Ho...ho... ho... ho... home!

You know that old adage about it being better to travel hopefully than to arrive.
Well, I never expected to have problems getting home from a trip . But if you have an idle moment, read on ...

I expected to get home and roll into bed at around 2.30 am. Finally made it by 5.00 am.
First our plane was held up by an approximately half hour delay at Gatwick. We set off late but made good time and would have been only about 10 minutes late to land - except there wasn't a landing slot available just then so we had to circle around waiting for one.
The pilot was excellent, keeping us totally informed every step of the way - except he forgot to tell us we'd landed at the South Terminal, not the North one, from which my easybus journey was going. So I missed my bus. And because I'd allowed an hour's wait at the airport I didn't know how long I'd have to wait for another. Sod the expense, I decided to take the train.

I reached for my purse, where I had my 'Freedom Pass', allowing me free transport within the London area. Oh damnation and every other rude word. It wasn't there. I'd had it out on the plane to buy a drink and must have dropped it. All my English money, too.
Fortunately, my debit and credit cards were in my neck wallet as always, and there was an ATM. So I got out some money and bought a ticket to take me to Clapham Junction, from where I could change trains to a station 10 minutes walk from home.

NO! The next train didn't leave in 15 or so minutes, but an hour later. So I got to Clapham at about 3.50 am. Wandered down the long avenue of platforms - from #10 right down to #1 - for my connecting train. Yes, it would come along in another hour and a half. Bother that, I thought, I'll walk it. So walk it I did, all the way home on my lonesome through the slowly oncoming dawn, arriving home just before 5.00 am and desperate for a pee.
And hurrah! I am cured of being afraid of walking alone after dark.

Lucky you can walk so late without getting wacked for your valuables.

Haha - what valuables?

Hi,

I somehow suspect that all that Cr*p did not bother you one bit. It appears that you just took in in your stride and got there eventually. Why am I not surprised?

Maybe I should have said perceived valuables, but if you are dressed down....no bling. I dress down too so I should have known better....London doesn't give me the same safe feeling as say Madrid or any other number of european cities.

Well, it's actually a big plus for me. I was attacked three years ago by a crazy guy in Konya (Turkey) and since then I've been really scared out alone at night - though only in Konya and London. And even knowing this fear is irratrional.

I totally agree that London (my home town) isn't as safe as many other cities - though i get a lot of stick from others for saying so.
Walking through Seville to my hostel after midnight three weeks ago - because Ruinair cocked up my booking - I felt completely safe. It was amazing.

Gawkabout confirmed my impression that Seville is a totally safe city. But, somehow, I could just feel it in the air.

I agree about "feeling" it. Probably the culmination of a whole collection of inputs we are getting. On this trip I have felt completely safe through Morocco, Portugal and Spain UNTIL Barcelona. Might be nuts but something is very different in Barcelona.

Glad you are home safe and sound.i will wave as we fly in and out of London next Sunday. Scarcely 2 hrs between flights so sadly no time for more.

Oh, I'll miss seeing you then. :>(

But good to know you don't have a long stop-over time when you'll undoubtably be 'tired but happy' on your way home . I know I always start dreaming of my own bed when there's just a couple of days to go.

Glad to hear you made it home in one piece, if perhaps a somewhat frazzled piece. Lucky that the Freedom Pass is replaceable, but I hope you didn't lose too much cash. Bummer all way round.

Hi go_2

Welcome back and glad to hear that you take all these mishaps in your stride!.

I would probably bunked down in the airport and wait till the following morning. Much warmer and safer that way, I hope.

Lee

Ah the mis-adventures of travel glad to hear you made it in one piece. Our own mis-adventure was at the beginning of our current trip when my partner scanned our credit and bank cards and forgot them in the scanner. It was a good thing we had a bank statement showing we had savings with HSBC which gave us money from our account even though we had no bank card with us. I was very impressed with their service and getting us out of a pickle. I sound like an advertisement for HSBC huh?

Love the story and glad you are home safe. 6 years ago, I lost my passport on the way home from the airport, and had to get the new one two years early. Guess what? I found it last week in a file I had brought home from the trip, .

Funny - it's just clicked that 'things happened' both ends of this trip.

My neighbour drove me to the coach station to catch my bus to the airport. Walking in, I looked for the printout of my ticket.
Oh no! Not my ticket and, more importantly, not my Ruinair boarding pass either!

As luck would have it, I'd arrived early for my bus, and Ruinair had shifted my flight time by another half-hour. I raced home, picked up printouts and was back in good time ... phew!

But you can't escape fate, can you?
At least being there was amazing.

Seems hard to stay away from travel troubles; in 1994 I set off for a solo year-long RTW, got to the airport here only to find I had left my passport, visas, travellers' cheques, lots of foreign cash, credit cards and two books of air tickets at home. Lucky for me my son had driven me to the airport so he raced back home, picked up the missing stuff, and bulleted back to the airport, just in the nick of time. His expression said it all, he was not impressed.

I think it must be catching. When I returned from living in Solomon Islands (also 1994), I brought 2 teenage students for a holiday. We were flying from Brisbane to Cairns, and I left all our tickets on a friend's kitchen table. Qantas very kindly moved us to a later flight, and allowed me to call the friend who was meeting us in Cairns. Friend with kitchen table raced home to get tickets.
Not sure it would be that easy these days.

Hey Ozzie, we might have crossed paths sometime in 1994. I was in Solo from the beginning of July to end of October.

Did you ever visit Selwyn College, Watsoff? I was usually there or in town about once a fortnight. Did pay the occasional visit to Tabalia and Kohimarama, and even Planned Parenthood with senior biology students. That year I owned the most ancient Hilux on Guadalcanal.

No, I never got to visit Selwyn College. I spent my time in Honiara, Malaita (W. Are'Are, Auki and Malu'u), and Bellona. I might have seen the Hilux tootling down Mendana Avenue, though :-))

That hilux was beaten up in Malaita before moving to Ggilbert Camp with an American optometrist and his wife. I bought it from them when they upgraded (slightly) to another ex-Malaita vehicle.
Did you ever come across the Bartimaeus eye clinic in Chinatown? He was teaching locals how to dispense glasses and test eye sight.

No, didn't come across the eye clinic, although I spent a week sleeping on the floor of the old Hapai Shop in Chinatown in 1994. What a blast! So sad that it was burned down during the riots.