Episode 34: Hotel Checkout & Reviewing the Invoice — 5,000 Core English Words

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Chapter thirty-four. Checking out.

It is the last morning. The suitcases are by the door of room four twelve, and the view from the balcony is as fantastic as it was on the first evening. Ryan and Emma do not want to leave, but the car is waiting.

Listen to how to check out of a hotel, how to ask politely about a mistake on the bill, and how two people look back on a holiday.

Receptionist: Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Johnson. Are you leaving us today?

Ryan: I'm afraid so. We'd like to check out, please. Room four twelve.

Receptionist: Of course. How was your stay?

Emma: It was wonderful. Sincerely. The springs, the breakfast, the boat. We couldn't have asked for more.

Receptionist: I'm so glad to hear that. Did you have anything from the minibar last night?

Ryan: Just one bottle of water.

Receptionist: Thank you. I'll print your bill. Here you are. Would you mind looking it over?

Ryan: Sure. Let me see. Ten nights, the spa package, the kayaks. Hmm.

Receptionist: Is everything all right?

Ryan: I think there might be a mistake here. We've been charged for two dinners in the restaurant on the fifth, but we only ate here once that day. And there's a charge for a bottle of wine that we didn't order.

Receptionist: Let me check that for you. You're quite right. The second dinner and the wine belong to room four twenty-one. I do apologize. I'll take those off right away.

Ryan: Thank you. No harm done.

Receptionist: Here is the new bill. Your tenth night is free, as promised, so the total amount is two thousand, one hundred and forty dollars.

Ryan: That looks right.

Receptionist: Would you like to pay with the card we have on file?

Ryan: Yes, please.

Receptionist: Thank you. Would you like a printed receipt, or shall I email it?

Ryan: Email is fine. And could we leave our bags here for half an hour? We'd like one last walk.

Receptionist: Certainly. I'll keep them behind the desk.

Emma: Before we go, I'd like to leave a tip for the housekeeping staff. Who should I give it to?

Receptionist: You can leave it with me in an envelope, and I'll make sure it's divided fairly. That's very thoughtful.

Emma: And please tell the young man in the restaurant that his grandmother's studio was the best thing I saw.

Receptionist: I will. He'll be embarrassed and very pleased.

Ryan: Do you have rooms available in the fall? Next year, perhaps?

Receptionist: We do. If you book before December, you get our early rate. It's a kind of promotion for returning guests. I can put a note on your file.

Ryan: Please do.

Receptionist: Then we look forward to seeing you again. Drive safely, and mind the pass. There's work on the road, and one lane is closed.

Emma: Thank you for everything. Goodbye!

Emma: What will you remember most?

Ryan: The upper pool. And the first night, when I slept eleven hours. And your face in the kayak, when the water went down your neck.

Emma: You laughed so hard you nearly reversed into a rock.

Ryan: I had hardly any control. In my judgment, a kayak is a dumb way to move.

Emma: Although you asked to go again the next day.

Ryan: I did. What about you?

Emma: The silence. And the two women we met at dinner, Maria and Jo. I loved them.

Ryan: They were great. How long have they been together?

Emma: Twenty-two years. Jo said that when they met, a lesbian couple couldn't get a room together in a town like this. People had views about anything sexual, and they said them aloud. Now nobody even looks. She said it without anger. Just as a measurement of time.

Ryan: She was formerly a trader, wasn't she? Bonds, something like that.

Emma: A bond trader, for fifteen years. Then she quit, and now she's an entrepreneur. She makes bread. She said the bread is more honest.

Ryan: I liked her viewpoint on money. I asked her about the economy, because I'm a fool who asks that at dinner.

Emma: What did she say? I was talking to Maria about colourful paint.

Ryan: She said, don't read the index every morning. Prices inflate, markets plunge, the water recedes, and then it all comes back. She said the newspapers talk about a trillion in debt, the deficit, a surplus, unemployment, the workforce, and it's a huge noise. For a normal family, according to her, there are only three wise things.

Emma: Which are?

Ryan: Spend less than your salary. Keep a buffer, a minimum of a few months. And don't waste a penny on things that only imply you're rich.

Emma: That's decent advice. Robust, even.

Ryan: I wrote it on a sheet of hotel paper. It's in my pocket. One paragraph.

Emma: You and your notes. Did you tell her how much we weigh on the bank's nerves, with the studio and the attic?

Ryan: I did. She reckons we're fine. She said a house is a principal you live in. Indeed, she said the best profit is a quiet street.

Ryan: Bags in. Doors closed. Fasten your seat belt.

Emma: Wait. Let me look one more time. The lake. The mountain. I want to mount this picture in my head.

Ryan: Take your time.

Emma: I thought about something in the springs yesterday. While you were asleep with your mouth open.

Ryan: I wasn't asleep. I was in reflection.

Emma: You were noisy. I thought, we should come here every year. Occasionally, at least. Even when things change.

Ryan: What things?

Emma: I don't know. Life. A promotion for you. An exam for me, if I ever do that course. Relatives who get old. Maybe a family that isn't just two people and a dog.

Ryan: Are you trying to tell me something?

Emma: No! Not yet. I just imagine it sometimes. Don't look so pale.

Ryan: I'm not pale. I'm happy. I'd like that. More than I expected to, when I was a prince of my own little apartment.

Emma: Good. Then we agree, though we don't have to settle anything today.

Ryan: Not today. Today we have seven hours, a quarter tank of gas, and probably one bad sandwich.

Emma: I packed real food.

Ryan: However, I perceive a Temple of Cheese on the way.

Emma: We'll stop. You earned it. Do you mind if I sleep for the first hour?

Ryan: Sleep. I'll turn the volume down. A thousand thanks for the mountains, by the way. You were right, and I was wrong.

Emma: Say that again, slowly, into my phone.

Ryan: No. That was a least-once-in-a-lifetime sentence.

Emma: I'll take it. Plug in the phone. The electricity in this car is the only thing still working for the company.

Ryan: I didn't succeed at doing nothing, did I? There was no refusal I didn't break. Walking, boats, clay.

Emma: You succeeded at something better. Ten days shrink a year of stress. Your shoulders came down by two centimeters. That's mathematics.

Ryan: I adequately rested.

Emma: That was real bonding with a kayak. It's a legacy. It will strengthen you, and it increased my love by a pound or two.

Ryan: Is that a crop I can harvest later?

Emma: Drive, farmer. I support you fully. From the passenger seat, with my eyes closed.

That is the end of chapter thirty-four. The bill was corrected, the bags are in the car, and the mountains are getting smaller in the mirror.

Keep these with you: "We'd like to check out, please." "I think there might be a mistake on the bill." "We didn't order that." "Could we leave our bags here?" "We'll be back."

In the next chapter, some months later, Emma does not feel quite like herself, and they make a quick stop at the pharmacy.

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