Those of you who have known me a long time will remember
that a few years ago, I spent six months travelling to and from Amsterdam on a weekly basis. I'm
incident prone at the best of times, but there was something about Amsterdam
that amplified it. I lost count of the number of times I tripped, fell, lost
things, lost myself and got the time zones confused. One time on the metro
someone actually fell on me. I'm beginning to think that Alexandria is going to
turn out to be the same - maybe I should avoid cities beginning with A. In fact
Alexandria seems to be worse - as well as being incident prone, it seems to
turn me into a ditzy idiot. Just read my last post if you don't believe me.
It started before I even got to Alexandria. According to our
travel agent at work, all the hotels we use were full. I really needed to go this week,
so I looked into airbnb and checked with my boss who approved it. Found
somewhere that was walking distance to the office, had WiFi (essential) and was
described as 'luxury'. It seemed a bit pricy to me but then maybe that's what
luxury costs in Alexandria I thought. And I've never used airbnb before so I
had no idea what was a reasonable price to pay. It also could sleep six so that
would put the price up, I supposed.
I set of from work in my Uber to catch the 14.00 train.
Unlike last time, my ticket was for the right day. So far so good. Got on the
train. As I was catching up on my social media, one of my team called.
"Carol, your laptop is sitting here on your desk. Did you mean to take it
with you?" I rummaged in my laptop bag. No laptops present. Honestly. I could hear them all laughing in the background.
I did manage to get off at the right station in Alexandria for the first
time, so things were looking up. Needless to say, not for long. It was only a
15 minute walk, and it was a lovely, sunny, fresh day in Alexandria. So I
decided to walk. What I was forgetting, of course, was the fact that the
pavements in Egypt are shit. So dragging your wheelie case along loose paving
stones, sand, gravel and numerous other obstructions isn't a pleasant
experience. This is when you can actually get on the pavement - half the time
you have to run the gauntlet with the traffic because there are cars parked on
the pavement. My right arm ached by the time I found the apartment.
When the doorman opened the apartment door, I was slightly taken
aback by the huge, old fashioned dining room table and chairs. Oh well I
thought, I can live with antique furniture for two nights. The doorman put my
case in the bedroom and left. My initial impressions were not good. It looked
pretty tatty to me for something described as 'luxury'. I couldn't get the air
conditioning to work, that was the first issue. Then the person who I was in
contact with called me. I asked for the WiFi password. She said "there is
no internet". "But I specifically chose this place because it says
there is WiFi" I said through gritted teeth. She repeated that there was
no internet at all. Right, I thought, well I'll just have to make the best of
this.
I went to the toilet. The shower curtain rail was falling
off the wall. Hmmm I thought. Still making the best of this although the best
is becoming increasingly hard to find. There was no loo roll. And no towels. I
wondered if I had messed up here - are these things not provided in airbnb properties?
I would have to have a closer look (and I'd have to go shopping for loo roll
and a towel).
The wardrobe was a gigantic, old fashioned walnut affair. I
opened the door so I could hang up my work clothes. It fell off - on to me. If
I hadn't reacted quickly it would have landed on me, as it was it hit me on the
arm. Gosh, I thought. This isn't going as planned. Some instinct made me throw
back the duvet. It was covered in stains. I actually gagged. F**k making the
best of this! I went straight on to airbnb to complain, and while I was waiting
for their site to respond, I looked on booking.com. Well there were loads of
places and I have no idea why our travel agent couldn't find anywhere. I will
be having a conversation with them on this very subject when I get back to the
office next week. I booked into the Sheraton which was cheaper than all the
hotels I had tried to book in that were full. Called another Uber. Went to the
Sheraton. God, the relief. Nice room, air conditioning, WiFi, loo roll, towels.
Intact shower rail. And a fruit bowl. And room service. And BEER in the mini
bar.
While I was in the Uber on the way to the Sheraton, airbnb
rang me, and I have to say I was extremely impressed. They were full of
apologies and said numerous times that this "hardly ever happens!"
They had also noted that this was my first airbnb experience, and it hadn't
gone well (to say the least). They asked me to send the photographs I had taken
of the wardrobe door, the stains (barf) and the shower. I did this, and shortly
after I arrived in the Sheraton, my money had been refunded. Not only that,
they gave me a voucher for another stay, to the value of this stay! I was well
impressed. As they have handled my complaint so amazingly well, I'm definitely
going to give them another go. Maybe not in Alexandria though, or any other cities beginning with A.
My worry is that I still have another 44 hours before I
leave Alexandria (this is assuming I go to the right station and get on the right
train), so goodness knows what might happen between now and then. However, for
tonight at least, all’s well that ends well. These are the views from my hotel
room. Not half bad.
Post blog note - I checked on airbnb after I wrote this and discovered that the apartment should have included loo roll and towels. Sigh.
Post blog note - I checked on airbnb after I wrote this and discovered that the apartment should have included loo roll and towels. Sigh. 
