"Trip to Yosemite" by Justin M

 

            A few years ago, my family planned a last minute vacation to finish Summer break strong before returning to school. This came as no surprise to me, as my family has planned last minute vacations before. My family had always wanted to take a road trip to Yosemite, as my family enjoys going on hikes and this setting. This made choosing our vacation easy. My mom booked the best reviewed AirBnb available, and we left that same night. I had to pack up quickly for the 3-day trip due to us leaving on such short notice. I also had to pack supplies to bring my dog because it was too late to find a dog sitter. Despite the minor inconveniences, we still committed ourselves to the trip and began the 5 hour drive to Yosemite. However, this road trip wasn’t the fun summer vacation we initially planned it to be.

 

            The drive to Yosemite began slowly, mainly because of the need for food and drinks. Because of this, we stopped by a gas station then continued the 5-hour drive. However, there were other problems relating to the drive, due to our dog. About 2 hours into the drive, he began to vomit inside of the car, dramatically slowing us down in the process. Although this made the drive uncomfortable, we still managed to continue the drive, and we eventually arrived in Yosemite. By the time we made it to Yosemite, it was about 2 A.M, making it harder to navigate the area. There was also no connection to the internet, so we did not have any navigation tools that would help us find our AirBnB. Luckily, my mom saved the directions to her phone just in case something like this occurred. We used those directions to eventually find what seemed to be the exact AirBnB we booked.

 

            We were all originally excited, as we were all thinking of which rooms we would choose, and fantasized about the different types of games that would be available at the AirBnb. What we found though was a situation we never could’ve predicted. When pulling into the front driveway, we noticed there were two parked cars, which led us to believe that we somehow drove to the wrong location. We checked the directions towards our location and confirmed that there were no mistakes made, and that there was no possibility of us being at the wrong spot. At this point, my whole family was in complete shock about the situation, as we’ve booked AirBnb’s numerous times with no problems. My parents didn’t know how to handle the situation, as confronting the people inside of the house would've been dangerous, due to the chance of the uninvited guest being robbers or having any weapons. However, any doubt we had over safety of the situation was reinforced, when we noticed that the window was broken into. The only reasonable option in this scenario was to call the police. With that being said, we created a distance between where we parked and the AirBnb.

 

            Out of nowhere, one of the people who were inside of our AirBnb walked outside to check the area, as they must have noticed our car lights when we pulled into the driveway. What we saw was unexpected, as it was an old lady who looked far too old to be a robber. She walked up to our car and asked what was going on, as she didn’t understand why we were outside of the AirBnb this late. We explained that we were the people that booked this AirBnb and that there was some sort of mistake. The lady explained how she also paid for the same AirBnb and told us that her whole family was inside the house. Not believing this story, my mom asked her to show a picture of the information of the AirBnb she purchased. At this moment, we immediately identified the problem, as the address of the AirBnb they showed was completely different from this AirBnb.

 

            Shortly after finding out the problem, the cops arrived and questioned both our family and the other to understand what was going on. Afterwards, the other family packed their belongings and drove to their correct AirBnb. From what we know, they weren’t charged for breaking and entering, as they claimed that the cracked window wasn’t caused by them and that they entered through the unlocked garage. We, on the other hand, were disappointed over the situation, as all of the beds were slept on by random strangers, worsening our experience at the AirBnb. However, we were happy that the situation wasn’t more serious and that we weren’t stranded 5 hours away from home.