TIFU the kitchen of my Airbnb

[u/calebs_dad]

I just came back from a trip to Portugal where I was staying in studio apartment sort of Airbnb. I normally wouldn't use Airbnb because it makes me Part of the Tourist Problem and all that, but Nazaré is inherently a tourist town, the Coney Island of Portugal. The host lived across town, but her mother was right upstairs and delivered bread and coffee every morning.

That was great for my wife, but I don't drink coffee, and the only teabags in the kitchen were herbal. On the second day there, I was able to find some English Breakfast in a little grocery store around the corner, and set about making myself a nice cup of tea while my wife and son were at the beach. There was no kettle on the stove, but I did scrounge up a little pot with a handle. But then I decided to search a few more cabinets and discovered an electric kettle. I filled it up, plugged in the base…and put the kettle on the stove.

I have no good explanation for why I did this. I even plenty of time to consider my mistake as I searched for a match or a lighter to light the burner. (Why do European gas stoves not light themselves, anyway?) Then once it was lit I took a quick bathroom break.

Amazingly, it wasn't the smell that tipped me off. It was that the flame seemed a bit too bright under the kettle. Because of all the plastic it was burning. Shit! Throw the kettle into the sink, turn on the water, open the door and all the windows. And then boil water in the pot, because I really needed some tea now. The base of the kettle was definitely melted beyond repair, but at least it stayed in one piece.

Then as I was sitting on my bed trying to figure out what to do next, I saw a flash of black at the door. The neighbor's kittens had noticed the open door and decided to check out the inside. I managed to herd one of them back out, but the other dashed under the bed and by the time I was able to crawl under to look for it it was gone. I just had to hope it had found its way outside and not into a closet or something.

I was totally willing to take a bus to the shopping center and buy a new kettle, but the host insisted that "these things happen", and it was no problem at all.

tl;dr: I set an electric tea kettle on fire by using it on a gas burner

[u/SheBelongsToNoOne]

You even plugged it in man!

[u/SATerp]

Must be good drugs there.

[u/calebs_dad → u/SATerp]

I did have someone try to sell me cocaine while I was hanging on a street corner in Lisbon. Like literally, "hey man, you want cocaine?"

[u/realfurphy → u/calebs_dad]

Lol. “Cocaine? Hash? Marijuan?” Every time.

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