Traveller challenges

Stacy says, "Do you want to top up the bus card to make sure we have enough money to return?"

Brian replied, "No."

We get on the bus, and it's just over half the cost of the fare. Uh, oh, inflation must've caused this gravely miscalc. And we weren't cautious enough. We thought we might be hitching again, which honestly appealed to me in the beginning. But now, I'm a bit over it. Either way, this is how we landed 25km away from our lodging with a return bus card that will only get us a fraction of the way home.

We do what we set off to do and then start the process of catching our return. This entails us asking, "Tu hablas English?" Some back and forth miscommunication, but luckily for hand movements, we are directed to get on the busy bus and swipe our card. Sweet!

For some reason, unbeknownst to us, the driver let's us on with a partial payment bus card. We're super grateful. We return to the city and check the amount on our bus card out of curiosity. Our card electronically reads the bus card is in arrears! This is the first time I've been made aware that a city bus program lets you go in debt to it.

The irony of it all is that it's not even our card to begin with.Read more