined years ago. The room explosion occurs when, in spite of your best efforts, your hotel room becomes progressively messier with each passing day to the point that it actually looks like a small bomb has gone off inside your suitcase, leaving its contents strewn haphazardly all over your room.
When I spotted this Chanel ad about a year ago, I knew I had to hang onto it. Mr. Lagerfeld obviously understands and I’d love to have my room explode into lots of Chanel shoes and purses.
Why does a room explosion happen? Well, for one, I’m out of my element when I travel. At home, everything has it’s place and I like to consider myself a pretty neat and tidy person. (However, I’m also a super lazy housekeeper). Depending on your length of stay, what you packed and the set up of your room, you’ve got a lot of options on how to proceed. Do you unpack and place everything in drawers and closets? Do you just dig through your suitcase? Where do you put dirty clothes when you’re done with them? This becomes too many questions for me to answer and so my hotel room tends to be a mess. Plus, the glorious maid comes every morning to at least make your bed and refresh your towels.
I also suffer from an acute type of travel fatigue. The kind that forces me to expend all of my energy rushing around a new city, going out for dinner and drinks and catching up with old friends, that by the time I get back to my room, I have no energy left to lift a finger and put things where they belong, especially not if a clean, plush bed is beckoning me to lie down on it.
Of course, it’s one thing for a couple of girls on vacation to leave  their hotel room in disarray, it’s another thing entirely to be a houseguest who does this. When Krista and I first visited Lisa in Seattle (before she moved to Nashville), she showed us to our spare room, and we looked to each other as if to say, “We have to try really hard not to turn this into a room explosion.” And I think we managed to pull it off.
Rascal surveying the damage at home last fall
When my life gets busy with travel, work and events in Miami all seemingly happening in rapid fire succession, I have to admit this travel phenomenon hits home. It’s not all of a sudden, but progressively, the contents of my closet end up all over my room, papers pile up and half unpacked suitcases sit on the floor for days. It’s not until I’ve had a chance to catch my breath and survey the cumulative damage that I’m ready to spend an entire day (sometimes weekend) on deep cleaning and organization.
With the Boat Show leading to South Beach Wine & Food Festival leading to my birthday weekend (yes! I have a birthday coming up!) leading to a trip to the Caribbean, plus some pretty serious deadlines, I’m feeling a room explosion coming on. Can any of you relate or have any advice? Help!
