Problematic

It seemed like such a simple process, at first glance.  Buy the ticket, take the flight, find a train, and arrive in one piece.  I should have known that it would wind up being far more complicated than just a quick trip.

I plan for failure, most of the time.  It's just one of those things that keeps me from being too surprised by the various things that happen to me from day to day.  So when I bought the ticket, I immediately assumed that I wouldn't get clearance.  And when I got clearance, I immediately assumed that I would have forgotten some important paperwork that would cause me to get kicked out before I even got there.  That also failed to happen, or at the least it hasn't happened yet.  It could still be waiting in the wings for me, breathing heavily and holding an unpleasantly large stick.

That I might have to find a place to stay for the first five nights, well.  I didn't expect that.  But that's the sort of thing that makes this whole process enjoyable, in a weird way.  Will I arrive in the city and find myself wandering the streets aimlessly?  Maybe I'll get directions to a hostel, or maybe someone will take pity on me and let me sleep on their couch or in their pub.  Or will I get mugged and lose everything I'll be taking with me?  What if I take up residence squatting in the ruins of a castle?  There are ruins there, I've been to them and I've seen them and I've found places where you could, in theory, hole up for a night if you were desperate.

Maybe people already do; I shall wind up fighting a vicious turf war with the local vagrants until one of us gets arrested or killed or one followed by the other.  Maybe.  It's all possibilities, right now, and that's terrifying and exciting all at once.  I'm terrible at making plans, yet I find that it always is slightly more relaxing to at least have an idea of what's coming next.  I could make a plan right now; look up a hostel, send pleading emails to the administration begging to be let in early, actively hunt down acquaintances and ask to stay on their couches...

But would that be any fun?  As terrifying as it is to contemplate arriving in a city turned suddenly unfriendly by the whims of fate, lost and wandering until the police pick me up and throw me out of the country, I can't help thinking that it would make for a hell of a story.  And stories are kind of my thing.  We'll see.  After the other problems I've had to deal with in preparation for this trip, finding a place to sleep seems like a pretty easy one.