Zurich; Friday, 17 August, 2007

I arrived in Zurich and headed straight for the hotel. After checking in, getting my key card swapped over because it wouldn’t work, twice, and having to virtually force the door because it was jamming I finally got into my room to discover that despite booking five months in advance and asking for a non smoking room I had been given a smoking room, which smelt like it hadn’t been aired for a couple of years!

I enquired about swapping, but was told that was all there was (I can only assume that when I placed my reservation five months earlier I was fortunate to be the very last person to be able to get a room – that or else they hadn’t bothered taking note of the request, or couldn’t be bothered to check). It was only later on, after checking my credit card statement that I found they had also charged my card Sf600 in advance, to be refunded if I didn’t do a bunk without paying (the total bill came to less then Sf300!)

I headed back into the centre of Zurich and had a wander around for an hour or so before heading back to the hotel and my (still) stinking (literally) room.