March 2007: Getting stuck at the Malaysian/Thai border (Sadao crossing point – village in the middle of nowhere!) void any cash in either currency and credit cards blocked courtesy of HSBC’s zealousness to prevent fraud on my account. Passport withheld with a ready, but unpaid for, visa. Meeting four British girls by a magic stroke of luck and borrowing the crucial cash from them.
November 2005: Landing at Koln/Bonn airport rather than Frankfurt Hahn, taking buses and trains across the area, late for work, exhausted. Same month: missed a plane from Frankfurt to Milano, rushed to the train station, got a Spar Night train ticket across Switzerland, woke up past Lugano station and wondered where on bl**dy earth I was!
June 2005: Hopelessly stuck at Helsinki metro with over 80kg of luggage while moving out of the country and relying ambitiously on my own physical strength – wrong choice! Taking a taxi to the ferry terminal, running loaded with the hapless 80kg for over 100 meters, blood-shot eyes and strained muscles – I made it in the nick of time.
August 2004: Returning from a summer institute in Washington, DC, only available plane lands in Riga at 1pm, taxi home, mum’s almost got a heart attack, empty and refill the bag in 5 minutes, back to airport, depart for Prague/Frankfurt at 3pm. Mum’s effectively dead.
August 2003: Back from a summer school in Prague, bus stuck on the Czech/Polish border for 6 hours, get off at Kaunas in an attempt to catch a connection to Riga and make it in time for the ferry to Sweden – bus cancelled, take a taxi to the Latvian border, catch another bus from there, rush home, repack in 10 minutes, taxi to the ferry, off to the Scandinavian shores.
The list (by no means full!) gets a nice addition today.
June 2007: A reported “toilet leakage” problem prevents a Porto-London flight from taking off; I am almost set to miss a flight to Turkey the following day; get the last remaining ticket the next morning; meet a respectable English lady working for Aquascutum clothing brand; spend the night at the same Sheraton Hotel room with her (twin beds, very emphatically); have a great coffee and a conversation with the same person the morning after, ahead of our flight; set to make it to Turkey; sitting on the plane to London wondering what at all can expect me next!
I love adventures.
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