Greetings ,
Do you ever have moments when nothing seems to go right? Well, this was one of those moments for me...
It was about 9:00 in the evening. I'd just arrived in a city and was leaving the next day to fly home. So I was checking into a hotel for the night. Correction - I was trying to check into a hotel.
I'd made the reservation weeks before. This was back in the 'old days' before the internet and booking online. I'd called them to see if they had a room available for the date I wanted. Then I had sent a cheque (1) to pay for my stay.
The trouble was, the receptionist was now telling me that my stay wasn't paid for, that she could see no record of the cheque.
There was nothing I could do about that - I'd have to contact my bank when I got home and tell them about the cheque. The important thing now was to get a room for the night. Because I didn't have enough cash with me, I asked the hotel receptionist if I could pay with my bank card.
But that was also a problem. There was something wrong with the system!
So I went back out into the darkness to find the nearest ATM (2) and get the cash. Although it wasn't the first time I'd been to that city, I wasn't sure where the nearest bank (or ATM) was.
When I arrived back at the hotel and handed over the money, I was finally able to go to the room.
The whole situation was quite frustrating.
When I was back home, I spoke to the people at my bank and cancelled (3) the cheque.
Then I received an unexpected surprise!
Several weeks, maybe even a couple of months later, I received a letter from the hotel manager. My cheque had arrived! But he could see that my stay was paid for, so he was returning the cheque (it was in the envelope with the letter).
Have you ever had any moments when everything is going wrong and you just want the experience to be finished? Were any of those moments connected to hotels? If you have a story, hit 'Reply' and tell me...
Wishing you trouble-free travels,
Andrea
(1) cheque - old-fashioned way of paying for things by writing out how much and who you are paying on little forms in a special book you got from your bank. This is the British spelling - in American English they're 'checks'.
(2) ATM - machines around the city from your bank that you can get cash out of. ATM is short for Automatic Teller Machine.
(3) cancelled the cheque - when you cancel a cheque, the bank won't pay anyone the money if they come in with the cheque.
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