Yesterday we had to go from Glasgow to a town called Stanraer to catch the ferry to Belfast. So the night before we were exhausted and decided to just stay in and get some rest. We were lame, didn't see the city at all and ended up with Dominos in our room (illegally! since we technically weren't allowed to have food in there). There are no words to describe our exhaustion. I had looked at the train information from Glasgow to Stranraer earlier and, while it was a cursory glance, it seemed that we had several options for times we could leave.
As I was falling asleep I kept thinking I should just pull out the schedule and figure it out that night instead of in the morning, but we were getting up early to go to the laundrette anyway so I figured it was fine. BAD. IDEA.
You know what they saw when you assume, right?
So my alarm went off at 7am, but typical me, I turned it off and rolled over. And didn't wake up until 9:20. Oops! So much for the laundrette idea, since we wanted to go before check out at 10am. I woke Emily up to get dressed and she asked what time the train and ferry were at. I checked the ferry and we had reservations for the 2:30pm one. That's fine, we just had to check in by 2 and we'd be good. Next I checked the trains to see which ones get to the station before 14:00. The answer: one...one train gets in before 14:00. What time does this train leave? 9:30am.
Bollocks!
From that moment on it was a race. We decided to check out and head to the train station and see if there was anything else we could take to get there or close enough that we could taxi it the rest of the way. We found out that there was another train but it gets into the station at 13:54. We'd have 6 minutes to get off the train, dodge other travellers, queue up and check in.
We weren't so sure we could pull this off so we asked where the closest bus depot was and hiked it for 10 minutes.
Imagine our relief when we found out that there was a bus headed straight to Stranraer and it was leaving in only a half hour! Awesome sauce! So we hopped in line and asked for two when we got to the window. ALL. BOOKED.
AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
So, now, we had to go all the way back to the train station and reassess the situation. We decided to call the ferry people and see what they suggested. My research had failed to turn up a later ferry time, but apparently they have one that leaves at 7:55pm as well. Brilliant! The lady suggested we try to make it on the train that gets in at 13:54 and if we know the train is delayed to call and change our reservation.
With our new plan we hop on the train and soon enough are on our way to Stranraer. Everything is good, seems to be working out. The train is on time to every station, Stranraer is the next stop, we're prepared to run to the check-in, all is well.
Then, in the middle of BFE, our train stops. Just stops. No overhead announcement, no sight of a station, nothing. You know what else wasn't there, cell phone reception. So here we are, so damn close and we can't even call the ferry place to change our reservation. Ten minutes later the driver comes through and tells us that a truck has hit one of the bridges we're to cross and we're holding here until it gets inspected.
WE WERE SO CLOSE!!!!
Having resigned ourselves to the later time, we call the ferry place when we start moving again and change our reservation. We also call the B&B in Belfast to let them know we'll be in late. But as we approach Stranraer we notice several people who are going to try to make the ferry. Should we follow?
Yes.
So we run with the pack and VICTORY! make it onto the original ferry we had booked.
It was awesome. We spent the rest of the time watching Ireland come into view and eating knock-off McDonald's. Good times.
We got to the B&B, which is unbelievably adorable.
I'll tell you the rest later (not much) as I am out of time.
Bye bye bye!
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