What a surprise expected my daughter and me vacationing in the States and Europe...

Ohhhh Kayyyyyyy - I got it! PLEEEEASE in any case, if ever one of my guides read these lines, just IGNORE that one, ohhh kayyy? 

Sam and Theresa, nevertheless! Thank you for trying...

Anyhow, we didn't make it in 30 minutes as we not only enjoyed the dazzling panorama of Hong Kong Island but also - to the delight of my daughter - ended up in, guess what!: Ripley's Believe It Or Not! Odditorium...

At least, dear Agnes, I will forgive you as the service of Singapore Airlines was great and incomparable...

Indeed, it is very relaxing for once a while just being the client and to enjoy the service of not only ground handling operators in other countries, but also nice and decent hotels far away from Myanmar - that's what I thought!

In early June we arrived in San Francisco and we checked into a hotel at Union Square, described by quikbook.com as "Located near Union Square, ...complimentary shuttle service is also provided to Union Square (was never offered to us...), Moscone Convention Center and Civic Center each weekday morning, and a manager’s wine reception every evening (??? wouldn't we have just loved it???). The Oak Room Grill is also available - last renovation - 98."

My daughter - as usual - checked immediately the bathroom and came grinning back with the remark that even in a one-star hotel in Myanmar she hadn't seen a bathroom in such a state; it must have been undergone renovation 50 years ago - but alas, we were on vacation and not spending the whole day in a bathroom!

While I was taking my shower my daughter was very excited to watch some U.S. TV (for the first time in her life) - so there was some disappointment to find out that the TV just showed lots of "snow"... 

Apart from the very friendly staff at the reception, we experienced an extremely unfriendly service at breakfast, a poor house-keeping - leaving the dust in the room instead in the bin - and the jet lag we suffered could not been overcome, as at night we heard a fire alarm; but we were not informed, and only by peeping out  we saw firemen walking hastily up the stairs - so we decided to just throw anything on and then take our handbags and leave the room, taking the stairs down to where we saw a crowd of sleepy travelers discussing what was going on... indeed nothing, and as far as I try to remember until today, there also was no manager in sight...I think we decided to go back to our rooms!

With a smile the receptionist told us that at 9 p.m. the business center is closed. But why don't we go 2 more blocks and try it there (I got a similar answer at another LA hotel near the airport a month later....)? But this time we were quite demanding, so we got a laptop for rent (the receptionist just remembered that we could do that!), which was very fine with us.

Next morning the assistant manager was so charming to offer us a suite as a peace offer for all the inconveniences we had gone through. "No, no, no I don't wanna suite, I wanna send my mails... "; but at the end I gave in, and it took the staff almost a day to bring all our luggage to the suite. There we tried our luck again, and... we found out, that the antenna didn't want to play the game at the suite too...which  was also the wrong direction! No problem, I told myself, tomorrow I'll use the business center - opening time: 8 a.m.

And how lucky could we consider ourselves to have friends and that we had the chance to use their computers! We tried so hard to use the service in the different hotels from 2 up to 5 stars - we tried it all, but it seemed the technic was against us!

Arriving in New York, we just promised ourselves that we won't even ask, neither at the hotel nor somewhere else. The words "internet" and "e-mail" were t a b u.

When I booked the hotel in New York, I did the same what so many travelers are doing here in Myanmar: They want to see the famous Strand Hotel  so here I am in New York, going to stay a couple of nights at the Waldorf Astoria! Arriving at the main entrance with our yellow cab, the bell boy told the taxi driver NOT to stop there, but to take the back door - I didn't know that New Yorker bell boys could judge through a taxi window what kind of clients sit inside the car...

But alas, the "back entrance" didn't want us neither and I checked my daughter whether she maybe did some faces behind my back to them, but no, I should have known her better, she never did that before, so why now? Only after I insisted to the taxi driver, he dared to stop again in front of the main entrance. When getting out I asked the bell boy if we should check in to the Plaza as it seems they did not wanted more hotel guest...But he refused telling us that that would be the competition :)

At the reception we were greeted very warmly and finally checked into our room. The receptionist told us that we would looove the room. We did it for 10 minutes till we heard someone coughing. We couldn't find anyone in the closets; nevertheless we found out it was our neighbor - oh my, I rushed to see my travel documents, probably I had booked the servant room which they also sold for much less money!

Just to be sure before complaining - I checked, but no, no,  NO servant room, a real, real Waldorf Astoria room. Ok, now I COULD dare to complain and we were immediately transferred to another room - the favorite room of the lovely receptionist, who was really a jewel.

At least the security door system was SECURE. We never managed to use our electronic key at night - the door was just locked, as LOCKED as could be, and we had to phone house keeping and to wait 15 minutes until we could finally enter our room.

BUT all in all, our vacation was great, we enjoyed it a lot, laughed a lot and finally we got really homesick to the country where we always got such a good service with a sincere smile and never ending patience...

Mingalabar from Myanmar!