change Of Plans!
February 12, 2009
I started this trip with what I would refer to as a loose itinerary. I had booked flights. I had planned on making those flights. I didn’t plan this trip out to the minute, or even to the day. But I did plan it to the week. Well, certain things didn’t go according to plan. So now I’m in a McDonald’s at the corner of Southampton Row and Tavistock Place in London, England because they are the only place in London with free internet!
Yesterday I had a flight scheduled to Paris (Beuavais) from Dublin Airport. I forgot what time the flight was, so I figured I would just show up to the airport about 9:00am and hang out there until my flight. I remember it was sorta early. Turns out it was at 6:45am! That’s when I sat down in a cafe and had a mocha. And I sat. And sat….and sat some more. Thinking to myself “Wha…….What do I do now? I’m on a God damned ISLAND! How do I get off this rock? rent a canoodle and paddle my way to France? Maybe I could just swim.” Things take money. Buying another plain ticket was going to cost money. I had money coming into my account, but it wasn’t gonna get there till the next bloody day! And I only had 15 Euro in my pocket at the time. And that was it. I mean all the money I had in the world.
I think I spent enough time in Ireland that i became part leprechaun. Because you’ll never guess what happened next. The airport cafe was really full. And there was a woman sitting on the table next to me with hair all the colors of the rainbow. I told her I liked it! And we just started talking. We must have talked for over an hour before I told her about my morning. I mentioned that I didn’t have any money today, but I would tomorrow. So in the mean time i was sorta stuck.
Then she started to tell me her story. Her father had passed away recently and she inherited roughly $3,000,000. She bought a plain ticket to Dublin on a drunken whim 3 days before, and was gonna tour Europe. She pulled 200 euro out of her pocket and gave it to me.
“That should be able to get you threw till tomorrow, right?” she said with a smirk.
I screamed like a little girl at Christmas time and threw my aims around her! Then it was time for her flight to Prague and she was gone. Just like that. Then it hit me “I’m on an island. Ferries go to and from islands. I can take a ferry from Dublin and catch the train to London and be there before 9pm that night! 5 buses, 1 ferry, 3 trains, and 10 miles of walking with my 50LB backpack, and 11 hours later I arrived at the Generator Hostel in London England. That’s how I got to be at a McDonald’s on the corner of Southampton Row and Tavistock Place.
I have no idea where I’m going next. I have no idea how long I’m going to be here (but it doesn’t look like that long, cause I’ve been sitting here for over an hour and the manager keeps walking past and glaring at me, hehe.)
Until next time
—–Kent
