Really nice people
Dec. 21st, 2005 10:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fivemackI imagine, if I turned up at the tourist information desk at King's Cross, speaking only Chinese [1], and asked them to book me the hotels for an itinerary that was the equivalent of 'one day Bristol, so that I can go to Dartmoor, then to Edinburgh for one day, then a day in Newcastle so I can go to the Lake District, then a day in Canterbury on the way back to London', all over Christmas, they would be unhelpful.
The people at Taipei station politely pointed out the problem with my itinerary and, over a 45-minute discussion, got me beds in hotels in Taichung and Tainan; apologising that, because I was booking over Christmas at two day's notice, they would cost fifteen pounds a night. I bought them all coffee and cakes.
[1] I suppose, since English is the universally-taught second language here, the right equivalent is French.
The people at Taipei station politely pointed out the problem with my itinerary and, over a 45-minute discussion, got me beds in hotels in Taichung and Tainan; apologising that, because I was booking over Christmas at two day's notice, they would cost fifteen pounds a night. I bought them all coffee and cakes.
[1] I suppose, since English is the universally-taught second language here, the right equivalent is French.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-21 02:34 pm (UTC)Mark Waller and I had a similar episode in Portugal. This time, however, Mark really did know what he was doing - he wanted to take a particular pair of trans somewhere that would be much prettier than the "sensible" route, but a) take longer and b) involve sitting at a station in the middle of nowhere for nearly an hour. He succeeded in the end...
Love your journal
Date: 2005-12-23 01:16 pm (UTC)Glad you're still having fun, and - mostly - loving the vagrant/vagabond (which do you prefer?!) life.
Happy Christmas, wherever you might be...
Kilda :)