The other side of St. John's

The postcard pictures of St. John's show these brightly painted houses lining steep hills down to a pretty harbor.

But, of course, the picture on the right is the way I actually got to see St. John's on my first day, on the Great Adaptor Hunt of 2019. I took a long bus ride out to a strip mall with a Best Buy, then I waited more than an hour on the side of this highway for the bus back downtown. I didn't mind the bus rides, because I enjoyed eavesdropping on the conversations of my fellow riders and their almost-Irish accents, but waiting -- and waiting and waiting -- by the side of a highway in a strange city for a bus you've started to believe may never actually come is unnerving.

I did meet several locals who tried to be helpful, but who didn't actually know when or if a bus might actually arrive. When, after about 45 minutes, another woman showed up to wait with me, I was so relieved I almost hugged her.

So that was my great St. John's adventure -- taking a couple of buses to the mall and back. Not as exciting as crossing the Antarctic Circle or riding a mule up to the Monastery in Petra, maybe, but in some ways scarier. And the sense of accomplishment when I made it back to my hotel and connected my camera card to my laptop was every bit as sweet.