Gotta love those Train Conductors...
I was a bit of a dramatic child, and whenever anything didn't go my way i'd do something extreme to get a reaction. Thankfully i'm (slightly) more mature now.

Anyway, when I was about 11 or 12 I decided to run away, not as i'd done in the past, down the local park with a sleeping bag and a couple of packets of crisps, but to Scotland, where the majority of my family live. I had no idea how, but decided to walk down to the motorway and try and hitch. The motorway is quite a way away, and I got a lot of funny looks walking along the back roads with no pavements to get there.

When I finally reached the motorway (the A14) I stuck my thumb out and hoped for the best. There weren't many takers, and after about an hour I was about to give up when a small Fiat pulled up behind me. I ran to the car and was greeted with a man with long hair and in a Metallica T-Shirt. As we drove along, I told him my plan, and to his credit, he didn't tell me to stop being a muppet, instead he said he would buy me a ticket for the train, on the condition I get permission from my mum. So we get off the motorway and head back into Cambridge to his mate's house to use his phone.

My mum didn't answer, and the guy couldn't be convinced to buy me the ticket anyway. I had my heart set on the train plan now, and was going to do it, no matter what. So the guy took me to the train station anyway, and rather than buying me a ticket, gave me a tenner for some food on the way.

I was shitting myself, as the furthest i'd bunked the train before was a couple of stops on the local village route. I got out at Peterborough, having no idea what to do next. So I got on a train to Sheffield. On the way I was asked for a ticket, which of course I didn't have. I told the conductor my story and he took pity on me. He got his map out, and told me the route to go, and the times of the trains to catch. I had to spend the night in Sheffield Train Station, not a nice experience when you're a scared 11 year old and the waiting room is full of weird people you don't know. Thankfully nothing happened and I got the 6 am train to Glasgow.

I'd like to meet the driver of the Fiat and the Conductor again to thank them, as without them I would have got no-where near Glasgow in double the time.

A two day journey to Scotland me and my family will never forget.
(NexusWR Long time listener, first time caller, Wed 16 Aug 2006, 18:36, Reply)