One ARRRRRGH! After Another
26 November 2015 | Mri Grout
pre-argh faces
Two years and four days ago I had left Australia's golden paradise for what I thought would be the last time, but life has a way of creating the unexpected and so once again I found myself on the beautiful, yet scorching country-continent. This time, however, I wasn't just stepping off with two small bags on my own with absolutely no plans on what to see. No, this time I was struggling to stand under the bulk of a really big, really heavy bag with my second best friend alongside me and a binder full of stunning scenery, comedic events, and adorable animals. But first we needed to find a new home. And the rental company that picked us up for the supposedly easiest rental hire ever wouldn't take a credit card without a name on it, which of course, we didn't have. Because that would have been way too easy.
So instead, we had to walk what felt like a marathon carrying a bag that weighed 60% of what I did to the nearest bus station and then we had to figure out how to get them on the bus before it drove off (just in time!) and then we had to walk the distance of to the moon and back from that bus stop to our overly expensive, piss stained, cockroach ridden hostel. A hostel we barely managed to book due to unknowingly arriving in the middle of some big Australian holiday (or was it a football match?) and then barely managed to get in to the place because the freaking door was locked and no one was manning the front desk DESPITE us telling them that we would be arriving late due to our plane and them confirming that it would be okay. Arrrrgh!
Luckily, however, there was a group of people still up partying on the roof that managed to notice us and come to our aid. And luckily, out of those people, one was the woman who help managed the front desk from time to time and so could finally let us into our room.
And so, after a much needed rest, we begrudgingly booked another night so we didn't have to carry all of our bags around town and because I had already learned on my previous visit here to not leave one's belongings hidden under a bush – unless that is, you murdered someone carrying three luggages on an airport trolley and you had to ditch it fast.
Man, I have come far in my travels.
Anyway, after picking up our name-stamped pre-ordered debit cards from Commonwealth Bank, finally being able to hire a rental so we could start looking at vans, and stealing some poor guy's couch cushions (though if one writes 'free' on something and leaves it in his front yard for whomever to take, is it still called stealing if you don't take all of it?), we finally had a good night's sleep.
The first night anyway. The second there was a train.
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Time Traveled: 4 years Current Country: England
About Mri Grout
I got fed up with the 'real world' after having my couch cushions stolen by my drug-dealing roommate's client after his actions already lead to the trashing of our shared appartment by the local gang. So after finally understanding the whole: 'you've got one life and you can die at any moment' thing, I packed my bags, dropped out of school, quit my job, and left to hang out with the homeless people of Australia.
About Rob Grout
Despite having a comfortable life with an easy job and a cheap house to live in because he lived with my mum and gran, he left all of that behind for this crazy Asian woman that kept popping up at the house every few months, then weeks, then days, and then every minute. He'd never really been out of England at this point except for the occasional family holiday and then all of a sudden, with very little planning, he's living in a van half way around the world.
He's not much of a writer so I, Mri Grout, wrote this for him.
