7 Things To Do If You Are Trapped In Your Hotel Room

This could be one of the worst-case scenarios when we are travelling. Rain may pour very heavily for a few days; after visiting nearby attractions with much difficulty, we could be trapped inside our hotel room for much of the day. Don’t worry, our trip doesn’t have to be a total bust, it’s still possible to experience the foreign country from inside our hotel room, until the sun comes up again:

  1. Look out the window: This is probably the simplest activity, but spending time while doing it could show us how locals live their daily activities. We can see how people move around, using public transportation, walking and biking. We should know when they eat, how they communicate and how the dress. Eventually, we could see how different things are compared from our life back home.
  2. Read about the country: If we are planning to go to specific attractions in the next few days, we could read more about our upcoming destinations. We will have better insights into our surrounding. We could also read pamphlets and we should be able to get information on popular attractions that we don’t know yet.
  3. Watch TV: This may not seem like an activity that we should do during a trip. However, local TV shows and news could provide us with an insight about the local people. Any breaking story should let us know about additional information. We could watch entertainment, culture and documentary shows made by locals to discover new things that we could be interested in. In some cases, this could feel like watching cable TV without the extra costs.
  4. Order some food: If it is really impossible to leave the hotel to at outside, we could check hotel’s menu for local dishes. If we want the more authentic one, we could tip a concierge to order us good food that locals eat. This is an acceptable thing to do because the room service food can be rather unauthentic and grossly overpriced.
  5. Contact the tourism office: This should be an easy thing to do. After reading a lot about local attractions, we could contact tourism office about latest updates. There should be someone in the office who speaks good English. We should ask about events that will soon take place in the city and have them send an email to us, if possible. Tourism centers will have a lot of information that details cultural events, celebrations and exhibitions.
  6. Meet the locals: Even if we are trapped in the hotel, we should still be able to meet the locals. We could go outside the room and sit in the lobby. We could go to the restaurant and if it is empty, the staff could be more than willing have a conversation with us. Locals love to brag about their country and they could also be eager to practice their English.
  7. Raid the mini bar: This could be a rather expensive way to experience the country. However, we could check the mini bar look for local beverages and snacks that catch our attention. Every country has specialized packaged foods and chances are, we could find them in our room, everything from snacks to soda. This may not be great for both our wallet and tummy, but it’s a good thing to try it once when we visit a new country.