My ridiculous journey into time.
[cut/pasted from notepad while lounging about in the comfort of the sofa bed @ Carolina's place in the B-more]
Friday night we decided we’d go out for a few drinks and by the time I got home I was only a few hours away for heading out to the airport so I decide I’d pull an all-nighter. Brilliant right? ha ha ha. At the time I thought I could probably sleep a full 8 hours or so on the plane – WRONG…8 was actually maybe 2/3 hours with 15 minute nap intervals every now and then.
So I arrive in Stansted (the flight landed 45 minutes early). For a change I was one of the early people in the immigration line. I was also one of the last to get my suitcase. I decided I’d hang out a bit at the cafe before I boarded the bus into town. I ordered a cappucino – I figured I would need some caffeine to get me through the airport sleepover. The bus into town was packed and some Irish dude (flashback!) sat next to me. He was fighting on the phone the whole time though – eventually when that was over he started to talk to me (Ahhh the fighting Irish)…. moving along. I eventually get to Victoria Station and well, this is when shit gets bad. For starters, a few of the escalators weren’t working so I had to CARRY my friggin luggage all the way down… a few times I had to walk UP some stairs. It wouldn’t be so bad if it were just one piece but I packed like an asshole this time 
In the process of my incredible luggage workout, I dropped my oyster card so when I finally got to Terminal 4 @ Heathrow I told the guy what happened and he so rudely replied “So what do you want me to do about it?” The rest of the conversation goes something like this:
ME: Do I have to pay a penalty?
HIM: Well you have to pay for your ticket.
ME: Ok, where do I pay for it?
HIM: At the ticket office.
ME: Where’s the ticket office? (note I am still on the side where the trains are and logically there aren’t any ticket offices/machines on that side cause well, you have to pay to get IN before you get out right?)
HIM: Here (he gives me this dirty look)
ME: Ok. How much do I have to pay?
HIM: How am I suppose to know? I don’t know where you’re coming from?
ME: Victoria Station.
HIM: And where do you want to go?
ME: (irritated by this very DUH moment) Uhm… I’m here. Terminal 4 – I’m trying to get out.
So as I’m about to pay him the 4 pounds, I start telling him about how the escalators at Victoria Station were not working and how inconvenient it was etc..etc.. (what possessed me to do this I don’t know – I was fucking pissed off by this time)… the fucker decides to piss me off even more and say something along the lines of ‘it’s not my problem’ and I’m not sure if I understood him correctly with his err… ‘ethnic’ accent, but I swear he said something like ‘The workers at Victoria Station are probably underpaid to care’….
Jump to present time – I need a shower badly. They do have free showers here but I dunno – it smells funny in there. I am so close to splurge on the “YOTEL”. It’s about 35-45 pounds for 4 hours but at least in that 4 hours I can take a shower, charge my phone(s), get online for FREE and even sleep for a bit if time permits. As I type this however, I’ve made a nice comfy spot on some seats, however, construction men are moving heavy machinery in front of me (the noise = bad but some of the men aren’t too painful to look at! heh) I think I may just splurge on YOTEL….
Photo post laterzzz..
Sunday …again.
Alright, it’s not so bad. I’ts about 2 p.m. in Detroit and I don’t feel so jet lagged (yet). My flight from London went pretty smooth. It’s weird to have free inflight entertainment having gotten use to no frills – pay for everything – kind of flights. I watched 3 movies on board – The Proposal (meh), Adventureland (ok) and I Love You, Man (again)… That made 5 of 8 hours go by quite fast. I also watched an episode of 30 Rock and an episode of the United States of Tara.
It’s so weird to be back in the States. I’m feeling bloated as hell (plane food) and I’m in dire need of a good…well, you know what. Also, the lady in the store I bought water from was uber nice. I’m shocked at the courtesy to the point I felt It was a joke.