C Bandit takes LONDON: Again

I called Student Universe to get my flight bumped up by two weeks; they had a small fee but they helped me out a ton.  The only thing they couldn't do was change the airport.  This meant I had to fly back OUT of London which I thought about when I booked the ticket but I didn't know ahead of time that I wouldn't want to go back to London to go home.  Anyhow, I had to book a flight from Rome to London.  My wait for the flight was similar to my wait for the train to Rome.  Super Early, Super bored but actually where I started to blog about my trip.  The line was really long.  I thought I wasn't going to make it but all was well.  I made it.  Flight was delayed - I should've expected that.  I had never flown RyanAir before but for those of you who know about it, it's not really spelled out for you.  I looked at my ticket and realized there was no seat number and when I checked in, they handed me no ticket back.  So when I got on the plane, I had to ask, "uh, where do I sit?"  "You sit anywhere."  I sat near the front and next to the window - cha ching!

We were already well passed the departure time and as I looked on the window, I had realized that there was a 3rd busload of people boarding the flight.  My once vacant and spacious arm rest was now occupied.  Bollocks!

The flight was under 2 hours and we had actually arrived early.  I was confused but I guess RyanAir has a reputation for being really fast.  The flight had been uncomfortable because the man sitting next to me thought it necessary to put his feet under the seat in front of ME aka my foot space AND he also needed more than his arm space to read his newspaper - he needed my face space.  His hands were in front of my face.  I could READ everything he was reading.  What I'm getting at was that I was completely annoyed with this late 40-something, bald, pompous ass from the get-go.

When we arrived in London early, as the plane sat idle at the terminal and we were waiting to exit the plane - the man next to me asks,

"are you here on holiday?"

"yes."

"By yourself?"

"uh...yeah. I'm going to meet up with some friends." I didn't know if he wanted to murder me!  But the conversation progressed and I found out that he was nice and lived in London; somehow we got to me asking, "so, I have to somehow get from here to London.  What's the best and cheapest way to do that?"  The only RyanAir flight that I could get from Rome was to a town about 60 miles south of London.  I figured I would figure something out.

"Heavens.  I mean that's a loaded question.  That's about 100 km north of here.  Why would you do that?"

"well my hostel is near Heathrow and I have to figure out how to get there"

"alright, well you can take the train but there are certain trains that cost more than others.  I'll help you figure it out"

So this man, it turns out, aside from his obnoxious space issues, was OVERLY nice to a traveler like myself.  I'm basically a deer in headlights when it comes to that stuff.  Had he not helped me transfer to the 4 different trains and a bus, I would STILL, TO THIS DAY, 2 months after the trip, be crying in the corner of that airport in the fetal position...scared and helpless.  The transit in London and to London was and is completely and utterly complicated as hell.  Paris transit was HEAVEN by comparison.  SO SO easy and so much cheaper.  Never smelled piss or saw a beggar in the London Underground though - probably because you have to pay to even breathe in London.

I had a suspicion that this man was too nice to be true so I was cautious.  He gave me his international phone number and told me to call him if I needed anything and he sent me on my way - no troubles.  He was too nice and he had no ulterior motive.  He was just doing a good deed. I emailed him later to thank him for helping me and he replied for me to meet up with him so he could show me London.  I was very hesitant at this point.  I took it upon myself to walk around London the following day.  I later calculated that I had walked 7 miles - crazy!  This was mostly to avoid taking the public transit but it was good exercise and I got some pictures out of it.  He had called my phone later that day and said if I wanted to meet up at the Tate Modern Museum, he would be there - but I didn't have to.  Ironically, before receiving this phone call, I was AT the museum.  I thought it would be quite awkward to see him after somewhat avoiding, but mostly missing his calls.  So the 2nd time he had called, I told him I'd be there.  We walked around the museum.  He showed me the Gherkin - told me some stories and helped me find the correct train home.  That was the last I saw of him. I never got a creepy vibe from him.  He was just a nice older fellow, who thought I was 21yrs old and helpless.

I had seen my fair share of Europe and I was ready to go home happy but exhausted.