The trip was pretty much as expected, although Alex's refusal to nap on the plane even after Dramamine was a bit of a surprise. We managed, not too much crying or screaming from either one, got our bags, found a taxi that didn't seem to rip us off, and got to the hotel in short order. We thought that meant the adventure was over but k'sajolania (unfortunately), it was just beginning.
First the hotel assigned us to rooms that were, at the time, already occupied. The format of the resort is that everything is open to the outside, so it meant standing outside in a chilly walkway while the porter called the front desk to get us a new assignment. He then brought us to the exact same rooms 2 floors below the ones originally assigned but – they weren't connecting rooms. And the one smelled like smoke.
We called the front desk again. They first didn't believe the rooms didn't connect, then tried to tell me they didn't have any more connecting rooms because it's winter and only part of the hotel is open now etc etc. She tried to give us a dublex, which is the usual family room consisting of 2 rooms on 2 floors with an open stairway in between. No door. With my kids that doesn't work. While she's going through all this I am on my way back to reception, fuming. I actually had a pretty serious back and forth email exchange with a customer relations guy for the hotel chain about how we had to have connecting rooms or we had to go to a different hotel and he promised connecting rooms. I told the front desk about it, asked if the guy worked at this hotel or the corporate office, nobody seemed to know his name so I guess he's not at this location. In any case we're at the front desk and after some time they find connecting rooms for us. One is ready now, the other is still being cleaned and will be ready in a little while.
We ask/reconfirm for the 2nd time that a baby cot be brought to the room (we had asked for it when we originally checked in) and go to the ready room. Alex and I lay down and Terry takes Z for a walk to nap. About 15 minutes after Alex finally quieted down someone is pounding on the door next to us. Taking short breaks, the pounding continues for 10 minutes, at which point I get up and tell the guy that the room is now empty and in fact I'm waiting for the key. I throw in a “after 10 minutes of not answering the door, maybe it should occur to you the room isn't occupied or the guy isn't going to answer” but I don't think the guy was quite bright enough to figure that out. It also appears that our connecting rooms are the only not-soccer-player rooms in a block of a couple of soccer teams. It also explains why the phone in the kids' room kept ringing last night. The first time we were able to unplug the phone, the 2nd time we couldn't figure where the ringing was coming from and the 3rd time we had to find our way into their bathroom in the dark to take that phone off the hook. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
My getting up got Alex up – she must have still been in light sleep. I told her we would lay down for 10 more minutes then we could get up and she agreed reluctantly but without any real fuss. In that time, thankfully, she did in fact fall asleep. There was a knock on the door and it was the hotel bringing the key for the other room and to unlock the connecting doors. I reminded the guy we had asked for a baby cot (#3) and he said it would be brought up.
I brought a suitcase into the kids' room and started to unpack. Terry and Z came, I hear that Z never fell asleep – a very strange thing for him in the stroller and as tired as he was – and that Terry saw almost the entire grounds and there's a lot for the kids here. We discover there are no drinking glasses in our room and only one in the kids' room, we are one towel card short (they are presented at the pool to get a towel, we really want one per person), and we have no face towels in the room. Normally in my adult life I never use them and I do often wonder why every hotel usually gives us a dozen but trying to bathe a baby without one is challenging.
About 45 minutes after the last request for the baby cot, I call the reception area and ask again for it (#4). We get Alex up and Terry takes the kids to the restaurant with a stop at the front desk to request the baby cot again (#5) and to get another key for our room – the keys are required to provide electricity for the room so we really can't manage with only one. I had a couple of things I wanted to finish doing so I was going to catch up. As I rounded the last corner before the walkway to the main building, I see a housekeeper with a laundry cart that has a toddler bed sticking out of it. I confirm where she's going and head back to the room with her. In my mind I'm thinking “You don't even have any pack and plays, you're just going to put that mattress in the laundry cart and I'm going to have to complain AGAIN and this is becoming a nightmare.” but I did keep my mouth shut. A good thing, as she pulled the pnp out of the cart after bringing the mattress into the room.
Her mobile rings and I hear her talking in Turkish but I notice the word “mama” and I say it's probably my husband. When she gets off the phone she says the front desk was calling because the papa was there asking about the cot. She tells me she was eating and even left her dinner to come bring the cot. I tell her I'm sorry that happened to her but we asked for it the first time more than 2 hours ago so it's really unfortunate if nobody told her we needed it until just then. I was feeling some sympathy for her, just caught in the middle of a bad situation. THEN she tells me she got a call an hour ago and even then she was eating.
WTF?!?!? So an hour goes by and she still doesn't deign to get us the pnp and it takes another call to get her ass moving? I told her our baby didn't get his nap today because we didn't have a bed for him and I left before I ripped her head off.
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