A (panicked, unplanned & very long) morning stroll.

I just barely missed the bus this morning. But there was a ton of traffic, so I thought I'd be able to catch it at the next stop. I booked it (speed walking, because I'm kind of morally opposed to sprinting to catch a bus) around the corner and arrived at the stop well ahead of the bus.

Feeling pretty proud of myself, I hopped on, found a seat and sat down. One stop later, they announced that instead of going all the way into town, the service would be terminating at the next stop.

What?!

I begrudgingly stepped off the the bus, very aware that this was going to be a problem. I was supposed to meet my dad in the lobby of his hotel in half an hour. From where I was standing to the hotel was just over 2.5 miles, which would take about an hour. But it could be 15-20 minutes before another bus showed up, plus the time it'd take to get to town.

I decided to start walking. That way I'd at least feel like I was moving toward where I wanted to be. And maybe another bus would catch up to me along the way.

About 5 blocks later, a bus appeared behind me. I sped up a bit to stay ahead of it and caught it at the next stop. Since everyone from the other bus had caught it a few stops back, it was packed. Even though a handful of people got off, the driver decided there was no more room, and drove off without me.

Crap.

At this point, I've got 15 minutes till I'm supposed to meet my dad, and I'm only halfway to town. I frantically texted my flatmate and begged her to look up the number for his hotel. She got back to me within minutes (PTL!) and I called the hotel, asking to speak with the man sitting in their lobby waiting for me. The man at the desk said there was no one there and transferred me to my dad's room. It rang and rang. Then the desk man answered again (which was weird) and told me that my dad was now in the lobby. He got on the phone, and I explained to him that I'd be late. He said he'd meet me at the restaurant instead of the hotel. I was relieved, since the hotel was way out of the way, and that meant I wouldn't have to walk quite as far.

So everything worked out. And I got my exercise in.