"Oh, wow, do you take credit cards?"

Oh, I had one hell of a morning.

the back story:

For some inconceivable reason I booked my flight for this morning at 7:50. Which meant I needed to be at the airport at 6:30. At the time of booking I didn't thinking about needing to take public transport at an ungodly hour to get to the airport. Also to add to the difficulty of this morning, the airport my budget airlines is located was about 40 miles outside of the city and would take an hour and 40 minutes on three different buses across London. So, my only decent option was to take a cab.

the night before:
Last night I called a cab and asked the amount of time a cab would take and how much it would cost. I gave the dispatcher my address and post code IN London (this will be important later) and he said it would take 30 minutes to the airport and cost between 20 and 22 pounds. Awesome! 20 pounds? Done!

this morning:
I wake up extra early, head out to the street in the dawn light, and wait for the cab. Well, then I wait some more and then wait some more, and by more I mean 5 minutes. I call the cab company and they say these words to me:

"What's your postal code? That's not possible. You are in East Hampstead? Oh, you're in Hampstead in London? Oh. Oh. You're never going to make it to the airport in time.... uhhh or we can send another cab to you."

I wait 10 more minutes getting more and more annoyed and then get this call

"the cab who was on his way to you got in a wreck and no one can come now"

And this point I'm starting to slightly panic and really just want to kill the cab company. So Allyson and I walked down to the high street and pulled a cab off the street. When I tell him Luton Airport this convo happens:

Mer: "Luton airport please"
Cabbie: "That's a long way love"
Mer: "How long? How much will it cost?"
Cabbie: "130 pounds or so"
Mer: "OH MY SWEET GOD WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT?"

okay, that was just in my mind. What I really said was:

"Oh, wow, do you take credit cards?"

I made it to the airport on time and got on my flight and am now in Paris but goodness did I learn some important lessons this morning about booking early morning tickets!!