u/AlexTheMunchkin

In my teens and 20s, birthdays always felt exciting. I loved gathering friends, going out, throwing parties, making the day feel special. But now that I’m turning 30, I suddenly feel this weird pressure that it’s supposed to be some huge milestone and that I should be doing something grand or meaningful to celebrate it.

The thing is, I currently don’t have family or close friends nearby. It’s just me and my partner, and while we could go out for dinner, for some reason that feels… not enough? I can’t tell if I genuinely want a bigger celebration or if I’m just attached to the idea of what turning 30 is “supposed” to look like. I feel like going for dinner is just something I could do any other day.

I am grateful and calm about entering a new decade, but I do feel like I want to do something meaningful and memorable. Just not the usual party mode.

Did anyone else feel strange turning 30? How did you celebrate it, especially if you were far from friends/family or in a different phase of life than you expected?

In my teens and 20s, birthdays always felt exciting. I loved gathering friends, going out, throwing parties, making the day feel special. But now that I’m turning 30, I suddenly feel this weird pressure that it’s supposed to be some huge milestone and that I should be doing something grand or meaningful to celebrate it.

The thing is, I currently don’t have family or close friends nearby. It’s just me and my partner, and while we could go out for dinner, for some reason that feels… not enough? I can’t tell if I genuinely want a bigger celebration or if I’m just attached to the idea of what turning 30 is “supposed” to look like. I feel like going for dinner is just something I could do any other day.

I am grateful and calm about entering a new decade, but I do feel like I want to do something meaningful and memorable. Just not the usual party mode.

Did anyone else feel strange turning 30? How did you celebrate it, especially if you were far from friends/family or in a different phase of life than you expected?

Hi everyone, I’m a host on Booking.com and I have a question about non-refundable reservations in countries where Booking doesn’t process payments directly.

I have a guest who wants a free cancellation 6 days before arrival, but the reservation was booked under a non-refundable policy. In my country, guests usually pay in cash on arrival and Booking.com doesn’t charge cards for us automatically.

My question is: if I don’t agree to a free cancellation, what is the correct way to handle this? Should I keep the reservation active and mark it as a no-show if they don’t arrive? Is there any way to enforce the non-refundable policy through Booking in this situation?

I want to handle it correctly and fairly without getting penalties as a host. If anyone has experience with this, especially other hosts or Booking.com staff, I’d really appreciate the advice. Thank you!

I am a property owner and I recently had a review from a client on booking that had cancelled their reservation and never stayed a night. When I called booking, they just said this is possible with their newest update and said "oh we do have complaints about this quite a lot lately". Hmmm, I wonder why?