Before going back to the room last night, I checked with reception to see what time we needed to be out of the room by – Noon. Cool.
With no real time (or desire) to venture far, we had decided we would stay as long as possible before checking out and so the morning consisted of slowly getting ready, showered, packed, etc.
Around 11:50am there was a knock at the door, it was house-keeping. I tried to tell her that we were just about to leave and I think she got what I was trying to say, but she only spoke French, so we may never know. She was waiting down the corridor when we did eventually leave though. I know hotels have tight turnarounds, but if check out time is noon and there’s a do not disturb on the door handle, maybe wait until noon to knock? No?
After leaving the hotel, we stopped at a little bakery across from the RER and grabbed a couple Pain au Chocolats for our (late) breakfast.
We then went back to Disney one last time to have a look around the shops at Disney village and get yet more food before our train to Charles De Gaulle.
The train back was mobbed, to the point where we stood awkwardly, with others next to the luggage rack/door the whole journey, once at the airport, we made our way through security and to our gate.
While sat at the gate (we had a while), Connor was talking about how much he wanted to go back to Disney. Long story short? While sat at the gate for our flight home, we made reservations for Disney hotel and booked return flights for January. Oops.
As with the way to Disney, the journey back meant another border control visit at Amsterdam. The queue moved a lot slower this time and the EU passengers border next to us was a lot more visible, meaning it hurt all the more watching people sail through as we waited. All the staff were really friendly and upbeat though (my experience of border control has mostly consisted of America, where they treat you as guilty from the moment you land til the moment you collect your luggage on the other side and get out of the airport).
Back in Aberdeen, we got back to the long-stay carpark and made our way to the exit. I had the ticket that the machine gave me when we arrived, with my reg number printed on it. I put it in the machine, fully expecting the barrier to raise and for us to drive out.
The barrier did not raise. Instead, it charged me £100.
I had already paid for the parking online, in advance. £61.99. We had purposefully chosen the further away car park, because we didn’t (or I didn’t) want to pay £100 for fucking parking. Yet here we were, behind a barrier, with a £100 toll to get out.
I paid it and we left. Annoyed.
Looking into it once I was home, I had made the mistake of pressing the button on the machine when we arrived for a ticket – it should have automatically spat out a ticket when it read the plate. It didn’t. Meaning that instead of using the pre-booked slot we had, we essentially started a new one.
I wrote to the parking people and laid out what happened. Admitting fault and asking there was anything they could do.
If anything, I expected them to maybe refund the £61.99. Since technically, that wasn’t used. But they wrote back asking for the card details used, saying they’d refund the full £100 paid at the gate (which is now back in the account).