According to Jyoti, "Break-ins are a common occurrence across Seattle these days and we expect our guests to follow the rules. I emailed you about it too the night before you left."

I feel so terrible. I had no idea from the listing "Plush Modern Hilltop Retreat" that this basement apartment was actually in a dangerous neighborhood and that I may have been putting my family in danger by staying there.

There might have been mold in the dark apartment which caused me to experience some serious asthmatic wheezing. We needed to air out the musty smell from the apartment.

Tragically . . . we were asleep and didn't get the message Jyoti sent us @ 11:13pm the night before we left @ 5:30am. The information "be sure to lock all windows and doors when you leave including the front door," contained in the final sentence of a 6 paragraph e-mail wasn't read by me until it was too late.

Of course it was very, very irresponsible of us not to read the rules and in the 15 communications FROM Jyoti (2 in person) we should have asked her about the danger and crime in Seattle generally and in her neighborhood specifically and we should have wondered (having lived in actual dangerous neighborhoods in London and NYC and Brooklyn and Washington DC and LA for many many years) why there aren't bars or alarms on all the windows and doors of the apartment.

If only we had . . . if only, as Jyoti wrote, we hadn't "dropped the ball on observance of house rules," and created a "major trust and security breach."

I'm very sorry about all that indeed and boy have we learned our lesson about the new definition of the term "security breach."

I was originally going to write, "Recently remodeled, nice apartment, close to transportation . . . perfect for our lovely trip to Seattle. The apartment had everything we could want and more. Jyoti was lovely and friendly and very helpful." But I guess all that is meaningless now that we've violated the house rules.

Lesson Learned: Make sure you read the house rules!!