Friends Hostel : just another Paris story.

I have travelled to quite a few countries and in most of my travels, I'd stay in a youth hostel. The best hostel was the one in Nice; we got a fantastic rooftop room with good ambiance, fancy bathroom, and room service. The worst hostel (EVER) was - you guessed it - the one in Paris. The kitchen was really small and dirty, the dining area was an open space (worst idea ever, especially in freaking winter) in the middle of the building, and...don't even get me started on the dishes. We specifically asked for an en-suite room so we won't have to share with all the other random tourists with questionable hygiene, but, to our dismay, out bathroom includes a shower, a sink and....no toilet. I know. What. The.

At first I just brushed this over my shoulder and didn't think much of it because, after all, we're travelling cheap. However, something else happened that made it tumble all the way down to the Worst Hostel EVER rank, even worse than the one I stayed at in London.

When we first got there, I checked in for both ourselves and for our friends arriving from Sheffield later that day. However, they said the room wasn't ready yet and didn't give us the keys to that room. They gave us room 3, and said that the rest of my friends are going to be in room 25 for the first night, and would have to move to room 24 for the other 4 nights. Even though we weren't happy with this, they apologized and we just thought we'd let it pass. Malas nak create a fuss.

When my friends arrived that night, the owner of the hostel that checked us in earlier that day has gone home, and I had to deal with a different guy (who can't speak much English). This guy insisted that we're supposed to be in room 24, not room 25. Albeit confused, I was happy enough to check my friends in to that room, assuming it's a good thing because they wouldn't have to move anymore now that they're already in room 24. When we walked in to the room, however, there were other people's luggages in that room, and when I explained this to the guy at the counter, all he said was 'That's no problem! No problem!' and some other shit in French.

At this point I wanted to say 'NO PROBLEM MY FOOT LA WEI' to him, but I refrained. We then decided to move all the luggages down to the locker room and tampal a notice on the door saying sorry and letting them know their luggages are downstairs.

While this was happening to us, two American girls were yelling at him because they booked a room online (and paid in full) but there was no room for them when they arrived, and another Russian girl stood there, frowning, because her booked room was non-existent as well.

The next day was the day we went all the way to La Defense and came back really late after walking along Champs Elysees at night. To our absolute dismay, when my friends went to their room, they found out that all their things have been moved to room 25. Now, let me make a few things clear from this;

1. They invaded my friends' privacy
2. My friends' stuff was all over the room because they weren't expecting having to change rooms
3. The hostel management touched my friends' things
4. Their mineral water went missing
5. THEY'RE GIRLS, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD YOU CAN'T JUST TOUCH THEIR THINGS GODDAMMIT.

Anyway.

I told the guy at the counter (the one who can't speak much English) that he can't just do this to us, and he, not surprisingly, said 'That's no problem! What's the problem? No problem!'. Even though I felt a strong urge to kick his balls, I told him in a calm but firm tone that he can't invade our privacy like that, and insisted to see the hostel's booking record to reaffirm the fact that they won't just randomly move us to another room again. Sensing my discontent, he told me his boss was going to come in later that night, in case I wanted to speak with him.

Before we went for another episode of adventure in Paris the next morning, I stopped by the counter (manned, this time, by the multilingual owner) to drop the room keys. Holding out my hand to give the keys to him, I held it there in my grip and said,

'Don't move our stuff again,' with a smile. He looked at me and said,

'Well why didn't you move to room 25? I told you you had to,'

'No, you told us to move to room 24 FROM room 25, not the other way round. You even wrote it on the receipt,'

'Really?' He said, confused, and then he took the huge log book and started flipping through it to see the booking records. After a bit of flipping he stopped and said,

'Well maybe I made a mistake, I didn't realize'

At this point I stared at him, unmoving, my eyebrows raised.

'....sorry.' he mumbled.

I smiled a (bitchy) winning smile - that was all I wanted him to say (because what's done is done).

'I appreciate the apology,' I said, as I dropped the keys on the counter and walked away.


Moral of the story? Tell all your friends to NEVER step foot in this hostel. EVER.


(Jangan ingat mentang-mentang aku pendek kau boleh pijak kepala aku)



xoxo
Atiqah