Ok, I’ll bite! So I don’t have any international stories, but when I went to Ladyfest in Olympia back in August of 2000 I... a.) Had never been west of Chicago, b.) Hadn’t been on an airplane in 13 years, c.) Didn’t actually know anyone in either Portland or Olympia, and d.) Had never travelled alone. So I’m going to use this story because I was really nervous about going and I had to have a whole lot of faith in humanity to pull it off. I’d met my friend Kevin through the S-K mailing list but we’d never actually met in person. If I flew into Portland he said I could stay with him. At the last minute, he had to work the night I got in so his girlfriend picked me up from the airport and we took the bus to his place. My plane was really late getting in so we didn’t get to Kevin’s until almost 1am. At 6am he took me to the bus station where I caught a bus to Olympia. I’d made arrangements with this girl online to share a room with her and two other people at the Best Western in Oly. Again, I’d never met her and only talked to her on the phone once, very briefly. You see where my faith in humanity is coming in? I was nervous taking the bus up that something would happen - I wouldn’t be able to find her or she didn’t end up going…something like that. Keep in mind that I had some money but definitely not enough to pay for a hotel room all by myself for 5 days and even if I did - all the rooms were booked! But I found her, the room was great, everything was great, and to this day it was one of the best weeks of my life!
I never had to drink muddy water in a ditch, but on my way home I had to spend 10-12 hours in the Chicago airport (lots of United pilots on strike!) only to get into Providence AFTER the last bus had left for Boston. And because it was a weekend, the next bus to Boston wasn’t until 5pm the following day. I only had $20 left and a cab ride to Boston was at least $100. So I slept on the floor in the Providence airport and at 6am convinced the guy running the shuttle to take me to downtown Providence for $8. It was normally $15 but I gave him my sob story and he took me. Once downtown, I walked to the train station and caught a commuter train up to Boston - $1.75. I was SO tired when I got home I just threw my bags down and passed out until the next day.
Oh my, Court! That is a great story. And it's so YOU to trust people like that. I do think that when you're travelling you have to trust people maybe a bit more than at home....
I never had to drink muddy water in a ditch, but on my way home I had to spend 10-12 hours in the Chicago airport (lots of United pilots on strike!) only to get into Providence AFTER the last bus had left for Boston. And because it was a weekend, the next bus to Boston wasn’t until 5pm the following day. I only had $20 left and a cab ride to Boston was at least $100. So I slept on the floor in the Providence airport and at 6am convinced the guy running the shuttle to take me to downtown Providence for $8. It was normally $15 but I gave him my sob story and he took me. Once downtown, I walked to the train station and caught a commuter train up to Boston - $1.75. I was SO tired when I got home I just threw my bags down and passed out until the next day.
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