Well lovely people, the Labratour hit a snag tonight. After a day spent driving between Lancashire to Darlington (home of @JenBainbridge and Stanley!) with a stopover at Fountains Abbey, I arrived at my central Darlington Airbnb. Which (long story) was swapped from the one I'd actually chosen online to an "equal substitute". Which in reality wasn't so equal. No parking for my baby car, non-functioning wifi, moldy bathroom, smelled of smoke (and fish ), ground floor with huge unsecured windows directly onto the street. Sorry. No bueno. I did not feel safe at all. People often think the way I live is "romantic" or "adventurous". What happens, I've often been asked, if you arrive at a pre-booked place and it's horrible? Or doesn't even exist? "That is what plastic is for," I always reply jokingly. Well, for the first time in 25 years of solo travel, I decided I was too darn old to put up with this sausage-tastic situation and pulled out my mobile and my credit card and SOLVED. MY. PROBLEM. Praise be to the gods of Visa. So Jen, we'll still meet up, just now I'm out in the Holiday Inn Express Darlington on the A1 tonight (my idea of a classy hotel - free breakfast and wifi along with FOUR pillows on the bed - perfect!). Who knows where I'll be tomorrow, I'll sort that out directly. But I'm not worried - I've got plastic, and I'm not afraid to use it. The Labratour marches on!
You should have seen the place I stayed in France on the way to the UK. I was trying to teach Luna to look intimidating. I even tried to cajole her into barking when I got into the room. I slept fully clothed and left after a few hours of trying to sleep. No bueno indeed! I'm sure you'll find something lovely for the rest of your stay. I must say, the Labratour has been rather lacking in pictures of forum dogs recently. I'm sure this will be rectified in due course.
Oh no, Emily! You'll have to tell me where it was when we meet up. Glad you got something sorted though Hopefully Stanley makes Darlington seem a bit more bearable, I'll get him on top form
Eek, don’t blame you. I would have done the same thing. Yes, did I miss the Pongo pictures ? Maybe I should go back a few pages. I’ve been patiently waiting for them
Just have to chime in... The worst hotel I ever stayed in was in the Midlands, when I and my daughter were visiting my son during his army training... We had to leave in the middle of the night, after discovering BED BUGS... Ghastly, a nightmare.
Thank goodness for plastic! Glad you found somewhere clean and safe. That first place sounds disgusting.
Ugh. I had one of those in France as well. Three weeks in Cannes. The landlady took my EUR500 security in cash as well as payment up front so I would have been out a huge amount of money if I decamped. Plus I absolutely had to be in Cannes and it costs a fortune there anyway. Cockroaches. Plus the building was nearly empty except for a couple flats that had dozens of people in them. Lots of coming and going. If it was the US, I would have guessed a crack house. One other lady was in the same situation as me (had rented it sight unseen via an agency who took her money) and also had a dog. We would go out and come back in together because it felt safer that way. I tried SO HARD to get Brogan to bark. All the kerchiefs and SD vests came off. I wanted him to look as big an mean as possible (it didn't work). I would never have stayed without him and even then, looking back, I was an idiot to stay. I should have just written off the money and gotten out. I was SO GLAD to leave that place. Fingers crossed, hopefully I did. It's out in the countryside (Hornby) with lots of good reviews. Let's see how I get on tomorrow!
Tough crowd. You're going to have to wait longer as now that I've gotten my lodging sorted and had my mental breakdown, I'm heading across the parking lot to binge on carbs at the Golden Arches. Then I'm going to bed. Priorities. But just to give you all a little something something, here's a sneak peak of a few of my Pongo faves:
Enjoy your well earned dinner Now I feel like fries... Pongo looks like he’d be a world class cuddler.
Cuddles from Pongo are in fact a rare and precious thing. He is not a cuddle pup - if he deigns to come up and lie on or next to you, you should feel privileged indeed (@Emily_BabbelHund please take note). He does, however, do a very good line in the Labrador Lean - he will come and sit by my feet and LLLEEEANNNN against my legs. This means "give me a chest rubbyscratchyrub now please". But he is very tolerant of me coming up and giving him a great big cwtch (that's a welsh cuddle) and burying my whole face in that deep, deep ruff of fur that hangs round his neck. It smells wonderful (to me) and is soft as anything. No wonder all my clothes are covered in Labrador hair.
I already felt very privileged! As I said to you, I'm very familiar with Pongo's cuddle aversion (but nonetheless a loving nature) as I lived 13 years of it with Brogan. I used to say that if he could talk, Brogan's catch phrase would have been "Oooo ick girl cooties get away!". I still have my special Pongo hair socks. Luckily washing does little to diminish their Pongo-ness.
