After I signed off of my last blog, I ran into the guy that I had been talking to in the bus station. I was invited to join him and some other people and he bought me a beer. I met Larry (truck driver), Loretta (pastry chef), Alex and the 1st guy was Anthony (truck driver also). There was also a crazy Russian guy, totally drunk, trying to converse in English, but kept jumping to Russian and he was really funny, but was really upsetting some people. We all sat and chatted about all kinds of stuff and when the ferry docked, we exchanged e-mails and boarded our different busses. This was about 12am. Thinking I was going to be able to sleep until Manchester, I picked a seat and settled in. Some guy from France (?), looked like some tough guy from New York, Aaron, started asking me where I was going and all sorts of stuff, even while I had my eyes shut, rude. I guess I should have known that we would have to go through customs again, ugg, at 1 am, what fun! It's really funny the questions the customs guards ask you when you hand them a US Passport. "What are you doing here? Where are you going? How long will you be here? When do you leave? Where do you leave from?" haha. It just reminds me of That 70's Show, "what's your business in Canada" lol so funny. Once we switched buses, to a much less comfortable one, I attempted to sleep, between to seat. Luckily I brought a blanket!! Some guy said he was jealous and said, "wow, you're prepared", I just said, that's backpacking, always prepared!
The bus got to Manchester early, 5:30 am. I sluggishly got off and stumbled around the station for a little while, checked out prices and times of buses to Cardiff and Pembroke and then left. I was going to go to the McD's that we passed just a couple blocks away, but once I got a look at where it really was, I changed my mind. I asked someone at a bus stop where the Hard Rock Cafe was and I headed in that direction, only a couple of blocks! I noticed a Burger King, open 24 hours, on my walk, so for some reason, I went in. There I met a guy named John, he was finishing his all nighter, trying to get ice cream, but they had just switched to the breakfast menu. I also met Josh and Robyn, we chatted shortly about my big bag and where I was going and then they all went on their way. I decided that since I was there, I would get a coffee. Before going to HRC, I changed direction and headed for the train station. I still had 6 hours before HRC opened anyway, so best to get an idea of prices for a train. Whilst walking, I ran into John again, I said hello and he decided that since I was traveling alone, with such a big bag, he was going to help me out. So, he went to the train station with me, helped me figure out when to go south and then convinced me to let him carry my bag, lol. It was funny, the harness was way to small for his build. I stopped for about 20 mins to clean up, brush the teeth and stuff and John sat with the bags. Since he was finishing his night, he kept falling asleep, lol. He was worried about my bags if he did fall asleep completely, so he started talking to a guy named Andy. Both born and raised in Manchester, although John had visited Canada once. Andy thought it'd be a great idea to continue drinking, lol. He also made me laugh when he was talking on the phone with someone and said "I'm hanging out with a guy I just met and an American Bird". I was just so surprised that they actually use that word, not just Austin Powers. SO, we bought some Fosters (haha) and some English hard cider and drank a little bit, yes at 8 am on a SUNDAY! I then pushed them to go walk around, show me Manchester! Well, I'm guessing there's not much to it, because we didn't do much. I did ride on the Ferris wheel with John and got to see the city from above. By now we walked a little more, then hit the HRC quickly and John walked me back to the train station, it was 1:15 pm now, and I took the 1:30 train to Pembroke.
8 HOURS LONG!!! I got to see the Welsh country side from the windows and this train was so old and dirty, pictures were not an option, damn. It was gorgeous, I loved Wales. Although, most of the time I allotted for here was wasted on buses, ferries and trains. But I got to see it. At 9:30 pm I wandered into an Inn and asked for a room. This is where the 1st jokes about my pack that had been said with in ear shot of me!! LOL A guy at the bar looked at me and said, "Good lord, that pack is huge!!" Then sang the theme song to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! LOL Hilarious... it made me laugh. The lady that ran the place acted surprised that I wanted to stay there, but gave me a room for 20 pounds, that was great. And the room was good, nice shower and I was out like a light!
Did you notice I didn't mention much about food, I had totally forgot to stop for food. I had eaten the stuff I'd bought at the store on the way to the bus in Dublin and I snacked on some wafer cookies that Gaby gave me in Vienna. They were starting to get crumbled anyways, so I had to eat them. I guess this is how I loose weight. No food and walk for 26 days! haha
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