______Alison In Wonderland_____: Planes, Trains and Automobiles

3:27pm, and I am finally back home in my flat in Edinburgh. The past 15 hours were an absolute nightmare. Let me explain:

It all started with Maria, Bri and I excitedly buying great priced Megabus tickets to London. A 9 hour overnight bus, no problem! We would fall asleep and wake up in London, how perfect. Well...not so perfect. We arrived at the bus station around 10:10pm, for a 10:30 departure. The bus was already packed, so we all had to split up and sit with strangers. Still, we made the best of it. That is, until about 40 minutes into the drive, the bus breaks down. On the side of the road in the middle of nowhere, we sat and waited and waited and waited. 1..2..3 hours passed and still nothing. On top of this, the man sitting to my left was fidgeting and rubbing up against me, all the while snoring into my ear. The man to my right was chugging nips of alcoholic concoctions. The people behind me were coughing up a lung nonstop. The lights were off, the bus smelled like a mix of every possible type of ethnic food, and the smokers kept getting off for a smoke, bringing back with them the smell of cigarettes.

Finally, around 3am, 2 small busses arrived to take us to Newcastle, where we would be greeted by yet another bus to continue the 6/7 hours to London. We arrived in Newcastle at 5am exhausted, distraught, and cranky. Maria decided to bear the remaining 7 hour bus ride to meet her friends in London, but Bri and I just couldn't handle it. We decided to find a nearby hotel, catch up on sleep, and explore Newcastle and head home in the morning. The thought of getting back on that bus for another 7 hours made me literally want to cry. I don't think I have ever felt as anxious as this trip made me feel.

We first approached a hotel near the station, where we were greeted at the door through a tiny little opening and basically looked at like we were homeless. Needless to say, we didn't stay there. We kept walking through the dark streets at 5am in the rain, and finally came across a Holiday Inn Express. They were extra friendly, and we checked into our room and went right to sleep until our 12pm checkout.