Public transport.. is there a training manual that I don't know about?
I used to have a little giggle with my husband, a little joke about how hopeless we were with public transport, but it's gone from a little joke to completely ridiculous! We blame our parents 😝 His parents drove him everywhere and my parents never let me go anywhere so I didn't catch my first bus until I was 16 and even then it was a rare thing! I had a licence and a car by the time I was 16.
Honestly HOW can it be so hard to get the hang of? It is honestly so bad that I get sick to my stomach just thinking about having to take public transport. It's the most stressful experience. This one time, Luke and I were in Los Angeles and our friend dropped us at the train station and left us with the message "this will take you straight to where you need to go" to which we both replied "we are really hopeless with this stuff" he says "well you can only go one of two ways!" So off we go to get our ticket, we had a go at it.. had no idea so we peaked over and watched some other people purchase their ticket, we got that done and then got on the train, yep off we went ... the wrong way!! One of two ways .. a 50/50 and we stuffed it!
I'm not sure what's so hard about it? everything from purchasing tickets, to reading bus routes, I feel like there is code for all of it but I just can't seem to break the code.
I want to share with you our San Francisco trip in the world of public transport.
First up.. Alcatraz.. booked for 10:30am, knowing that we completely suck at public transport, we decided it was best to leave at 8am.
8am: catch a street car (F - farms/wharves) to Pier 33... what the hell is a street car? There were buses, street cars, a thing called a Ferry which was on the street car track, we had no idea.. so we decided to wait for the first one to go right by.. yep! that was the one we needed ... see ya later .. time to wait for the next one! Surprisingly we got on relatively hassle free.. except they don't give change lol.
Got there and had a great time, no worries, feeling completely proud of ourselves! So we then walk to fishermans wharf (anything to avoid public transport) we have some lunch and Luke decides it's hugely important to see the Golden Gate Bridge .. right or wrong he was going.. so we walked around for approximately 35 minutes trying to find where to catch what is called the GGT bus line .. google it and it says you can get any ggt bus to the bridge.. sweet! So we wait for a ggt, I ALWAYS ask the bus driver now .. no matter what! "Excuse me does this bus go to the Golden Gate Bridge?" .. "no you have to catch the 43/27 ... wtf? Ok so I walk around the corner .. here comes the 43.. it should take us there! "Excuse me does this bus go to the Bridge?" .. "no it connects to 27 and that will take you" great.. now I go to pay for another bus ticket and someone says "oh no they last however many hours it's ripped at" wtf? So I just kept showing that ticket with each new bus until I was told I couldn't use it anymore. Anyway! Catch number 27 and we get ourselves to the bridge .. the bus driver tells us we can catch the same bus out of there. So we excitedly get the below picture and do some touristy things, when we are done Luke yells "there's the 27" so we run on .. we made it!
35 minutes into what should have been a 45 minute trip back, I start to see things I've never seen before .. I ask Luke "are we going the right way?" .. his reply "we got the right damn bus so don't stress" so I asked him a few more times, he got more annoyed with each response, I ask one last time and he replies "are you asking because there was no tram line on the way in?" so I said I was going to ask the driver .. Luke says "we got the 27 so it's right" .. so I approach the driver "excuse me does this go to Fishermans Wharf" .. "oh no.. you on the wrong bus" I wanted to cry, we had gone completely out of the way .. somewhere in a city far away from home, we promptly got off and headed to catch the correct one with the help of the driver, turns out we were on the 27r. We catch the 27 and a group of Aussies get on... looking at their map, I quickly realise we have to go all the way back to the start! They were looking for the bridge! As we approached they were full of excitement .. Luke didn't even bother to raise his head.. we didn't want to see it again!
Got back to the right bus, back to Fishermans Wharf ready to catch street car F back.. well that just drives on by, so we get on the next bus .. "excuse me does this go to Union Square" Luke interupts - "near Ellis street" the bus driver didn't understand us and sends us to another bus ... nope that was the right one! By this point it's 7pm.. I was so tired and so mad that we got on and then off the right bus!!
We get the next one "excuse me does this go to Union Street?" After all that's what is said on the sign .. he replies "I can get you close" I thought perfect! We get on and I am not even kidding .. 1 minute into our trip he rolls around his little sign!!!!! We are heading somewhere else now ...I looked at Luke and said "that's not our fault" so we went 100 metres and the bus driver yells "this is the end of the line" are you serious? and it cost us 5 bucks!! we get off and Luke says "let's walk home" so we walk.. for another 30 minutes!! Got home by 8:30pm! It's official! I don't get public transport .. I can't do it! I wasn't brought up using it and I struggle to learn.. surely it's not just me? Does this happen to others?
Anyway, I'm currently in LA and it's 9:50pm.. time for bed!
Live, life, love
Kj
