Instead of going to bed and worrying about getting up on time and groping through the darkness with my bags, I opted to stay up all night. Since I’m a natural night owl, all it took was a little caffeine to keep me going through the long hours. I was meaning to get my blog up-to-date, but instead got into a lengthy and greatly enjoyable conversation with a girl from Australia who was not tired. She ended up keeping me company until 4am, talking about why we were on our travels, relationships that just don’t work and I can’t even remember what else. I realized shortly before she decided to go to bed that I didn’t know her name and yet had had this incredibly deep and somewhat thought-provoking conversation. So now, she has a name: Emma.
After Emma went to bed, I was feeling particularly antsy to get going, especially because some random guy showed up at the hostel at about 3:30am and was wandering the common room and making me a bit uncomfortable. I called my cab at 5am and was asked if I had made the reservation for 5:45am. Prior to this, I had no idea you even could make a reservation for a taxi.
Because the hours for the Greyhound depot in Jasper do not correspond with when the buses actually run, I had to sit outside at 5am waiting for my bus to leave at 6:25am. I heard some geese making some noise and was trying to figure out where they were only to discover two of them on the railroad tracks several feet apart, honking at each other while approaching one another. I finally got some real company around 6am, from my fellow hosteller who had the taxi reservation.
We got talking a bit and it turned out he would have to travel the same route as me and then some to get to Banff. When the bus arrived, it was already quite full. I went to go sit next to this one guy who later, when I took longer to look at him, really creeped me out (Tattooed hands and neck and a very hard look to him. I honestly think he might have been in a gang). He ended up switching seats before I sat down so he could sit with his friend. My new Aussie acquaintance from the hostel asked to sit with me and we chatted a bit more. After staying up all night, the lack of sleep finally started to catch up with me and I kept dozing off until Edmonton, as did my handsome seatmate.
I was also hoping to recreate a photo that was taken when I was 5, the last time I passed through Edson; however, the bus station for Edson is in the middle of nowhere and there were no taxis in sight to take me to see Eddy the Squirrel. I’m a bit disappointed that we never even passed him along the route in or out of Edson.
During the two-hour layover in Edmonton, the two of us set out to find food and souvenirs. It was only over lunch that I finally asked for his name and found out what he does back in Australia. Now, he is Carl in the Australian Air Force, not just a random bus-mate. Although he was certainly enjoyable to look at, we didn’t have a lot to talk about and both spent much of the ride to Calgary in silence and sleeping.
I arrived in Calgary with little clue how to get to my hostel because I forgot to write down the directions from the bus depot before leaving Jasper. I asked for directions at the bus depot because that’s the smart thing to do. However, I believe the instructions were unclear, because I got beyond lost after following what I understood from the directions I was given. Plus, the directions on the hostel website that I forgot were pretty much useless because there is so much construction going on in Calgary that a lot of routes are just not possible at the moment. I spent two hours wandering around NW Calgary when I wanted to be in SE Calgary near the city centre. I finally decided I wanted to call a cab, only I didn’t know any numbers for the cab companies in Calgary. I asked at the Safeway that I kept circling in my befuddlement and, thinking now, it might have been smart to ask for the proper area code too. I tried both numbers I was given to no avail. I finally opted for 411, my new friend. I got through to a cab company and had a bit of an argument about where I was and how to find me. I swear not 10 minutes later, I saw my cab circling around a block and a half away from me and then they gave up. I got annoyed and called 411 to start the process all over again and finally was able to arrange a proper pick-up location: back in front of the Safeway. I barely had time to make it there when the cab showed up, but this time I didn’t lose the taxi. My driver was very nice, but totally baffled by how I managed to get on the other side of town in trying to find the free train to the hostel.
After taking the time to get properly settled, I finally set out to find dinner. It seemed like pretty much everything but bars and super swanky places were closed for the night. The downtown core looked interesting despite being dead and, well, full of still more construction sites. I really don’t know why everyone so far has told me how terrible Calgary is, that there’s nothing to do there. I found Edmonton to be mostly grimey looking and too sprawling and unattractive. Calgary at least has style.
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