Living in a hotel for two months

I’m sure many of us have sometimes dreamt of living in a hotel for a longer period. I know I did, before I actually had to live in a hotel for two months. Sure, it was fun at first, but soon the novelty wore off and I started missing having my own place.

The hotel suite

Almost a decade ago hubby got an offer to work in Sao Paulo and after a pre-visit and some contemplation we decided to make the move. We arrived in Brazil at the beginning of August and hubby’s company put us up at a hotel. We got a one-bedroom suite at Hilton Sao Paulo Morumbi. The suite consisted of a small kitchenette with a fridge, some dishes and a microwave. There was a separate toilet by the entrance and the sitting room also had an office corner. The bedroom had a walk-in closet and a bathroom with a shower stall and bathtub. There was TV in the lounge, in the bedroom and even in the bathroom. The size of the suite was 80 m² which is actually larger than most of the apartments I’ve lived in. So, there was plenty of room for me, hubby and our two cats.

Amenities

We had access to the executive lounge that offered breakfast and happy hour every day. The hotel had a gym and pool, which we naturally had access too. I must say the gym was better than most hotel gyms as at least in the early 2010s it offered memberships to locals. That naturally meant it was bigger and had more equipment than typical hotel gyms. Both the pool and gym are located on the 28^th floor so the views are spectacular.

Perks

At first, staying at the hotel was great and we enjoyed having the variety of a hotel breakfast every morning. We used both the standard breakfast and the breakfast at the executive lounge. The standard breakfast offered more variety while the executive lounge was a quicker option. Hubby worked on weekdays and I spent my time at the hotel, a nearby mall and some expat activities. I was working for myself at that time, so I often utilized the office in our room during the days. Living in a hotel proved good for my health exercise wise as I would escape the room every day to get out of the way of the cleaners and hit the gym/pool for up to an hour. It was nice to have someone clean your suite every day.

Missing a home of our own

After about a month the hotel breakfast no longer excited us, and we utilized the happy hour less frequently as the food offered was almost identical every day. Even though I love eating out being forced to do so every day was not fun; I wanted to be able to cook for us so badly. Not having cooking facilities resulted in me regularly skipping lunch, which is not healthy in the long run. When we first moved in, we took advantage of the hotel laundry services but soon discovered a less expensive dry-cleaning service at the adjacent mall. Funnily enough, I actually missed being able to do my own laundry. The only thing I didn’t miss was ironing, so once we got to move into our own place hubby continued to have his shirts dry-cleaned.

Of course, the biggest thing we missed after a while was having your own space and your own stuff. I still love living in a hotel for e.g. a week when on vacation, but I can honestly say that living in a hotel long term is not for me.