We had several last things we wanted to take care of in Bournemouth, but struggling to find a place to park was a real challenge. We mostly took the bus around and walked a lot.
International banking fun and games: We went to the HSBC bank to try to get a savings account set up for Delaney. First we went to the teller window. She said she couldn't help us, but showed us where to go on the mobile app to do it ourselves. We decided to sit down in the lobby and do it in case we had any problems. We had problems. We got a prompt that you can't use the app if you pay taxes in another country (or something like this). We queued in another line to see a customer service rep. We get to the gatekeeper lady at a front desk and rather than simply taking note of names and passing people to the reps in the back, she tried to triage every problem. She also went to the app, got the same error and seemed puzzled by it. She consulted with someone via phone and then decided our issue merited escalation to someone in the back. We finally sat with someone who knew what was going on. In the end, we couldn't open a savings account, but he told us we could open a secondary account that would hold multiple currencies if we want to. Kind of cool if you want to take advantage of fluctuating exchange rates. Overall, I'm so underwhelmed with HSBC's customer service I can't even begin to find words.
Polish dining deja vu: Delaney wanted to take us to a Polish restaurant she had discovered near her dorm. It was very Polish, including the menu which we could mostly read. I got pierogis, Delaney got schnizel. It felt very much like being back in Poland.
Brief beach visit: We took a brief walk out to the beach. It was very windy and a bit stormy. There was a single kite surfer out in the waves that was flying along! The water was so cold I can't imagine doing that (and there were no guards or anyone else around if they got into trouble).
Polish Market: Delaney took us to a Polish market she had discovered and we stocked up on Polish sweets and chocolate. We brought back some of the treats that an exchange student friend (Zuzia) really liked and missed. (She cried when we brought them back for her).
A good last day, but we're sad to have to say bye to Delaney until Christmas.
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