My partner and I decided to attend our first TCon. But this time, we coordinated to meet up with 9 other friends apart of our own community and others.

We originally locked in a nice AirBnB with an outdoor space to grill and chill. Upon arrival(the first), we realized that the AirBnB had pest issues and it would not work for all of us to actually feel comfortable during our stay. I was the only guy, but even for me, that's beyond unacceptable when your housekeepers were supposed to clean prior to our arrival. So, we contacted AirBnB and the host. Just to give you an idea - one bathroom had over 30 dead gnats stuck to the ceiling with dozens of ants here and there casually parousing around.

In the shared bathroom, there was a production line of over 40 ants heading who knows where, but nonetheless - not acceptable. The host arrives and immediately sprays the bathrooms with raid, just doused in chemicals. He even at one point sprayed the dead gnats with raid....dead gnats.....with raid dripping from the ceiling. Eventually, he goes to wipe them off the ceiling after I expressed that the raid won't do anything at that point.

And then, after respectfully continuing the conversation with the host - he says that his housekeepers sprayed outside, which is why the ants were inside, and that he's had ants before and it shouldn't be a big deal. Keep in mind, we're still being levelheaded and respectful to the guy. Not once did we talk down to him. But I did make it evidently clear that we would not be staying the night, to which at some point he left to make a call and never returned.

He then continued the conversation via chat, calling my partner and I rude, and acting like "those" type of guests. So being concerned about the state of your home is being rude? We eventually just gave up and lost over $1400 for all of those that contributed. The refund wasn't even a 3rd of what we payed.

This is where God intervenes.

We end up having a fellow streamer/friend who we were meeting for the first time who had a home that could accommodate us all! And get this, her brothers cancelled the last minute which allowed us to stay at her place the entire trip/twitchcon. Her car, regular 5 seater, was in the shop - so, her rental that she recieved was a 7 seater. It fit all of us who were staying at her place. We still had the collective cookout meeting friends, and an even better twitchcon. Our other streamer friend from the Netherlands experienced her first time in America. My partner dressed up as the Lorax and I co-streamed with her in the El Gato booth. Kleo Thomas from "Holes" joined her briefly on stream and was the second highest Twitchcon social media post right above Harris Heller.

The vibes were vibing. No drama. No one got sick...and now we're all home. Blessed man....

I just wished the AirBnB situation was handled much much better and was up to basic standards.