Saying I’ve been working late nights would be an understatement. All of our creative is done from the L.A. office, so 11 pm conference calls are not unusual. The night before I was checking out of the hotel and flying back to Chicago to pack up my apartment, I worked past midnight.
Unfortunately, the tube closes at about 12:30. I thought I had enough time to make it to the hotel on the last train. What I didn’t account for was that I had to take three tube lines since the hotel they’d put me in was way across town. On the second leg of the journey the announcer came on “this train terminates here”. What? I didn’t know where “here” was in relation to where the hotel was.
I’d received my emergency cash, but I didn’t have enough for a taxi as I’d only received the minimum I needed to pay for a week’s meals and to reimburse my colleague. (Of course Visa was charging me some ridiculous rates for this privilege.)
I quickly tried to acquaint myself with the night buses in God-knows-where I was. I found one that was roughly going the right direction and thought it would be pretty easy to connect to another bus to get me to the hotel. It wasn’t. Finally I found a bus route that would get me within two blocks of the hotel. But I’d run out of money. I wondered if I could sneak through the back door of the bus or just act drunk and stumble past the ticket taker. When the bus arrived, a just pulled the change out of my pocket and asked if it would be enough. I must have looked really desperate because he just waved me past.
Unfortunately, the tube closes at about 12:30. I thought I had enough time to make it to the hotel on the last train. What I didn’t account for was that I had to take three tube lines since the hotel they’d put me in was way across town. On the second leg of the journey the announcer came on “this train terminates here”. What? I didn’t know where “here” was in relation to where the hotel was.
I’d received my emergency cash, but I didn’t have enough for a taxi as I’d only received the minimum I needed to pay for a week’s meals and to reimburse my colleague. (Of course Visa was charging me some ridiculous rates for this privilege.)
I quickly tried to acquaint myself with the night buses in God-knows-where I was. I found one that was roughly going the right direction and thought it would be pretty easy to connect to another bus to get me to the hotel. It wasn’t. Finally I found a bus route that would get me within two blocks of the hotel. But I’d run out of money. I wondered if I could sneak through the back door of the bus or just act drunk and stumble past the ticket taker. When the bus arrived, a just pulled the change out of my pocket and asked if it would be enough. I must have looked really desperate because he just waved me past.
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