So.. one time I spent New Years in Scotland....

DECEMBER 23RD - took the Megabus at 1 pound to london to meet Sarah. 1 pound! For the first time in nearly 6 years, I am trying to meet up with someone with minimal cell phone usage in an unfamiliar town. Only 6 years? What did people do before cell phones? I cant imagine.. Anyway after a fun game of PAY PHONE tag, we agree to meet at starbucks. Little do we know there are more starbucks' on each individual street in london than the total number of coffee shops in most cities. Finally, although I am in the same vicinity as I started, I find her at Starbucks #4, in front of the Wicked Theater. This performance has been out for nearly 4 years now and the two of us have yet to see it. Or shall I say, have been able to afford it. Curiously, we walk in and based primarily on luck we find front row tickets available for 20 quid (pounds) that evening! To say the least it was an AWESOME performance! 

Our 4-bed youth hostel awaits us at the Picadilly Circus station, where we dropped off our stuff off and moseyed around London checking out the christmas scene. With no plans in mind, we spent Christmas Eve doing more wandering, rode the Giant London Eye and payed a visit to Abbey Road. By night, walked through christmas markets, holiday carnivals, discovered a giant THING…. a big walk-in box of annonomous secrets and unspoken wishes??? Very interesting............By accident, we found ourselves at a gay bar,  escaped 2 crazy italians, and in the middle of the night, 3 bottles of wine later, we found ourselves hanging out with our good friend big ben, hung out @buckingham palace, and ended our travels in the lions mane of trafalgar square- people watching and watching London glow. In the middle of the night, London was still so busy. We met people from around the world come and go..... one guy hung out with us for a good 3-4 hours telling us about his travels, childhood, family divorces and separations, epiphanies, hardships in life, everything he's learned from it, how the world and how money is seen through such different eyes and communities, etc, etc, etc. Quite honestly, I enjoyed listening to him babble on but after a while we decided to ditch him and go back to the hostel common room ending the night hanging around other travelers our age.

Come Christmas Day everything is closed except Chinatown. We eat lunch in the most packed Chinese restaurant. Food was impeccable.  

This is where the fun begins…..

If you don't know me let me give you a forewarning. My life is constantly on a roller coaster getting myself intertwined in the most bizarre situations, or the absolute best and worst ironic stream of unfortunate events..simultaneously. This holiday has quite possibly been the most amazing hot/cold, up/down experience. My life is consistently inconsistent. How I keep up with myself or get myself in these situations, I haven't the slightest idea.  But let me tell you about it...

NIGHTMARE # I

The genetleman at the hostel reception decides to gather everyone together to do something NICE for everyone traveling on Christmas day with nothing to do. Why not right? Well this bar is clearly very “dodgy.” Its sketchy, dirty, and 5 pounds to get in??!? The bouncer is the bartender and the DJ. In a nutshell, my wallet got stolen here. What was in it you ask? Money, creditcards, student ID’s, checkbook, drivers lisence, passport, birth certificate, social security, basically everything and anything with my name on it. Got in a verbal fight with some foreign girl whilst both of us are speaking different languages, in addition to the rude bouncer-bartender-dj man. Although this is my own fault I cannot stop thinking about the creepy thick accented and SMELLY French man in a black longsleeve turtleneck, baret, and tiny mustache for taking it. He was seriuosly every epitome of FRENCH you can think of. Yes, it is a bad accusation but he was creepy. And CLEARLY had not showered or considered deodorant a daily necessity.

 

Anyway, as fate has it, the next day is boxing day. A big UK holiday. That means, all banks are closed. This couldn't have happened in a more perfect sequence because after this “boxing day” holiday, it just so happened to be SATURDAY.. The weekend! PERFECT! And this couldn’tve happened on any ordinary weekend. It had to happen while I’m on vacation. Traveling! Seriously? Why does the UK hate me right now.. Luckily we were traveling by train, and already had our tickets. 

 

But for 4 days straight.. …I basically did not even exist.

The next day were back on the 1 pound MEGABUS to Cardiff where I got….as people out here would say, SORTED! Went to HSBC, got everything canceled, back and cleared up. The nice tellers tell me this crazy world is so advanced now, it is essentially impossible for anyone to do anything once its canceled...Anyhoo showed Sar a bit of Cardiff before we left for MANCHESTER, ENGLAND where we met up with VANNY and SARAH BERGNAR (berg)! So happy! Another 4 hours train ride to Manchester was well worth it to see their faces.

 

NIGHTMARE # II

 

At around 4:00am Monday night (Tuesday morning?) we are still talking and laughing in the common room of Hostel #2, where the 4 of us stayed in a 10 bed room. Delusionally telling the reception man about my recent losses, he decides to help a girl out.

Basically he informs me that……….

THE US EMBASSY IN EDINBURG HAS A WALK IN TIME FRAME FROM 9-12 TUESDAYS ONLY

 

If you are a bit crazy like me, good news is always good news even at 4am! After much debate, I decided im gonna do it. Right then and there I bought a train ticket on the spot, and 2 hours later at 6:00am left my friends and jumped on a 3 hour train ride to E-burg. Crazy I know…not knowing what will come out of this, or whether I will even be helped. Arrived at the Embassy to be greeted by a lady who clearly had something up her ass, basically turned down and interrupted my every sentence with denial. She said I needed USDOLLARS, passport photos, and my police report. Now, keep in mind I have NOTHING. How am I supposed to get dollars when I cant even get pounds? But I decided to wing it anyway. Luckily sarah gave me her debit card for an emergency..

I ran out, withdrew pounds from the nearest ATM.

Went back to the train station to find the currency exchange kiosk --OUT OF SERVICE.

The Embassy gave me a list of photo centers. The first one on the list --DOESN’T EXIST. The 2^nd one, 30 minutes away --CLOSED. On a Tuesday afternoon!

I finally retreat back to the first train station to get my passport photos from the booth.

Multiple banks, postoffices, and train stations later, FINALLY find a Currency Exchange office that does DOLLAR exchanges inside a nearby mall where I patiently (kind of) wait in line..

In all this craziness my phone is somehow long gone.

I barged into this warehouse supply store to find a young boy playing videogames on his laptop. I politely ask him to find me the phone number to the London police station. He did, so I bought a calling card, and asked the station if they can fax the USembassy my report. They can.

FINALLY, im back at the USembassy sweating, panting, and exhausted but I have EVERYTHING laid out on the table she asked for. 

This crazy lady, looks at the clock and sighs because she is irritated with me for actually going through with it and making it back in just enough time. 

The first thing she says is “ummm we don’t take cash”

The second thing she says is “your passport photos are the wrong size” 

UGH!  How is this possible.. Couldn’t she have told me that they don’t take cash from the beginning? And doesn’t she know I have no checkbook, or creditcards or anything to my name?? Wasn't my haggard sweaty face proof of how frustrating it is to live without a single form of ID? Or perhaps she didn't notice cause I was fogging up the glass.... Anyhoo she wanted me to call sarah to confirm using her card but honestly, FOR WHAT REASON would my friends even have a UK phone....they're on vacation!

I was sooo livid. I wanted to scream at her for rolling her eyes at me and giving me attitude and suggesting I partake in this excursion to places that don’t exist and telling me I need to do these things in this short time frame whilst leaving out all the specifics! Instead, I stood there in shock and in disbelief of everything I just did for nothing. After about 5 minutes in silence, low and behold…. the ANGEL standing next to me, by some miracle was listening to this fiasco, and tells me that if I give her dollars, she can put it on her creditcard.

The USembassy caved in, and gave me a temporary passport. I guess they do have a heart afterall. How amazing.. Sound like typical Ashley Matsumoto? Something from a movie? Yessss...how all this happened, I have no idea. 

 

From here, I really have no direction to go except up. I found a pence on the ground (1 penny) and I felt literally that much richer.  Met up with everyone back in Manchester, and continued our journey. Took another train to the infamous New Years Hogmanay street party in GLASGOW, SCOTLAND which I would not have been able to attend without my trusty new passport. A concert was playing, the fireworks were incredible, men were in kilts, and everything was good in life all of a sudden. We all did a funny dance where we held hands with strangers in a giant circle skipping in and out. Haha! Soo fun. And hilarious!  J

3 days later another train ride to EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND. Edinburgh (pronounced edinbrah) has the craziest past. The spookiest forgotten underground cities, hangings and death sentences, and graveyard histories. Went on day tours and night tours, saw Edinburgh castle, the inspiration for Hogwarts, the café where JKRowling wrote Hogwarts, frolicked around the Edinburgh Christmas fair, and hiked uphill half hazardly 45 minutes to ALMOST make it half way to king authors seat….The view was breathtaking but as we hiked people were jogging passed us. I wonder how its possible for people to actually do such things.. 

 

THENNNNNNN… before we knew it vanny and berg went back to San Francisco, Sarah left for Denmark, and I left for………….

 

AUSTRIA!!!! I told you this trip was crazy…..

 

At first I didn’t wanna go. Then Theresa convinced me. Then I lost my passport…told her I couldn’t come. Got a new passport, and there I was in Innsbruck.

 

Innsbruck airport is amid gorgeous snowy mountains. Theresa and Hayley (who visited Theresa as well from Cardiff ) picked me up, showed me her university at home, took me to her parents house and around her town. She lives IN the mountains, meaning there is a resort IN her town. Over the course of 3 days we went snowboarding, I walked across my first frozen lake, went to a local snow school performance where ‘students’ of all ages (kids too!) did synchronizing skiing and snowboarding, and jumps and flips with fire, parachutes, and stilts while fireworks went off behind them. We went TOBOGONNING [sledding] where we hiked up an icy spiral mountain trail, for about 45 minutes. At the top we enjoyed the view for a minute, sat on our wooden sleds and sped so fast down this steep spiral with no brakes, no light (it was midnight), and no barriers to catch us if we slide off the edge. 

 

In just a few short days my eyes were opened to such a different world after staying at Theresa’s parents house and meeting all her friends. Theresa and her mom cooked breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. I don’t think they have ever bought any pre-made sauces or dressings before. Ever. They grow everything in their backyard (which is typical)—and cook everything, every night, for every meal. I saw the significance of going out to eat in this country and I wish it were like that in America. Her mother cooked us a very Austrian dinner with a yummy but different kind of dumpling soup, salad, meat, and pasta, 100% made from scratch. Her parents spoke enough English to carry a conversation and we talked about our different lifestyles and cultures from America to the UK (where Hayley is from) to Austria. They were pleased about Obama’s election and were excited to have us in their home. I am so glad I took up the opportunity to come.

 

So…now I am home, putting the pieces of my life back together. I arrived back in Cardiff on January 9^th, after a 30 minute train ride, and the 3 hour 1 pound bus ride back. Strange how I can easily refer to Cardiff as my “home.” Lectures don't start again until January 26th. I am currently in starbucks where I met up with yet another Sarah earlier for coffee, quite possibly the nicest girl I have met thus so far, who helped me move into my dorm on my very first day in Wales. 

 

What have I learned from this crazy vacation? 

The most amazing sites aren't always found in guidebooks and the people you meet along the way are what make all the difference in making your vacation memorable. The weirdest thought I had on the bus home was that I did not even miss my shower or my bed. I could honestly travel forever...

 

All in all this vacation was just divine, it was an amazing experience that something so horrible as loosing my every identity could even ruin. Thank you guys so much for the Christmas cards and holiday wishes. Look out for your postcards in the mail J