I am currently on a two and a half week speaking trip in Europe, starting in Prague and ending in London, with talks in ten cities, including two in London.
My sister and brother-in-law stayed at the ultra-fancy Peninsula Hotel in Chicago when they visited me and paid for my room there so we could all tour downtown easily without coming back to my suburb. They had the same electricity-shut off system, so maybe it's coming here too.
The bed in the picture looks like all beds I've seen in Europe ... I am actually confused about what American beds look like then.
One thing i found odd in some hotels (not sure if those were only outside of Europe or hotels in general) is that they keep a second sheet that they tuck into the bed every day for some reason. There is usually a blanket under that sheet and I have to untuck the whole thing and use it like the duvet in your picture. Then the cleaning stuff tucks it in again when they clean the room ...
Do some people actually sleep inside the tucked-in sheet? Kind of like in a bedroll? That is really weird if that's the case :-)
Yes, I made the same unpleasant discovery on my first trip to India. Power turned on with the key card, removed when you pull the key card, devices discharging, and restored when you insert any credit-card-sized implement.
I don't know how either ASI or IEA organizes these things. I just tell them that I am going to be in Europe and ask if they want a talk. Probably the best bet is to get in touch with them. The events might be free, might not.
As a European in the US I am still amazed about obsession with ice, and, much more, about having to sleep under a sheet and a blanket, instead of normally - under a duvet in a "giant pillow case" that Americans don't even have a word for.
Sleeping under a sheet and a blanket in the US amazes me probably on the same level as using a separate faucets for hot and cold water in the UK. No idea why is this a common practice today when much more convenient alternative is available at seemingly no extra cost.
As a European myself, I have a fair amount of experience of duvets, having used them in my own home as well as in hotels. I find that they’re useful if the bedroom is really cold. Otherwise, they’re too hot, and they’re not adjustable: you have the choice of being too hot under the duvet, or throwing it off and being too cold. Whereas, if you use blankets, you can adjust the number of blankets to suit yourself. I prefer blankets, and gave up using duvets years ago (unless forced to by circumstances).
My gripe isn't with blanket vs duvet, but with a sheet under a blanket or a duvet vs "a giant pillow case" over a blanket or a duvet depending on the temperature of your bedroom.
The sheet provides better temperature control. Winters here are generally a few degrees below freezing at the lowest, usually 5-10 degrees above freezing, occasionally room temperature for a few days. Summers are generally in the 80s and 90s F, occasionally over 100F. My bed has a top sheet and a blanket over that.
If the evening is going to be cold outside, the blanket is unfolded. If merely cool, I fold the upper part of the blanket back. If I wake up in the middle of the night feeling cool, it's a few seconds work to unfold more of it.
If the evening is going to be warm, the blanket is entirely folded back, covering only my feet. If it's warmer than that, the sheet folds back too, proportionately. On the warmest nights, I sleep entirely on top of everything.
I can't imagine doing that with a duvet, unless I kept the doors and windows always closed and lived by a/c. But this climate is dry, with summer humidity generally at or below 10%.
You’re thinking of putting a blanket inside a duvet cover? That’s an original idea. I’ve never thought of trying it, and never seen it done. But I don’t usually have any problem with the normal arrangement of one or more blankets on top of a sheet. (Note: I tuck in the sheet and blankets only at the foot of the bed, not at the sides.)
I slept under a top sheet last night, at an accommodation in Malta run by an Italian (though duvets are the norm here as well). I think this is more common in southern Europe, as I cannot recall ever having come across it in the north.
On at least one occasion, I slept between the top sheet and the duvet, not having understood what the top sheet was for or why there was no duvet cover.
Wow, I wonder which countries you’ve slept in. Within Europe, I’ve lived in England, Germany, Italy, Sweden, France, and Spain (I now live in Spain). I’ve visited the USA only once, briefly.
I am sure there is someone in the US using a duvet but it is not the standard arrangement. Amazon carries both duvet and duvet cover so they are available.
Given the disagreement in the thread between the alternatives I wonder if there is some reason why one is standard in the US, the other in Europe.
In the south of France, we used to have bedsheets and blankets. Duvets were found in cold Europe (Germany for instance). It may well be that the spread of Ikea (never been to Sweden but would not be surprised they sleep under thick goose duvet up there) in the 1980s and 1990s also spread the duvets...
It isn't clear from the picture how the Japanese version works. Is it a bag, both under you and over, and split on top to get into? With a standard western mattress you don't need insulation under you since the mattress provides that.
So there's three layers that make up the mattress part, the top one of which has a cover. Then there's a separate duvet on top of that, with a cover that covers all of the duvet except for the big opening on top, and this opening makes replacing the duvet considerably easier than with a Western-style duvet cover, where one has to get the duvet from the opening at the foot end all the way to the head end. The tatami flooring also provides some insulation. Japanese people typically fold up the bed in the morning and store it in a closet during the day so that the floor space can be used for other things.
“There is a solution if you want to keep recharging things when you are out of the room”
Tell the front desk that you’ve misplaced your key card. Or just ask for two from the beginning of your stay.
That is more trouble than putting a random card in. But the hotel I am now in gave me two cards.
As a european, let me confirm that any credit card will do, and everybody knows you do it.
The cleaning ladies will probably remove it, though.
My sister and brother-in-law stayed at the ultra-fancy Peninsula Hotel in Chicago when they visited me and paid for my room there so we could all tour downtown easily without coming back to my suburb. They had the same electricity-shut off system, so maybe it's coming here too.
One problem with fooling the card sensor is this way I forgot my American National Parks pass in Berlin
If you don't have at least one card you wouldn't mind losing your wallet is better organized than mine.
The bed in the picture looks like all beds I've seen in Europe ... I am actually confused about what American beds look like then.
One thing i found odd in some hotels (not sure if those were only outside of Europe or hotels in general) is that they keep a second sheet that they tuck into the bed every day for some reason. There is usually a blanket under that sheet and I have to untuck the whole thing and use it like the duvet in your picture. Then the cleaning stuff tucks it in again when they clean the room ...
Do some people actually sleep inside the tucked-in sheet? Kind of like in a bedroll? That is really weird if that's the case :-)
Reading this now ... Shame, I'd have liked to come to the Prague event. Enjoy the rest of the trip :-)
I was wondering where the Rome lecture is (presuming that it is either open to the public, or presented to a club one can join)?
It isn't happening, unfortunately.
Ah what a shame. Hopefully you’ll come back through Rome in the future.
Yes, I made the same unpleasant discovery on my first trip to India. Power turned on with the key card, removed when you pull the key card, devices discharging, and restored when you insert any credit-card-sized implement.
Presumably, I can't buy tickets to see you in London yet?
I don't know how either ASI or IEA organizes these things. I just tell them that I am going to be in Europe and ask if they want a talk. Probably the best bet is to get in touch with them. The events might be free, might not.
Thanks. I've registered my interest with ASI for the event and directly contacted IEA who haven't listed it on their website.
As a European in the US I am still amazed about obsession with ice, and, much more, about having to sleep under a sheet and a blanket, instead of normally - under a duvet in a "giant pillow case" that Americans don't even have a word for.
Sleeping under a sheet and a blanket in the US amazes me probably on the same level as using a separate faucets for hot and cold water in the UK. No idea why is this a common practice today when much more convenient alternative is available at seemingly no extra cost.
As a European myself, I have a fair amount of experience of duvets, having used them in my own home as well as in hotels. I find that they’re useful if the bedroom is really cold. Otherwise, they’re too hot, and they’re not adjustable: you have the choice of being too hot under the duvet, or throwing it off and being too cold. Whereas, if you use blankets, you can adjust the number of blankets to suit yourself. I prefer blankets, and gave up using duvets years ago (unless forced to by circumstances).
My gripe isn't with blanket vs duvet, but with a sheet under a blanket or a duvet vs "a giant pillow case" over a blanket or a duvet depending on the temperature of your bedroom.
The sheet provides better temperature control. Winters here are generally a few degrees below freezing at the lowest, usually 5-10 degrees above freezing, occasionally room temperature for a few days. Summers are generally in the 80s and 90s F, occasionally over 100F. My bed has a top sheet and a blanket over that.
If the evening is going to be cold outside, the blanket is unfolded. If merely cool, I fold the upper part of the blanket back. If I wake up in the middle of the night feeling cool, it's a few seconds work to unfold more of it.
If the evening is going to be warm, the blanket is entirely folded back, covering only my feet. If it's warmer than that, the sheet folds back too, proportionately. On the warmest nights, I sleep entirely on top of everything.
I can't imagine doing that with a duvet, unless I kept the doors and windows always closed and lived by a/c. But this climate is dry, with summer humidity generally at or below 10%.
You’re thinking of putting a blanket inside a duvet cover? That’s an original idea. I’ve never thought of trying it, and never seen it done. But I don’t usually have any problem with the normal arrangement of one or more blankets on top of a sheet. (Note: I tuck in the sheet and blankets only at the foot of the bed, not at the sides.)
Before visiting the US I've never seen a sheet under a blanket or duvet.
I slept under a top sheet last night, at an accommodation in Malta run by an Italian (though duvets are the norm here as well). I think this is more common in southern Europe, as I cannot recall ever having come across it in the north.
On at least one occasion, I slept between the top sheet and the duvet, not having understood what the top sheet was for or why there was no duvet cover.
Wow, I wonder which countries you’ve slept in. Within Europe, I’ve lived in England, Germany, Italy, Sweden, France, and Spain (I now live in Spain). I’ve visited the USA only once, briefly.
Wait, so they don't have duvet covers in the US‽ That is surprising.
I am sure there is someone in the US using a duvet but it is not the standard arrangement. Amazon carries both duvet and duvet cover so they are available.
Given the disagreement in the thread between the alternatives I wonder if there is some reason why one is standard in the US, the other in Europe.
In the south of France, we used to have bedsheets and blankets. Duvets were found in cold Europe (Germany for instance). It may well be that the spread of Ikea (never been to Sweden but would not be surprised they sleep under thick goose duvet up there) in the 1980s and 1990s also spread the duvets...
https://www.independent.co.uk/property/interiors/the-secret-history-of-the-duvet-2063283.html claims that they were introduced from Sweden to the UK in the 1960s and then gradually came to dominate there, so, being such a recent change, I would guess that it was by random chance that the US preserved the older English way.
Arguably, the most practical design is by far the Japanese one, with the opening of the duvet cover on top instead of at the foot end, but I have never seen those used outside Japan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futon#/media/File:Futons_in_a_Ryokan_-_2.jpg
It isn't clear from the picture how the Japanese version works. Is it a bag, both under you and over, and split on top to get into? With a standard western mattress you don't need insulation under you since the mattress provides that.
So there's three layers that make up the mattress part, the top one of which has a cover. Then there's a separate duvet on top of that, with a cover that covers all of the duvet except for the big opening on top, and this opening makes replacing the duvet considerably easier than with a Western-style duvet cover, where one has to get the duvet from the opening at the foot end all the way to the head end. The tatami flooring also provides some insulation. Japanese people typically fold up the bed in the morning and store it in a closet during the day so that the floor space can be used for other things.
Enjoy, David!