It was ok till the bloody fingerprints...

This one goes out to Andrea Taetle, a closet stand-up comedian (sorry to OUT you Andrea). It's a small story about trying to find a nice place to stay in London. My dad and step-mother were coming to see me while I was in the hospital and I was concerned about their staying at my house because there A LOT of steps. My father, God bless him, is 89 and 3/4**(see below).

We soon learned that finding a place in London for 10 days that won't break your back or your bank isn't easy. So my stepmom did the best she could, perusing hotels on the internet. When she finally made a reservation at some B&B, I got to snooping around, specifically on Trip Advisor, nothing too in-depth in my search, and got worried at the lack of stars that sat next to the hotel's name.

I started reading the comments..nothing too bad. A bit noisy... Not that well-vacuumed... And then I came to the bloody fingerprints. Not the type where a British person might be frustrated while trying to clean some newsprint off the doorjamb, yelling, "these bloody fingerprints!". No. These were actually bloody fingerprints! On the wall! In the room! Yikes! And there went THAT reservation (talk about having reservations. Hahaha). That just isn't good PR...

Needless to say, they switched hotels. So, next time you travel and something just isn't right, do what my friend Susanne did when we were in Paris and having our one surly Parisian experience (there always must be one per trip) at a Chinese restaurant. (Please don't ask why we were having Chinese in Paris. The answer is: we had kids with us). In order to get some friendlier service, despite language and cultural barriers, she said, "I have two words for you. 'Trip Advisor'". And our meal was much better after that!

** I think when you get to be 89, it's ok to do that thing that new parents do. Like saying, "Oh, he's 22 months. Isn't he cute?" And you're thinking, "What's 22 months? Why don't they just say,  "almost two" or something like that?  But those months are earned. More for the parents than for the kids... But when you're 1,078 months, like my father, those are earned too. Hence the 89 and 3/4...