Get Lost

 I had an adventure this week in the city of Ottawa trying to get around on their bus system. Being a city I don't know at all, it proved to be a bit difficult.

I am going to preface this story by stating that in retrospect, trying my first bus outing here in a snow storm in the dark was probably not the best of plans... especially without a map. Lesson learned.

So I began my journey by heading onto the Ottawa transit site and using the directions to figure out which bus I needed to take to meet a friend downtown. I was doing well, copied down the details of the trip, but I have to say it is pretty ridiculous that the site verbally describes all of the details instead of showing you a map with the instructions... at the time I thought I would be fine, but knowing how visual I am with these kind of things, I should have seen the flaw in the plan.

I headed out the door, dressed very warm, directions and bus fare in hand, and proceeded to walk in the wrong direction, right away. Luckily, I ran into a very nice man who showed me the street I was trying to find. Okay, back on track. I got to the street and turned right, as per my instructions, and proceeded to head down the street, looking for the next one. After about five blocks I still hadn't seen the street name, so I started to get nervous. I asked one man on the street but he wasn't sure exactly where it was, and suggested I head into the hospital to ask. And so I did, and the nice man at the counter told me I had walked right by it.

I headed back from whence I came and realized that when my instructions had said "turn right" (via Ottawa transit site) they had meant walk across the street and follow the same street that has just turned into another name and veers slightly to the right. Maybe I should write for Ottawa transit ;)

Okay, back on track, I reached the intersection I was looking for, found a bus stop with the right bus number on it, and we were in business. I put on my ipod and listened to a little Hall and Oats for musical inspiration as I waited, and to keep my mind off of how cold it was getting. (I seem to have lost my cold temperature tolerance. Hopefully I get it back very soon.)

I had been waiting for about 15 minutes at this point, which is weird since the bus was due 10 minutes previous (said Ottawa transit.) I saw a few go by in the opposite direction and thought that maybe they would be looping around somewhere and end up here? Ten more minutes later along came a bus. I hopped on, and started looking for the stops I had listed to keep track of. After about 5 stops I realized that none of these stops were on my list... uh oh. I decided the best move would be to get off the bus while I tried to figure it out, so I hopped off.

I got out my list of directions and was trying to make sense of it when I saw a cab coming, completely copped out, and flagged it down.

Within about 30 seconds the cabbie could tell I wasn't from around here. I told him where I was headed and he asked if I was trying to take a bus? I told him I was. "Well, it's a good thing you didn't, because you were standing on the wrong side of the street." Yup. Good thing I got off of that bus.

My cabbie was super sweet and started to explain how Ottawa is laid out. He told me exactly what to say to a cabbie if I needed to take a cab home at some point, and which part of the city I was staying in, and then he played tour guide and showed me a few sites. So really, I paid for a cab ride and a tour all in one. Pretty good deal.

He found where I was headed, a little cupcake shop in the heart of the tourist district, and went on his way. I had a lovely little visit with a friend and then he walked me to a bus stop, pointed me in the right direction, told me where to get off and even gave me a bus ticket. Spoiled. I got on the bus feeling confident and relaxed and enjoyed the view.

About 20 minutes later I knew I was near the area I needed to get off, so I started to pay attention. I didn't hear the stop intersection I was waiting for, but I thought a few of the stops looked familiar, and then everything started to look the same. A couple of stops later I heard a stop name called that I remembered being further down the road from where I was, so I had gone too far. I pulled the chord for the next stop, and calmed down... until the bus veered down a winding street and turned around two corners onto what looked like a back lane, and finally stopped at the next stop. Shit.

If you haven't figured it out already, I am not the greatest at orienting myself in terms of directions. I am pretty sure I am geographically dyslexic. I got off of the bus and tried to run as quickly as I could back in the direction the bus had gone before I forgot which way it was. About half way there I reached an intersection and had no idea which way it was. I didn't want to stand around so I just picked one, and managed to find a way (miraculously) back to one of the streets I was looking for. I just had no idea which direction I should be heading to find the cross-street.

I started walking until I found someone waiting at a bus stop, but he didn't know either. I decided to keep going in the direction I was going and hopefully a land mark would tip me off. I suddenly remembered I had passed a hospital on the way there, and sure enough, in another block, there was that beautiful "H" sign pointing in the direction I was heading. Thank you!!! I had to walk another 5 blocks before I got to the stop I was supposed to get off at. I had really veered off of the path. In any case, I found it, refrained from kissing it as to not re-live any tongue-sticking christmas story plot lines, and from there it was a piece of cake.

It took me a little while to thaw, but the positive side? I was so exhausted I fell asleep the minute my head touched the pillow.

Whew. So, first thing on the to do list the next day? BUY A MAP!

Love and Kindness all.