Adult Space Academy 49 - AWESOME!!!

[street]

Thank you all for your excellent suggestions! I shall be tweaking the packing list with your ideas in mind.

By the way, if you are caught out, we do keep a small supply of towels in Trainee Services. When one is not claimed out of lost and found we wash it and put it away for just such a situation. During the summer we get tons of them, but the supply quickly depletes during the winter when school groups come, and inevitably forget theirs.

As for the comment that hotels provide towels, keep in mind this is a camp. We don't have wooden cabins, but we still are a camp (we jokingly say they're expecting Camp Marriott). We get lots of adults who show up quite shocked at:
1. Sharing a room with a stranger
2. Going down the hall to a bathroom
3. No luxurious accommodations
4. No phones/TVs in rooms
5. No towels/toiletries

Luckily, my flight attendant daughter keeps us well stocked in toiletries, procured from some of the finest hotels in Europe. She brings the ones from her room that she didn't use.

[p51]

We get lots of adults who show up quite shocked at:
1. Sharing a room with a stranger
2. Going down the hall to a bathroom
3. No luxurious accommodations
4. No phones/TVs in rooms
5. No towels/toiletries

In all fairness, I'm not sure that the website does that great a job of explaining this to people. Most people who come here either know all that or want to know as much as they can. My first trip to SC, I was surprised to know that adults come to SC not really having much of an idea what to expect at all (and that not everyone who comes is as motivated as most of us here on this forum). So, yeah, I can completely believe your list.
I can also believe that your probably get more griping from adults over the Spartan conditions in the HAB, as opposed to the kids.
I think the HAB is part of the experience (at least the one time), but having gone three times already, I think I'll seriously consider bunking at the Marriott the next time I go, assuming I hit a 3 or 4 day program (a 7-day one would be darned pricey at those Marriott rates).

[wxnerdjenn]

I spent time nearly every day for several months leading up to my first camp experience researching everything I could. I do that with pretty much everything, but it always surprises me to hear that other people don't plan so meticulously, haha. I must have watched a bajillion youtube videos and read so many articles and blogs about camp. That's partly why I was so "shattered", for lack of a better word, when I got an email two weeks before camp saying we'd be in hab 2. AHHHHH!! But I didn't plan for that! It was fine though, in fact I really enjoyed it! It just makes me that much more excited to experience Hab 1 for the first time next month.

And I'll be bringing TWO towels And a travel pillow.

[Conan]

I have stayed in the Hab, or the AC bunkrooms, every time of my 13 visits to Space Camp. I always think about the Marriott. It is so comfortable when I stay there the night before camp. But I think that bonding with my teammates is more important than the comfort of a hotel room, so I have always talked myself out of it. I have come away from almost every camp experience with several new friends. ( Once or twice a head cold, but I suspect that was from the close quarters on the missions) I bring along a white noise generator, which helps us all to sleep in the noisy Hab. (It is all open down the center for 4 floors and the kids coming in are not very quiet) I find that adults try to be more considerate of each other when they share the rooms. And they usually only put 3 adults in a hab room, rather than the 6 or 7 kids.

[majtom7]

I think I'll seriously consider bunking at the Marriott the next time I go, assuming I hit a 3 or 4 day program (a 7-day one would be darned pricey at those Marriott rates).

Affinity programs help a bit with the Marriott rates. The USSRC discounted rate is relatively low for the Marriott, certainly lower that the AAA or senior discount rates. Yet the lowest rate, if available, is usually the government/military rate.

Weekends are usually relatively cheap for the Marriott but for a longer stay, they charge you whatever the highest night's rate is for the entire stay. For example, if I wanted to stay 10/10-16 at government rate, they'll charge $99 a night for each night even tho 4 of the 6 nights would be available for $89 a night if you booked them as single nights.

The Marriott Rewards Visa has a deal where you'd get 50,000 reward points that would go a long way to cover the 75,000 points needed for 6 free nights. However, I already have one so I am shut out on that. Not to mention that you would need to get one several months ahead of time in order to have the points in your account before booking.