I’d like to think that Joe and I are smart people. But even smart people can overlook things that have been staring at them in the face for years and they never even knew it.
Case in point, I once wrote a post about “Going Out of Town? What to Bring, What Not to Bring & Tricks of the Trade.” In it, I suggest having a chip clip in your suitcase in case the curtains in your hotel room don’t fully close and leave a crack of light where they don’t meet. Our friend Eric said, he just uses the pants hanger in the room.
Well, duh, why didn’t I ever think of that?
But now? Now I feel even more stupid…
Nearly all hotel rooms we stay in have one desk (or desk-height table) and a chair. But we’re 2 people with 2 computers. Annnnnnd we’re travel bloggers, so that causes issues when we both want to work.
On rare occasions, the setup is such that we can ask for a secondary computer chair and it works out. But usually not so much – either the desk just isn’t made for 2 people, or even if we also have a cocktail table, it’s too low to work on comfortably for an extended period of time.
For a variety of reasons, typing on a laptop when it’s on my lap is physically difficult for me. So I usually get the desk because I just can’t function as easily as Joe without one. Either he’ll work with his computer in his lap, or sometimes either he or I will go down to the lobby and work on a table there.
But we won’t have to do that anymore, because today I saw a hack for this that I had somehow never heard of before.
Have a standalone in-room ironing board? Use it as a desk!
What’s more, if it’s a full-sized ironing board, you can adjust it to use it in a couple of different ways:
- Sit on the edge of the bed (or on the couch if you have one) and work on it in front of you
- Make it full height and use it as a standing desk
Even if it’s a mini ironing board, you can put it on the bed or dresser as a standing desk. Or, if you’re up to it, put it on the floor and plop yourself down.
And think about it – with so many hotels not providing a dresser anymore (here’s why), using the ironing board is just one more way to have a place to store more of your stuff!
So yeah…it only took me WAAAY too many years to figure this out.
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5 comments
I put serranwrap over pictures or even the tv screen and I use dry erase markers. Sometimes you just need a white board on the road.
Then make sure you never stay in a Moxy Hotel … Marriott’s newest and most ridiculous lifestyle brand. It’s cheap, cookie-cutter design trying to look cool and funky. It’s neither. Nor is it even remotely functional. For your items from the article: (1) No desk in the room, nor is there any table that could function as a desk. (2) No proper chair. (3). No pant hangars. You need to hang your clothes from a wood peg on the wall. (4) No ironing board (or iron). Want to iron something? There’s a communal ironing station on every other floor, in the hallway.
Actually, we’ve stayed at a Moxy (in Arizona) and loved it. If we know ahead of time that we won’t have a desk at all, we adapt…go down to the lobby or whatever. But assuming we do have a desk and it’s a room with an ironing board, it’s definitely an option.
Ha, just saw this today, a full year later. Great tip, never thought of using an ironing board for a desk. And for those who don’t have an iron and ironing board at home, just do your ironing when you stay at hotels. 🙂
I use the ironing board all the time for a table in the hotel room even though business travel is just traveling by myself.