I am glad the guy busted me acting foolishly, that made me snap out of it. Who knows how long I would have been wallowing in self pity?After that mess, I covered up my head from the brightness of daylight and tried to take a nap. Not too long thereafter, my Korean roommates came home. I love them. We all had a nice time exchanging sight seeing stories. It was a good time. I had one more day in San Fran before I headed back to the city of angels. I told them what happened to my phone, they tried to lend me one of their older ones, which was sweet but my sim is a micro sim, so it wouldn't fit. I made sure to charge my power bank aka portable charger as I always do and my tablet. I used the tablet to take pictures for the remainder of the trip. Thank goodness for backup plans, right? Come to think of it, that was the first time I traveled without my camera. I did so because my new phone took amazing photos.
The rest of the roomies came home, we all chatted, it was fun. One of the girls, the German one was going to drive to Death Valley or something.She was also gonna go to Vegas etc. I remember advising her to check out Lake Tahoe. I don't think she did, she was so set on her original plans. Either way, it sounded like a fun time. I would rather take buses though. You know? Than rent a car, pay for all that, insurance, gas etc? For each his own. The Chinese girl left first.Then we had another Chinese girl, I guess to replace her.
The night after my cellphone debacle, an older lady joined us in our room. She took the bed above me. Bunk beds. She was on the phone the entire time, from the moment she walked into the room. She didn't even say hi. It's ok though, in a hostel, you expect the unexpected because we don't know everyone's cultures and traditions. Before we knew it, the lady was yelling at the top of her voice. What in the world! It was after pm.We didn't understand a word of what she was saying, she was carrying on and on and on. There was nothing we felt we could do because we didn't think she spoke English, plus, she was on the phone. As if the yelling at 11pm wasn't enough, she started banging things, locker doors, stuff on the floor, the works. OMG! Somebody stop her Suddenly my loss of my new cellphone, was nothing compared to that drama!
After all the banging, she left the room. We were all looking at each other like, did that just happen? Then, the manager or receptionist came to our room. He was male so he was nice enough to ask first if he could come in. We were like yeah, sure, anything to shut this woman up! He came in and told us that the lady said we stole her iPad! WHHHAAATTTTTT??!!?!?!?!?? Are you shting me? When? The woman is the one who took over the room as soon as she got anything. If anything, she stole our peace of mind! The manager looked around for the iPad, couldn't find it and left. He was Indian, so he also didn't speak Chinese. He was liaising with the lady's daughter over the phone, who apparently spoke English.
It was rather rude of that woman to ruin the energy in the room in the middle of the night and then turn around and accuse US of stealing from her. Who does that? I've stayed in hostels all over the world and have never heard of someone losing something. Thank goodness and knock on wood! I asked if they checked the bed because he had banged on that bed a lot. I know it because mine shook every time she did! One of my Koreans looked on top of the bed and saw the iPad which was laying face down on the bed, the iPad was white and so were the bed sheets, everything blended, that's why she didn't see it. Plus she is like 4ft tall, so she couldn't see that high up anyways. The girl who found it must be 6ft.
We told the guy that we found the tablet and asked him to tell her to tone it down, we were trying to rest. We had things to do the following day. I mean, come on now! Get a hotel room with soundproof falls!
She was much nicer when she found the tablet, she was smiling at us and everything. I guess that was her way of making amends.
We all eventually went to bed around midnight. I got up early, we had the new Chinese girl, apparently she had checked in the early hours of the morning. I was like, girl! We needed you last night, where were you? She was so sweet. She had just arrived from LA, I was about to head back to LA.
The following morning, I went online using my tablet and the wifi from the hostel, looking for a new phone. I saw that they had free phones on the site of my service provider, you pay $100, they refund you the $100, $50 at a time for whatever reason. The last time, I fell for something like that, I moved and someone stole my rebate. I asked for a refund, then moved again. I was willing to try again because I knew things are different this time. I signed a lease! I went to their store and waited outside until they opened. The guy who 'helped' me wouldn't even look me in the eye the entire time I was there. It was the worst experience! I couldn't believe someone like that exists in real life. I didn't get the phone. The special was for new customers. I guess I should've lied and said I wasn't with them. But that's not my thing, lying! My thing is, having worked in customer service for years, that if there's a special, anyone can get it if you want them to, you find a code or someone to authorise it and you're good to go.
After that call, I went to a few other cell shops to see what they had, nothing caught my eye. I went to the last one where they had ridiculously cheap phones and low monthly payments. I told the lady that I wanted one, we had to call my people to get some kind of a number to port my old number. The lady let me use their store phone, she was so nice, that totally made up for the jerk off I started with who probably didn't get his morning wood taken care of that morning. Anyway, while talking to my people, they saw that I had been with them for a while and didn't want to lose my business, they then offered that if I stayed, they would void the following month's payment. That was a decent deal because I was paying $40 per month. That was an equivalent of getting one of those free $50 phones in a way. I thanked her and the lady who went out of her way to help me only for me to end up not buying the phone.
I used wifi wherever I could get it, and there are lots of free wi fi random areas in San Fran. Thank goodness for that. One point, I didn't know if I was facing north or east. Or should I say North or West as in NorthWest, get it? That couple's kid? A random guy who was begging for money in a street corner, came to me and chatted me up, we ended up just standing in the corner chatting for what could have been 10-15 minutes. He's a nice guy who used to be in the army, has a free apartment in a nice area - the financial district, free medical insurance, all veterans do and food stamps, and he gets two checks at the end of the month amounting to $2000 or something. Unfortunately he's a drug addict, so, all that isn't enough to sustain him. What a waste!
I checked out after my shower and left my stuff in the storage and went to explore one more day before my departure that night. I took my tablet with me and headed out. It was a nice day, my tablet battery died just after I got on the bus back to the hostel.
One of my favorite things to do in San Fran was going to the crookedest street in the world. That area is really pretty! The street is really very crooked! A car hit the curb while I was walking back down to the bus stop from the top of the crookedest street.
It was a good time though, full of tourist!
When all was said and done, I took one last form of transport that I hadn't taken since being there and headed back to the hostel, charged the tablet, double checked directions back to the bus back to LA and went on my Merry way. I had a nice time in San Francisco and would highly recommend it and the hostel! Plus, they offer free pancakes and coffee in the hostel every morning. Nice way to meet people from other dorms. I used to fill up in the morning and sit outside, chat a little and head out on a full stomach. There were a lot of British people in that hostel that I met while eating pancakes outside. One couple was on a six month world tour. They god engaged during the tour. Cute story.
I hope they could still stand each other when they got back home.
No comments:
Post a Comment