Where is the kettle?!?

I'm not a terribly demanding guest. Give me a smoke-free room with the necessities with which to make tea, and I'm probably set.

I drink tea.  I'm not particularly fussy about my tea, as long as it's not Earl Grey, it has a dash of real milk, and it's made with freshly boiled water.  I don't have a problem with teabags, or with generic Liptons tea, and I even prefer a mug over a cup and saucer.  On the other hand, I don't drink coffee.  I don't even like the smell of it particularly.  And I really don't want coffee-flavoured tea.

In Australia, and most other colonial outposts, it is understood that right-thinking folks drink tea. Even the dingiest two-star motel will have a kettle, a handful of stale teabags and some UHT milk. You're more like to get a kettle than clean bedding.

In the US, tea is a quaint anachronism, drunk by oddballs like Hetty on NCIS:LA and Patrick Jane on The Mentalist. And not by people who stay in hotels or motels.

Last year, I went to Las Vegas for a short week (far too short, given it included 40 hours travelling time). My only request of the organisers was whether the room had a kettle. Yes, it has a tea/coffee maker. (Translation: it has a coffee maker which will spit out stale, tepid, coffee-flavoured water if you're lucky.) Ah, no. Would it be possible for the hotel to supply a kettle? No. There's a Starbucks in the lobby, they added helpfully. Will it be open at 11pm, when I arrive after 20 hours of travel, desperate for a real cup of tea? Well, no. And then they muttered, f*cking antipodeans, under their breath.

So I ordered a kettle on Amazon, and when I included a small pack of my preferred tea (Dilmah), I got free shipping. I arranged for it to be sent to the concierge, who very kindly had it delivered to my room before I arrived. I got some milk from the mini-store in the lobby, and was set. Freshly made tea, on demand. Very important for a jetlagged Strine. I even converted my roommate, Oblivious de Havilland (not her real name), to tea, and sent her home with the leftover teabags.

 &  =

So this time, to New York, I have gone through the same exercise to ensure I have tea available on demand. Having chosen my accommodation (a B&;B at the top of Central Park), I asked whether they have a kettle. No, but we serve tea. (Excellent start.) I'll be jetlagged and needing lots of tea at various hours of the night, and would really rather not disturb you each time. Last time, I had a kettle delivered by Amazon before I arrived - should I do so again? We'll have a kettle by the time you get here. (Bonus gold star even before I get there!)

Even better, when I'm catching up with some friends for the last weekend of my stay, the motel I'm staying at there ALREADY HAS A KETTLE in the room. I didn't even need to ask/beg/plead/cajole.

So that, dear V, is why there is no kettle on my shopping list.