Checking out of the hotel this morning proved to be a more lengthy affair than we had expected. The owner emerged from his office behind reception with a pained expression on his face. " I have a strategic problem. My computer has just blown up". I told him that I was sorry, which was not strictly true but which seemed to be the only suitable response short of offering to get involved in solving his problem. " It is so bad. I mean it exploded."  My face must have betrayed my skepticism about this dramatic exclamation because he then waved his arms in a circular motion as he tried to give more specifics. "I don't know what you call it in English. The electrical."  

I assumed he was trying to tell me the power supply unit had somehow shorted so nodded vigorously and said that was truly terrible. I was on a tight schedule to pick up the rental car before the office closed for the weekend so my compassion was truly exhausted as he explained that the computer in reception was just a back up for certain things and that he feared he had lost important data. I couldn't have cared less as I watched the minutes ticking away.

 

I needed to distract him so that we could get on with the business of checking out so asked how I might find the car rental office. This however proved to be a strategic blunder.

 " Ah..you have a car..where are you going?" 

I condensed our entire three week road trip into once sentence. " We are heading south to Dubrovnik." This new turn in the conversation obviously pleased the owner.

 

" You will go by the coast yes?

 

"No we are going to go inland."

 

His neck suddenly stiffened and he raised both eyebrows in a spectacularly dramatic fashion. There was no mistaking his disapproval. He looked at me quizzically and wheezed out a simple monosyllable,

 

" Why?

  

My diminishing patience and increasing alarm they we were now running late dictated that I shut this line of conversation down quickly.

 

"It's just the way we planned it "

 

In response, the proprieter slowly peeled a post it note from a pad. He then drew a squiggly line across it. "This is the Adriatic coast." He then placed a series of capital letters indicating the capital cities of the various countries and a series of smaller letters for the major coastal cities. In an excruciating monologe that gave no opportunity for interruption, he explained the various merits of the major coastal areas, told us which part of the coast he enjoyed swimming in and went into quite some detail about a bridge that we were never going to cross which would cut a considerable amount of time from a 

journey we were never going to make. 

 

Thankfully another guest arrived to check out and we were able to make good our escape.  We reached the car rental office in good time and all was going swimmingly until they tried to put a hold on my credit card for the amount of the rental and the insurance excess. At this precise moment ASB bank's security algorithm decided to interrupt proceedings and decline the transaction.  This was not a good moment. The  pre rental information had made painfully clear that the the rental and the excess must be secured on the exact same card which was used to make the booking.  

 

I checked the ASB online banking app and there was more than sufficient funds to cover the amounts. I was perplexed and had no idea how we were going to secure the amount. The pre rental information information had also made clear that debit cards were not accepted for securing the excess and rental. That was the only other card we had. In desperation I asked whether they would accept this.  To my astonishment he nodded and happily completed the transaction in minutes. This is the second time Hertz have proved to be a company with flexibility when it is needed. The previous time was in Finland when out plane was diverted to another airport and the Hertz agent kept the office open till 1 a.m. so that we could collect our car. 

 

We set off North and soon found ourselves in the glorious alpine scenery of northern Slovenia. We stopped at a cafe in the mountains and had some lunch looking at dramatic snow capped mountains and lush green pastures.  As I was checking the last section of the route on my phone I accidentally brought up my notifications. To my horror there was one timed at the exact moment we were in the Hertz office from ASB saying they had declined the transaction but if it was valid to use the app to confirm. I decided I'd leave telling Gill till after lunch. 

 

Finding our house was quite a challenge as it is is at the end of a labyrinth of scarily narrow  unmade roads. 

 

Time to rest!

 

"