I wanna run, I want to hide
I wanna tear down the walls
That hold me inside
I wanna reach out
And touch the flame
Where the streets have no name.I want to feel, sunlight on my face
I see the dust cloud disappear
Without a trace
I want to take shelter
From the poison rain
Where the streets have no nameWhere the streets have no name
We’re still building, then burning down love
And when I go there
I go there with you,
It’s all I can do.
~U2 – “Where the Streets have No Name”
But here, they do. They definitely do. I know them well, its where I’ve lived for almost two weeks.
I had fully intended to go to Ireland or Scotland or somewhere out in the wildernesses of England…
…but losing all money and identification prevents many things from happening. And so is supported – yet again – something I have been living by for a long time: Never expect to know where you’ll be, because where you end up is usually better than you could have imagined anyway.
All this mess of the past few days, I can’t help but to think I had a better experience to live above a pub for a week and a half. Stuck. The people I met and the life there, completely something I would not have traded for the world.
Stay tuned…
-Noah D.
.
PS: So, if you’re wondering: how does one go about getting home with no money, no ID? Knowing people and Western Union – something that I can see almost no other use for – comes in mighty handy. Also, in London, you have to actually be an “emergency” case to warrant the “emergency” treatment for passports. I mean, it makes sense, I guess… but I had to get an appointment to be processed through for the DAY before I left the country. Had something gone amiss, it would have almost been tough for me and I would have had to lose my non-refundable Eurostar to Paris AND reschedule my flight to Boston. They cut it pretty tight.
But, all came out well.
Still, I had to go most of 5 days without an ID of any kind… and literally zero money. That part requires finding someone trustworthy enough and having them accompany you to the Western Union. They receive the money from the AmEx transfer and hand it over to you.
Otherwise, the passport only takes about 2-3hrs at the embassy, they print it out right there and you’re on your way.
1 Comment
That sucks that you lost your passport. When I had to get a new one, I was very sad, because it was almost like a totem, with all the stamps from the various counties I’d visited. I could almost be transported back to each border crossing, just by checking the date and the location. I was incredibly surprised when they shipped my old one back with my new one.
But, you’re young- you’ve many years left to amass more stamps and more stories!