Several of my friends on Facebook have commented, either publicly or privately, that I look like I’m having the time of my life, what with this permanent nomading lifestyle. Well, yes and no. I don’t normally publish all the challenges that I face along the way. Those of you who have been following me for a while have seen some of our travel misadventures, the more colorful ones.
There are always bumps in travel, or unexpected situations that you’re not prepared for. I’ll start with a relatively easy one that occurred in England.
I was on my way from Brighton to Bath. When you get to a train station, the destination boards typically list the trains’ final destinations, which can be tricky if your destination along that route isn’t the final one. My ticket, of course, didn’t tell me the final destination and I was a bit fuzzy on English geography (guess I won’t make it on Jeopardy). Luckily, there’s only one train departing at my 12:17pm departure time, so I make my way to the appropriate platform. I think I’m set, ready to hop on the train.
Not so fast! I know that I have to change trains in Southampton, but now there’s a boarding announcement that the train will split in Fareham. The first four cars will go to Southampton and the last four cars will go in a different direction. Is Fareham before or after Southampton? (Re-read that part about being fuzzy on English geography). And which are the first four cars, anyway? Is car #1 the one that’s closest to the platform or closest to the way out of the station? (The trains are head-in to the platform rather than parallel to it). And I’m confused because I only count six cars, not eight. I hop onto a middle car and hope for the best.
I ask a nice-looking English man if we’re in the right car to go to Southampton. He tells me that he used to ride this route all the time, but hasn’t recently. He doesn’t know if we’re in the right car, either. He does tell me that Fareham is before Southampton, so I need to be on the right car when the split comes.
There’s about 20 minutes of anxiety while both of us peer around and try to figure out what’s going on. Finally, I see an electronic announcement within my car: “This is Car 3 of 8”. Yay! I was prepared to grab my luggage and dash forward or back several cars, but now I can relax and wait for the train to glide into Southampton.
Like I said, this was a relatively easy one. Check out my other Misadventures for more harrowing ones.