England Woes
So last weekend I went to England, and nothing went according to plan. We ended up spending waaaaaay too much money and having everything fucked up along the way. But it was worth it just for Sunday :)
Friday, we got screwed over because we couldn't find a taxi to pick us up. They were all booked until 11am when we needed to be picked up at 7. We called a few other taxi companies and none of them answered their phones that early. So we decided to take the bus to Venlo and get a cab from there, because there are always cabs at bus stations. So I paid about $70 for a taxi, and Je nand I were so excited because we had made it to the airport with half an hour before the plane would take off. But the bitch at the front desk was like "Check out closed 10 minutes ago. I can't let you board". We were so mad about that. Not only was the plane not even boarding yet, but people for our flight were still going through security. Not to mention Weeze is just about the smallest airport I've ever seen, there is no reason why we couldn't have made it through in time. So we had to each pay 60 euros to change our flight to the later one, and I missed the queen musical i blew 90 pounds ($200!!!!!!!) on reserving tickets and not get a refund, plus we had to pay for another cab back to the castle. i was not happy. i was ready to not go to england and just go home and give it all up. I am soooooo sick of having an entire trip planned out and then the tiniest of a detail (like booking a cab the night before, or not booking a hostel) completely ruins everything. I feel like an asshole about it too, because Jen will plan everything so well, that I don't realize something isn't set and stone until it's too late to fix. I feel like a lot of that is my fault because if i helped out more, then maybe these little details wouldn't be overlooked. So once i got back to the castle, I was about ready to pillage some geese and peacocks, but instead i just took a nap. Jen and I went out to dinner w/this sweet girl Arienne, who proved to be way too picky. She basically said all the restaurants we picked were kind of gross, except for the diner, then we got to the diner and she didn't even order anything. Oh well - it wasn't too bad, it was just one of those things that i don't understand why she made such a big fuss over where to eat if she wasn't going to eat anything. then finally we got our plane and got into london about 10:00pm. We were taking a bus to our hostel, but we were stuck in terrible traffic for almost 2 hours.
then saturday we took another bus to stratford upon avon. jen insisted on sleeping in, saying we had no need to wake up early because we had all day to get there. When we finally got there it was about 4pm and Jen wanted to check into the hostel before we went anywhere, which proved to be yet another catastrophe. We apparently got on the wrong bus and went completely out of Stratford Upon Avon, into Warwick. Luckily some amazingly nice brits on the bus noticed we messed up and told us where to get off on the right bus. the stupid bus driver didn't understand my accent and not only let me get on the wrong bus, but wouldn't give me a refund, which made me mad. so we waited half an hour for the right bus to show up and it was still that same bus driver. So i bitched him out and we got to ride back to town for free. We got to the hostel with just enough time to take a cab back into town to see the Royal Shakespeare Company do "Romeo and Juliette", one of my all time favs. I really liked the set, they had an exposed stage with one giant square for tap dancing on, surrounded by blood. And I liked the guy who played Romeo a lot too. But there was tap dancing in all the fight scenes, which i wasn't too fond of. And they had to most uncomfortable chairs on the face of the earth. you should have seen everyone in the balcony sitting all sloppy & moving & coughing all the time. i don't think anyone sat up straight or comfortably that whole show. Then after that it took us forever to find a place to grab dinner, then we headed back to hostel. i think we are the only people who ever managed to visit Stratford-Upon-Avon and NOT see Shakespeare's birthplace or any of the historical buildings.
Then, because friday was so fucked up, I decided that we should wake up at 3:15 in the morning to catch the first bus back to London, so we could see Stonehenge. We took a bus back to london, then took a train to salisbury, then a tour bus to stonehenge. That was sooooooo worth it though. It was beautiful. I really want to see all 7 wonders of the world in my lifetime now. There were also some metalheads there who made it easier on me, since i obviously didn't end up going home this weekend. by the time we got back to london, we got on another train to the airport and just waited until our plane home was ready. So basically, aside from stonehenge and seeing the rsc, this weekend was a complete waste. Pounds, the british currency, are pretty much double dollars, which makes everything absolutely expensive. And Friday was just a waste of a day because we spent most of it at the castle. and saturday and sunday we spent waaaaaay too much money on trains and buses. It's just frustrating me because I'm not even out of September yet and I've already spent a lot of my money for the semester. It is a lot harder to plan trips and to budget than i thought it would be. sigh.....it is worth it though. After this entry, you're all probably thinking how dare she bitch about money and not gettin her way when she gets to be in Europe for a whole 4 months and not have to work etc. I know I know. But honestly, travelling isn't what it is all stacked up to be. It is a lot of hard work, on top of balancing school and committees with organizing trips...it is just getting to be very overwhelming and stressful. I am so grateful to have this oopurtunity to be in Europe and get to see the world, but I am just in a state of mind when I'm beginning to realize it's not all what anyone fantasizes travelling to be. And I need to remember that money isn't everything. If I get in serious trouble, I'm sure my parents can spot me the bare minimum, but let's hope it doesn't come to that. okay, i'm done....I need to do some school work. My next entry will be in honor of OKTOBERFEST!!!!!! :)
Friday, we got screwed over because we couldn't find a taxi to pick us up. They were all booked until 11am when we needed to be picked up at 7. We called a few other taxi companies and none of them answered their phones that early. So we decided to take the bus to Venlo and get a cab from there, because there are always cabs at bus stations. So I paid about $70 for a taxi, and Je nand I were so excited because we had made it to the airport with half an hour before the plane would take off. But the bitch at the front desk was like "Check out closed 10 minutes ago. I can't let you board". We were so mad about that. Not only was the plane not even boarding yet, but people for our flight were still going through security. Not to mention Weeze is just about the smallest airport I've ever seen, there is no reason why we couldn't have made it through in time. So we had to each pay 60 euros to change our flight to the later one, and I missed the queen musical i blew 90 pounds ($200!!!!!!!) on reserving tickets and not get a refund, plus we had to pay for another cab back to the castle. i was not happy. i was ready to not go to england and just go home and give it all up. I am soooooo sick of having an entire trip planned out and then the tiniest of a detail (like booking a cab the night before, or not booking a hostel) completely ruins everything. I feel like an asshole about it too, because Jen will plan everything so well, that I don't realize something isn't set and stone until it's too late to fix. I feel like a lot of that is my fault because if i helped out more, then maybe these little details wouldn't be overlooked. So once i got back to the castle, I was about ready to pillage some geese and peacocks, but instead i just took a nap. Jen and I went out to dinner w/this sweet girl Arienne, who proved to be way too picky. She basically said all the restaurants we picked were kind of gross, except for the diner, then we got to the diner and she didn't even order anything. Oh well - it wasn't too bad, it was just one of those things that i don't understand why she made such a big fuss over where to eat if she wasn't going to eat anything. then finally we got our plane and got into london about 10:00pm. We were taking a bus to our hostel, but we were stuck in terrible traffic for almost 2 hours.
then saturday we took another bus to stratford upon avon. jen insisted on sleeping in, saying we had no need to wake up early because we had all day to get there. When we finally got there it was about 4pm and Jen wanted to check into the hostel before we went anywhere, which proved to be yet another catastrophe. We apparently got on the wrong bus and went completely out of Stratford Upon Avon, into Warwick. Luckily some amazingly nice brits on the bus noticed we messed up and told us where to get off on the right bus. the stupid bus driver didn't understand my accent and not only let me get on the wrong bus, but wouldn't give me a refund, which made me mad. so we waited half an hour for the right bus to show up and it was still that same bus driver. So i bitched him out and we got to ride back to town for free. We got to the hostel with just enough time to take a cab back into town to see the Royal Shakespeare Company do "Romeo and Juliette", one of my all time favs. I really liked the set, they had an exposed stage with one giant square for tap dancing on, surrounded by blood. And I liked the guy who played Romeo a lot too. But there was tap dancing in all the fight scenes, which i wasn't too fond of. And they had to most uncomfortable chairs on the face of the earth. you should have seen everyone in the balcony sitting all sloppy & moving & coughing all the time. i don't think anyone sat up straight or comfortably that whole show. Then after that it took us forever to find a place to grab dinner, then we headed back to hostel. i think we are the only people who ever managed to visit Stratford-Upon-Avon and NOT see Shakespeare's birthplace or any of the historical buildings.
Then, because friday was so fucked up, I decided that we should wake up at 3:15 in the morning to catch the first bus back to London, so we could see Stonehenge. We took a bus back to london, then took a train to salisbury, then a tour bus to stonehenge. That was sooooooo worth it though. It was beautiful. I really want to see all 7 wonders of the world in my lifetime now. There were also some metalheads there who made it easier on me, since i obviously didn't end up going home this weekend. by the time we got back to london, we got on another train to the airport and just waited until our plane home was ready. So basically, aside from stonehenge and seeing the rsc, this weekend was a complete waste. Pounds, the british currency, are pretty much double dollars, which makes everything absolutely expensive. And Friday was just a waste of a day because we spent most of it at the castle. and saturday and sunday we spent waaaaaay too much money on trains and buses. It's just frustrating me because I'm not even out of September yet and I've already spent a lot of my money for the semester. It is a lot harder to plan trips and to budget than i thought it would be. sigh.....it is worth it though. After this entry, you're all probably thinking how dare she bitch about money and not gettin her way when she gets to be in Europe for a whole 4 months and not have to work etc. I know I know. But honestly, travelling isn't what it is all stacked up to be. It is a lot of hard work, on top of balancing school and committees with organizing trips...it is just getting to be very overwhelming and stressful. I am so grateful to have this oopurtunity to be in Europe and get to see the world, but I am just in a state of mind when I'm beginning to realize it's not all what anyone fantasizes travelling to be. And I need to remember that money isn't everything. If I get in serious trouble, I'm sure my parents can spot me the bare minimum, but let's hope it doesn't come to that. okay, i'm done....I need to do some school work. My next entry will be in honor of OKTOBERFEST!!!!!! :)