Road Trippin'

I decided to hang around the beach and surf every day for the rest of the week. But there was always this little voice in my head saying: "Hey dude, how are you going to get home?"

I thought of so many ways to get money sent to me, but none off them worked. I was in my surf van at a random beach, so how were my friends or parents going to send me money anyway? And another problem came in to play: I had to be back in school in 2 days!

With only 2 dollars and a few cents left, I decided to ask one of my new made friends if he could help me out. He was a French guy I met surfing two days earlier. This "stranger" kindly offered to loan me $10.

This was such a relief, but I was hoping that hundred dollars would be enough to get me home. But I also didn't dare to ask for any more. After all, would you give a guy you just met on the beach a hundred bucks?

I decided to take my chances and head home. Driving very slowly to conserve gas I pulled up my parents' driveway some twenty hours later. I drove all 700 miles and had just half a gallon of gas left in my tank. Wow, I just made it!

After getting home I immediately wired the borrowed money back to the French guy. I used my mom's online banking, which meant the French guy would have the money in his account within a day.

As soon as I had my new bankcard, I withdrew the money and gave my mom back her hundred dollars.

After all this road trippin' hassle I decided to sign up for online banking myself. You know, just in case.

I even opened another checking account with another card. This way, if I lose one card I will still have the other. Well. That's if you don't keep them in the same wallet of course!

Having a checking account made it possible for me to give the French guy back his money and pay my mom back, too.

If you don't have a checking account, get one now, if you qualify. Talk to anybody at the credit union.

Oh by the way: Check out this little card with handy phone numbers!

It's what I keep in a few different places just in case my wallet gets stolen again.

Make sure you don't only keep these numbers in your wallet, ey!

Cheers, Renier.