Day 14: Airbnb and other things that rhyme with shit.

The trip is winding down. We are pretty exhausted. I don't know if you have noticed, but Annie and I are not small people. The beds in these countries do not fit our bodies. It's a constant battle. Annie would say that I take up too much of the bed. Do not believe her. It's all lies. I'm fighting for my fare share over here. 

Anyway, we are heading to Edinburgh and only have one half day there. Oh boy.   It was about a four hour drive down to the city. Oh, I forgot something important. 

Airbnb is the worst.  Our first Airbnb was going to be our first night of the trip in Dublin. If you remember Adeline cancelled on us at the last minute and we hate her for that. 

Our second Airbnb was on the Isle of Skye and there was a risk of getting stabbed. 

Our third Airbnb was for our last night in Edinburgh. The lady sent Annie an email today and asked if it was ok that the people upstairs were having a party. With music starting at 9:30 pm. Well no, that isn't ok actually. So we cancelled that reservation. 

So we don't have a place to stay for Friday night. Great. We got on our phones and Annie found a place for 100 lbs ($160 usd) on Booking.com. I watched her book it.  We always confirm the dates with each other multiple times. 

They sent the confirmation email for September 28th. Well great!  Good to know we have a hotel for ten days from now. Annie called Booking.com and they said they would call the hotel and see if they could change the dates. Great. 

They called us back about an hour later and said that they couldn't understand the person on the phone that they called from the hotel. Ok. They were going to email them and get back to us in the morning. Great. 

They called Annie in the morning but I answered since she was driving. They told me that they had gotten hold of the hotel and since we booked last minute the price would be 170 lbs. I said "No. That isn't the price agreed to. Go ahead and cancel our reservation."  I was then informed that there would be a cancellation fee.  OK. 

I informed Booking.com that I would not be paying a cancellation fee for a room that they couldn't honor the advertised price on. I informed them that either they could not charge me this fee or I could dispute it with my credit card company. The end result was the same.   After a another couple phone calls they graciously didn't charge me. Thanks!

We still don't have a hotel. Shit.  We had lunch and got back on our phones. I found a place using Expedia. Booked!  Proper date confirmed!  All is well. 

An hour later they cancelled our booking. Shit. We still don't have a hotel. I now started calling hotels. At this point we are in the city. Annie is navigating and driving. I'm calling hotels. We finally found a place. It was fine. We are exhausted. 

Oh....then we went to Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood Palace and a really good Italian place. 

Tomorrow we fly to Dublin, then JFK, then HOME. 

Cheers.