First and foremost: I am typing this at 12:30am at London Paddington station, wrapping up a day of super craziness… I am sleep-deprived and rambly and nonsensical, but am determined to chronicle today’s adventures…

I got up this morning all optimistic and shiny, but my plans started to go awry when it started to rain quite badly in Stratford-upon-Avon. I had originally intended to walk from Shakespeare’s birthplace to the Anne Hathaway cottage, but the bus ride into town (£2.70) was delayed by a cycling event, and I decided to seek refuge at the Shakespeare Hospice bookshop. I spent a good few hours there, and had a lovely time reading my book (Captain Corelli’s Mandolin) and chatting with the volunteers.

Eventually, I headed towards the train station, and was pretty much soaked… Rain notwithstanding, I had a nice afternoon at Mary Arden’s farm, which is a working Tudor farm.

The train into London was delayed, which should’ve been a sign…because when I got to Paddington, it turns out all the trains weren’t happening, including my sleeper train to Penzance at 23:45… And this is a 8-hour train we’re talking about. All my super excitement for my first sleeper train experience suddenly turned into adventure mode! I was fortunate enough to find a corner in the Great Western Railway First Class Lounge (where a kazillion travellers were running around in utter confusion) where a few other Penzancians were more or less chilling. (Okay, maybe they weren’t chilling, but I was definitely chilling, because yay adventure mode!)

But it seems we’ll be making it onto a 1am sleeper! Crisis resolved! And all thanks to the super awesome GWR staff, who have been uber helpful, especially in light of all the stress!

(Will update this post at a later time when I’m awake/alive…)