Tap Tap Tap Tap Tap Tap

If you know us, you know that we stay in VRBOs all over the world. We love them for the local feeling they provide - and there's nothing like sitting around in your living room drinking coffee in your pjs, while overlooking some of the world's greatest cities. 

We've had really good luck over the years. Of course there's always the chance that something goes awry or is amiss (remember fucking Bobby?). It's usually remedied quickly, and we move on.

On Friday, we arrived in Cordoba and moved into our VRBO. Right off the bat, there were a few little things that seemed like the owners weren't quite ready for people. The WiFi network was wrong in the welcome materials. The password is, and I'm not kidding, 32 characters long. COVID means there are no communal amenities, but we found no sponge or paper towels in the kitchen. No extra trash bags. The refrigerator was plugged in, but the temperature knob was at zero (we wondered why the milk we bought wasn't getting cold). The bulk shampoo and body wash dispensers in the shower were empty. Only two rolls of toilet paper for a 23-day stay (have you met Joe?). No bathmat. 

The biggest thing was the bathroom sink. It's a lovely glass vessel-style basin sitting on a glass and chrome counter top - very chic - but the bowl had been pushed off it's mooring/seal and was leaking. 

Now clearly this should have been noticed by the cleaning crew, or maybe they did it inadvertently, but it was so bad it was un-usable.

I texted the property manager, Carmen. She asked if I could push the basin back to center and then tighten the screw with a teaspoon handle. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA  I'm sorry. I'm not a plumber. And I'm not about to try that, make it worse and then be blamed (and charged) for the damage. I mean, I was born at night, but it wasn't last night. I replied that it needed a professional repair.

So she said she would call a plumber, but it wouldn't be until Monday...we would just have to use the kitchen sink until then. Ugh!

Long story even longer - I texted Carmen this morning asking when we might expect the plumber. C'mon, I'm on vacation and not meant to be held hostage waiting for Ralph to come fix the sink. And yet, here we sit. She told us to go to lunch, run errands, do whatever we needed to do, she would text when the plumber was available and see if we were as well. Frankly I still don't know why we would have to be here; she has the keys and our permission to enter.

Anyway, we spent the day doing our thing.

But by 6:30 we hadn't heard a peep. I texted and she immediately popped back with "we're leaving in 15 minutes." Sigh. Can you feel my stress level. Do you sense my throbbing heart rate. Can you hear my foot against the floor, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap. I think maybe she could.

When they arrived, Carmen directed the plumber to his work and was very apologetic to me. He was finished in 15 minutes.

I'm thankful that we've resolved this. I'm glad it didn't really impact our day. I'm happy that it only took a few minutes (I was doing laundry anyway). But goddammit! This trip has been one damn thing after another - it's like the travel gods are fucking with us just to make sure we REALLY want to travel.

Well, we do, so sit on it and spin, travel gods!

(I promise tomorrow I'll post interesting stuff, and I won't bitch about anything.)