How To Camp In a Hotel Room

For everyone who has germaphobe “issues.”

Edinburgh. © Rose Ernst, 2023.

We all know the highlight reels of nomad life and full-time travel: glorious, splashy scenes of lives lived out loud.

The images rarely include sordid or stomach-turning aspects of life on the road, let alone our internal mind-based and visceral responses. I’ll spare you the visuals that have just leapt into my head.

Nudged and inspired by Charlie Brown’s article on struggles with bed issues, I’m offering my own experiences here and strategies to cope.

This problem comes in two intertwined flavors when you travel.

1. One is the dreadful scenario in your hotel room, airbnb, or housesit: where you can physically see something is wrong: a visually dirty shower, stained teacups, or a persistent odor…you get the idea.
2. The second scenario is based on the above experiences but is amplified by various neurodivergent and mental health challenges: sensory challenges, anxiety, OCD, and so on. I’m autistic, so my challenges are sensory and also overlap in some cases with OCD (particularly if I’m on the edge of burnout or if the place is overwhelmingly…ick).

I’m neither a mental health professional nor can I speak to particular triggers. However, I have found some ways to cope that allow me…