Glitch #2

This is our 7th summer abroad. For the past six trips to Europe, Joe has rented us some AMAZING houses and apartments. I'd estimate we've stayed in almost 40 different rental homes in France, Italy, Spain and Germany.

Each place has been wonderful (okay, maybe not that farmhouse on the outskirts of Lyon where cows and flies were the number one attraction) and we have enjoyed our stays immensely. Joe has done a terrific job.

Ahem.

Glitch #1 happened in Dublin where the rental agency never showed up to let us into the apartment he had rented for us. Who knows what happened there.

Glitch #2 happened yesterday just after we landed at the Edinburgh airport.

We jumped on a bus to take us into the city and arrived tired and weary. We had caught the 6:30am flight out of Bristol which meant we had to wake up that morning at 3:45am.

Our first order of business was to eat breakfast. The second was to find the apartment.

We went to the tourist information centre to get a map of Edinburgh so we would know which way to go.

When we studied the map, the first thing we noticed was that the apartment was located on the outskirts of Edinburgh. "That's okay", we said to ourselves. "We're only going to be there to sleep."

We walked south for about 20 minutes and found the apartment block. We buzzed and a young man let us in. "Great!" Joe said. "Thank goodness someone is here to meet us! Not like the last time."

The building was somewhat old and decrepit. The stairs were ancient, dank and dark. But I have learned to reserve judgment because in the past I have been beyond thrilled when I've seen what is on the other side of apartment doors.

We walked into an apartment THAT LOOKED LIKE IT WAS BEING LIVED IN BY OTHER PEOPLE! Joe and I looked at each other with quizzical faces.

The young man, Greg, was very friendly. He showed us our room. It was the apartment's original sitting room. A double bed sat in the corner with a couch and a coffee table in the middle. We hadn't rented an apartment! We had rented a ROOM in an apartment!

Greg was from Poland and he was excited when we told him we were from Canada, that we lived in a little town just north of Vancouver. "My girlfriend lives in Vancouver! Just outside in a town called Coquitlam. Do you know of it?" Did we know it?! I told Greg I grew up in Coquitlam! He could not believe it. Such a small world.

He showed us the kitchen if we wanted to make tea or coffee. The counters were covered with food and kitchenware.

He showed us the bathroom THAT WE'D HAVE TO SHARE WITH GREG AND HIS ROOM-MATE!

Greg then said, "Well, I have to go to work now. Here's the key. See you later. Have fun." We heard the apartment door slam.

I looked at Joe with a WTF expression on my face. Joe said, "Let's give it a chance. I can't see straight. I have to sleep."

And with that, he flopped on the bed. And then started to laugh. He held up a pillow. It had to be 2" thick at most.

I, too, laid down on the bed and we slept.

After our nap, I ventured out to find the bathroom. It was full of shampoo bottles, razors, toothpaste and toothbrushes, the usual paraphernalia one would find in a private bathroom. I sat down on the toilet and that was when I noticed there was no lock on the door.

I hurried back to our room and said, "I can't stay here." Joe agreed with me.

We quickly used Greg's WiFi to book us a hotel in the centre of the city.

We wrote Greg a note thanking him for his time, explaining that this kind of accommodation was not what we wanted. We left the note, along with the key, on the kitchen table and headed back down the long, winding staircase.

As we were walking towards town Joe said, "We'll, I guess I'm going to have to pay more attention to the details when renting us apartments." I agreed with him wholeheartedly.

And then he said, "Man, that was an expensive nap!"

Because of course we had already paid in full.




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