Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Tuesday 13th November- Dollar Rent a car/The Alamo & American Express

It was rather grey and overcast this morning when we awoke but never mind we said, as we had been requested by Dollar Rent a Car In Las Vegas that after approx one month we should change the car and update the contract and so first thing this morning I phoned Dollar and explained the position and she said, Yes bring the car to the San Antonio Airport facility to update the contract and change the car. In the past when visiting airports in the US there have always been large signboards saying 'rental car this way' and so we did not check on the address, big mistake. We arrived at the Airport and NO signs referring to rental cars and so we looked up Dollar on the Sat Nav and hey its no problem except when we got there is showed Advantage Rent a Car and No its not the same company but Dollar moved from here last year and if you take a left and a right it simple to find except that it wasn't but one phone call to Dollar had us sorted. we arrived and checked in and the girl on the desk said is there something wrong with the car, I said NO , then she said why are we changing it? I said because we have been requested to, Oh she said well then you see that line of Ford Crown Victoria's over there go and choose one and then we can swap over which we did. A few minutes later the guy checking in the cars said, is there something wrong with your car and we said NO, then why did you change it over he asked and we said because you told us to, Oh well but we now have the same type of car only this time its silver in colour only more miles on the clock than the other one.
After this we headed down town and parked up for $4.00 per day, a little cheaper than London, and then walked the streets of San Antonio only it was rather cool and windy and so as we had read from the information books about a film covering the history of the Alamo and so we went to find it at the Imax and and the 50 minute film was quite well made except this was a disaster just like Dunkirk  and from the jaws of defeat they found success. Thank heavens for Hollywood as they made it seem like the greatest victory ever.
During the film it had started raining quite heavily but after we did a trolley trip around town and then decided that as it had started to rain, just like it did when we visited here two years ago, that we would call it a day and return tomorrow when better weather is forecast.
En-route back to the Hotel we visited a  the HEB Supermarket and purchased some salad stuff to be used with the prime rib steaks we have  and after battling the evening traffic we arrived back at the Hotel and went to the rooms to check email only to find two emails  from AMEX saying your card has been compromised and please call urgently, which I did.It would appear that somebody has run amok with Noel's Amex card in Europe and so it had to be cancelled immediately. We need a new card and so after some lengthy discussions, where its not like the advert where a girl arrives in a skimpy dress five minutes later with your new card but are you near Dallas or Houston?.I said NO but there appears to be a an AMEX office in San Antonio, but it is not a card issuing office they said, and so after further discussions we will collect a new card for Noel in Phoenix Arizona in about ten days and in the meantime we will use Jennifer's  Amex card. 
Oh the pleasures of travel.
On the the bright side the rib eye steak from Costco and the Malbec from the same source were superb whilst the Ben & Jerry's Phish Food ice cream finished the dinner off extremely well. Oh well lets hope the weather is better tomorrow and then perhaps we can get some reasonable photos.