Conrad and I traveled to Minnesota to visit my parents and family over the 4th of July and I am feeling the call to express our concern with the environmental contaminants we all face each day. Apart from the common exposures in air, water and food there are some more doozies.
We stayed at a Hampton Inn in Minnetonka near our family home and my parents new digs in senior living. We have stayed at this hotel many times in the past and like the quality of the water, cleanliness, and location. On our past trips we noticed no perfume products in the rooms and the sheets and bed clothes had no odors. Just clean. This trip was completely different.
I will warn you that I have a nose like a bloodhound…really. We dropped our clothes and headed out to visit my parents quickly before we took a much needed nap after being up since 3AM. Our return to the room was a disaster. A cloud of perfume ambushed us. I went to the front desk in a huff and found out that they came in sprayed the sheets and bedclothes with Febreze, yep. The front desk guys quickly explained to me that when you lie in the bed your body warmth activates the febreze for a lovely perfume experience. It is a corporate policy and every cleaning cart I saw had cans of this stuff. I explained to them that a reason one does such a thing may be to cover less than fresh sheets. We talked about the chemical contamination and the problems with headaches, migraines, sinus problems and asthma flare ups they may find their guests suffering from in larger numbers. How about the staff? (We were in room right by the back door so we never had to walk hall and we do not eat those breakfasts anyway.) Never mind the fact these products numb the nerves in your nose and you shortly do not smell at all. Some people wander around wondering why they have a headache and it is these exposures that cause them. I had a headache with a quick trip into and right out of this room.
The people at this hotel did the right thing, we left while they replaced the bed clothes and aired out the room and when we returned we had no more problems – I posted NO PERFUME signs all over the room.
Just saying… health problems result from this constant, daily barrage. Artificial everything adds up to tooooooo much. Your liver, your nervous system, your endocrine system and more gets weaker and weaker and soon you feel old and sick before your time.
Avoiding these chemicals, taking the money you save and spending it on organic, high quality, foods is a much better way to live. We found a great restaurant nearby that served organic and if not organic, local fresh food. We watched the boats & yachts on Lake Minnetonka go by from a popular restaurant and were able to see some fabulous wood boats from the 30’s and 40’s. We enjoyed my parents and a wonderful friend from my childhood with her husband in glorious weather of 82 degrees with a Canadian wind blowing a few miles an hour. Nothing like the land of 10,000 lakes.
I know…I read the Fox article about cocaine and other pollutants in the lakes…Yikes.