More Things I Have Learned From the Road

*The original draft was written at the 7th Street L.A. Greyhound station- right across the street from the American Apparel factory/non-sweatshop. But as I am too cheap to add an Internet option to my phone I am publishing it now. Enjoy*

I consider myself a pretty experienced traveller. I have literally been flying in airplanes ever since I was 4 months old- how else do you think they transport infant adoptees? FedEx?! I've survived cross-country trips with my family and trans-Atlantic flights with strangers. I enjoy trains and deal with buses because they're cheap and are the only mass transit vehicles that traverse the Grapevine- the foothills/mountain range that separate central from southern California.

But today (6-22-09) I learned something new. Greyhound will not print you a second ticket should you lose or misplace your original.

This came as quite a shock to me especially as I thought that I was all set to board my 2 PM trip without any hassles. (Another note- just like airplanes ALWAYS come at least an hour early!) Nope, what the person behind the counter at my departure location had failed to advise me was not to throw away my ticket because, unlike the airlines, but like life, this is the only one you get.

Usually, I don't throw away any of my travel stubs until I get home, or to my final destination- kind of a one-stop garbage purging if you will. However, this time, this ONE time! I threw away what I thought was just my Greyhound receipt and the little folder it came in, not even bothering to check if there was anything else important in there. O the folly of my ways! Think very expensive signed check in the pocket of your jeans, going through the wash.

I wound up spending the next twenty minutes frantically texting and calling my friend who was by this time en route to Santa Monica, while I was in downtown, making her also nowhere near her house in Mar Vista, where my ticket sat in her kitchen garbage can.

I was also wrestling with two medium sized bags, whose straps kept falling off my shoulder, rubbing down my arm and crating marks in their wake. I have very sensitive skin, and I bring this up not to sound like a wuss, but because the marks the falling straps left on my arm turned red and angry looking- like a cat had scratched me, or that I had pursued an unsuccessful half-hearted suicide attempt, entirely untrue but superficially embarrassing. Red, "cutter"-like marks on my arms did not exactly enhance my already frazzled appearance or contribute to anyone's assurance of the general condition of my mental health. Great.

It is ironic that this was definitely a case of be careful what you wish for- as I had said earlier in the weekend- OK, lamented, having to go back to my deliberately non-air-conditioned place, walking to work in the oppressive heat versus the rather balmy L.A. weather, and a job that is a means to an end. My friend had said that I could stay with her until it was time for grad school, but alas, money is my mortal master, and bills must be paid. Not something that happens while one slurps down lemon basil gelato in Silver Lake. Highly recommended place right on Sunset Strip. Exact name unknown at this particular moment. Will report back later.

I can't wait until I don't have to do this 4 hour schlep back and forth anymore. It's hard to be an environmentalist! Although I applaud Greyhound for not wasting paper, but I do find this occurrence of not printing out a new ticket for one that is most definitely lost, a tad arbitrary.

This blog doesn't have much at all to do with planning, at least the urban kind, but I thought that someone out there might find this vaguely amusing. And if it has, then my pain had a purpose. You have been warned people of Earth!