On this extended vacation or adventure as I like to call it, I sometimes need to book hotels or Airbnb’s when I am in between pets sitting gigs. I usually try to find a room as cheap as I can get it and It's usually only for a day or two. My pet sitting gig in New Barnet ended on Saturday March 15th and the next one started the following day on March 16th. On that Saturday morning, I went to Booking.com and found a place called Komo Hackney in the London Borough of Hackney. It was £41. The description read “At the hotel, each room has a wardrobe. The rooms have a kettle, while selected rooms also boast a kitchenette with a fridge. All rooms will provide guests with a microwave.” Sold and what’s more it’s only a 30 minute tube ride to my next gig. I didn’t look at the photos that were of the hotel space.. Approximately 10 hours later I was at the doors of Komo Hackney. That’s when I realized this was not a hotel of rooms but of pods. What the hell!?
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| Andre Street-Komo Hackney is on this block-Photo by Brian Jones Francis |
After I left the New Barnet gig, I sort of had a distressing commute. The first station, New Barnet on the Thameslink line, doesn’t have any lifts. So it’s up the stairs and down the stairs with my 5O lb bag and heavy backsack. I tapped in with my bank card and I got off at Finsbury park to transfer to the London Underground train. I tapped out at a reader in the hallway. Right next to that was the staircase down to the Victoria line, The one I needed. It seemed like it was a never ending spiral staircase. When I got to the bottom, I saw it was only the south bound line. At the top of the stairs I just saw the Victoria line and assumed that both north and south routes were down there,, sometimes they are. But not here. I walked up the never ending spiral staircase. And made it to the top. Right next to there was another staircase going down to the Victoria line. I made it to the bottom. Guess what? It was also only the south bound service. I was going to have a breakdown. As I was walking back up that staircase, I just kept saying, “Fuck You”! I don’t know to who. God? The Universe? Myself? I didn’t read the sign again. I just assumed the first staircase was southbound, the staircase next to it should be northbound. Fucking Wrong! I should stop assuming. Maybe I was dead and I would be going up and down this spiral staircase carrying my 50lb bag and heavy backpack for all of eternity. I finally found the northbound service. I make it down the other spiral staircase and reached the northbound platform. I only need to take it one stop, then transfer to another line and then a further 5 stops to Hackney Downs.. While waiting for the train, I realized that when I tapped out in the hallway, I might have been tapping into The Underground. Usually with different services, you tap out at one service before you tap into another. If you tap in and don’t tap out, you could end up paying the maximum for that service. I don’t even know if these services are connected. I may have to pay another £5. It’s probably no big deal but sometimes I stress about every dollar or pound in this case. Finally I made it to Hackney Downs.
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| One of the Arches on Andre St-photo by Simon-London Less Travelled |
It’s only a 5 minute walk to Komo Hackney on Andre Street from the station. Andre Street is this very dubious, winding street, comprising of railway arches on a cobble stone road. It's also now nighttime. I feel like I’m in a Guy Richtie movie. I see a bunch of blokes working in dingy car repair shops in the arches. I finally make it to the building, which is on the opposite side of the arches. The door is locked and I see a keypad to the left. Now what do I do? Check the email. I always put all my hotel, train and plane emails in a travel folder. I found it and that’s when I realized I booked a pod. I was immediately disgusted. By the way, I would have known all this had I read the email right after I booked it. I never read those though. They usually send like 3 or 4 conformation emails. I just glance at the first line that says it’s confirmed. I already know the check in time so I never read them. The quote I referenced above though was clearly misleading. From the confirmation email I find the access code and punch the number into the keypad. I’m in and I head to the elevator. As I go up I have no idea what I will encounter. I go through the doors and come upon a common room with a few tables, lockers and vending machines. There are quiet signs everywhere. I see a door marked pods 1-20. I’m in pod 7 and I walk through. There are 10 pods on each side of the room, with 10 on the ground and 10 above. Pod number 7 is on the ground. I put in the access code and open the pod door(Hal) The pod doors and the walls are just unfinished plywood. I know that is a style but it’s also cheap. I feel like I'm in a pine box coffin in some pauper’s grave. It's like I’m on a chain gang in Cool Hand Luke, spending the night in the box or the gimp from Pulp Fiction about to be woken up. I throw my suitcase and backpack inside, close the door and head out to get something to eat. As I’m walking outside, I immediately tell myself to get over it. Seriously, stop whining about it. It’s all part of the experience. I go into Co-op Food and get a sandwich, chips and a soda. I bring it back to the pod place and eat it in the common room. I felt better after eating. In the end, the overall experience was not bad at all.
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| The Common Area |
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| Pod #7-My Pod |
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| My "Room"-Would you sleep in here? |
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| The Toilet/Sink Combo |
Most of the people I saw were young. I saw more women than men. There were also friends traveling together. One man in my pod room seemed to be my age. After I got over the pine box thing, I just relaxed. The pod is pretty bare bones. There was no outlet in there but it did have a USB to charge my phone. There are outlets in the common room. I just sat up in bed working on my laptop for a while and then went to bed. A couple times at night I heard some snoring. But overall I got a good night's sleep. I must have been tired lugging that heavy suitcase up and down the stairs. I guess you could say this is similar to a dormitory. The common area also had a microwave, small refrigerator and a sink, plus free coffee and tea. The bathroom, which was co-ed, had 3 showers that were more than adequate plus three toilets that had these small sinks where the tank is. Not a good design really. The bathroom was clean and there was even a washer and dryer, which I think was free. It looked like a regular home washing machine and I didn’t see any place to put coins in. There were also hairdryers available. This is definitely a good option if you want to save money or you are just passing through for a night. For another £10 you can get a double bed. If you’re claustrophobic, it definitely won’t be for you. I did have visions at one point in the night that this is what the future will be like, a dystopian future. Some of us will live in pods, the lucky ones, and when we’re not at our pods, we are at the work-farms. Despite that hazy midnight vision, I would stay at another pod place in the future. I hear the ones in Japan are first rate. So all my disgust was for nothing. It was just another case of contempt prior to investigation. Go with the flow Paul. But lugging that suitcase did really suck. I will curse that again and forever.
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