Love to all,
Gen
Okay, so I'm in editing this now...
Towards the end of our hike. GORGEOUS.
Lisa about halfway through the hike - we were this close to the cliff/coast the entire 7 mile hike!
Me and the Atlantic Ocean!
Me and the coast!
The awesome scenery - the entire hike was like this.
Lisa and I.
Wales around 10a.m.So let me explain this video: in order to save money, we decided we would take a coach to get to Wales (which went quite smoothly), and then a train back. The train trip back involved a train, to a bus, to another train. When booking the tickets online a few weeks ago, everyone's tickets but mine and Lisa's confirmed. So, after trying to book two tickets together and the website not working, we called to book the tickets. Half an hour later, after Chelsea had thoroughly ripped the Indian woman on the other end of the line a new one, Lisa and I had tickets for ten pounds more than anyone else. Oh well, they were booked. It wasn't until two days later when I checked my credit card statement, that I realized I'd been billed for THREE SETS of tickets. The ones online, plus the ones on the phone. So, yet another rational (haha, NOT) phone call was made by Chelsea to the train company to remove the charges from my credit card. Ten days later they weren't removed, so we harassed them again, and FINALLY the charges were removed the day before we left for Wales. Whew! All set for travel, right? Well, the weekend was fantastic, and come Sunday, the people who run the lodge/program we were staying with dropped everyone off at the train or coach stations at 2. The first train wasn't coming until 4, and the train that JT, Chelsea, and Sarah were booked for was at 6. Lisa and I weren't sure which train we were on because they never told us over the phone. SO, JT makes a call to the company and finds out that Lisa and I are on the earlier train. Meanwhile, the ticket office at the train station is closed. We figure it will open up when the train's arrival nears, but come 3:30, it still wasn't open. A local informed us that the ticket office isn't open on Sundays. Awesome. So there we stand, all five of us, with only confirmation numbers on a post-it note, and no tickets. So... Chelsea makes another call to our favorite train company - another friendly Indian who she can hardly understand informs her that because the train station isn't open, we'll all need to wait and leave on Monday. (well, we have CLASS on Monday and we're tired and and and....). Either that, or we have to buy new train tickets on the train. Needless to say, NONE of us were happy. We already BOUGHT our tickets and Lisa and I went through enough to get them in the first place! So the train pulls up at 4, Lisa and I approach the official looking guy from the train, who tells us we'll need to buy new tickets. We immediately start to argue, so he says "get on the train, we'll discuss it then." So we hop on and the doors close behind us - leaving JT, Sarah, and Chelsea alone at the station with THEIR confirmation numbers in our hands. We text them their numbers, and then the train-guy comes to talk with us. As soon as he mentions buying new tickets, Lisa and I just about explode (it had already been a looong day). Either because he was afraid of what two young crazy ANGRY American women could do, or he felt generous - because he told us not to worry about the train we were on, and just go to the ticket office at the bus station. Soo... Lisa and I get to the bus station, we turn in our confirmation number for tickets, and wander over to the coach (bus) station. We had NO idea which bus we were supposed to get on to get us to this place that we hoped would have a train to get us to London...so we asked a local who pointed us to a bus nearby. We hop on the bus, and it leaves within five minutes. We'd heard it was about an hour ride to the next station, so we settled in... and visited with the person in the seat in front of us. However, after about ten minutes, all I could hear was my bladder screaming with urgency. I turn around to head towards the bathroom in the back of the coach, only to find there ISN'T one. So I sit back down, cross my legs, and pray Lisa will still like me after I ask her to contemplate emptying her waterbottle in case I need it. :-) I manage to fake out my bladder long enough to make it to the train station and find the toilet. Luckily it wasn't a pay toilet because I think I would have taken out anyone in my way. :-). After glorious relief, Lisa and I find a little cafe, buy overpriced sandwiches for dinner and, in a change of luck, catch an earlier train to London. Meanwhile, the other half of our group sends us a text message to say they got on the first train, but the train guy wasn't as nice to them and made them buy 70 pound train tickets! (that's $140)...we try to text back to console them, only to find that our pay-as-you-go phone is out of money... *sigh*...after a mild laugh at how ridiculous the day has been, we continue to spend the next few hours doing word finds and crosswords until our brains can't remember how to spell the word "squawk." We finally find our selves in London, rejoice that the Tube is still running, find the one line (out of three) that is still running to our stop, top up our phone, and nearly kiss the floor of our tiny little London flat we call home. We looked up the night bus route for JT, Sarah, and Chelsea, got them home around midnight and called it a day. And what a day it was...... First Great Western trains in our future? I think NOT........ Anyway, this video shows our hunger and *mild* hysteria outside the first train station.
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