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You lose some© Diane Goldberg under the original topic name
My second booking through http://www.hotelworld.com was not quite a disaster.
When I am in London, I prefer to stay in the Bayswater/Lancaster Gate area. Interesting area, about 90 % hotel in every possible configuration of price and amenity [or lack thereof]. I should know by now that a basic budget single en suite will cost about forty-five pounds during the summer. I should know that for that forty-five pounds I can procure a single that will be clean and function. Okay, I admit it, I know that. Yet, curiosity, which killed the cat, sends the budget traveler into strange terrain. I can name you three or four reasonably clean, relatively safe budget hotels in the area I like --- so, why do I insistently mouse through search engines seeking yet another budget hotel? What do I expect to find? Country house splendor at pre-World War One rates? My own personal ghost? I have no idea why I do this to myself. Wherein our heroine finds quiet, kink, and confusion all for forty six quid . . . I selected the Caring Hotel via the hotel world site ---- if you check the site you'll see that it advertises the hotel as providing a single en suite for thirty five pounds --- that was a great price for central London. When I filled out the booking form the confirmation came back --- a single, en suite, thirty-five quid. When I got off the train at Paddington I attracted the attention of a rather sinister man who followed me a few blocks despite my explaining that I was married, did not speak English and/or potentially harmful to his person. I was a tad frazzled when I made it to the doorway of the hotel. A large sign on the door informed all and sundry that they did not take DSS council clients ---- either a good sign or a bad one --- I'm not certain which. I staggered up the stairs and collapsed at the front desk. The front desk was staffed by an absolute rarity --- an unhelpful Englishman. With a look of near rigor mortis, the desk clerk AKA Quasimodo confirmed that he did in face have an Internet booking for me. We confirmed my identity with a series of bizarre rituals involving production of my passport, VISA card, and recitation of my mother's maiden name. Having satisfied the security, I was given a key to my room. My room was on the second floor, which was up four flights of stairs.
The copyright of the article You lose some in Traveling on a Budget is owned by Dr. Tami Brady. Permission to republish You lose some in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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