A dodgy host, new knees and a fabulous time in Salem! [S.O.F.T.]

Our Senior, Older, Female Traveller is exploring Boston now that her bus tour is over and she faces some interesting challenges…

After my bus tour ended I flew out of San Francisco with JetBlue, an efficient and friendly company, to Boston. With 12 hours travel time I was tired and cold when I arrived, only to find that the host I found through AirBnB wasn’t home!

I stood in the street totally freaked, not knowing what to do. I was shivering from the cold and was not happy at all! I finally received a call back from here and she abruptly told me she was at a rehearsal and would not be home for another 30 minutes at least! Not a good start…

I was fairly pissed off by now, and strangely enough so was she… For goodness sake I was paying her to be here for me!

We eventually got up to her apartment and to my dismay it stunk of cat piss! Oddly though, there was no cat… I was so overwhelmed and tired and cold that I just went to bed. But, the “quiet apartment” was actually in the busy part of town, on a main street opposite an ambulance station! No sleep for me as the sirens blasted all night long.

The place was listed as “A loft condo with great views and very convenient.” It should have been, “Noisy with the street lights on all night!”

I have never been so uncomfortable in my life! There were so many rules; take off your shoes, do not eat anything in the bedroom and so many more.

If I knew I could get a refund easily I would have left straight away. I hope the rest of my AirBnB stays aren’t this bad…

The next morning I ventured into Boston Common and along the Freedom Trail. I have wanted to come to New England for a long time but I was so tired that I nearly fell asleep on the “hop-on-hop-off” bus! I had taken a package to the post office to send back to Australia, but they wanted to charge me a LOT more than the other post offices had… There was meant to be a flat rate for this size parcel! So there was a slightly heated discussion until it was resolved and even better, I was right about the flat rate!

I left the post office and was chased by a postal worker who thought I had left a package behind (all slightly nervous after the Boston Marathon!).  As she tried to catch up with me, I turned abruptly and tripped over the curb… Flat onto my back onto the wet pavement, yep it was raining at the time! I couldn’t bend my new knees to get up gracefully. A courteous New England gentleman offered me his arm, and I was upright again. Although, I think I dislocated his shoulder in the process, don’t think he will be rushing to assist damsels in distress again!

Despite the fall from grace, my new knees have been working well. I could never have managed the underground and all the stairs with the old knees because I just can’ t bend them.

I discovered this at Christmas when the Panama hat and I were frolicking in the surf at Kiama with the young and beautiful hipsters and associates. The beach near my house is so calm that I was not prepared to be dumped by the strong current at Kiama.

Anyway, I was dumped, and dumped and dumped again, and was unable to bend the new knees to get myself out of humiliating danger, panama came to my rescue and I managed to get him dumped as well… It was a struggle to get our ‘groove’ back! The young and beautiful were very amused.

The next day, I Ventured to Salem. I had survived the night with a sleeping tablet, earplugs and an eye mask! There were no tours to Salem, which was surprising, as Boston is full of Australians, so I had to take public transport which took two hours there and two hours back, just for a 30 minute drive! Hmmmmm!

Salem was wonderful, everything I had imagined New England to be, so picturesque and quaint. Not only did I have my fortune told (who wouldn’t in Salem!) I also had my hair coloured by a young Salem hipster!

I liked the instrument of torture she used to colour my hair. She was such a nice girl, as mushy as that sounds! A $20 tip did make the bill add up, and I believe that was modest!!!

Have you been to Boston before? What did you love about it? Have you used AirBnB? What was your experience like?