Send the moral of the story is…. Never book things in a bit of a rush or when you're running out of options by the minute.
But then again, you could also call the lesson of the day 'sods bloody law that if one Airbnb booking is going to go badly wrong, it would just have to be the one for Hawksey's birthday, over the Easter weekend when there is nothing else available at all.
So we drove, in good faith, from home all the way to Deal in Kent. Where we waited an hour and a bit to get served for lunch in a perfectly nice but very Easter-busy pub. After which, we thought, let's go and check in at the place we've rented for 2 nights, and where I had managed to persuade the owner to let us bring the dog even though she didn't normally accept pets. Result, or so I thought. It had a nice looking bedroom, large swish nicely tiled wet room, some kind of day room with table and – or do I foolishy assumed – the kitchen etc would be of similar ilk.
The first odd thing was when we parked was their car, under a dodgy tarpaulin, and the pile of builders rubbish outside. But perhaps it was a recent listing and they hadn't fully finished tidying the outside as yet..
So we went in and I looked left to the kitchen and went to pop my handbag down. But got some strange vibe from the woman, so kept a hold of it. The next oddity was her pulling what felt like it would be the lounge door, shut, rather than showing us round it. Bit weird, though I still hadn't yet put my finger on it.
Then we were shown the bedroom, yes looked nice, very comfy looking big bed, and the nicely decorated shower room/bathroom and the side room. But why was she suddenly shoving a menu under our noses and asking what we wanted to order for breakfast? Pardon? Well, we were anticipating having the nice cooked breakfast that we'd brought with us, as well as having the evening in, cooking the large steak and jacket spuds as Mr H's pre-birthday dinner. And sitting in the lounge that somehow she wasn't keen to show us..
Oh no, no, no. This was clearly not to be as she started using the words 'my kitchen' and it's a B&B' just as we were saying, 'but this place is on Airbnb as being a whole house/flat'! And not helped by Mr H instantly refusing to stay and saying 'it smells' (luckily not in front of her) while I desperately hoped I had indeed ticked the 'whole property' box on the bloody website…. Fortunately it transpired I had, but that was no use when there wasn't a decent room left in the whole of Deal to stay in (3pm on Easter Friday is not a good time to look for a roof over your head).
So – we had option but to leave. Oh god, bang on the eve of H's birthday and without a pot to piss in. Trying to ring Sarah Taylor and Paul who we were very much looking forward to having H's birthday dinner with on the Sat eve, and who we were now going to let down, a horrid feeling. And the restaurant, to cancel them. Then Janine and Ross, to see if we might be able to use the cottage in West Sussex instead of trailing all the way home with our tails between our legs. And then their nice neighbour Simon, located on the 15th hole of Lewes golf course, who did luckily have spare cottage keys as we didn't have ours with us. And finally, to the Horsham curry house, to get a takeaway as H had long lost the will to cook steak by this point.
Chuck in some marital grumpiness and we were both tucked in our separate beds by 9.30pm. Weirdly I have discovered that I sleep really on Ross's side of their bed, must be those many wood-chopping pheromones…..
More to follow, as the weekend has since picked up from its shockingly poor start. Oh, and I forgot to mention that, having said she would refund us, while we were in the bungalow of horror, the owner then refused and said 'we should have read the reviews in more detail' while funnily enough we think it's a touch more incumbent on her to actually advertise her property as a bloody B and B ! The cheeky cow has even changed it now to Private Room on her listing but luckily Airbnb can see it was a Whole House originally. And now to the fun of the Resolution Centre to get back the rental fee, double grr.
Any way, the nice rest of weekend will follow. Just had to get the disaster bit off my chest! X