Visit Memories: The First

I can remember our first ever visit.  In fact I can remember all of our visits. The gruesome time having to wait see each other, the long travel, and the added stress from everything going well.

I wouldn´t say it´s my favourite memory, but I remember when I first came over back in 2012. It’s also quite funny. I travelled via MegaBus from Amsterdam to Plymouth with a layover in London. I had to wait 4 hours to get on the bus to Plymouth. From 6 something PM to 10.30 PM I think it was. That was already horrible. Before even reaching London, I had to go on a boat of any kind for the first time in my life, queue nausea. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any sort of medication or what not to fight it, so I just had to wait until the terror was over.

But if those two things weren’t bad enough, it got worse! In those days I had a really horrible, low battery mobile phone. So before I even reached Plymouth, my phone was already nearly dead! I arrive in Plymouth, no clue where to go. I asked people including city coach drivers how to get to the train station but they were clueless! How is that even possible? You’d reckon that a coach driver knows how to get to places right? They drive coaches for a living! Through the city!


But anyway, after asking someone who was happening to go the same way, I reached the train station. So I get on the train and what do I see? A plug! Yes, finally I can charge my phone and let Jane know that I am already nearing St Austell! How I wish that is how it went. I only had a charger plug compatible with Dutch plug sockets … The frustration sky rocketed! So I had no way of communication with Jane to tell her I was okay, in a foreign country, and cities I’ve never been in before and I was clueless!

I had made reservations for a room at the local Travelodge. So I asked for directions, of course. When I got there, I got the key for my room and up I went. I tried desperately to get my phone’s charger plug in the socket but to no prevail. I went back to the information desk and they actually had a plug for my phone! I can tell you that I was over the moon! I went flying to my room, got some charging going and let Jane know I had arrived and was in the Travelodge! Then minutes later, after a quick freshen up, we finally met face to face, eye to eye and what not!

It was a moment both Jane and I had been impatiently waiting on for a long time!  We were both super shy and all we managed was an awkward “hey” and a quick hug. Ahh, the memories! But as awkward as it was, or should I say, as it was supposed to be, it was an amazing moment too. We finally got to be physically together, something we’d wanted for just over a year.  The feeling was nothing short of electrifying and butterflies. Some butterflies might’ve been electrocuted but that’s the risk they take. And I can let them know, their sacrifice was worth it!

During the visit we also celebrated our one year anniversary on the 17th of October.  We went out for dinner together and afterwards we watched a film. Now you’d probably expect me to say that we went to watch a nice romantic film or maybe even a comedy. No, we opted for something quite different. We watched Taken 2. Perfect, right?

Unfortunately but to be expected, our first visit was only short. I had arrived on a Tuesday and left again on Sunday to Monday night. But we did get to spend a lot of time together, which is great! Since then, October 2012, we were fortunate enough to have many visits. In total so far we’ve had seven of them. And luckily enough for us, we have another visit just around the corner! Whilst writing this, I’ll be in St Austell again in exactly 14 days, on August 20th for Jane’s birthday and safe to say, it’s a moment we’ve both been waiting for!

Inspired by this LDR Writing Prompt: Visits