I'd give the BnB an honest review based on your experience.

I can't begin to imagine how happy you are to be back home. Yes, give an honest review.

We rented a house in Santa Fe that was lovely but if we left food on the counter for just a few minutes it would get covered with ants. I think we used VRBO, I was able to send the owner a private note about it. Everything else was so nice that I didn't want to put it in the review.

In your case, I think the lack of bedding and kitchen items and the slippery shower are kind of a big deal so I would put it in a review. Shabby is kind of subjective so I would omit that, although I don't doubt that it was.

It sounds like you had some good meals and even though it was stressful to see some people, nobody can complain about you and Kevin snubbing the rest of the family.

Gatherings of any sort can be challenging. It sounds like yours was. You don't mention any heat challenges, but that can't have been fun either.

Like Bunny, I'd give them a review... at least privately. They need to know what needs to be improved.

We once stayed in a 6 bedroom AirBnB; 3 rooms were great but 3 were the most miserable holes - the beds broken, sagging, and sheetless. The owners were absolutely surprised to hear about the 3 bad rooms. ????

After those ridiculous comments from the owner, my daughter put all on the AirBnB website for others to read.

What an ordeal. You handled it with grace and now it’s over.

We never do Air BnB or regular BnB, although both DD’s do them all the time.

Size can be difficult to judge and maybe pictures from a time years back it was less shabby.

We once stayed in a time share that had renovated with bath fitters and there was water under there that made it feel like you were standing on a rocky boat.

I don't like giving bad reviews, but in this case you could be preventing an accident, so I would.

Beyond being close to your sister it doesn't sound like there was anything positive about the rental. I would give an honest review on the site and if it does get posted you just might save a future renter from the same fiasco.

As for family .....what can I say. I guess many of us have those same uncomfortable experiences.

Sometimes the best part of a trip is getting back home. Hopefully you will have some — or a — tender or funny or interesting moment to talk over later, and the weird stuff will become family lore.

(I just discovered my Fire stick gives me Roku! I’ve been binging on old Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and Quantum Leap, so I’ll have to look for the Drag Race shows. I haven’t seen RuPaul in a long time, is he involved in those shows?

I’m glad your trip had at least some positive aspects. You racked up good karma points by going and supporting your sister. I agree with others that the slippery bathtub needs to be included in your review. That’s so easily fixable with a non-slip mat that the owners should have already taken care of the problem.

As someone who does use Air BnBs, I like to see accurate reviews. You write it, they can fix it and comment that the problem has been fixed. Or not.

You and your brother were great to spend this time with your sister. She appreciates your support, I know.

Lars, I’ve been wondering how it went, glad you’re home safe and sound! I admire that you both made the trip … I’m sure your presence and support was much needed and appreciated.

Now take some time to relax in the nicer weather. I’d be in the pool with a cocktail. :)

Lars, I appreciated your trip report and I think you and Kevin did a good thing by going and being there.

You shared with us what was important on the day to day and I think we can all relate.

I agree that some things are subjective but not having proper sized sheets and a slippery bathtub with no bar or gripper things is a real shortcoming and you would be right to mention it.

Sometimes we just have to check a box. At least you found little bits of pleasure in the trip. And Welcome Home!!!!!

Families! You and Kevin get a gold star for showing up and supporting your sister.

As for the BnB, you should leave an honest but not angry review. Ive had goodluck so far with Airbnb and VRBO. One was bare bones but adequate but we were only there one night.

And aren’t you glad that it’s over and done with…..and that you went? I’m proud of you.

.…

Welcome home! I saw your comment (other thread) about the condiment packets too late, but they're very pedestrian, not what you like, so no harm.

I'm sorry you dislike so many of your relatives! So good of you to endure them and support your sister.

Re the review, you can be honest while still being kind. E.g. ”I found the bathtub very slippery and hope they'll add some non-slip strips to keep future guests from falling.”

I am glad it is over with, and I am also glad that we went. Most relatives appeared to be thrilled to see us, since it had been six years since we had been to Texas. I used to go every year when our parents were alive, as our mother was very insistent on this, and I/we always stayed with our parents when we went, but then they lived out in the country where there no accommodations close by. There might be now, but still...

I don't leave angry reviews, even when I do not like the landlord, as was the case in Copacabana. That BnB owner make us pay in full up front in cash (which we did) and then asked us to leave early and move to another (less nice) apartment that he owned because he had double booked our apartment. I told him that that was his problem and that I had no intention of leaving until my stay was up.

I will wait to give a review for the BnB in Austin and might not give one at all, but I did contact the owners and reported the dangerous situation in the bathtub. They can easily put a rubber mat in the bathtub to make it safer, and that would have satisfied me. I have one that I use in my bathtub in L.A. In Cathedral City (where I am now), I only have a walk-in shower, but I put a pebble floor in that (which I love), and it is not slippery at all. I also have a teak bench in my shower, and Kevin has one in his also. Since the floor is not slippery at all, I have not put grab bars in, but I might do that in the future. I do have grab bars in my bathtub in L.A., and I definitely need those. I even added a removable one for the side of the tub, to make it easier to get in and out - otherwise I could slip or fall when lowering myself into the tub.

The BnB has a $90 cleaning fee, and so it would have been expensive if we had stayed only one night.

bpath, Rupaul is very involved with Dragrace UK, and Michelle Visage is on that show as well. I believe he is also on the Australian show, but we did not get around to watching that. The shows were not streaming, and so we had to watch them in real time. DR España and Italia were a lot less dramatic than even the UK version, which was less dramatic than the U.S. version, and the Snatch Games were pretty disappointing in all of them, in comparison to the U.S. Snatch Games.

One reason we did not do much was because of the heat, and the car got extremely hot. We had to borrow a sunshade from our sister - I think the rental car agencies should supply those with the cars in Texas. I am glad to be back at my pool now - I did not use the one in Austin - it was pretty small and was dirty when we got there.

Sounds fairly miserable, but you can be comforted that you did the "right thing" with your trip. We like Pappadeaux too, likely a bright spot of your trip.

As far as the review I would just follow previous poster's suggestions and comment on specifically factual items.

I'm glad you went and navigating through the landmines of the family situation. I'm certain it was appreciated by those who matter most.

As a seasonal rental owner, we can often be unaware when things go missing in the rental. The cleaning crew does not notice and the greeter doesn't notice everything. Things get tossed or "sprout legs of their own", especially small items (and many more new things pop up). You should however flag factual or safety items, like the lack of anti-skid material, so they can address it.

I would write the review. Perhaps they are new owners and that is why they solicited your opinion. It woild be especially good to note the lack of sheets for the sofa bed, lack of a wine opener and glasses, slippery slower. I would surely want to know about an uncomfortable bed & pillows and that it is only a double, especially if I was expecting a larger bed.

You likely won’t be going back so what will they do about your review? Nothing.

I’m glad you and Kevin went and endured. The right thing to do.

Lars, I knew this could be a hard time for you, I had my heart set for what you want. You deserve better.

Kindness for you and your family (((Lars)))

I’m sorry the trip was so difficult overall. Yes, I would mention that about the tub. I feel AirBNB should have some minimal safety/accessiblity standards such as nonstick surfaces in tubs and showers and grab bars in them. At least with a hotel these do come standard or you can put your towel mat in there. We are renting an AirBNB for a family event in a couple of weeks, and in all honesty I’d probably prefer a hotel. At least I get my own BR and bathroom.

Lars, I know your sister appreciated you and Kevin coming and supporting her. It sounds like parts of the visit were difficult, but glad you were able to navigate that. Family visits can be very challenging. I would be honest in your review of the AirBnB. Thank goodness neither of you fell in the shower. I know you and Kevin are glad to be home. The heat here continues to be unbearable.

I'm going to hold off on giving the B&B a review - there is really no rush to do it, and I have notified them of the hazard in the bathroom, which for me was the killer. I'm just glad I was able to catch myself when I did slip in the bathtub, but it wasn't easy. I believe that the owners are a group of young people and they might get large groups of young people as well, since they advertise as being able to sleep five, but then the condo would be more like a youth hostel. This may also be why they have a $90 cleaning fee. They thanked up for leaving the place very clean.

I did not get around to food reviews before:

Day One at Central Market: bought corn and flour tortillas, some fresh pico de gallo, three types of Brie, sliced deli turkey breast, a bottle of Chianti, a bottle of a Sangiovese blend, a couple of pints of ice cream - I chose coffee flavored and Kevin chose double chocolate - a package of flatbread crackers, a small package of extra sharp Tillamook cheddar cheese, a couple of cans of frozen orange juice, and a six pack of Negra Modelo. I think Kevin got some Dr Pepper also and another six pack of beer. This was way more than we needed for five days, but we had planned to leave all of our leftovers at our sister's house, and so I did not worry about a small amount of excess. I wanted to give her something in her time of grief anyway, and I know she hates grocery shopping.

Our bill at CM was $145, which seemed a bit high to me, but the main thing I found expensive was the wine, but each bottle was under $20, and I think that is our normal limit in L.A.

Without realizing it, I had bought jalapeño corn tortillas, which was not what I wanted, but I was okay with them. It had not occurred to me to check the package for ingredients, as they looked like regular tortillas,, although there were some odd spots in them, which I thought were just burn marks. The Brie was not as good as what I get at Gelson's or Bristol Farms, but it was still much better than regular supermarket Brie. Over the week, I ate it with the Sangiovese (blend) wine, which was good, but not as good as what I am used to. Kevin opened the Chianti and said he didn't like it, and so we recorked it to give to our sister.

The next morning, Kevin went to Upper Crust Bakery to get pastries for breakfast and coffee for him. I had my pastry with tea.

Day Two, as I said before, we went to Pappadeaux for lunch with our sister and then took leftovers with us. We had lunch at 2 PM, which is very late for DS but early for us on Pacific Time. I had a seafood platter and mostly just ate the shrimp and fried oysters, but I started with the stuffed crab, which is my favorite. The red beans were extremely spicy (which I like) and so I mixed them with my rice but did not eat much of them. I ended up with two large pieces of catfish, stuffed shrimp, and the beans and rice.

After Pappadeaux, we went shopping at Phoenicia Bakery/Deli and bought tabbouleh, hummus, smoked eggplant, lavash (made in Los Angeles), a large muffuletta sandwich, a fava bean salad, a packaged Swiss roll made with hazelnut cream, and a package of Italian wafer cookies layered with chocolate - the ones that come in a rectangular package and you have to break them apart. I bought these to have with the ice cream. The bill there was $50, and my credit was declined, and so I had to call my bank to find out why. They told me that they did not like Phoenicia Bakery and had frozen my account, in case of fraud. Kevin's card worked fine, but I had cash as well.

From there we went to Spec's Wine & Liquor Store because Kevin used to go there, and it was the closest liquor store to Phoenicia Bakery. This was an especially good store, and I found a much better bottle of Sangiovese there, which we brought back and haven't opened yet. We also bought some Irish whiskey for Kevin and I bought some goat cheese (from France, although they had Texas goat cheese as well) and a few other things that I cannot remember.

Day Three (Saturday) was the memorial service - we had pastries for breakfast and lunch at the memorial service, which I was not expecting, since I had bought lunch items the day before.

The day we were leaving, we dropped off the following to our sister: the bottle of Chianti, four bottles of beer, leftover fava bean salad, tabbouleh, smoked eggplant, hummus, leftover ice cream (we only ate about half of it), half of the Swiss roll, half of the wafer cookies, and the leftovers from Pappadeaux that Kevin and I did not eat, except for the catfish, which I took back with me. I probably left her the red beans and rice (which I wanted), although it might be too spicy for her, but she can give it to some of her guests.

Overall, I was very happy with the food, and I think I convinced Karen that she should shop at Phoenicia Bakery, since it is just a few blocks from her house and only one block from her church.

Lars - I always enjoy reading your posts and am glad that your visit home was overall positive. I've never heard of a bank denying use of a credit card because of a specific business. Were you able to use your card after that at other places on your trip?

I have severe balance problems and when I have stayed places that have slippery shower/bath floors and no grab bars I put the bathmat in the shower/tub for traction - and absent a bathmat, I have used a hand towel for that purpose. I travel with a folding cane, and also bring that into the bathroom with me just in case I need it to steady myself.

Doesn't the airbnb host always give you her/his phone number? We just used one in Milwaukee and the house was due for repairs—the owner had just bought it and was renting it before it was fully ready. No tub mat in the slippery bathtub but it and a new coffee maker was delivered pronto when i called.

it was nice of you and Kevin to make the trip, Lars.

Lars, I didn't think you would enjoy much of the family visit, but it seems that there were postives and I'm glad you and Kevin went.

The food sounds delicious, but I knew you would find good food where ever you went.

I'd also leave a factual review of the B&B, and I'd contact the owner and tell them the problems so that they could correct them and then post that the issues had been corrected. I've only used a VRBO once, in Maine, and both the owners and the property were lovely. I was travelling with three kids, my mother and The WeinerDog, so my options were slightly limited, LOL.

Annie

I lived in Austin from Jan 1985 through Aug 1988 when I was getting my Interior Design degree at UT, and so I'm pretty familiar with the city. Plus I used to go there every year after I moved back to California in order to visit my parents and family. In the 1990s, there were no direct flights between Austin and LAX, and so I generally had to change planes in Phoenix, but now there are plenty of non-stop flights, which made the trip much easier. We chose Delta because of price and flight times and upgraded to "Comfort Plus", which gave us 30% more leg room (but no extra width room), and this also made boarding and exiting faster and easier. The price was 30% more as well. We had hoped that no one would buy the seat between us, but both flights were full and overbooked. In fact, Delta had to add an extra plane for the first flight because of the extreme overbooking. I think it should be illegal to oversell a flight, and I long for the days when planes would have empty seats. I would be willing to pay a bit more for that.

Restaurant and food choices have improved in Austin since I lived there, as new residents are willing to pay more for food than old residents. However, we did not have time to explore this that much. I still prefer the food scene in Houston to that of Austin, and we would have gone to Houston this year instead (for an ostomy convention) if our BIL had not died. I feel a much stronger connection to Houston, as that is where I moved right after high school to go to university. I made lifelong friends there, although none of them still live in Houston. I did not make any long lasting friendships while I was at UT, but that is probably due to my age at the time.

Our sister has said that she wants to visit us in California, now that Jack is gone, but we will see how long it will take before she does this. One of her best friends told me that she expects Karen to look for another job, probably part time, as she needs something to do with her time. However, her granddaughter Kim (daughter of her psychopathic son Jason) is now taking advantage of her in a similar way that Jason had done, in that she drops off her two sons at Karen's house for her to babysit them every day. I don't know whether Karen likes this or resents this, but it does give her something to do. I think the boys are about seven to nine years old, and Karen says that they get into everything. Kim is divorced from her husband of less than 10 years, and originally the court gave custody of the two boys to him - which can give you an idea of how bad a mother Kim is. The husband turned out to be even worse, and so Kim did get custody, but it seems that she prefers for Karen to raise them, since they spend more time with her than they do with Kim. This is the kind of drama that Kevin and I like to avoid.