Plan B

Right about now I should be scurrying across New York City en route to Washington, DC.

Crazy itinerary, but flights into JFK are $250 or $300 cheaper than into Dulles at the moment.

The thing is, I am heading down on the bus, because I am a cheapskate. And there is almost no chance at all I'll make the 5pm service. Even the 6pm one will probably be very tight. And if, by some mischance, I miss - or can't get a ticket for - the 7pm departure (which wouldn't get me into DC bus station until well after 11), the next one will be too late for me to present myself on my friend's doorstep tonight. 

I could get a cheap hotel in Manhattan for one night. But even a cheap hotel makes a painful dent in my slender wallet. And I really want to be in DC by tomorrow lunchtime so that I can watch the Spain v Portugal semi-final in the European Championship.

So, what is the fallback option for an avowed cheapskate whose travel plans have gone awry?

Well, there's a great little dive bar (I forget the name of it, but I know where it is) just around the corner from the Port Authority Bus Station. I figure I can spend three or four hours in there getting modestly lashed, then catch an overnight bus, and rock up at dawn. Sorted.

Almost preferable to rushing down there straight away, in fact...