You might want to read this in small chunks The major event, the only event, this weekend was my trip to Vancouver. I brought my sister along for company, she and I had been wanting to go on a roadtrip this summer and this was the closest we could come so she was eager to join me. We took the Greyhound bus. We could have driven, it would have been faster and, as it turned out, cheaper, but I didn't want to drive through the night and we decided a bus trip would add to the adventure. So, at 5:30 on Friday evening, we arrived at the bus station to wait in line with the other 100 people. We watched in horror as a woman with four yelling, screaming children got in line with us and then sighed with relief as they were ushered onto a different bus. Our relief was short lived, however, when just as we got to the head of the line, the bus we were to board filled up and we were sent to the second but, which now contained those delightful, angelic little monsters. We managed to secure two seats together, but they were at the very back of the bus, immediately in front of the bathroom. No matter, we said to ourselves, this way there won't be anyone behind us to kick the seats, etc. So we settled ourselves and the bus pulled out and onto the highway. Almost immediately, the toilet seat started banging every time the bus his a bump, my sister started feeling sick, and the mother with four children started yelling at them to be quiet and sit down. Eventually, the kids settled down and went to sleep, I got used to the toilet banging noise, and my sister threw up and said she felt much better. And so, the journey continued on. I had just bought the newest Harry Potter book, so that kept me busy for a while. We got to Golden at 10 and I decided that it must be bedtime. So, I tried to get comfortable and sleep for several hours and I've since realised that it is physically impossible to sleep on a greyhound bus unless you are completely exhausted, which I was by 2 in the morning. Even once I'd managed to get to sleep, I kept waking up at each stop and often between stops as well. My sister slept just as badly as I did, so you can imagine what a fun pair we were as we rolled into Vancouver at 7:06am. I'd done some research on the vancouver transit website so I had a tentative plan on how to get where we needed to go. Originally the idea had been to go to campus and get my student id card, head over to the hostel between 9 and 10 to check in and catch a few hours sleep, then go to the house and look around and hopefully leave a cheque. Unfortunately, we discovered that the ID card office is closed on weekends for the month of July, and we couldn't check-in at the hostel until noon. So, we wandered around a deserted campus for a while, found some couches to nap at school and then headed straight over to the house. So, at this point I'm exhausted, and crabby because I couldn't get my ID card, and all I really want to do is find somewhere to put my pack and have a nap. But, I have to go look at a room and try and not totally repulse my new roommate by being snarky or spacey. I think I managed pretty well, although I probably didn't look around long enough or ask enough questions. She seemed surprised when I asked if I could leave a deposit cheque. But, I wasn't in a mood to care then; now I wish I'd tried a little harder. Ah well, they'll see what I'm really like when I move in. So, it's a room in a house, very near campus. There are two other girls living there already, so my room is the smallest, and it's very small. I forgot to pull out the tape measure I carefully packed to measure it, but it'll have room for a single bed, a table for my computer, maybe a bookshelf, and not much else. Luckily I wasn't planning on bringing a dresser. Each room in the house is painted a different, bright, colour. The living room is blue, the kitchen purple, the other living room red, and the bathroom orange. Ane we're not talking pale, subtle colours. No, these are the definitions of blue, purple, red and orange. My room, however, is white. They said I could paint it whatever colour I wanted so I don't know what i'll choose. A warm colour I think, although the window faces south so maybe a cooler colour would be ok. The house also has a front and back yard, which is a bonus, and parking should I happen to have a car. All in all, it seems ideal, especially since the rent is cheaper than living in res. So, after that we managed to get to the hostel and have lunch before collapsing for a couple of hours. I remember looking at my watch at noon and thinking that it felt like 6 in the evening at least. Neither one of us had the energy for anything too interesting after our nap. We went for a walk down Granville street and saw several stores advertising 25cent peep shows. I was so curious to see what you could actually peep at for 25 cents that I seriously considered venturing in to find out. But, my natural timidness prevailed and I will probably never know. We had supper at the Atlantic Trap and Gill, although I thought it was funny that they'd find a need for an east coast restaurant on the west coast. After supper we went back to the hostel and were asleep by 8 since we had to be up to catch the bus home at 5. In the morning we caught a cab to the bus station and shared with fellow hosteller. Somehow we managed to get away with only paying $3 for the ride, which is actually a dollar cheaper than taking the bus. The ride home was fairly uneventful until Revelstoke when we switched bus drivers. Our second driver fancied himself a comedian, and annoyed us with jokes the whole way home. Then, while stopped in Banff for a smoke break, the unthinkable happened. The bus wouldn't start. It persisted in not starting until they gave up and called for another bus to come from Calgary to pick us up. It was going to take him an hour and a half to get to us and we'd already been in Banff a half hour when they called. So, we sat down to wait. About an hour into waiting, the driver went outside and then came back in a couple of minutes later and told us that he couldn't get the baggage compartments open. Apparently there was no air pressure and the hydraulics wouldn't work...or something. He tried to find a hose to connect him and the new bus and thus get the thing to work properly, but it was no use. The poor passengers who had stored their luggage under the bus couldn't get at it. We had to leave it all there when we finally got out of there at 11:30. So, we made it home at 1, when were were supposed to be there at 10:30. I crawled into bed at 1:30 and definitely did not want to get up this morning. |