Unfortunately not the kind that goes in the bottom of tarts but the kind that when it all turns too.
We are currently in Paris having arrived yesterday. We were meeting one of the kids and grandkids on the day we arrived and another arriving tomorrow so were looking forward to it. We had booked an apartment months ago, right in the middle of Paris. It looked ideal, had the right amount of beds, had a balcony, was in a perfect location, until of course it was custard.
For the previous three days we had sent emails and left phone and text messages to the host yet had had no response. Need less to say we were getting very nervous with the lack of contact yet kept googling and researching and everything seemed legit until of cause it was custard.
Sitting in the hotel bar yesterday evening with very much less than 24 hours left until we were to go there he messages to say that the apartment is unavailable as the owner had covid and has to stay there and self isolate. What a pot of custard. Using Covid as an excuse for days of lack of communication and leaving us with nowhere to stay the very next day.
We start to search: “95% of accomodation is booked for your dates”, “change your dates”, is the common message and the prices are through the roof. Getting 6 people is very difficult as most hotel rooms are so tiny we need three rooms. Sites that we saw months ago when we looking at hotels rather than apartments have more than doubled and in some cases trebled in price and are further and further out of the city. Custard.
We call the help call centre of Bookabach, who we booked through and spend 20 minutes on hold and then are passed through three different operators repeating the same story, spelling my name, spelling my email, quoting booking numbers and finally give up when I am told off for spelling my name wrong, Evidently I said F instead of S. I am sure I know how to spell my name and that maybe they heard it wrong but anyway it was time to give up and go to bed. Custard had well and truly turned.
The hotel we had stayed in the night before could take us for one more night but then they were full so that bought some time. We had booked a biking tour so we set off on that and tried to forget that we would soon be homeless. Then in the afternoon we set about to book somewhere for the next 4 nights. We have done so now and it has cost more money, wasted a lot of time and felt like wading through custard.
in the scheme of things, as long as tomorrow’s check in goes ok the we will be back on track but blog writing time has definitely been spent bogged in custard and will write again soon.
Things to write about real soon when not bogged down in custard
Orlean – getting rid of rental cars, its houses, its food, its history and Joan of Arc
Paris – busy, full hotels, full tours, full everything. Bike tour. Flat white.