Aka a good story.
Landed from Paris at 8:15 (took off at 8:15 also! Such a time traveler!). Found bus to go Southampton to visit my girlfriend Ana Carla from college. By the time we got through immigration, baggage claim, customs, it was 9:15. Got tickets for 10:00 bus. Not too bad. At platform, showed my ticket to controller, who pointed me to right place and went back to his job of texting. Bus for Southsea arrive right before 10:00. I had seen other buses with Southampton as destination, so this is what I expected.
1. Didn't see there was a bus number on the ticket, or would have realized that was my bus. My own stupidity, I admit.
2. Wasn't helped by controller, who was too busy texting God knows who.
3. Inquired time to nearby passenger, who assured me it was just past 9:00, not 10:00, as I believed. Wasted time with that interaction instead of talking to other controller to inquired about my bus.
4. When I finally got a hold of the controller, the bus had magically disappeared; left; departed; taken off. All of those, without me on it.
5. I f@cking missed the bus.
6. Felt completely stupid, even with the palpable excuse that the world is plotting against me.
7. Changed tickets to noon without much fuss (that was good!), wasting 2 hours of my very limited time in England. Train wouldn't be much faster, and it'd cost me a bunch more. Considered renting a car; dreaded the idea of driving myself, on the left side of the road, in a country I'm not familiar with, not knowing where to go, and given that I can't even succeed at getting on a bus that's right in front of me; immediately gave up on the whole concept.
8. Went upstairs get lunch; waited 15 minutes for wrong salad. At least waitress was very sympathetic and brought correct order within minutes. Salad was appetizer size, not entree. I'm still hungry! Although Sheila would say here: "What's new?!" Got a chocolate muffin to compensate for my misfortunes and to pease body and soul. It was dense, and dark, and bitter. I think it has 3 times more caffeine in it than an espresso. Of course, I'm trying to avoid the caffeine since I slept poorly for about 3.5 hours only and have a two hour bus ride coming when I'm hoping I can get some snooze in.
I'm really not such a travel klutz! I swear! I've sailed through pirate areas near the coast of Somalia on a 37 foot sailboat. I'm from Rio, and I have extensive knowledge on getting around a big city, petty crime, and other metropolitan survival information. Just this week, I saved Sheila from getting her iPhone stollen from her bag right on her lap, inside of a train in Paris, getting it off the thieve's hand before she even noticed what was going on. I miss her. She's my compass and my North Star navigating the cities. I should have married her when I could (could I?). In any case, I have many reasons to consider myself lucky:
1. It's sunny in London.
2. Terminal 5 on Heathrow is pretty nice and not a horrible place to spend a couple of extra hours.
3. I'm inside the bus now on my way to meet my girlfriend (does it matter that there's a horrible traffic, and it's stop and go? Nahhhhh...).
4. If I continue on this path, I may get my Pollyanna certificate sooner.
5. It's sunny in Southampton. Strap dress sunny. No Arctic wind, like in the Bay Area.
6. Had a lovely chat with fellow bus traveler next to me.
7. Did I mention it's sunny and warm in England? It's quite lovely.
I'm lucky.
