Day 3: Shopping and Living Cheap

I went to York again today, 1) to see it decked out in its Christmas finery (got some pictures for you), and 2) to go Christmas shopping, not that I would’ve needed to go all that way just for shopping but I did get what I think are some good presents for my parents. Now I just need to figure out how to mail a box, oh, and get a box, too; all things I hate doing. Measuring and weighing and calculating and hauling are such a pain. They really need to make international shipping more convenient, just like they need to make sending money overseas easier. I hate those processes like I hate trying to get a job.

But I’m doing it again, jumping here and there, wherever my scattered brain takes me, failing to pay any heed to flow, continuity, and conciseness. Sorry. Sometimes I feel like a comedian swinging from joke to joke, earnestly trying to find something that makes the crowd laugh, and when such a line is found, he sticks with it, expounds (yes that is a real word) on it, repeats it, and generally ruins any humour the joke originally possessed. I’m tempted to go into a comparison of British and American stand-up, but I refrain – I do have a preconceived list of things to report on tonight, I promise.

Oh, I also went to York to be social, as I expected a sizeable group of my classmates to be going. That proved to be a faulty assumption. But it was still enjoyable.

The first bit of my London adventure prep is taken care of: I bought the bus ticket to get down there. As simple as that may sound, there were actually some temporarily-worrying complications, which I’ll get to right after I do a bit of plugging. A big part of this blog is to help you, after all; maybe not replicate my trip exactly but have adventures similar to it, should you be interested. That’s why I went into detail about Pandora and Hotspot Shield yesterday; I’m talking about Megabus and Couchsurfing today (and many other days, no doubt), and I’ll get into some ways to transfer money overseas cheaply within the next few weeks. World travellers gotta help each other out.

Yes, after being dismayed at hearing the exorbitant prices for taking trains or coaches down to London, I was overjoyed to find out about a service called Megabus. From what I’ve heard it definitely has students in mind – no frills but no extra costs, just getting you from point A to point B in a cheap and hopefully, hopefully (considering all this snow we’ve been getting) timely manner. I suspect that every country has something like it; during my year in Philadelphia I took the ‘Chinabus’ from the Chinatown there to the Chinatown in Washington D.C. for cheap. It was sketchy, yes, especially as I was arriving in the dark evening, as I seem to always do, but since I was surrounded by students for most of it I felt fairly safe.

We shall see just how plain the ‘no frills’ bit gets – I have heard some derision against Megabus – but I’m not particular. Oh yes, the complications. I was on the website, having finally decided on a day to go (leaving a day for a possible complete Star Wars marathon right after uni breaks up, that would be awesome), but when I went to put in the dates and get the times, the site decided to go on the fritz. The booking feature would not budge.

This isn’t actually as interesting a story as I thought it might be when I started telling it (don’t you hate it when that happens? What’s that? You don’t start telling stories you know won’t deliver? Ah.) but I did wonder if it was a sign that I shouldn’t be opting for Megabus. Let’s hope it wasn’t, because they got the website working again just in time for me to be late to meet my friends, and I bought one ticket for me and one for my flatmate.

So we have our way in. Whether we, once down there, will be staying on lush bedding in a wonderfully hospitable host’s home or sneaking Z’s in a gay bar somewhere (no, I’m not, I just heard that they’re safe places to spend a night – not sure I want to test that suspicious-sounding theory though) remains to be seen.

I’m not trusting that point to chance completely; I have been surfing the Couchsurfing archives for potential couchsurfees. I even got a message from a friendly-sounding guy which I will pursue to see if it’s an option. People, this isn’t as sketchy as it sounds! There’s a whole reference system and everyone who’s done it seems to love it. You’ll see. You’ll see.

I’m being too picky, though; like job applications I just need to send loads out there (personalised, of course) and see what’s even an option. I’m sure there’s loads of people CSing over the holidays, so places will be few, just like the hostels, which I foolishly continue to wait to reserve. Oh man oh man. Why do I do this to myself.

But it will all work out and pay off massive, it always does. I made it here, after all. And into a wonderful job last year. And a wonderful uni the year before that. There’s a precedent.

So that’s how things stand right now; I’ve done some Christmas shopping, I have a way into emerald city (poor choice of metaphor?), accommodation options are slowly availing themselves. I need to get money, I need to finish my essays on the UN in Cambodia and British citizenship, respectively, and I need to stop boring you guys, right?

And I need to publish this before the clock strikes twelve.

Bradford City Hall by night, and night-shot mode.