The Smallest Hotel Room I've Ever Seen

So I was so proud of my recent find online when I checked out lastminute.com to find a place to stay. I had been bouncing back and forth, just staying a single night, and I wanted to find someplace to stay for a few days at least.

So I found a great deal (about $160/night, ouch!) on a swanky 4-star hotel right next to Hyde Park. I was very pleased, packed up some stuff I was keeping in the office, and headed over there.

Now, for reference, here's a picture of what my hotel in Earl's Court looked like. It was small, just barely bigger than the double bed in the middle of the room (and very messy in this picture).

I didn't realize just how good I had it, until I opened the door to my new hotel room.














From the back of the room.



And the final amazing piece, the bathroom.



In the "shower"

So Many Conflicting Stories

Alright, so the flat situation seems to be working out. I've formally told the first place (good bye Elephant & Castle) that I will no longer be pursuing the flat. I've got another place ready to go. Everything just seems better about this place. It's cheaper, it's through a private party instead of an agent, and it's in a much better location (Bethnal Green). There's little green park right across the street, lots of trees, and the neighborhood is much better.

So I met with the actual owners of the Castle flat the other night and heard their side of the story. I'd like to break them both down for you, so you can realize what an asshole my rental agent (Ludlow Thompson) is.

Agent Story:
-Property is listed for £200 per week
-We meet and look at the place, I think I'm going to go for it, £500 deposit (ouch!)
-A few days later, "the landlord wants to do some re-decorating and fix up the place. They want to increase the rent to £220 per week." I'm shocked, but compromise at £210.
-I leave for the US, we're all set for me to move in on June 25th.
-I come back, "the landlord needs to add the water rates into the rent, now £220."
-I do my research and find out typical water charges for a full YEAR are only about £100. Not the £520 increase I just got hit with.
-"Oh, yeah, it's for water and for building maintenance costs."
-I'm pissed, but agree, pay another £500 towards the deposit. I just want to move in at this point (less than a week to go).
-Monday morning, I get a copy of the rental agreement. We're all set for picking up the keys tonight.
-Monday afternoon, "Oh, yeah, I just talked to the landlord, they won't be ready until July 02"
-KABOOM!


Landlord Story:
-We wanted to list the property at £230/week but Ludlow Thompson talked us down to £220, since they thought £230 would scare too many people off. They both agree that £220/week is what they'll list it for.
-The rental price never changed during this whole time from the Landlord.
-We got called about you, but we just got your references a few days ago (which I submitted within the first 3 days).
-You don't have a UK credit history, so we might require 6 months of rent up front (by the way, that's nearly 12 grand)
-Yes, Ludlow Thompson sucks. We've heard the same thing from other people.
-We always fix up a place before somebody moves in (re-painting, cleaning carpets, installing new fixtures, etc). Ludlow Thompson knows this, and they know we would not be ready on 25/06 (since that was the move out date of the previous tenant).


I talked with the agent again this morning, telling him I wanted out and I wanted my money back as well since this was not the original deal I signed up for.

My conclusion:
-The agent listed the price of £200 to "test the market." My £500 initial holding deposit was the beginning of "negotiations" for the price of the flat. At no point was I informed that we would be negotiating on the price. I asked him how much the flat was per week, he said it was £200. Period.
-Now that he's got my money and my "initial offer," he thinks up a way to get the price up where it was supposed to be originally (see: bait and switch).
-He manages to get me half-way there with a bogus story about the landlord suddenly deciding that he needs to fix up the place.
-He waits until I'm getting closer to the move date and springs the other increase on me (since it didn't work the first time). I counter and tell him it's bullshit, he makes up more lies, I give in because I really don't want to be in a hotel for the rest of my life.
-He doesn't communicate effectively with either of us, screws up the move in time, and then blames the landlord. "I told them that the flat didn't need to be re-decorated, but they couldn't change the schedule on such short notice" (i.e. 3 weeks ahead of time). Even though his company deals with this landlord all the time, and was well informed of their pre-move-in practices.

The whole thing reeks of horrendous business practices and terrible customer service. The only function they served for me was to rush me into taking my deposit and hook me into paying more than I wanted to.

If you're ever shopping for a flat in London, go with a private party or highly recommended agent. And whatever you do, don't use Ludlow Thompson.

Flat Fiasco

So after I posted that last night, I talked with the rental agent a few more times.

First of all, can I recommend to everyone on the planet to never deal with a rental agent to find a flat in the UK. My boss had a similar experience in finding a flat and then getting screwed over by the agent when he was shopping around. They're just crappy middlemen, and charge way too much money for not nearly enough service.

So, he'd been calling the landlord since I had responded by stating that the situation was "unacceptable and completely ridiculous." The landlord never answered his messages or called him back. At one point the agent was being sent strait to voicemail, which either means that the landlord's mobile phone died, or more likely, he turned it off after receiving repeated calls from the agent.

Around 6:30 pm, I had my final talk with the agent for the day. He said that he was unable to get in touch with the landlord so "tomorrow I'll give you an update." Interesting that he just glossed right over the fact that I need to sleep somewhere tonight. I explained that either the landlord or his agency would be paying for my hotel stay tonight and any other nights that the flat wasn't ready. Of course, this wasn't his fault, so the agency wouldn't be paying me, but he'd talk to the landlord. What's that? Waive all of the agency fees (about £250 = $500)? Well, those are sent to an external party that does the background and credit checks, so...

Yeah, basically I'm getting the run around from these guys. I'm supposed to get another update from him sometime today (chances of that being 1. good news and 2. before 5 pm are about zero).

Even if this guy does come through with the flat being ready tonight, I'm not comfortable dealing with them anymore. They've raised the rent twice from its posted price, and this last little bit has been the final nail in the coffin.

I'm also going to be looking at another flat this evening, so hopefully this new place will be nice (the location seems pretty good at least). The rent is right around the same amount, and the proximity to my work is much better.

More to follow soon.

So... Pissed... Off...

So there I am... 4:25 pm on Monday afternoon. I emailed my rental agent in the morning and asked about the lease paperwork and such. He said he was setting up a meeting with the landlord to meet and sign papers for later this afternoon. Super, I'm excited about my new flat.

Then about 6 hours later, no reply, so I emailed again. And got this:

Hi Bob,
I have just spoken to the landlord, he has informed me that the
property is still being decorated and will be complete and ready to move in
2/07. Not the best news, I know, he has asked me to extend his apologies to you
and assures me that the property will be ready on that date. He still wants to
meet with you this week.

Really? A week later than he's been telling me for the past month? On the day I'm supposed to move in?? That sounds fantastic!

(btw: 2/07 is July 2nd for all non-European readers... aka all of you)

More to follow on this horrible horrible drama soon (especially if I'm sleeping in my office tonight).

Pictures in Hyde Park

So, I bought a new camera. I've always had an interest in more serious photography, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to give it a shot. Laura has the point and shoot (and is hopefully taking lots and lots of pictures). So I splurged and bought myself a Canon XT Digital Rebel.

I had thought about going all out with some crazy Nikon D200 or something, but then realized that I always do that, and then burn out on whatever crazy new thing I just bought. So this time I went on the low-end of DSLRs to see how it goes.

So I gave myself the assignment to go out and take pictures at Hyde Park (after some encouragement to get out of the office and hotel room).

It was raining a little bit, so for part of the time I was taking pictures with my camera hidden under an umbrella.

Here are a few of my favorites.

Here's a cool reflection at one of the entrances to the park.













I didn't walk around too much, so I ended up taking about 30 pictures of this statue. It was hard to get one that wasn't washed out by the flash or non-blurry without the flash.













And, this was the closest duck I could find and get a decent shot of.












There was a big pile of lawn chairs that you can sit in during the day (for $2 fee). I became a little infatuated with them.

It's like I never left

So, I'm back in London now. Same hotel. Same hotel room. Except this time there's the fact that I'm not leaving in 3 weeks.

So, the flight here was actually pretty nice. I was conspicuously sitting tall in my seat while we were waiting to leave the gate and one of the flight attendants came by and asked if I'd like to sit in the emergency exit row. Jackpot!

When I landed, I knew it would be an interesting experience with my luggage. I brought Laura's old hiking backpack (stuffed quite literally to the brim), and my bike (boxed up in an enormous box), along with my laptop bag and small backpack. It wasn't that bad to carry(to a point), I just looked like a pack mule.

The last time I came through Heathrow, I took the Heathrow Express Train from the airport to Paddington station and then transferred to the Underground to get to my airport. This time I thought I'd be smart and get on the Underground directly and not have to change trains in order to hop off at my hotel stop.

It was a great plan, and I successfully carried/pushed my huge bike box for about 15 minutes to get to the station. Then they informed me that the Piccadilly line was closed for engineering works. Awesome. I then hauled my stuff back the way I came for another 5-10 minutes to get the Heathrow Express (which was free because of the track work). Then I gave up and got a taxi because I was exhausted.

My next big step is to get my bike (which is mostly re-assembled) tuned up by a bike shop in the area so I can start practicing how to bike on the left side of the road.

That, and signing my lease so I can stop living out of a hotel room.

Cheers.

Skype Phone Number

So, those of you in the know have already signed up for Skype and chat it up with me daily for free from the comfort of your computer.

However, for those of you not ready to take that plunge, I've made it even easier for you. I got a phone number that you can call in the states and connect with me on my computer.

703.879.8867

If I'm online and you call that number, it will pop up on my screen and we can chat. If I'm not, or I'm busy with that whole work thing, then you can leave me a voicemail.

This way its free for you (does anyone not have free long distance calling at this point?), and free for me (sort of, I had to pay $20 to get the phone number for 3 months, but I think you're worth it).

Don't forget about that 5 hour difference, so please only call me to discuss your hangover the next morning, not while you're out on the town (midnight US = 5 am London = I'll kill you).

Just finished packing up with some spectacular assistance, movers come in the morning, so I'd better get some sleep.

Cheers.

Back To London

Well, I finally nailed down a schedule, so I thought I'd share it with everyone.

Wednesday - Packing up all my junk, along with some people who are joining in on the packing party fun (or drinking free beer and watching me pack up everything).

Thursday - Movers come and pick up my stuff at the apartment and drive it to Baltimore to drop off at some big container ship. "18-20 days" later (aka 4 months) it arrives in London and I hire a truck to move it to my new flat.

Saturday - Flying back to London (one-way ticket this time) late in the evening to get ready for my project to start Monday morning.

End of June - Actually move into my flat.

July 7 - Walk to St. James's Park and watch the Tour De France prologue!


On another topic, I've managed to purchase a charger for my cell phone so I can actually answer calls now. Good thing I'll only need it for the next 4 days.

Back to the States

Well, my flight takes off in just under 16 hours now. I can't wait for the upcoming 8 hours in glorious coach luxury. I'll really be able to stretch out in those spacious seats and get comfortable.

Oh well, at least there's free booze.

Plans are still up in the air at this point as to my return. It may be as soon as next week depending on how quickly things progress over here. I'm pushing for at least two weeks back home to take care of everything. If not, expect to be roped in for a mad-dash packing session sometime Tuesday-ish.

In other news, Laura is picking up her first volunteer in Uganda this weekend! I'm sure she'll have an exciting post about it once the electricity comes on... and they install that satellite dish... or more likely, when she goes into town for some sweet, sweet internet time.

My First Visitors

Okay, so they might not really count since they didn't come specifically to see me, but I'll take what I can get.

A few people from work were travelling and had a layover they decided to extend in London. They're only in town for a few days, possibly heading to Paris for part of the time. But in the meantime its nice not to have dinner by myself.

We met up for a little tour around Picadilly Circus and the surrounding area, got some Indian food and then headed back to the hotel.

I'm a very low-key tour guide. Mostly I pick a destination and then decide which direction to start wandering. You can find so many more exciting places that way, and you can avoid tourist traps that might otherwise snare you when sightseeing.

Its also difficult to actually motivate myself to do all of the tourist stuff without other people here. How much fun would visiting Westminster Abbey or the London Eye be if you can't share it with somebody else?

In the meantime I'm staying busy with work, and getting excited to be back in the States for a couple of weeks. There's still a lot to do on both ends (tax advice, moving, packing, signing my lease, etc).