Date: 2019-07-24
From: Upper Goose Pond Cabin

To: Kay Wood Shelter
Miles today: 17.6
Weather: clear sky

Day 114 Gordon Ramsay¢s Hotel from HellI like living to a budget ( but please don¢t tell my financial director that!). For this adventure I¢m living on roughly US$280 a week or roughly $6500 for the whole thing. To my way of thinking it¢s a generous budget for my trek, more than some hikers and less than others. It means I have to be a bit picky and choosy on where I stay, what I buy, the gear I use and even where or if I stay. Note that this budget doesn¢t include the cost to get a visa into the USA ( for me over $1500 due to costs for an interstate interview, accommodation etc) or airfares from Australia to USA ( another$1500) or hiking gear ( $2500) Most of the time I¢m really comfortable in my tent but there are times I really crave for a home cooked meal and clean linens. So I watch my budget. I pay for things either by my Australian credit card or if it¢s minor I carry a small amount of cash. Every couple of days when there is internet I check my bank balance, especially after I have been in a major town. A few weeks back after staying in Delaware Water Gap I noted there was a double charge on my credit card from a supplier I did not recognise. Hmmmm?? what to do. Eventually I sought out my banks web page and followed the links to contact them. Of course I got a message back ¢http not recognised ¢ But I persisted and after numerous web searches sent off a message to the bank credit card officer. A few days later I got a response and after a bit of back and forth I was advised who the supplier was. It was a charge from many many weeks ago but curiously only now was being processed. It was suggested that I directly contact the supplier, a hotel owner, or alternatively my credit card could be canceled and Visa would take over. So I opted for the first option only I had no telephone number so I did a web search. The first hit I got was ¢ Gordon Ramsay Hotel from Hell¢!!!This certainly intrigued me! At the time I was sitting on a log in the middle of a forest and about half way through reading Gordon¢s experiences I fell off the log belly laughing! He totally encapsulated my impressions of a hotel owner I had met. His descriptions of the establishment??, the going ons in the back rooms, as well as the strategies of the supplier were unbelievable! Only, having met the hotel owner they were totally believable. Needless to say the culprit for all the troubles at the establishment were blamed on the hikers or the computer technology! Armed with this information I rang the supplier. The conversation lasted a long time! Well it took a whiles during which time the owner blamed the computer and other hikers ...  but then it was agreed I get a refund. She said ¢Well what must have happened was I double clicked the ¢Charge¢ icon.¢ ... ¢Now what I must do is double click the refund icon.¢ I said nothing but silently agreed ¢Yes¢ There was a long pregnant pause.  ¢Oh no no!¢ ¢If I do that you will get a double refund.¢ I said nothing. She asked that I call her immediately if I did not get a refund. Well I checked the next day and no refund. Or the next day. Or the next. No refund. I laughed to myself and dwelt on what my next response would be. My financial director suggested I contact Gordon Ramsay. I also asked myself how many hikers check their accounts for a supplier who inadvertently and totally by mistake ¢double clicks¢. However, today I got a refund. Now the way Visa and foreign exchange works ( they deduct their fee both ways) there was a lot less refund but refund it was!!! Yippeee! Some days are diamonds. My supplier was one of the characters of the trail. On a totally different subject ... today I met a much loved character and true trail angel: ¢The Cookie Lady¢ For the last 30 years she has devotedly cooked a daily batch of cookies and whoever knocks on her door, she had some plus refreshments! I have heard so much of her and it was a moment I¢ll treasure that I met her. Sadly she¢s on in years and frail. But she loves to greet everyone on the trail and she is one of the ones who makes the AT the legend that it is. I enjoyed my cookie plus a sofa she has for sale. It energised me to hike on and I made it to the next shelter and a very pleasant night¢s sleep.I should also add that at the Upper Goose Pond Cabin they also served up pancakes and coffee. It certainly was a gourmet day!