RTW Adventures of J&M

 
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May 21, 2009

Day 192: J&M 翻臉了(turns hostile)....

We arrived in Beijing 5 weeks ago as trusting, polite and honest people. Tomorrow, we leave this city guarded, suspicious and with a little less self-respect for practicing bad manners on purpose. We are so sick and tired of the dishonest and sly way of doing business here in China. Everyone and anyone who is not a friend tries to take advantage of you for even the littlest gain. 
 
Tonight our goal was to get back our 400 USD security deposit from our apartment manager, Mr. Huang. In the 7 months we've been traveling to countries across the world we've never had any problem getting back our security deposit, but throughout our stay in Beijing our friends have been warning us about how it's a definite possibility our apartment manager will try to swindle us out of our deposit. We are leaving early tomorrow morning and suspected that if we agreed to do the walk-through tomorrow Mr. Huang may not show up at the agreed meeting time for whatever reason hoping that we'll abandon the deposit in favor of catching our flight to London. As predicted, our meeting tonight was an epic showdown that required a lot of shouting, a bit of psychology, emergency re-enforcements on speed dial and a good cop, bad cop routine (J was the good cop; I was the bad cop.). 
 
The story is very interesting, but too complicated to write about here. However, I am happy to report that in the end we were victorious and got our security deposit back! As a precaution we decided not to stay in the apartment tonight in case Mr. Huang decided to hire some thugs to break into the apartment and beat us up as revenge.
 
If we come home with lingering ill manners picked up from Beijing, slap us straight. You'll be doing us a favor.
 
Current Location: Beijing, China.
 
 
 

Filed under  //   Beijing   RTW Lodging  

Comments [7]

March 19, 2009

This costs HOW MUCH?! A room with a million dollar view

Item: Oceanfront studio at the Amaroo @ Trinity Beach
Location: Trinity Beach, Queensland, Australia

1. A small, but clean and functional bathroom
2. Double bed separated from the kitchen/living space by a half wall
3. Kitchen with a double burner stove, refrigerator and microwave
4. Living space
5. The deck at the end of the living room.

Please submit your estimates in USD per night.

         
Click here to download:
This_costs_HOW_MUCH_A_room_wit.zip (339 KB)

Filed under  //   Cairns   How much?!   RTW Lodging  

Comments [2]

March 17, 2009

RTW Lodging: Our very bad experience with Samantha Ford

Boutique Villas and Apartments
Samantha Ford, property manager
Sydney, NSW, Australia

This is the story of how Samantha Ford (SF) of www.boutiquevillasandapartments.com left us with no place to live in Sydney a week before our arrival.

I found SF in September 2008 through www.stayz.com while searching the website for a suitable holiday rental for our month's stay in Sydney. After a few exchanges of emails I gave her a 500 AUD deposit to secure a North Sydney apartment for a 4-week rental period in February 2009. This apartment had everything we were looking for (washer/dryer, unlimited high speed internet, convenience to public transportation, A/C, etc.) for a reasonable price.

While I was in Boston for Christmas I received an email from SF telling us that the apartment we wanted was no longer available for rent, but offered us an "upgrade" to a different apartment in Potts Point, Sydney for the same rental price. Although this apartment did not look as nice in the pictures and did not have A/C we decided that as long as it met our internet requirements we'd just go with it. At this point I re-iterated the importance of internet access to SF and she reassured me that they can accommodate us (at an additional fee, but whatever).

On January 30th 2009 I received an email from SF telling me that they are not able to provide an internet connection at the new apartment, canceled my reservation and refunded my deposit. At this point, I was at the tail end of my South America cruise and was arriving in Sydney on February 8th!

My entire next week in Santiago, Chile was pretty much spent prowling the internet and calling various property management companies for an available apartment in our price range. SF said in her email that she'd help us look for a new place but she NEVER gave us any options or a hint that she was even trying.

In the end we ended up renting an apartment for twice the amount we were originally going to pay AND lost more money when SF returned our 500 AUD deposit. Due to the increasing value of the USD between Sept 2008 and Jan 2009, we lost over 100 USD in this transaction.

Given the situation she left us in I should have unleashed more anger on her. However, I asked J to compose the final email (he's more eloquent than I am) and this is what we sent to her:

Sam,

My husband and I leave for Sydney in 36 hours.  You really left us in a bind.  We booked our accomodations several months ago in order to ensure that we would be able to find a good place at a good price and your last-minute cancellation has left us with few, if any, options.  The only places we can find now are $1500+ over our budget and we are seriously considering cutting our trip short.  We have not gotten any options from you or any sign that you care about the situation we're in.  I realize that some factors were out of your control, but we really expected you to make this right.  Needless to say, this has been a horrible experience and will be reflected in our reviews online.

My recommendation: Do not do business with Samantha Ford!

Keywords: boutiquevillasandapartments.com, Boutique Villas & Apartments, Sam Ford, Samantha Ford, samantha@boutiquevillasandapartments.com, samantha@fordandco.com.au, self-contained apartment, serviced apartment, short-term accomodations, holiday rental, vacation rental, Sydney, Australia, New South Wales, NSW, stayz.com, PO Box 23 Millers Point NSW 2000, The Rocks Villa, Retreat at The Rocks, Coogee Manor, Bondi Villa, Darling Harbour Apartment, Potts Point Apartment

Filed under  //   RTW Lodging   Sydney  

Comments [11]

March 15, 2009

RTW Lodging: A modern apartment in Santiago

SimplyChile
Bellavista 165
Apt #1403
Santiago, Chile
http://www.simplychile.com
 
Immaculately clean and efficient apartment
  • Separate bedroom with a double bed (Picture 1)
  • Spacious ensuite bathroom with a shower/tub combo (Picture 2)
  • Clean and well-equipped kitchen with a 2-burner stove, refrigerator, oven and microwave (Picture 3)
  • Open kitchen-living room floorplan (Picture 4)
  • Wireless internet via 3 different access points
  • No A/C, but did have a fan
  • Beautiful views out the window (Picture 5)
Modern apartment building with all the amenities
  • Entrance through security gates
  • 24 hour concierge/security guard
  • 4 elevators
  • Laundry facilities
  • Fitness room
  • Not one, but two rooftop pools (Picture 6)
  • Nice views from the roof (Picture 7)
Great staff that speaks very little to no English
  • Apartment manager was easy to find, spoke English and responded promptly to requests (early arrival, broken toilet)
  • Housecleaning staff was extremely thorough (cleaned entire bathroom EVERY day and seen wiping the underside of shelving), but spoke no English
Great value, but probably on the expensive side for Santiago
  • 65 USD per night
  • allowed us to check-out at 7 PM for no extra cost

             
Click here to download:
RTW_Lodging_A_modern_apartment.zip (613 KB)

Filed under  //   RTW Lodging   Santiago  

Comments [1]

February 6, 2009

RTW Lodging: A lovely apartment in Buenos Aires

Suipacha y Arroyo
Suipacha 1373 5D
Buenos Aires, Argentina
 
A nice place overall for a reasonable price
- studio loft with great layout: downstairs - kitchen, dining area and living room; upstairs: queen bed, sitting area and bathroom
- cleaning service once per week
- safe location in the Retiro neighborhood
- a real shower with elbow room and great water pressure!
- washing machine
- air-conditioning (really important when the outdoor temperature is like 95F
- two very small elevators servicing the entire apartment building
- broadband internet (1 wired, 2 wireless)
- $865 for 15 nights ($58 per night)
 
Nice owner who manages the property itself
- the owner lives in the building and is very responsive to concerns
- unfortunately, she doesn't speak much English
 
Mixed feelings on BAires Apartments Argentina (www.bairesapartments.com)
- booked apartment through them
- responsible soley for advertising the property and arranging check-in
- had an extremely hard time coordinating check-in (everyone seems to speak excellent English EXCEPT for the check-in coordinator, Lucas)
- they also sell tours and tickets to shows

           
Click here to download:
RTW_Lodging_A_lovely_apartment.zip (437 KB)

Filed under  //   Buenos Aires   RTW Lodging  

Comments [0]

December 23, 2008

RTW Lodging: Artist's loft in Paris

Atelier 3
75 Boulevard du Montparnasse, Floor 5 Apt #3
Paris, France

Convenient location in Montparnasse

  • (Picture 1) Located in the middle of Montparnasse: on top of the Bievenue Montparnasse metro station & kitty-corner to Tour Montparnasse.
  • (Picture 2 & 3) The gate to a small alleyway that led to our building was located next to a crepe stand. How convenient!
  • Three block radius: Monoprix (supermarket), weekly farmers market, weekly artist market, 5+ movie theatres, FNAC (electronics/bookstore), post office, SNFC (high speed train), Galeries Lafeyette.
  • Unfortunately, it did not have that cozy neighborhood feel.


Strange apartment layout

  • (Picture 4 & 5) Enter into the apartment from an outdoor balcony with an old-school key.
  • (Picture 6) Downstairs: entryway, bed, closets, bookcases of random stuff including some travel guides and the smallest toilet room (yes, only the toilet) in the whole world.
  • (Picture 7) Winding staircase in front of the entryway leads to the loft
  • (Picture 8 & 9) Loft: kitchen, shower stall, dining table facing a large window


Adequate amenities

  • Double bed
  • Unlimited wireless internet
  • (Picture 10) Decently equipped kitchen w. gas stove, gas oven, large sink, good pots and fair utensils
  • Microwave and refrigerator
  • (Picture 11) Lots of light
  • Secure entry into building
  • Enough space for two people who don't mind listening to each other pee (see below)
  • Very small elevator


Relatively inexpensive

  • 1900 USD for 31-night stay (less than $62 per night)
  • Rented directly from owner (www.vrbo.com)
  • French/Portuguese apartment manager who lives in the building next door and don't speak a word of English.


A ridiculous (bad) bathroom

  • There was no bathroom
  • Toilet: fit into its own room where the door could not be closed if in use. To wash our hands we had to go upstairs.
  • (Pictures 12-16) Shower: absolutely ridiculous. just look at the pictures.

                               
Click here to download:
RTW_Lodging_Artists_loft_in_Pa.zip (1415 KB)

Filed under  //   Paris   RTW Lodging  

Comments [4]

November 22, 2008

RTW Lodging: Sobre Atico in Barcelona

Atic Arago
Arago, 116
Barcelona, Spain

Convenient location in Eixample district

  • 3 blocks away from the metro station (Urgell)
  • Lots of mom & pop restaurants around with 8-10 EUR menu del dia for lunch.
  • 1 block from the supermarket (Consum)
  • A few blocks away from Mercat del Ninot (produce/meat market)
  • Close to a lot of buses, including one that runs through La Rambla to Barceloneta

Modern-looking top floor studio with good amentities

  • Small kitchen: 2 gas burners, microwave
  • Main space divided into a living area and sleeping area
  • Double bed on futon frame
  • Very small bathroom
  • Ikea furniture
  • Leather loveseat
  • LCD TV with no English channels.
  • Washing machine, outdoor dining furniture and refrigerator in covered sunroom
  • Expansive outdoor deck sporting a clothesline (no drying machine)
  • Internet (also see Shortfalls)

It has some shortfalls

  • Sunroom gets too warm and bright during the day and had a permanent mildew smell
  • Washing machine is difficult to operate
  • Very little counterspace in the kitchen (just enough to put down a cutting board)
  • Pots and pans were unusable (boiled some water in them and it tasted like teflon)
  • Poor internet connection: the connection is not permanent; it ended up being a USB key that you plug into your computer to access the internet over the cell phone network; limited data plan (1 GB); it took three days for the property management company to get it to us after checking-in
  • The shower stall was ridiculously small

It's not cheap

  • 1500 EUR for 21 nights (~95 USD per night)
  • Originally found on www.vrbo.com, but is managed through a property management company (www.aparteasy.com)
  • We were frustrated with the management company with not having the internet set up on the day we arrived. Their answer to everything was "manana" (tomorrow).

1. Length of the studio apartment - from bed to sunroom.
2. J working in the sunroom. You can also see the outdoor deck beyond the sunroom
3. A view of the National Museum of Art from the deck
4. The kitchen
5. The bathroom
6. The extremely small shower.

           
Click here to download:
RTW_Lodging_Sobre_Atico_in_Bar.zip (522 KB)

Filed under  //   Barcelona   RTW Lodging  

Comments [1]