How I spent the night with a random guy from Hong Kong by London Underground, stole a charming mug from German Christmas market, and other tales.
My journey home for Christmas was supposed to be the usual - leaving Birmingham on Thursday night, one night at London Stansted, visiting Düsseldorf for a day, next night at Düsseldorf Weeze and reaching my beloved Vilnius on Saturday morning. Nothing special, nothing new, I'm a pro at this. Still, oh my how suprised was I!
I ordered my train tickets online and got them delivered by post like a month in advance. I kept them in a safe place, and (good Lord gracious!) I even remembered which place it was! The thing was that when I checked while packing, the tickets weren't there. I even tidied up my room for like the first time ever, but still no sign of them. Six hours until my train leaves, re-purchasing the ticket costs £60 - more than my whole journey, alternatives - coaches - are for £26 but mean walking for an hour on foot in London after sunset and missing my Christmas dinner with flatmates. Don't even know which is more dangerous. Not the best position to be in, eh?
After googling that lost or misplaced tickets are not the ticket seller's responsibility, I cycled to the train station and told them my story. You know, that I haven't received my tickets, maybe they got lost in the post?, and though it's my problem that I have forgotten about it until the last day maybe there is anything I can do about it instead of buying a new one. The staff told me to call the office and ask for a collection reference - with it I can print out my ticket at the station. Whoop whoop - there's still hope! It's not that easy to make a call though: I got a new phone as a birthday present but it needs a small SIM card, and my old phone has broken down, so I have 3 SIM cards and 2 phones but no combination that would allow me to make a call. As I heard them say - better to have 50 friends than £50k; so after calling from a friends phone and telling my almost true story again I received a massive apology for causing me so much stress and the collection reference I needed. Success!
After googling that lost or misplaced tickets are not the ticket seller's responsibility, I cycled to the train station and told them my story. You know, that I haven't received my tickets, maybe they got lost in the post?, and though it's my problem that I have forgotten about it until the last day maybe there is anything I can do about it instead of buying a new one. The staff told me to call the office and ask for a collection reference - with it I can print out my ticket at the station. Whoop whoop - there's still hope! It's not that easy to make a call though: I got a new phone as a birthday present but it needs a small SIM card, and my old phone has broken down, so I have 3 SIM cards and 2 phones but no combination that would allow me to make a call. As I heard them say - better to have 50 friends than £50k; so after calling from a friends phone and telling my almost true story again I received a massive apology for causing me so much stress and the collection reference I needed. Success!
However, despite our determination to hold the place till dawn we were kicked out (we would be horrible at direct action blockading and occupying) because the whole station closes. It's not the central London, so we didn't expect to find an open place anywhere near but we still checked out Burger King and KFC just to find them closed or closing. Good thing we did - outside the station there was only one bench, and the one horribly horribly disgusting, so we stuck to a couple of benches by KFC. Also metal, and in open wind, but clean. Skirts were used as chair pillows again and we spent 5 hours playing ship battle, tic tac toe and similar games, just chatting or snoozing, or jumping around in improvised salsa to keep myself warm. Yeah, myself, he's not that crazy.
5am. We're finally in the train. The conductor looks at our tickets dissatisfied and says "It's not the right date." I felt something clicking, like a switch turning in my head and almost started shouting with fury that I didn't spend the night outside the station because I like doing so and I'm not paying £20 for a new ticket. But somehow I managed to calmly tell the story and just judged him silently when he told he's not sure if it's fine and he has to check. He didn't come back.
Airport was cramped with people, I had to sit on the floor to eat my breakfast but it felt good finally having something more than the sweets I was bringing my brother. You see, I planned to spend the night at a place with a roof, soft benches and a store that's open 24/7, I didn't pack much. I managed to get some great sleep on the plane and feeling refreshed I stepped on Germany's land. My plan was to go to Düsseldorf and stay there until 3am but the bus driver told me the due to winter's timetable the last bus is leaving at 5pm. To pay €18 for only 5 hours in the city or not to go, that's the question. I did go and so not regretted!
The city was beautiful! It was dressed for Christmas - all sparkly, cosy and red - buildings, streets, the Weinachtsmarkt; everything created perfect Chrismas mood. And oh the smell of Glühwein, and served in such an adorable mug! I left the deposit of €2 for the mug plus €3 for the wine inside, and spent my lunch thinking whether it is stealing or not - taking a thing you have left deposit for. After finishing my crêpe I just walked away with the wine. Don't judge me, the cuteness of the mug was irresistible!
The city was quite mazy though - even with two maps I barely managed to find the river (or worse, the station I arrived to). Gladly people were friendly to offer me directions, because there, my friend, on Rhine, are the cable-stayed bridges. You can laugh at my passion for them but bridges truly are remarkable structures, you gotta give them that!
The last surprise awaited me when I got up from my 3-hour-long nap back at the airport. Once I regained my unblurred sight I saw a guy staring at me. As he hesitatingly approached me I realised he's my long-time-not-seen classmate from school! He was also taking connecting flights back to Lithuania, so with him to chat with I didn't feel the time fly as I found myself hugging my family at Vilnius airport and driving home for Christmas. To my sweetest dearest bed.
5am. We're finally in the train. The conductor looks at our tickets dissatisfied and says "It's not the right date." I felt something clicking, like a switch turning in my head and almost started shouting with fury that I didn't spend the night outside the station because I like doing so and I'm not paying £20 for a new ticket. But somehow I managed to calmly tell the story and just judged him silently when he told he's not sure if it's fine and he has to check. He didn't come back.
Airport was cramped with people, I had to sit on the floor to eat my breakfast but it felt good finally having something more than the sweets I was bringing my brother. You see, I planned to spend the night at a place with a roof, soft benches and a store that's open 24/7, I didn't pack much. I managed to get some great sleep on the plane and feeling refreshed I stepped on Germany's land. My plan was to go to Düsseldorf and stay there until 3am but the bus driver told me the due to winter's timetable the last bus is leaving at 5pm. To pay €18 for only 5 hours in the city or not to go, that's the question. I did go and so not regretted!
The city was beautiful! It was dressed for Christmas - all sparkly, cosy and red - buildings, streets, the Weinachtsmarkt; everything created perfect Chrismas mood. And oh the smell of Glühwein, and served in such an adorable mug! I left the deposit of €2 for the mug plus €3 for the wine inside, and spent my lunch thinking whether it is stealing or not - taking a thing you have left deposit for. After finishing my crêpe I just walked away with the wine. Don't judge me, the cuteness of the mug was irresistible!
The city was quite mazy though - even with two maps I barely managed to find the river (or worse, the station I arrived to). Gladly people were friendly to offer me directions, because there, my friend, on Rhine, are the cable-stayed bridges. You can laugh at my passion for them but bridges truly are remarkable structures, you gotta give them that!
The last surprise awaited me when I got up from my 3-hour-long nap back at the airport. Once I regained my unblurred sight I saw a guy staring at me. As he hesitatingly approached me I realised he's my long-time-not-seen classmate from school! He was also taking connecting flights back to Lithuania, so with him to chat with I didn't feel the time fly as I found myself hugging my family at Vilnius airport and driving home for Christmas. To my sweetest dearest bed.
