From the Greyhound

Hey all!

(*****Sorry that it's been soooo long since I've posted, I wrote this Thursday night but Blogger wasn't working so I'm just now actually getting to publish it :( Lots has happened since this that I may write about later, but I wanted to share these adventures*****)

Thanks to modern technology I am writing this post using the free wifi on a Greyhound bus! Yep, I'm on a Greyhound headed home for the weekend for some family stuff.

I probably don't need to tell you that I've been busy, but I will apologize for not posting recently (and missing another Mug Monday...) There's just been a lot on my mind and a lot going on. But right now I've got 13 hours on the road and wifi so what better to do than write a blog post :)

It snowed for the first time yesterday! Which was really pretty exciting. I don't like winter much at all but I do enjoy some snow.

It was rainy-snowy when I was walking to WeSell, then it came down in big, beautiful flakes that we watched out the windows. Joe from Jamaica was all excited because it was only the second time he'd seen snow. Of course from what I hear, snow in New York is pretty for about 5 minutes before it turns black and gross. So that's unfortunate.

The walk home was not so fun then. I don't have a pair of boots (for rain or snow) and I was wearing about the worst shoes I could be for walking through snow: a pair of flat that rain tends to soak through the bottom of. And by the time I was going home there was a good inch and a half-two inches of snow on the ground! And it was still coming down, blowing right in my face as I walked the third of a mile home. Uphill. In wet shoes. Hehe, just trying to sound like one of "those people," that is all true though...

It was strange also because the trees still have most of their leaves. So here's these trees looking like summer or fall and then branches hanging cause they're extra weighted down by snow!

Today I went in to WeSell, taking my suitcase and carry-on with me, and worked a pretty regular day. Afterwards I had some strange experiences, strange as in my life is always an adventure!

I went to Hill Country to buy some Salted Caramel Cupcakes because I talk about them all the time to my family and I want them to get to try them! (Shhhh they don't know that I'm bringing them...)

If we're being honest though, that's not the real reason I went into HC. I actually went in to get a haircut. No, seriously. One of the cashiers is actually a hair stylist by trade and I'd mentioned a couple weeks ago that I was wanted a haircut and he said he'd do it for free! So we'd been trying to work out a time and it was supposed to happen the last 3 days but something always came up or didn't work out right. I really wanted the haircut before I went home so he said to come in to HC and he'd do it real quick. So I went in and someone else covered the register and we snuck to this little room on the side where the dumpsters are kept and he gave me trim! Haha. Sometimes you just gotta do what ya gotta do!

After my haircut and saying hi and bye to all my friends there, I headed back uptown and stopped in at Cafe R for some supper (shrimp tempura sushi!) Then it was off to the bus station - Port Authority.

I'm pretty excited for my first big Greyhound adventure. Even though it's a 13 hour ride and I have a transfer that I'm a little nervous about, I have a "free spirit, travel loving, adventure seeking side" (in the words of Wendy) that makes me giddy for new experiences.

I got to the bus station and had no idea where I was going or what to do. I had to find the information area so that I could get my ticket (I had bought one but had no way of printing it...) I've done a lot of flying and am very comfortable in airports but this was a whole new ball game. The problem is that people can tell when you don't know where you're going and they jump on that.

I was looking at a map and a man came over asking where I was going and said to follow him and he'd get me there, he knew the whole place. I declined and he joked that I just didn't want to have to tip him, whatever that's supposed to mean... I then asked someone working at a kiosk there for help and they directed me to the Greyhound information center which I found easily and got my tickets printed, after a lady offered me her ticket that she wasn't using and was expiring today, all I had to do was pay the difference between her $65 ticket and what I told her my ticket would cost.

I searched my tickets for a gate number but no luck. I was standing outside the Greyhound check in area and debating if I should go downstairs and look around since I'd heard that's where I would check my luggage when a man in all black with a cap on his head and badge hanging from his neck walked over and asked if I knew where I was going. He then asked my age and if I had ID to prove that and explained that he was a cop and there's been a lot of runaways going through that station. I hesitantly showed him my ID and he said I was fine, and he's just making sure. Then he made sure I knew where I was going and advised me to get there quickly because there are a lot of bad guys hanging out up there on the lookout for girls who aren't from New York and don't know where they're going. Comforting.

Once I got to the gate there were no more issues, except the lady in front of me bumping me with her big old bum every time she stood up or sat down on the floor, which she felt the need to do every  time we moved up in line while waiting to start boarding.

I'm sooooo excited to be going home for a little bit. It will be wonderful to be with my family.