In catching up with all our travel, I thought I would start with one of the worst. We've traveled in numerous countries staying in condo type apartments.

In our travel to Spain/Portugal in May of 2005, we spent three weeks in Spain and one in Portugal (to see it).

I booked via RCI to

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As always, I checked the reviews but did find any. There is another Quinta Country Club in Portugal but it's a different place.

This place has a dozen units with about half of them abandoned (roof caving, door broken, mold smelling etc). It's not a pretty site.

We knew we were in trouble when we pulled up and yes, this place is at a cheap attraction called "Krazy World". A mini-golf about 30 minutes from civilization in Portugal (Algarve).

We had to go through the ticket booth to the guest services (and they appeared surprised that we had booked). They looked in a binder and yes, we were there.

They said the condo wasn't ready and to visit the rest of the zoo. About 20 minutes, were were done (it's tiny) and wondered near the back (where the public washrooms are) to discover the units.

We did go in the ones occupied but found an adjoining building with doors wide open. We ventured in, spider webs, mold smelling, things falling apart (including the door and door locks). My wife was horrified and I thought it was a joke. That building was right beside the Amazon Exhibit (crocodiles, turtles etc). Very humid and smelly.

I then went into "contingency mode"; the unit that we are going to get better not be in this building because there is nobody there.

We peeked in the other building, that one with four or six units, appeared to have people there and one unit had a staff member cleaning it. Our hopes were alive; that was likely our unit.

We played some mini-golf and waited for the one hour cleaning.

After getting the key, that last unit was in fact ours. The inside of the unit wasn't bad, all new appliances and utensils. Nice. The bathroom appeared to just have been finished and was clean (although smelly; lack of sink traps to prevent sewer smells). There was a hole that was connected to the other unit on the other side (could hear someone having a shower).

We went up a staircase (with irregular steps!) to the room. There was wood panel with big holes beside the joints. Hummm.

Next we noticed no mosquito nets, lots of heat and lots of mosquitos and other flying nasties.. When we closed the windows, it was clear the unit had just been sprayed - we could smell the spray and see a ton of dead bugs on the bottom of windows and patio door.

The patio door (main entrance) led to the patio area, which would have been nice except that it was right beside the public washroom separated by a should high wall - we felt like another attraction in the zoo!

Needless to say, after the first night of mosquito hell, we packed up and contacted RCI. They had a local office in the near-by town and switched us immediately. I think they knew the location because all I had to say was "This is not a country club, it's a zoo with a pool that closes at 6pm (with clorination) when the zoo attraction closes".

The story is longer but, just don't be surprised if you can't find any information on this RCI resort ID 3229 - they should not be booking or exchanging people into this place.