Traveling to Holland
It was finally time to get ready to board the 'ferry' as Marco kept calling it. Now, when I hear ferry, I think of the Staten Island
Ferry. A small little rinky-dink dirty boat that you deal with for 20 minutes as it takes you into Manhattan. We went outside on the
docks so he could show me the ferry as it was arriving. Ferry my ass! This thing was the friggin Love Boat! It was huge!
We were just about the first ones to board, and it didn't leave the docks for another hour or so. This meant we had lots of time to
wander around. It was awesome. There were about 8 floors and it had bars, casinos, discos, game rooms, restaurants, cabins, movie
theaters, anything you could imagine. A little different than the Staten Island Ferry, which offers a hot-dog stand with a dirty,
shoeless, toothless, homeless drunk playing his guitar that only has only 2 strings, begging for money, as entertainment. I was in
heaven. We strolled around each floor and decided that we would go to the movie theater when it opened to help pass the time. I
believe the actual boat trip to England would last about 4-5 hours.
When we had seen everything, we had nothing to do until the theater opened. We sat down on some stairs and just relaxed. It was
still a while before it left dock, so nothing was open yet. As we were sitting there, Marco stood up and started walking upstairs.
Ummm hello? Did he forget that he was actually WITH me? Geezus! I asked him where he was going and he simply said, "I will be
back." I said, "Well where are you going?" To which he laughed and responded, "Must I tell you everything?", then walked away.
Hmmm, he may have THOUGHT he knew me, but he obviously didn't know how I would react to THAT! So I waited until he rounded
the corner of the stairs and decided FukkIt, if he wasn't gonna tell me where he was going, then he better not plan on my ass sitting
here waiting for him. I grabbed my stuff and off I went. He took the stairs up, so the obvious thing for me to do was to take the stairs
down. I just walked around for a little while, went outside, walked along the deck, watched the ocean, all the while getting a little
more pissed that he had done that. One of the times that I was walking through the halls, I saw him at the other end, walking the
opposite direction. I have no idea what floor we were on now, but it didn't matter, I was gonna make him search long and hard if he
wanted to find me. And hopefully it would teach him a little lesson in the process. To be sure that he didn't find me, anytime I saw
him, I would turn around and not only go the opposite direction, but go to a different floor.
Eventually I got tired of walking around and wanted a cigarette, which meant I had to go out on the deck. I hadn't seen him on
this floor, so I figured I was safe. As I was walking to the door that led outside I caught sight of Marco out of the corner of my eye.
Shit I think he saw me! hahaha Didn't matter, I just kept walking. Just about the time I got to the door I heard one single loud
whistle. Is he nuts? Did he think I would respond to that like some kind of dog? Not a chance in hell! In fact, the thought of him even
doing that pissed me off even more! I never even turned around, I kept walking and acted as if I didn't hear that ear piercing sound
that he made. I went outside, lit my cigarette and waited for him to appear. I heard the door open and then heard him walking up
behind me. He said, "Where have you been? Didn't you hear me call you?" Oh lord, he did NOT just say that to me! I said, "Where
have I been? Must I tell you everything? And were you referring to that dog call you just did? Yes, I heard it, I chose to ignore you."
Then I turned around to watch the ocean.
Now, this is the kind of person Marco is, which pisses me off because it makes it impossible to stay mad at him! He walked up
behind me and said, "Here, I got you something." Then held out a bottle of beer, with a smile on his face. I didn't take it but asked
him where the hell he went. He told me he went to find us beer. I said, "And you couldn't tell me that? You just got up and walked
away? Leaving me there all alone?" He said, "I wanted to surprise you." Then smiled again and handed me the beer. So I took the
beer, laughed, and told him that it's a good thing he at least came back with that, or I wouldn't talk to him the rest of the trip. (Call
me a bitch if ya want, but I'll just tell ya to go to hell hahaha) So, now we were back together, drinking the dreaded beer, and
waiting for the movie to start. (By the way, Marco NEVER left me alone like that again. Smart Man!) (And I have that beer bottle on
a shelf in my kitchen)
The movie we ended up seeing was "A Scary Movie". I had previously seen it, but it was great to hear Marco laughing so hard
while he watched it for the first time. By the time the movie ended it was about 9-10pm. We still had a little over 2 hours until we
reached England. Marco was gonna have to drive all night once we got there, so we decided to get some dinner and then find
someplace for him to lay down and sleep. There were people lying on the floors, under tables, on benches, on chairs, everywhere! I
told him I would just get us a room, but he said that he would be fine. We eventually found a small bench that was empty. He asked
me to please go exchange our money into English Pounds while he slept. I had American and Irish money, and he had Dutch and
Irish money. Neither of us had any English currency. So while he slept I went wandering around. I saw the exchange counter, but I
also saw the gift shop right next to it. Wanna guess which one I went to first?
I strolled through the gift shop for a while but didn't buy anything. I didn't understand what all of this "Duty-free" shit meant.
When I was done with my browsing I went to the exchange counter and asked if I could please change our money. Imagine my
surprise when he said, "No." The guy said the counter was only open for the first half hour of the trip and does not re-open. (Well
that's a bit stupid if you ask me) So I asked him if there was a place in the terminal in England that would be open. Again he said,
"No, they have one, but it doesn't re-open until 8am the next morning." SHIT This was NOT what I wanted to hear. We were docking
in England at about midnight and had to drive straight through all night to be at the next ferry to take us to Holland by 10am. We
hadn't filled up with gas since we left that morning, so I know we could not have had enough left for a 7-hour drive across England.
Continue
Ferry. A small little rinky-dink dirty boat that you deal with for 20 minutes as it takes you into Manhattan. We went outside on the
docks so he could show me the ferry as it was arriving. Ferry my ass! This thing was the friggin Love Boat! It was huge!
We were just about the first ones to board, and it didn't leave the docks for another hour or so. This meant we had lots of time to
wander around. It was awesome. There were about 8 floors and it had bars, casinos, discos, game rooms, restaurants, cabins, movie
theaters, anything you could imagine. A little different than the Staten Island Ferry, which offers a hot-dog stand with a dirty,
shoeless, toothless, homeless drunk playing his guitar that only has only 2 strings, begging for money, as entertainment. I was in
heaven. We strolled around each floor and decided that we would go to the movie theater when it opened to help pass the time. I
believe the actual boat trip to England would last about 4-5 hours.
When we had seen everything, we had nothing to do until the theater opened. We sat down on some stairs and just relaxed. It was
still a while before it left dock, so nothing was open yet. As we were sitting there, Marco stood up and started walking upstairs.
Ummm hello? Did he forget that he was actually WITH me? Geezus! I asked him where he was going and he simply said, "I will be
back." I said, "Well where are you going?" To which he laughed and responded, "Must I tell you everything?", then walked away.
Hmmm, he may have THOUGHT he knew me, but he obviously didn't know how I would react to THAT! So I waited until he rounded
the corner of the stairs and decided FukkIt, if he wasn't gonna tell me where he was going, then he better not plan on my ass sitting
here waiting for him. I grabbed my stuff and off I went. He took the stairs up, so the obvious thing for me to do was to take the stairs
down. I just walked around for a little while, went outside, walked along the deck, watched the ocean, all the while getting a little
more pissed that he had done that. One of the times that I was walking through the halls, I saw him at the other end, walking the
opposite direction. I have no idea what floor we were on now, but it didn't matter, I was gonna make him search long and hard if he
wanted to find me. And hopefully it would teach him a little lesson in the process. To be sure that he didn't find me, anytime I saw
him, I would turn around and not only go the opposite direction, but go to a different floor.
Eventually I got tired of walking around and wanted a cigarette, which meant I had to go out on the deck. I hadn't seen him on
this floor, so I figured I was safe. As I was walking to the door that led outside I caught sight of Marco out of the corner of my eye.
Shit I think he saw me! hahaha Didn't matter, I just kept walking. Just about the time I got to the door I heard one single loud
whistle. Is he nuts? Did he think I would respond to that like some kind of dog? Not a chance in hell! In fact, the thought of him even
doing that pissed me off even more! I never even turned around, I kept walking and acted as if I didn't hear that ear piercing sound
that he made. I went outside, lit my cigarette and waited for him to appear. I heard the door open and then heard him walking up
behind me. He said, "Where have you been? Didn't you hear me call you?" Oh lord, he did NOT just say that to me! I said, "Where
have I been? Must I tell you everything? And were you referring to that dog call you just did? Yes, I heard it, I chose to ignore you."
Then I turned around to watch the ocean.
Now, this is the kind of person Marco is, which pisses me off because it makes it impossible to stay mad at him! He walked up
behind me and said, "Here, I got you something." Then held out a bottle of beer, with a smile on his face. I didn't take it but asked
him where the hell he went. He told me he went to find us beer. I said, "And you couldn't tell me that? You just got up and walked
away? Leaving me there all alone?" He said, "I wanted to surprise you." Then smiled again and handed me the beer. So I took the
beer, laughed, and told him that it's a good thing he at least came back with that, or I wouldn't talk to him the rest of the trip. (Call
me a bitch if ya want, but I'll just tell ya to go to hell hahaha) So, now we were back together, drinking the dreaded beer, and
waiting for the movie to start. (By the way, Marco NEVER left me alone like that again. Smart Man!) (And I have that beer bottle on
a shelf in my kitchen)
The movie we ended up seeing was "A Scary Movie". I had previously seen it, but it was great to hear Marco laughing so hard
while he watched it for the first time. By the time the movie ended it was about 9-10pm. We still had a little over 2 hours until we
reached England. Marco was gonna have to drive all night once we got there, so we decided to get some dinner and then find
someplace for him to lay down and sleep. There were people lying on the floors, under tables, on benches, on chairs, everywhere! I
told him I would just get us a room, but he said that he would be fine. We eventually found a small bench that was empty. He asked
me to please go exchange our money into English Pounds while he slept. I had American and Irish money, and he had Dutch and
Irish money. Neither of us had any English currency. So while he slept I went wandering around. I saw the exchange counter, but I
also saw the gift shop right next to it. Wanna guess which one I went to first?
I strolled through the gift shop for a while but didn't buy anything. I didn't understand what all of this "Duty-free" shit meant.
When I was done with my browsing I went to the exchange counter and asked if I could please change our money. Imagine my
surprise when he said, "No." The guy said the counter was only open for the first half hour of the trip and does not re-open. (Well
that's a bit stupid if you ask me) So I asked him if there was a place in the terminal in England that would be open. Again he said,
"No, they have one, but it doesn't re-open until 8am the next morning." SHIT This was NOT what I wanted to hear. We were docking
in England at about midnight and had to drive straight through all night to be at the next ferry to take us to Holland by 10am. We
hadn't filled up with gas since we left that morning, so I know we could not have had enough left for a 7-hour drive across England.
Continue
