So....

The journey is finally coming to an end. I leave Liverpool on August 4th, stay in London for the week then fly out to Melbourne on the 10th. Arrive on the 12th - damn international date line!
Mixed feelings at the moment. There's so much I still haven't seen, especially in Europe. But... when sightseeing becomes a bit of a chore it's probably time to go home. Jaded is me I think. Also jaded is the bank balance - another reason to call it quits.

I had a call from Expedia.co.uk today. You might remember a recent post, from Scotland, about the hotel from hell: the Stewart Hotel. I wrote to Expedia saying I thought they should remove the hotel from their listings because of the atrocious service, etc. They asked for details so I gave them. I've received a few emails since telling me they're still investigating the complaint. I thought they were just generic emails and thought nothing of it. Today they called me personally. They've been trying, all this time, to get some co-operation from the hotel manager but have had no joy. Calls not returned, obfuscation on the few occasions he actually spoke to them, etc. The Expedia guy was totally sympathetic to my case. He'd read TripAdvisor and had got a good overall picture of the hotel. The manager, apparently, is trying to get all the bad reviews removed - hahaha, that'd be 95% of all their reviews. Anyway, the guy said the matter was being bumped upstairs to managerial level.
An hour or so later he rang me back. Management had agreed to remove the hotel from their listings and, even better, refund me 50% of what I'd paid for my stay there. I wasn't expecting any sort of refund, hadn't asked for one; I just wanted the listing removed so other travellers weren't tempted to book the place.
An unexpected but very pleasant bonus :)

This weekend, 22nd-24th July, is the centenary of the Royal Liver Building in Liverpool. I'm off into town tomorrow, weather permitting, with camera to record some of the celebrations. Should be fun.

Later...