A Journey to a Cab

Well, I am feeling much better as hard as it was, going to bed early was the way to go. Momma Moya, aka one of our professors and basically the mom of the 18 of us, convinced me not to hang out last night but to just go to bed and get lots of sleep. So I did. I’m feeling better but I’m also taking like 1000mg of Vitamin C a day, so that’s got to be doing something for me.
As promised here is a little up date. Mainly I want to let all of you in on my travels to Northern Ireland. I think I’ve worked out the issues and all my pictures are now up at tiffanyjallen.shutterfly.com, let me know if they are not. I think its been messed up for a while so there are also ones from our class trip to Stonehenge and Bath. But the ones for the trip in which I am discussing now are in the album appropriately entitled ‘Northern Ireland’ clever I know.

And now … A Journey to a Cab….
The weekend started off when my alarm went of at 2:30 am on Friday September 21. I dressed, brushed my teeth, and went down for a quick bite of breakfast, taking my pack the 99 stairs down. We had called the cab company the night before but to book early meant an extra charge, we don’t play that game, so we called 20 minutes before we needed the cab (like they told us to). Jenny and I were calling and got disconnected a couple of times and then told there was no one in our area, and it would be like 45 minutes at the least before some one got over here, only problem is we didn’t have 45 minutes our train left at 4:05 and its already after 3:00. And it is about a 30-minute cab ride to where our train was. At this point we are panicking, slightly. And at this moment I realized I had forgotten to print my conformation numbers off, so I run downstairs and print them really fast and head back up. Heather our third travel buddy, has not surfaced out of her room and we are standing by the door, packs on ready to go. So I run up, to tell her to come on and make sure she is awake. She is, she is coming. So we start walking, hoping that there would be a cab at the Holiday Inn across the street, or they could get one quicker. As we walked up to the Holiday Inn, with a completely empty lot, were starting to realize not many people will be arriving or leaving at this time of night/morning, what were we thinking. And now the panic has set in. What are we going to do. Jenny and I are about to call the 2 cab companies again, I reach into the pocket where my phone should be, its not there… but here comes a cab, it’s a miracle. We start to hop in, and it is confirmed I have left my phone, and sheets with confirmation numbers on the table right by the door. We don’t have time to go back, we can’t let this taxi go and hope for another because there most likely won’t be another, but we can’t sit here and think or me run back because the meter is ticking away. I say lets go, we’ll figure it out when we get to the station.
The cab driver gets us to the Victoria Station in about 17 minutes, perfect. So we go in, start trying to get tickets, at the ‘quick ticket’ machine, I learn I have to have my confirmation number to get my ticket. The train leaves in like 20 minutes. So I run to the counter and tell the guy my problem, and very nicely he explains to me my only option is to buy another one. But then as I’m like okay that’s my only choice, as I’m telling him what train I want my ticket for… he says, “that doesn’t exist.” Jenny walks up shows him her ticket and says then why do I have a ticket. Well, we learn we need to be at Liverpool Station!!!! Not kidding. The guy behind the desk offers his advice to the horrific faces I’m sure we are showing him. “The train is slightly delayed, it will be 4:30 before it departs, so you’ve got a little time. Go get a cab, take it to Liverpool, once there, where the pay phones are there should be one that looks a little different, pay a pound and you can check your email, and get your confirmation numbers.” So we’re off. We get a cab, it has a precious old man, who is going to get us there asap. About halfway to Liverpool Jenny starts asking us to roll down the window, then we have to pull over. She is throwing up out side of the cab, and the meter is ticking, the time is ticking. She gets back in and we speed off.
Once at Liverpool Station, it was slightly complicated to get in, the main entrance was locked, and you had to go in a side entrance. Once we figured that out, the first thing we see is the thing for the internet. I put in my pound and get my train confirmation number but I can’t get my flight one to open. So we decide worst case after the hour train ride its 5:30ish, if I’ve got to have that number we call someone, wake them up and have them look at it and tell me. I get my train ticket, and we run to the train. Its sitting there, after about 10 minutes we can get on. We sit on the train for about 25 minutes not moving. Its not about 4:45, a train that 2 days prior was leaving at 4:05, then at 4:25, has not left yet. We start moving. Thankfully, we’re on our way on the Stansted Express to Stansted Airport.
It turns out it was a huge blessing that I left my confirmation number behind, and at that moment my cell, because we would have called another cab had I had it on me, and who knows where we’d be. And if I’d had my confirmation number it would have been a lot longer before we realized we were at the wrong station. Who knows what would have happened then.

Okay I think that is enough for tonight, which is a shame because there is so much more to tell you. But I’ll post it tomorrow, I promise.