Monday, February 18, 2008

Night Bus

Boston and London share one major flaw: The subway closes entirely too early. This weekend the midnight shutdown was especially troubling. On Friday we were in Notting Hill (a fairly diverse area that is relatively low key). We decided to call it a night and looked at the time. It was 12:10. The Tube stops running at about 12:30, but of course some trains stop earlier. Not wanting to seem ridiculous, we walked briskly to the station rather than full-out sprinting. I can’t sprint anyway given my fairly recent surgery.

When we got underground, officials were guarding the scan-in booths. “Where you lads headed?” We told her, and she said that there were no more trains going to South Kensington for the night. Blast!

We had two options: cab or night bus. Prices being what they are, we decided on the latter. The problem was that we couldn’t find a bus going in the right direction. We walked around (literally round meaning in circles) and found nothing. We did come upon a number 70 station, but the bus was going in the opposite direction. Logically, the 70 in the other direction (the correct direction) should have had a station on the other side of the street. We crossed. Not a 70 in sight. We hailed a cab.

On Saturday a larger group of us (three guys and two girls) headed out to Shoreditch, a pretty trendy nightlife area. We had a grand time, but at 1ish decided to call it a night. We knew the Tube was closed. And this time a cab was not really an option because there were too many of us and Shoreditch is too far to pay for two cabs. We wandered around until we found a bus going to Piccadilly Circus (no bus goes from Shoreditch to South Ken directly). From Piccadilly, we caught our bus to South Ken. Sounds easy, right? Well yea it wasn’t difficult, but the problem was it added almost two hours onto the night. Instead of being home at around 1:30, we didn’t make it home until about 3:30. It was quite frustrating.

Sorry for no pictures, but I don’t have anything new to show you. This weekend starts my Spring Break so I will definitely have great images from that trip. Also, if you click on the ads above I make money. But don’t do it too much because Google catches on. Just every time you check a new post, give a click. Thanks.

Comments Welcome,

Andrew

7 comments:

Alan said...

Hi Andrew, How are class going.Alan

Andrew Waite said...

Alan,
Classes are finished. Finals this week and then the internship phase starts. I take one class during the internship phase but it is "Theater Review" so it should be enjoyable.

Nick said...

The lack of late-night public transportation is always a huge downer/problem. No video of you riding on the bus?

Also, how much money am I giving you when I click on these ads... if it's more than 10 cents, I'll expect some interest.

Andrew Waite said...

Nick,
Sorry, I don't take my camera out to bars. You want interest? How bout the fact that I'm pretty interested in your sister. Oh wait...

Anonymous said...

Sir,
Sorry to hear about your trouble trying to get around late at night.
I have a question for you. I am currently trying to plan my trip to Paris and I am staying 10 days after the trip ends to travel around. And so my question is as you begin your spring break adventure, what's the most cost effective way to travel? Thanks buddy I look forward to hearing about your trip.
-Kev

Anonymous said...

keep your eyes out for Regis Philbin. i have a hunch he's followed you to England and is presently stalking you in between munching on toads in a hole. dont forget about the gap ; ) i want it.

Andrew Waite said...

Kevin,
I would say it entirely depends. If you are going to several different countries that are close to one another you should check out the euro rail. But if you want to get further away then a plane is better. Sometimes I think Ryan air and easy jet have better deals then the train. You just gotta scope it out.

Swiz,
I really don't know what you mean by "the gap."