I haven't been very good at sitting down and typing lately. Last night I attempted to write my blog but I was really tired so I thought I would do it today when I was a little more fresh so to speak.
My trip out of Palma was certainly an eventful one. I thought for sure it would be a piece of cake but when is traveling ever that easy for me! I had most of the morning to pack and get my stuff all put together and that was nice, I wasn't having to rush or anything. I topped up my phone and printed my boarding pass out and then hung out at the hostel with John, Pete, Adam, Charles and eventually Ben. Sarah got woken up with a phone call and an interview so she was off before I was. She sent a text and said she got the job straight away so she was really happy. I think she will have moved onto the boat already. Pretty amazing how fast that works!
Ben was out with his Kiwi friends all day Monday, all through the night and into the morning so I wasn't sure I'd catch up with him before I left but he came back to see me off, which was sweet. He had partied pretty hard and he was kind of a mess. I talked him into dragging my bag down to the bus stop for me and Charles came along too to say goodbye so that was nice. I tried not to cry. Ben could see I was about to. I saw teh bus coming and got my farewell hugs and kisses from the boys and then off I went. (oh and Adam too) The bus was not packed right away but filled up fast, it was totally packed with people by the time we made it to the airport.
Once I got there I had to get in the longest line there to check in my bag with Ryanair. Once I got to the man I was overweight (Not me but my bag) and had to take a reciept to a lady elsewhere and pay a small fortune for the extra weight adn also get my passport checked by her. Altogether a really frustrating experience! I don't recommend Ryanair unless you are traveling with your toothbrush and a hand full of patience because it was pretty aweful through and through. At least the plane was clean and the service friendly otherwise they get you coming and going. Even food and drink on Ryanair costs money. So much for flying all over Europe on "lowcost" airlines, NOT WORTH IT! So I'll be rethinking my strategy for the next time I fly somewhere.
Once I got to Bournemouth though it really got hilarious! The airport there is just a runway and a building. When we were getting off the plane the man said "be careful on the stairs, its really windy and its starting to rain" welcome to England. Very small place for sure. I ended up being the only Non EU person on the flight so I had to talk to the customs guy for quite a while before he'd let me go through. I get that's his job, and he was nice but I wondered what I'd have done if he said no! Ha!
The airport shuttle from the cow pasture (airport) to town center only leaves every hour so since the flight was late and I took a long time at customs I missed the bus and had to wait 45 minutes to catch the next one.
At the train station I discovered I didn't have quite enough british pounds to pay the man for my ticket and the machines won't accept the visa money card (really annoying!!) so I had to run across the street, up the escalator, through a huge store, to the atm, then back down across the street to the station. By then the 17:59 train to London Waterloo was leaving and so I bought my ticket ran out to the platform, up and over the footbridge and then ran onto the train before it left. Once I got seated and caught my breath I realized that this train wasn't stopping in Basingstoke so I had to change trains in Winchester. ha! Figures!
After all that I finally made it here and my uncle was waiting at the train station for me so I was able to head straight to their house. it was pouring down rain here!
Sheesh! I was pretty tired, it took hours to get to B/stoke after all that. I thought I was being so clever to go to an airport that was so close by!
Today I am unpacking and piling up the stuff I don't want to keep carrying around with me. Friday morning I'll head to Tony's in Poole for a visit. That should be really nice! I did a quick check of my finances and its pretty bleak so we'll see how much I can actually accomplish with my remaining time here. I am hoping to still find work on a boat though, so we'll see how that goes. Since i want to work legally in Europe boats are my only option really. And in a few months they will be sailing to the Caribbean for the winter so I'm hopeful to get on one of them.
I had a good sleep and I did laundry this morning so I feel much better now. Its kind of nice to unwind and catch my breath. Though I do miss Palma. Its cloudy here but still really nice out.
After a while Uncle Stan and Aunt Maureen and I will head to town on the bus and have a look around the parts I missed last time. I didn't spend much time in Basingstoke since every day I was here last time it was between train rides and I was just back here to sleep basically.
I better finish this up now. Lots more new adventures to come. Things will be rolling now for a while so I'll try to write more often. I'm using my uncles keyboard and his giant monitor and its really nice. After using my little computer for weeks this is really delux!
The camera is broken officially (i've mentioned that before I think) and so I'll shop for a new one but until then this will just be writing... this really isn't like my journal since there is stuff missing in here that I don't want to share with the world. Just to be clear though I didn't kiss any of those cute boys at the hostel. Ha! the best I got was a kiss on the cheek from Ben when I left and a really nice " first date " with Charles. Not really a date, just dinner and a drink. It was really nice though!
later,
K
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