Leaving it ALL Behind EARLY

The biggest smiles on the faces of people we see here in the lobby, the only place the Wi-Fi works, is on the faces of people checking out. As for those checking in, well it is just a matter of a short period of time before they wonder what they got themselves into. Those that arrive to enjoy a week or more at the Westgate Condo Time Share, soon find out they are in a place still under construction after three years, and most of it is still the old Holiday Inn that they started out with. All the promo photos they show - are of what is in some bodies dreams, a nice picture but not the real thing by any means.

The top photo is much closer to what is really here than the photo below it. When people are planning their trip and checking on the place, they see the dream photo, on-line or on printed promo pieces. When you get here, the dream fads fast as what is real presents itself. This morning there were five armed policemen in the lobby in response to something nobody wanted to talk about. Yesterday in the building we are in, the only part of the new compound, still being built, only one of the two elevators was working and it got stuck between floors for a half hour with guests in it.

This would be a great place for lawyers to hang out in the lobby handing out business cards to people checking out early. Our place is for a full week but we will be joining the ranks of the early leavers in the morning. We have decided to head north and stay at a Marriott hotel for the last of our week and pay extra money, rather than stay here. We both feel we will never be back to this so called resort and trade off our condo week here for someplace else. Almost anyplace else will do.

So what we have decided to do, is check out the Outer Banks, take a few car ferries, and hope we can get a smile back on our face with new surroundings. We think we were just at the wrong place at the wrong time.