A Diamond in the Rough

After the honeymoon, we finally had to face reality. The next step was a move to San Francisco. (We're actually not quite sure if it was a step or a huge tumble.) More than a year before we were married, Nate had been offered a position with KPMG in the Bay Area after he had completed a summer internship with them. He accepted, not knowing how his life would change or that he would be taking his new bride with him.

Hoping to ease me into the "big city life," Nate asked me to accompany him to San Francisco before we were married to find an apartment that I would be okay living in. We only had three days to scour the whole bay area. In an effort to maximize time and minimize expenses, Nate picked the cheapest hotel he could find next to the airport. That decision landed us in the Budget Hotel, which was the icing on the cake of a long weekend.

Before we explain further, check out the images below. Although, I have to say the pictures don't do it justice nor do they capture the stale cigarette smell in the rooms.

Budget Highlights:

1. Turning down the bed to discover a dead spider in the sheets
2. Never walking anywhere without shoes on - not even into the shower where there was a mysterious brown ring around the bottom of the tub
3. Dark scary hallway to get to the doors littered with cigarettes and a maxi pad
4. Room littered with beer bottle tops (Do the maids ever come?)
5. Old plastic keys as shown in Nate's hand above
6. Stale smoke smell that made my eyes water and made me gag
7. Replacing a lost key by just simply asking for it. All we did was tell her the room number. She wasn't the one to check us in, didn't ask to verify ID, and simply said, "This is our last one." (I don't think I slept well that night knowing anyone could get a key.)
8. Being told that to check out we simply had to drop our key in the mail box. When we looked in there were a number of other keys, all with the room number prominently written on the plastic

Needless to say, we spent as little time as we could in the hotel and were relieved to check out. I might add, Nate and I had separate rooms and although he was right next door, I was sure the cinder block walls would keep him from hearing me if anything was to happen.

Searching for an apartment was one of the most frustrating things Nate and I did. San Francisco has its charms but that weekend did not lend itself to them. I think the weekend we came was one of the foggiest the city has experienced (at least since I have been here). Fourteen hours a day of looking at countless apartments that were all dirty, small and over priced will suck the charm out of any city. After awhile, Nate and I felt frustrated and like we would never find a place within our price range that was decent. Most apartments were rented within hours of being posted, so we made frequent stops at the local libraries to take advantage of the free WiFi.

Finally, we walked into a small but quaint, safe-feeling, bright and clean apartment. After hours of searching, we knew this was an apartment that couldn't be passed up so we put a deposit down on the spot and prayed that our application would be accepted. It was and now we are living in that apartment that truly was a diamond in the rough. It's conveniently located to all the necessities: bank, BART station, freeway entrance, grocery stores, laundromat, and the airport! Hint! Hint! The SFO airport is less than a mile away so everyone should come visit.