Roadtrip to Belgium! Part One

I need to set a bit of backround for this first.... I had been on a couple dates with a guy who was pretty nice, but I we weren't really clicking so on Thursday afternoon I came up with the brilliant idea to go somewhere on a roadtrip I thought it would be great way to get to know each other....And I could buy chocolate and beer. He has a car, but I didn't want to insinuate that he should drive (and I wanted to anyway) so I suggested (via text) that we should rent a car and get out of London on Saturday. He made non-committal noises, so I suggested that we go for drink that night so I could persuade him with my charm.... We met at a great pub in London Bridge (the neighbourhood, not the bridge)and I said "So......Roadtrip to Belgium!!?" He looked at me and said with absolutely no emotion "No, that is crazy." WHAT!!? That sounds AWESOME!! (Side note, NEVER call the girl you are just starting to see crazy, although he's right, it was way too soon for him to know that) I spent about an hour trying to convince him, it would be fun, such an adventure, what else are you doing? etc. To absolutely not avail. He wouldn't budge. I left there knowing that this wouldn't work and desperately wanting to make my plan happen....I think I have been reading too much lately, I feel like this isn't my usual style of writing....So I apologise....
Friday morning at work I mentioned it off hand to one of the RA's, Katherine, about how disappointed I was in his sense of adventure etc. and she said she couldn't believe that he wouldn't want to go (as did everyone else I've told this story to). And I looked at her and said "Soooo, Roadtrip to Belgium!!?" And she laughed and said that would be awesome. We talked a bit more and I said something about "...on Saturday" and we looked at each other....aka tomorrow! We had a lot of planning to do! I looked at cars, trains to get there and the ferry and everything was relatively cheap if you pre-book. So we booked everything and got 18-year-old-girl excited (which was fine for Katherine, she's 18....it was a bit too much on me, but I didn't care! We were roadtripping to Belgium!
After I booked and was reading all the small print (yeah, AFTER I booked...but seriously...are any of you surprised?) I saw that the rental car required a £550 deposit on a credit card, in the principle driver's name. I was freaking out a bit, if I had £550 on my credit card I would be spending a week in Spain! So I called the company and they said, no, no you don't need that it's only £250 (please refer to previous comments about Spain). But the car was already booked and paid for so I figured I would just charm them when we got there....And make a back up plan to go to Brighton, just in case. We were telling my co-worker, Surly James (who I adore), about the deposit and he mocked us all afternoon saying that they'll never give us a car, you're not that charming (clearly wrong), yada yada yada.
Since our train to Gatwick was leaving at 6.30pm we decided that I would stay on campus and sleep in Katherine's room, then we could just catch a bus to Victoria in the morning. So after work we had dinner, Katherine was working the reception desk at the halls until 9pm and we just hung out and watched Modern Family and Cougartown (sidenote...LOVE it!). At 9pm we went up and figured we should turn in, Katherine was thinking out loud about getting her documents ready for the border and I said that's a good idea, and went into my handbag to check that I had my passport (it's always in there).....Except for the time that I changed purses when I was in Edinburgh and left it in my Coach bag in my closet....Fuck. So after killing 3.5 hours at work, I now have to head home at 9.30pm to get my passport. Fuck. Back home to Canada Water I go. By 10.15pm I am still waiting for the bus and absolutely exhausted, so I text Katherine to see if she's cool getting to Victoria on her own in the morning and we can just meet there at 6.15am. No problem. Finally got home, found my passport and remembered to pack CDs for the event that the car doesn't have an input for an iPod.
Woke up for the roadtrip sooooo excited, but nervous because I didn't want to be disappointed with just going to Brighton, I was very certain they weren't going to give me a car. Just as I was brushing my teeth I heard the bus go by, but I wasn't too concerned, I had plenty of time, but still rushed out the door just in case there was another right behind it. Got outside and saw the bus sitting at the lights with it's four-way flashers on. A bit strange, I thought about it for a second, then decided to walk up to another stop about 10 minutes away because more buses leave from that stop. As I'm walking I peer into the stopped bus and see the driver in a heated discussion with a couple of the passengers and figure that she must be waiting for the police to kick him off (it was a night bus...happens a lot). So I hurried thinking that I could meet this bus at the next stop, but as I walked I saw that the road was blocked off by police tape and no one could get through, not even pedestrians. I asked the police officer how long he thought it would be and if he knew of another way to get to Victoria other than the N1 bus and he seemed to think it would clear up soon and had no idea about the buses, so I leaned against the wall to wait. 5 minutes, 10 minutes...Nothing. By this time it is about 5.45am. Very slim chance of catching the train. So I text Katherine to let her know and told her not to worry I had a charming back-up plan in mind. By this time one of the day buses that runs straight from my house to Victoria is running (the Jubilee line was down, as per, so the tube was never an option), but last time I took it (because the tube shut down in rush hour...grrr....) it took 2 hours, but I thought that maybe I could catch another bus to a tube station that is open and get there that way. So I walked the 15 minutes from where I was to Canada Water tube station. When I get there I discover that I don't have my oyster card (bus/tube pass) and will have to pay full fare (£2 per bus, more for the tube)...It has already gotten to the point that all I do is roll my eyes at this day, but I think that with all the hassle so far we must be getting a car, this day couldn't hate me THAT much! So the first bus that comes goes to Waterloo or London Bridge, so I get on and ask the driver how much the bus is...sometimes they take pity on the foreign girl and wave you through...and he starts driving and asks where I'm going. He said, y'know the C10 takes you straight to Victoria I said I know, but it's slow and I need to get there as soon as possible. Just as we say that the C10 drives by in the opposite direction. He says that I should take that bus, and waved me through without paying. I got off at the next stop (after shouting my thanks to him)to wait for the C10 that will come soon as all it has to do is turn around and as I walk by the front doors of the bus the driver shouts at me... That's it!? You're getting off!? I said, yeah, I'll just wait for the C10 here. He said, No, just back on and when the bus catches up just hop on there, don't wait in the dark by yourself. (Which is totally safe to do where I was) So I hop back on, get the C10 and get to Victoria, relatively quickly due to the lack of Saturday morning traffic, at 6.35am....Our train left at 6.32am. After a sigh and another eye roll at the day, we head over to the boards to see when our next train leaves.....7.20am. Eff that, we have a 10am ferry to catch. I tell Katherine of my cunning plan. We will get on the Gatwick Express train and use our foreign-ness as a way to (hopefully) not pay the extra. We head over to the platform and jump on the fast train.