Volume 2, Day 44.1
Once again I must confess that my actions do not confirm to my original intentions. Why on earth would I visit England on a language learning odyssey? I already speak English. The collective weight of several England-based friends and the revelation that one could easily cross the channel by boat swayed me to change my mind and add a small UK detour to the European travels. I had found a ferry service connecting Le Havre and Portsmouth for what appeared to be a very reasonable 30 pounds, even covering the overnight ferries. I didn’t want to put the fee on my credit card so when I first arrived in Le Havre, M accompanied me into the ferry terminal to inquire about buying the tickets. It was good that M was there because I am not sure how much English the French ferry staff spoke. Unfortunately, it appeared that the price of the overnight ferry on my intended departure date was well over 100 euros, quite a bit more than the 40 something I vaguely remembered. The difference was because I had to separately pay for a cabin on that particular ship, but if I left on Thursday night or took the Friday afternoon boat, it would be the normal price…still quoted to me at north of 70 euros. It need not even be said that I did not make any hasty purchases at the moment.
Upon further research the next day, and cross references bus times and accommodation prices in Portsmouth and Oxford, I was able to do all my booking online: 35 pounds for a reserved seat on the overnight ferry on Thursday, a Megabus from Portsmouth to Oxford leaving one hour after the ferry arrival, and a night in a hostel in Oxford. With all that taken care of, I was able to enjoy the rest of my time with M and his family in Lillebonne.
On Thursday night, they drove me to the ferry terminal with us arriving barely 20 minutes before the 11pm boarding time (and required to check in 15 minutes prior to boarding time). I was a bit anxious about being late, but even more so felt guilty for keeping them up so late. Even after dropping me off, they’d still have a 30 minute drive home. I thanked my host profusely and bid him farewell.
Check-in took all of 30 seconds and I had a few minutes to sit in the waiting area with the dozen other foot passengers. At boarding time, the ticket counter staff donned their security vests and transformed into boarding staff (just like the ferries in Asia). There was a halfhearted security check with an agent rooting through one persons small duffel bag, but when he saw the size of my suitcase, he just waved me through. The passport control procedures were just as perfunctory. We boarded a bus which literally drove us onto the boat. There was an unhitched transport trailer that took our “checked luggage” to be locked up safely for the night and we climbed the three flights of stairs to the fifth deck. The reception area was on the other end of the boat from the stairs/elevator, so it was a long walk down a hallway to find the familiar sight.
Since I was in a chair, I skipped right past check-in to find me reserved seat. Apparently, the procedures for assigning seats packs everyone sequentially. Of course, since it wasn’t remotely crowded, people found a way to naturally spread out. The ship was pretty well stocked with amenities, which is strange given an overnight sailing time of 11:45-7:00, or a 3-4 hour day time sailing time. There was a movie theater with current movies available at some ungodly cost per ticket as well as a shop, bar, and restaurant. Considering we were sailing to England, I shouldn’t have been surprised that people were guzzling draft beer like it was going out of fashion. The facilities remained open until 11:30 England time, and the bright overhead lights were eventually dimmed.
The large and otherwise comfortable seats barely reclined and massive armrests made it impossible to spread out across multiple seats. I managed to sleep, but it didn’t help that I had lost my headphones, leaving me with only the far less comfortable Bluetooth set I use for exercising.
They woke us up about an hour before arrival. Having access to shipboard wifi, I checked the maps and realized that the bus terminal was a good 3 km from the Brittany Ferries terminal. Bloody hell. I started to get worried because I didn’t have any British money and I didn’t know how long it would take to get off the boat and through British passport control. The way ferries work is they have all the pet owners get their dogs out of the way, then all the other drivers, then the bikers, and finally the pedestrians. A British bus came rumbling up the ramp to pick us up among the various scurrying about of crew members moving bits of metal from point A to point B then back to point A. I feel this British/French ferry lacked the polish of the East Asian ferries.
I sailed right through passport control after answering two questions: purpose of visit and how long. Stumbling out into the arrival hall, I had no choice but to change a bit of money at the Travelex counter which gave a bad rate and charge a 5 pound fee. Welcome to England! The sky was gray, it was cold, there was a constant drizzle of rain. Google Maps had details on public buses that could get me to the Hard Interchange, but when I saw the row of taxis in from of the terminal, I pondered how much could it cost to go a mile and a half. A lot, apparently. The meter ticked up 20 pence every 20 seconds. Whatever.
I had actually arrived at the Interchange a good 25 minutes before my departure time. There was free wifi and free bathrooms, though having consumed nothing since dinner the last night, I was empty. I scooped a little water from the bathroom tap to get the parched taste out of my mouth and gawked at the 2+ GBP cost of coffee from a vending machine.
Unlike Flixbus, the Megabus did arrive well before its scheduled departure time in order to board, so I guess I was justified in getting there as fast as possible. If I had attempted to walk (in the rain), I may well have missed it. I tried to sleep on the bus, but my headphones died and they don’t work when they are charging.
| Brittany Ferry | 35 GBP |
| Taxi | 7.2 GBP |
| Megabus | 8.05 GBP |
| Total: | 50.25 GBP (501.5 RMB) (USD 72.87) |
Running Total: 16226.5 RMB (USD 2357.85)