"Life is either a great adventure or nothing." - Helen Keller
Originally posted here on 7th July, 2011.
Before we begin, I have a confession to make. My life is not nearly as interesting as it's made out to be in this blog. Having said that, this entry is about my 'adventure' getting from Portsmouth to Nassau.
Though I left England on a Tuesday, my long sojourn home really started the day before when, upon waking up at 2am in the morning, it was discovered that my phone provider was kind enough to turn off my service without having sent me my new SIM.
No landline. No cell. No internet. I was incommunicado. And so it begins.
The following 32 hours involved accidentally being invited/forced to eat Matt's half of Justin's delightfully creamy Penne and Cheese after conveniently (wink wink) showing up at dinner time, having about 5 people at Porters try and convince me that it was ok to catch my train to London from Fratton Station instead of Portsmouth and Southsea (more on that in a bit), and waking up both the wonderful Matt, and the amaZING Yvette at the ungodly hour of about 9am on Tuesday morning. This is all before even leaving Portsmouth.
The Tuesday morning, after having woken up one friend to in turn have them wake up another friend, and getting rid of almost everything I wasn't taking home with me (see It's Adventure Time pt II), I ran into one more friend on their way to my house (and by 'my' house, I really mean the house of my awesome friend Alex who let me move into hers when I had to be out of halls) to come see me off. As I didn't have a scale in the house, I used him instead. My suitcase was supposed to be 23kg or under (Seriously? What Bahamian do you know…), he said he thought it was about that. Thing is, unlike Bahamasair, Virgin Atlantic actually cares how much your suitcase weighs (again, see pt II). Anyway, he called the cab, and we were off to Fratton Station, where, despite it being the stop AFTER Portsmouth and Southsea, I was told I couldn't board the train. :\ Just as I suspected. Fortunately my friend was still with me, so he called a second cab, and we were off… again. It did briefly enter my mind how stupid it would look to be getting a taxi from one train station to another. This was confirmed when the driver of the second cab, a spunky, energetic, not weak (if she could so easily chuck my at the time "23kg" suitcase in the back of the car without batting an eye), blonde woman, asked why I was getting a cab from Fratton Station to Portsmouth and Southsea Station. Eventually, I got to the legendary Portsmouth and Southsea Station, on my platform with time to spare (Ha! Take that Caribbean Standard Time aka late), and out of the mist that had suddenly sprung up, almost as if from the concrete, a boy with a lightening bolt shaped scar on his forehead appears...
In Part II:
-SUPERLOOS!
-Trying to get out of Waterloo without lifting my suitcase
-How much my suitcase weighed – according to my second and third human scales
-What I did in a London restaurant (aside from eat)
-How much my suitcase actually weighed – according to Virgin Atlantic's scale
-What's coming in Part III
Before we begin, I have a confession to make. My life is not nearly as interesting as it's made out to be in this blog. Having said that, this entry is about my 'adventure' getting from Portsmouth to Nassau.
Though I left England on a Tuesday, my long sojourn home really started the day before when, upon waking up at 2am in the morning, it was discovered that my phone provider was kind enough to turn off my service without having sent me my new SIM.
No landline. No cell. No internet. I was incommunicado. And so it begins.
The following 32 hours involved accidentally being invited/forced to eat Matt's half of Justin's delightfully creamy Penne and Cheese after conveniently (wink wink) showing up at dinner time, having about 5 people at Porters try and convince me that it was ok to catch my train to London from Fratton Station instead of Portsmouth and Southsea (more on that in a bit), and waking up both the wonderful Matt, and the amaZING Yvette at the ungodly hour of about 9am on Tuesday morning. This is all before even leaving Portsmouth.
The Tuesday morning, after having woken up one friend to in turn have them wake up another friend, and getting rid of almost everything I wasn't taking home with me (see It's Adventure Time pt II), I ran into one more friend on their way to my house (and by 'my' house, I really mean the house of my awesome friend Alex who let me move into hers when I had to be out of halls) to come see me off. As I didn't have a scale in the house, I used him instead. My suitcase was supposed to be 23kg or under (Seriously? What Bahamian do you know…), he said he thought it was about that. Thing is, unlike Bahamasair, Virgin Atlantic actually cares how much your suitcase weighs (again, see pt II). Anyway, he called the cab, and we were off to Fratton Station, where, despite it being the stop AFTER Portsmouth and Southsea, I was told I couldn't board the train. :\ Just as I suspected. Fortunately my friend was still with me, so he called a second cab, and we were off… again. It did briefly enter my mind how stupid it would look to be getting a taxi from one train station to another. This was confirmed when the driver of the second cab, a spunky, energetic, not weak (if she could so easily chuck my at the time "23kg" suitcase in the back of the car without batting an eye), blonde woman, asked why I was getting a cab from Fratton Station to Portsmouth and Southsea Station. Eventually, I got to the legendary Portsmouth and Southsea Station, on my platform with time to spare (Ha! Take that Caribbean Standard Time aka late), and out of the mist that had suddenly sprung up, almost as if from the concrete, a boy with a lightening bolt shaped scar on his forehead appears...
In Part II:
-SUPERLOOS!
-Trying to get out of Waterloo without lifting my suitcase
-How much my suitcase weighed – according to my second and third human scales
-What I did in a London restaurant (aside from eat)
-How much my suitcase actually weighed – according to Virgin Atlantic's scale
-What's coming in Part III
RSS Feed
