Adventures in Gnomieland

This is a very late post, I know. But last month I went on an adventure. A huuuuuge adventure. I travelled to another country all by my gnomie self! I went on a secret mission to a land far, far away. Well maybe not that far, but far for someone as small as me! I visited Holland! To see my guildie friends in RL. I was a complete surprise for them. Only 3 people knew (Party Tank, Mage Sister and Dwarf). And we planned it together secretly. I booked a flight, and even booked it wrong...return for in a month?? Sigh...I am not a clever gnomie sometimes. But I fixed it and got all excited! I was going to be a gnomie of the world! Flying to faraway lands, meeting people for the first time face to face. Tiny squeeeeee!

So, off I went. I levelled up in airports. In the smallest airport in the world. And I still managed to almost wee myself from panic. I am not a good flyer. I'm too small to be that high up. But I did it to meet my friends. Only had one cry before the flight, shortly before I had a beer at 4.45am. Oh yes I did! And then the flight was better. Everything is better with beer! But weird. Crossing a time zone is really odd in the early morning. Dark, then light...no twilight. But very fast. There in 1 hour! Schiphol airport is huge, and scary and huge. But all fancy and space agey. Maybe not, but for the untravelled gnomie it was. There I waited for the Dwarf to pick me up and make sure I didn't end up on a train to somewhere random like Germany. Here the panic set in. I know we all get on well in game but in RL would it be the same?

The panic was not needed. I saw the dwarf outside a cafe and thought, 'bloody hell, that is one tall dwarf!' I looked like a real life gnome stood next to him. We exchanged greetings and off we went for the train. Just like in game we happily chatted. About plans for the week and all the RL fun that we would have. And I got snow! My favourite thing in the world (except chocolate and Sean Bean) and I got it for my visit. And Dutch trains are awesome. They have an upstairs! We don't have that! Only double decker buses, but we hardly ever see those any more. It was a wonderful start to my trip. Now for the first few days I would be in hiding, so that I would be a total surprise for the Guild meetup. I was so in awe of the beautiful city I was staying in that it wasn't a problem. Seriously, in comparison to where I live it is gorgeous!. And not hearing English voices was a real treat. Working two jobs in customer service means that there's always someone that needs my attention. Not here though! No demanding customers to deal with, just peace and quiet. And everyone I met automatically switched into perfect English as soon as they heard my voice, happily. Kind of made me a little ashamed that we English don't make the effort to speak any other languages so well. I was lucky to have nice waiters, waitresses and shop assistants who were more than happy to help the silly, English gnomie! And my experience of Dwarvish hospitality was a great one. They're very tidy and pleasant to live with. Not like us gnomies who just throw things out of their case over their shoulders and leave all the lights on and doors open! The latter come back to bite me on the arse when I attempted not to wake anyone by going to the bathroom in the dark, very quietly, on my first night, and ended up head butting a door on my way back. Which ended up in loud swears...sigh.

The guild meetup came very fast. Before I knew it, it was time to meet everyone. I was to go to the restaurant before everyone else and wait for them to arrive. Rubedeus kindly rang the restaurant to tell them I was coming early and to seat me at the table. From here it became a bit like sitcom. The plan was that I would go on the bus before everyone else and sneak in. I am a brave gnomie, I wanted to go on the bus alone and be a big growed up girl, while my dwarf friend went to help another member of the party get to the restaurant. Only, I'm a terrible traveller. The bus driver said she would help me get off at the right stop. Only she kinda forgot. By that point I was hyperventilating because it was much further away than I thought and was frantically texting my friend. Then when I did get off I didn't check out of the bus properly with those fancy card thingies. So she chased me and brought me back to do it, in front of a bus load of people. /facepalm. Then I realised I had no clue where the restaurant was. So off I went looking, in my big  girl high heels (I don't get out much, so when I do I like to dress up. Even if no one else does!), getting some rather funny looks. I eventually found it and breathed a sigh of relief. Went up to the counter and asked for my table. The woman looked at me blankly and said "table of 1?" And I was all, "no, no, no. Blah, blah, blah...table of 9". And that's when I really panicked. She couldn't speak English. So, after almost passing out from panic, I got my brain together and rang my friend to speak to her. I could see her smiling and nodding and I thought, "yay, it's all fixed". Off I went into the restaurant, where she didn't sit me at a table, instead at the bar. So, I looked like like an overdressed loner. Though she did bring me spicy shrimp chips and a beer. Which quickly turned into 3 beers and an empty bowl. An old Chinese waiter came up to me and started chatting...in bloody English! He told me he lived in London in 1970. So, I told him the plan and asked him to help out. And he was in...or so I thought, until my friends arrived and spoke in English to them to tell them someone was waiting for them!! I spun round fast in my chair so no one would see me and waited for them to sit. It was here I decided to tell the group that I was here before he pointed me out! I went over and very politely asked if I could join their party and sit with them, to some very puzzled looks. Until I revealed my identity! It was all worth it. We had so much fun that evening. Food, drinks, RL trolling, giggles. The most fun ever. And lots of photographs and good conversations. Sadly, a few people couldn't make it but hopefully next time we will all be there! Afterwards we went back for a chat and arranged another meetup before I left. Hopefully, I wasn't too embarrassing with my loud giggles and window kissing!

Our next meetup was a lovely day out walking around the city. Here we got to star in a Dutch movie (which I cannot tell my dad or he'll never let me out of the country again! But don't worry folks, it wasn't THAT kind of movie!). It was quite odd. Go sit on a bench, then walk away. Errrrm ok...! Then I got a new house, played on a swing, ate half a sandwich in the slowest time ever, cupped a statue, got lifted up by girl 15 years younger than me, almost got pulled over with the world's largest bag on my back. True story, it was comedy from start to end. Met another guildie (who is also awesome)...ahhhh it was such a good time!

And then it was time to go home. And I was sad to leave. The flight home was nowhere near as exciting as the one there. Hopefully soon though, Guild Meetup: The Sequel will happen! But for now, I'll leave you with this picture... This was what I was doing when I was out of sight. Blowing up cows! Wheeeee!

All credit to my dwarvish friend. I think we've all seen my editing skills.