Craig's First Day in London (Part 3)

A master of all things witty, Craig finally began to relax and enjoy himself at the Tower of London. Buying our tickets at a nearby kiosk, we ran to the entrance in hopes of catching the day’s last Beefeater tour. For those of you who have read my earlier blog posts, you can already imagine what was in store for us at the Tower of London. For those of you just starting to glance through my blog, here’s a brief synopsis:

The Tower of London, in short, is more like a fort than an actual tower. Strategically placed in the center of London, its original purpose was to serve as a military outpost for England’s capital city. The fort, however, is best known for holding Britain’s most famous prisoners during the Medieval era (e.g. the wives of King Henry VIII and several others). Many legends have grown around these prisoners – torture, beheadings, and ingenious escapes. Traditionally, the Beefeaters are the guards of the Tower of London. Since ceremonial guards are not really needed in present times to watch over a popular tourist attraction, the Beefeaters are primarily comprised of retired military men with a witty sense of humor. Each day, the Beefeaters lead entertaining and joke-filled tours of the towers. Weaving history with legend, our Beefeater tour guide left Craig and I reeling with laughter.

"Now I feel like I'm in London," Craig whispered to me as the Beefeater spared no mercy on American politics with a distinctly British accent.

Applauding the Beefeater as he finished his tour with the tales of King Henry VIII, Craig and I hurried away from the crowd toward the Jewel House, home to the crown jewels of England. "Oooo-ing" and "ahh-ing" at the over-sized jewels, Craig dashed my hopes of receiving royal sapphires by saying, "Yeah, definitely nothing here that I can afford!"

Moving from the Jewel House, I glanced at my watch and noticed that we had an hour left before closing -- just enough time to browse through the Medieval armament. Walking through room after room of spears and swords, I began to notice that a lack of sleep was beginning to catch up with Craig.

"Want to grab a bite to eat and head back to the hostel for an early night?" I suggested.

"I thought you'd never ask," he replied with a look of relief washing across his face.

After ordering dinner at a restaurant that has since left my memory, Craig and I hopped back onto the subway for the long trip back to our hostel.

If everything had gone as planned up to this point, then my story of Craig's first day in London would finally be over. However, the Globetrotter Hostel made our day just a little more adventurous than we were expecting.

When I booked our rooms at the Globetrotter Hostel a few weeks earlier, I was looking for two things: (1) decent reviews, and (2) cheap cost. Unfortunately, that evening's events quickly made me realize why this hostel was so affordable.

Though we had dropped our bags off at the hostel earlier that day, we had to store them in a locked basement closet until we could official check into our room that evening. This wasn't a problem since neither of us kept any valuable belongings in our bags. At the time, the hostel looked clean, quiet, and otherwise pretty normal. When we returned in the evening, we saw a completely different view...

It was well after dark by the time we walked back to the hostel from the nearest subway station. Unshowered and exhausted, neither of us had much patience to deal with the loud, raucous party that was just beginning in the hostel lobby. Sidestepping girls in Britney Spears naughty schoolgirl outfits, we cut through the crowd to the front desk and asked to check into our room. Clearly uninterested in our check-in request, the girl at the front desk twiddled her thumbs before eventually looking up our reservation in the computer.

"I'm sorry," she apathetically drawled, "but you only booked a bed for one person, and we're already filled to capacity tonight."

"No," I replied in a strained voice, "I booked two beds for two people several weeks ago, and two beds were definitely charged to my credit card."

"Let me find my manager."

Trying to keep my frustration under wraps, I turned to my almost-falling-over boyfriend and explained the situation. Twenty minutes later, the manager finally showed up at the front desk, searched for our reservation on the computer, and replied, "Oh yes, I do guess that you reserved beds for two people. Here are your room keys."

After claiming our luggage from the basement closet, Craig and I sleepily dragged our feet up the stairs to our third-story room. Dropping our bags on the floor of our hostel room, we were both relieved to see pillows and blankets folded neatly on the beds. "You go first," I told Craig while nodding towards the bathroom. "I'll wash up after you're done."

While Craig was changing into pajamas and brushing his teeth, I collapsed on my bed with a sigh and pulled back the sheets to tuck my feet under the covers. "Eeeewwww!" I screamed pulling my feet from the blankets and tumbling to the floor.

"What happened?" asked Craig as he shot from the bathroom with toothbrush in hand.

"The sheets are WET!"

Ripping back the blankets, Craig ran his hand across the mattress only to find that the previous traveler had left us a little "present" by pouring water all over the bed. (And yes, we made sure to sniff the mattress to confirm that it was water and not some other random fluid.)

After a long day with little sleep, I was in no mood for childish games. Storming down three flights of stairs to the front desk, I caught the nearest hostel employee and let my rude American demeanor loose. "My... mattress... is... wet. I... need... a... new... room."

"Wet?!" spoke the girl at the front desk. "Wow, that's disgusting. Let me call my manager, and we'll find you another room."

In the States, an incident like this would at least result in a free night or discounted rate, but in Europe, a replacement room is about the best that you can expect -- especially at a cheap hostel. Thanking the girl, I walked back up to our room and started repacking my bag for the move to a new bed.

Despite being "completely booked", the manager somehow managed to find new beds for Craig and I. Walking into our new room around midnight, Craig and I needed little prodding to fall onto our pillows and quickly fall asleep.