Memento II: How we got separated from JY, Kelvin and Si Han

Most people go on exchange to travel, shop, and hook up without consequences. Xy went because someone told him that there'd be kids playing hockey EVERYWHERE in winter. Well, Someone LIED. The only ice-hockey action he got was when we watched Ice Hockey in Manhattan.

Unfortunately, I fell asleep because I was just thaaat tired. Apparently the ardent fans beside me thought I was crazy for sleeping during the game. But the journey there was difficult!

Can't find the Greyhound ticket anymore, but the night before, the five of us lugged their backpacks and my empty luggage down to Berri-UQAM early, so that we could get choice seats on the Greyhound. We were like second in queue or something! How awesome, right?

Wrong. Greyhound has two kinds of buses..

The ratty, pre-noughties kind.. With disgusting, crusty seats, poor ventilation, and no legroom...

(credits to the Internet for this)


and their sleek new ones. Complete with reclining seats and complimentary WiFi

While they're known for using the ratty ones for their West Coast routes, trusted friends said that the East Coast route was fine. Even had FREE WIFI! Free Wi-Fi's the most amazing thing when you need to deal with a 9 hour journey. Therefore, despite the poor experience encountered along the West Coast, I signed up for the Greyhound to New York, and we arrived with laptops ready.

Unfortunately for us, they loaded us on The Lousy Greyhound, and just as we settled down, we saw the shiny Greyhound pull into the next lot.

So while it's true that the early bird gets the worm, the second rat also gets the cheese.............. :T

Grouchy and tired, I twisted and turned but just couldn't fall asleep because The Lousy Greyhound had poor ventilation and little legroom. It smelled like mildew in there, and it wasn't long before the glands in my nose were so inflamed, I couldn't really inhale via my nose.

Feeling doomed and like a pawn in the Game of Life and Circumstance, I settled for squirming and trying to stretch for the next 3 hours, as I tried (in vain) to fall asleep. This only served to aggravate my seat partner, and the combination of my jabs and the mildewy atmosphere culminated in a multi-sensory assault that drove him to get up and ask the driver to turn the air-conditioning up, for he couldn't breathe.

And "WHOAAAA, WHOA WHOA WHOA. GET BACK THERE!" the driver exclaimed

"But no.. could you please turn the air-co--" he tried

"WHOAAA NO, NO, NO. YOU GET BACK AND SIT DOWN. NO GETTING UP"

"But.."

"NOOOOO NO NO NOO" the driver bellowed, as he continued barrelling down the freeway. Clearly wasn't going to be listening to my seat partner anytime soon.

Poor Seat Partner was really pissed, for that experience rankled of poor service. And he was, after all, a paying customer. When our Greyhound stopped in Albany, NY, Seat Partner ventured forth again to convey how disappointed he was in the driver's attitude. Unfortunately, the driver didn't think it was very funny, and read it as an act of intimidation. When he issued everyone a re-boarding pass, he chose to exclude Seat Partner from that dubious privilege. Said we could very well take the next bus to NY (supposedly arriving in another 3 hours, wtf).

BUT Yours Truly remembered very well that there was a Shiny, NYC-bound Greyhound bus just an hour or so behind. Thus, even as I tried to look appropriately serious about getting the Seat Partner to relax and not raise a ruckus about being thrown off, it was all I could do to not break into a hugely satisfied grin. We were getting on the new Greyhound bus! I WAS GOING TO BE GLIDING INTO NYC ON GOOD, NEW SUSPENSION. Take that, stupid driver.

Anyhow, the bus left, and I waited fingers crossed that we wouldn't have to pay to get on the next bus, while the Seat Partner offered to pay for a cab from Albany to Manhattan (people say the craziest things when under stress)

When the next bus arrived, we boarded it, and I began surfing the net/charging my phone, while the Seat Partner promptly sank into a much needed slumber. Outside, the sun began its daily ascent, casting the outskirts of NYC (Weehawken, to be exact) in a rosy glow, as our bus inched forth in the morning traffic.

Upon arrival in Times Square, New York, Seat Partner and I realized that we hadn't really decided where we'd (haha) rendezvous with our three friends, and that the NYC terminal wasn't exactly like we'd envisioned it to be. We were about 2 or 3 hours behind schedule, and seriously, had we been the ones waiting, we wouldn't have waited in that disinfectant-infused terminal either.

Thus began our search for The Three Kings, for they weren't waiting at the terminal, and couldn't be found in the train station above, or at the adjoining shopping centre. Got to admit, I got a little bit panicky at this point, because I was tired and craving a bath already. We headed out, and towards the nearest Starbucks for some WiFi so we could Skype one of them. Kudos to the Seat Partner for having an iPhone, really. While I love the Blackberry, I admire how the iPhone has little/no problems with logging on to WiFi networks. I had the craziest problems with the Kikuberry in Montreal. Some rubbish about authentication certs.

Aaanyway guess where they were? You guessed right. On the other side of the glass, leeching the Starbucks WiFi inside.

Cabby I snapped while crossing the road to/from Starbucks

Aside: JunYan, Kelvin & SiHan, I think I did toy with the idea of asking you three to stay back too, but there WAS a risk that we might actually have to pay for the tickets from Albany to NYC...It would be really awkward if all four of us had had to pay for a new ticket..... so I didn't say more. :b