It is a source of constant frustration for me.
We come from an Eftpos country. You don't keep much change/notes in your wallet, because you don't need them. You put your Eftpos card through the machine for everything, everywhere and it comes straight from your bank account. It is a Debit Card. You don't have to sign for it, just punch your digital code into the machine.
Here, I have to sign for my USA debit card in so many places, even for a $2. purchase. Nuts! Some Starbucks are the only places where they take your card and give you a receipt if you pay by debit. No signing necessary (except in some stores)
Enough of that rant....
We caught a bus today.
Well, let me expand on that somewhat; we decided this morning (being Friday, and the day such decisions should have been made by) that we wouldn't get a rental car for the weekend. We were going to 'tough it out' so to speak. If we had known how much or what we were going to 'tough out' we might have made other arrangements. However, these things can also be character building, adventures, etc etc...yeh, yeh!
Rather than sit around all day, which we might have done otherwise, we did a little laundry in the morning, after a blueberry buttermilk pancake breakfast...with bananas and REAL maple syrup... and once the washing was folded and put away, we had some time up our collective sleeves.
Making the decision NOT to move the boat onwards comes with ramifications of other proportions.
One: we have to have 'other' things to do while we wait out this weather
Two: we need food at some stage
Three: Exercise on dry land becomes a priority. We are doing lots of this each day...walking et al.
I'm sure I will think of four and five later, but that's a good start, for now.
The plan, according to Waz, was to catch a bus. We knew from where we had to catch the bus...outside the College, just down the road a wee way(which becomes miles and miles at the end of the trip!).
He printed up the route for the bus which had a large bus number printed at the bottom of the page...only *I* didn't know about that.
We put our stuff in a backpack and left the marina at around 11am to catch the 11.30 bus. We planned to go down Hwy 23 to the Mall, get some lunch, look around and then catch a bus (using our day pass $4 ea) back to the Winn Dixie Supermarket, then another bus back to the College, and home. Simple? Nah, not us:) We were supposed to get on a #5 bus, but we (I) didn't know this until we were firmly seated on a #7 bus. Hmmmmmmmmmm.....
Waz put the single dollar bills (well, there was a $5 note in there too, along with the 3 x $1 bills) into the machine at the door of the bus. If you don't have the right change, you don't get a ticket! simple! The driver has no money to make change.
We sat down expecting to go along Hwy 23. When the bus started going back around the corner, Waz got the instructions out and discovered we were on the #7 bus:) and should have been on the #5! Oh well, an adventure, right?
This is the Bay City Trolley which covers most of Panama City and Panama City Beach. We had hopped on the Panama City Beach Trolley and it was going Wayyyyyyyyyy out of our way.
Fortunately we knew the direction it was going as we had driven down there the previous weekend on the way to Destin...remember?
We knew we could get off the bus at Pier Park Mall and requested that as we got nearer to our destination, about 45mins.
...and indeed, this is the photo I took last weekend from the car as we passed the entry to the mall!
Inside the Mall streets. It somehow reminded me of a Disneyland kind of place...as some of them do....see the seats? neat, huh?
Everything is just a little bit too pristine/organized/surreal in a Florida kind of way. What does that mean? Well, look at the colors, for a start! Most malls elsewhere aren't the pretty pastels and brights that you see in this part of the world. Im not complaining, I LOVE color!
I took this photo from the bus stop, such as it was; a tear drop of concrete beside the road, with no footpath connecting it to anywhere other than the sign telling us this is where you catch the #7 bus!
Turning left at the bus stop, you can see the condo on the left and the brightly colored holiday homes/condos on the right. 
...and as I turned around, the ocean is right there over the top of that sand hill on the right hand side. That would be the Gulf of Mexico, white sand beaches for miles.
So, back to the bus trip!
The good thing about being flexible, is that we can take these wee adventures out of the ordinary or otherwise prescribed. We knew we weren't going too far out of the way, because this is CITY transport.
People got on and off as people do, on buses, and they were workers at the various condo's etc, mums with kids (not well), people with bikes (which they attached to the front of the bus) but no other 'tourists' like us.Many of these folks appeared to be disabled. I have in my mind that they may be Veterans of various conflicts. This is a Military town and there is a real VA (Veterans Afairs) presence here.
People appeared to be tolerant of the somewhat laissez faire attitude of the driver, though I have to say she was VERY accommodating of people wanting to alight at places other than bus stops.
She was also very accommodating of us, wanting to get off at the entry to the Mall, and she held up the traffic right at the traffic lights to allow us to exit there:) She also showed us where to get on the bus for the return trip and when to turn up (5 past the hour).
The first stores you come to at the entry are restaurants, so being noon, by then, we decided to walk the line and find a directory. A Japanese Restaurant was a likely contender for my dollars (not Waz's first choice always) but when we found it, at the far end of restaurant row, it was expensive and the Bento didn't look that inspiring. We passed and walked back up the other side of the road, finally deciding on Red Brick Pizzeria and Gelateria.
It is worth noting here that we have not had a pizza the entire time we have been back in the USA...that is since June 19th, 2013!
We ordered a large half Garlic chicken (the garlic somehow never made it to the pizza) with lots of veg and half Italian Sausage etc. We usually have water with our meals (cost being a factor, other than we don't like soda or iced tea with our meals), so ordered that and a side salad. The pizza was delicious and so was the side salad, which you get first, this being the USA.
To top it all off, we had a small gelato each - one scoop. Waz had Strawberry and I had peanut butter. No chocolate in the latter, much to my chagrin! but then I guess it would have said, right?:)
We had to get to a supermarket for a food top-up and we knew there was a Target close by, so we hiked (yep!) to the other end of this mall to find the Target supermarket. Their choices of fruit and veg were very limited, but then we didn't need much. What we did need was some DVD - R's to back up our computers. Found those and the few small food items and hiked back to the entry of the mall and found the Bus stop with 5 mins to spare on what the previous driver had said.
We waited...only another 15 mins, for the next trolley (they look like old time trolleys but painted pastel green and yellow).
The similar mix of people got on and off and had interesting conversations around us. One young man got on and proceeded to tell us his life story (well, not US, per se, as he was talking to another passenger, we just heard it VERY loudly), and then got off again. The person to whom he had been speaking remarked, after his exit, "well, THAT was an interesting conversation!". The recipient of the information had not said a word in response the entire time:).
So, half way through the ride we stop at the Walmart parking lot to wait for another trolley to pick up passengers. While we waited, our driver took off to do some shopping at the Walmart!
We waited for half an hour.
The other trolley arrived and we loaded the passengers, some of whom had been standing outside smoking and texting/talking on their phones, and took off. This being a circuitous route, we took another half hour to reach our destination.
As we were leaving the Walmart parking lot, the driver decided to turn on the aircon. It had been warm inside the bus, but before long it was freezing down the back of my neck...because the aircon unit was right behind us!
I asked for it to be turned down, but it seems there is only an on and an off switch!
We have never been so happy to finish a journey! phew! Talk about sensory over-stimulation. I didn't include the bumps, crashes etc that you get sitting in the rear of a bus that doesn't appear to have shock absorbers??? You get the picture any way!
A cup of coffee and two bottles of water later and we are about to enjoy some dinner.
Waz went freezer diving in the Lazarette and came up with some fillet steaks. I had a hankering for some scallop potatoes, so those are sending their garlicky smells into the pores of the boat right now. I will make a salad in a mo' and cook the steaks, then we can eat.
A pretty sunset tonight, that I will leave you with.
Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment