Sorrento

SORRENTO, Italy - We sat in the lobby at Hotel Maison in Sorrento, a coastal city in southern Italy. We found what we thought was a deal on a hotel room that we could pay for in U.S. dollars, and it ended up being a disaster.

The hotel was far away from everything. The nearest beach was over 1 km away, and the actual city was not in walking distance. As we waited for the shuttle into central Sorrento, other guests came to the reception desk and complained about their rooms. One German woman had a number of complaints, one of them being that her shower only spouted off steaming hot water. She requested a room with a working shower, and the desk clerk kept saying, “It’s impossible.” He said that tomorrow would be a possibility. “Maybe tonight, you don’t shower? One night?” As the complaints continued, he then resorted to pretending not to speak English. Such was the case even when we asked for an extra towel. The Italians definitely know how to shake off the tourists' requests.

When I come back to the States, I think I’ll take a weekend trip somewhere. The hotels are just that much nicer in the US than here in Europe. I guess any place that accepts US dollars in Europe has got to be a little sketchy. We certainly learned our lesson here.