To not want to meet this guest?

[Avisit]

I very possibly am.

guest staying with us over Christmas so working out logistics - we live outside of UK in a tourist city.

we don’t have a car - nobody does here so the options from the airport are cab or train. Guest feels cab is too expensive and they only want to take the train if I come and meet them at the airport but they don’t want to switch their data on so that makes meeting tricky, plus I will be 7.5 months pregnant by then.

It’s an English speaking country that they have visited (including this city) before. Guest is not elderly and we are paying for most things whilst they are here.

Shall I just pay for their cab given they have paid for their flights to visit or would you expect a guest of navigate their way to our house (every other guest ever has done this)

mid 30s, healthy and lives in London and has travelled and lived abroad

If you pay for a cab for her you are an utter mug, OP.

She can handle the onward transport to you herself.

If you pay for the cab you’ll end upstarting the trip on bad foot for yourself. She’s being an extremely cheeky fucker…

I think you’re bonkers.
Tell her

“These are the options…”
Cab…
Über
Public Transport.” The end.

You don’t pay for transport or cab btw, she’s being a leech.

Is there still the shared bus service? You book a seat from JFK to your accommodation. Its a mini bus so others get on with you and the driver drops you off. If the cab is too expensive, then this was about $10 when i did it ten years ago (presumably a bit more expensive now!) But means you dont have to worry about lugging luggage around the subway etc.

Melbourne has no public transport from city to airport, nor likely to have it any time soon as the car park firms are coining it. Cabs cost a fortune. I always meet guests at the airport.

So what does she say when you tell her that Auntie and Uncle YourParents would be delighted to go over how to get to yours from the airport?

Look, I'm a timid traveller OP, I do understand the feeling of facing the unknown and what if something goes wrong so I know where she's coming from. But having actually womaned up and done the things I know the actual chance of things going so wrong that Bad Stuff Happens is miniscule.

I bet there are even YT videos on how to navigate public transport from the airport.

Stand firm! Or sit firm, rather. She will be the better for having to sort it herself like a grownup.

This really isn't your problem, just like it wouldn't be her problem if you were landing at Heathrow and she was heavily pregnant. Transport is easy.

Melbourne Australia? Yes we do, it’s just a bus service not a train. But it’s regular and reliable.

Yup 👍.

Point taken, but a capital city in a first world country needs a rail link. Even LA finally, finally managed it this year.

I am the worst traveler , get very anxious about getting lost and have no sense of direction but even I managed to get a bus from the airport in New York to meet friends in a hotel nr Times Sq in the era before mobile phones!!

I was very proud of myself 😆

I don't understand why you didn't just reply to her "At 35 weeks pregnant? No chance! I'll see you when you get here. These are the trains/buses you can catch or you can grab a taxi. Looking forward to seeing you!"

Melbourne isn't a capital city..?
Neither is LA for that matter :S

Melbourne is the capital of Victoria.

Actually, Melbourne IS a capital city.

Melbourne is the capital city of Victoria.
Sydney is the capital city of New South Wales. Brisbane is the capital city of Queensland.

Canberra is the capital city of Australia.

Can I ask why you are even considering having a guest over Christmas when you will be 7.5 months pregnant? That's batshit crazy. Absolutely beyond batshit crazy. I think you should cancel, and arrange their visit for another time. Believe me you will regret it if you don't.

I flew to Melbourne for a week in 2001, got the airport bus from the airport to South Yarra (and vice versa when I left for the airport) so it definitely existed back then.

Please disregard last message, I see you were talking about rail.

Is she hard up for cash? Otherwise I’d just tell her all the reasons why you can’t travel & hang around whilst heavily pregnant & tell her just to jump in a cab that will be around x dollars - is really easy & a lot less hassle unless she desperately wants to catch the train. And leave it at that. Maybe she doesn’t appreciate how being pregnant can be & thinks it’s easier for you to come & meet her than it is. If you tell her then she might wake up to herself & am sure she’d rather get a cab than drag her luggage by train.

Melbourne is the capital of Victoria. Sorry about LA

Me being a snob. I don't count 'bus as first rate transport from a capital city airport.

It would be generous of you to give her detailed directions, or ask your parents to do so as they may be aware of the little things you now take for granted and might not think of mentioning, e.g. "you need cash for xyz because they don't take cards".

You could also tell her not to hesitate to ring you if she gets lost.

Don’t pay for her her cab. And make sure she pays for her meals out, coffees, sight seeing ticket, etc

Why do you think you should pay for her?!

Absolute CF, TBH it would put me off hosting them at all. Just explain your pregnant so can't meet them, youve given them the options. Don't offer to pay, they're having a very cheap holiday in visiting you

Definitely don’t pay for her cab, she knows where you live so she should be able to navigate herself there

It might help to let her know you can download google maps for use abroad - still get the little blue dot and everything - even when you don’t have any data or wifi. I went to South Africa recently and this was really helpful

@tara66 That reminded me of a flight I was on, decades ago, flying from Sydney to Rome on Qantas. An announcement came over asking for the passenger due to disembark at Belgrade to make themselves known to the cabin crew. The flight didn't stop in Belgrade, but had during the winter season which had finished the week before.

This was before the Twin Towers' bombing, but I have absolutely no idea how the person got onto the plane without a valid ticket. Sidney airport might have been a bit lackadaisical but it's not that bad. Our imaginations ran riot.