LOOK LEFT, LOOK RIGHT, STEP FORWARD BY The Gent

I recently took a road trip to North Carolina with a beautiful friend. I decided to stop off and stay in Washington D.C. since she had never been there. The Willard was a hotel where I had stayed many years ago. It is the oldest hotel in D.C. still beautiful with a classic lobby and a block away from the White House. My requests for our stay were simple. I didn’t want a mini-suite near any elevators, vending machines, or exit doors. They gave us a very nice suite on the fifth floor.

After taking a Step-on Step-off tour we decided to rest a bit before dinner. I noticed immediately upon sitting down with a beverage, a loud rumbling noise, you guessed it, the elevators. I apologized to my guest and mentioned that we might be moving. I called the front desk, made my complaint and within 15 minutes the shift manager was knocking on our door. She was a young, pretty woman of Malaysian descent with a warm accent and manner. I mentioned to her that management should rent her this suite because they should not offer it to any guests, the noises from the elevators were too loud!

Ayya, yes that’s how she spelled her name, apologized, and recommended two different rooms. One was on the ninth floor the other on the fourth. I turned down the ninth floor and asked to look at the one on the fourth floor, room 410/412. As we approached the room I noticed a bronze plaque on the door that read John F. Kennedy Suite. Immediately, as you would have guessed, my eyebrows raised up. It was his suite, majestic and elegant in every way. We sat in the stately living room, where heads of state must have sat. Made coffee in one of two mini kitchens. We slept where Carolyn and John had slept. We ate breakfast by the immense window looking down Pennsylvania Ave. It was an  over-the-top upgrade, to say the least. We were still in awe after leaving for North Carolina. The trip was wonderful. We have always been told, “The squeaky wheel gets the oil”, no truer words were ever spoken. A trip to remember. By the way, there were no elevators near his suite!