Another travel nightmare story

[steve2470]

Last edited Fri Sep 13, 2019, 03:02 PM - Edit history (1)

This European travel nightmare inspired this post. Mind you, his was far worse than mine.

Background: In February and March of 2018, I was in Germany to do tourist stuff. I spent the night with DFW and his wife and had a very lovely time. This travel nightmare occurred after I saw another friend in Hamburg. Getting to Hamburg by train was very easy. Coming home was not, and yes, I am sure it was my fault.

I had seen my friend at a nice restaurant in downtown Hamburg in the early evening. She had to go home around 7 PM, so I went to the Hamburg Bahnhof to wait for my train. The ticket said my train went from Hamburg to Berlin (where I was staying) around 9:30 PM.

At about 9:15 PM, a train pulled into the station. I looked at my ticket, and the details seemed to match up. I boarded the train and did not speak to any train employees (my first mistake).

About 9:30 the train took off. Around 20 minutes later the train pulled into a suburban station of Hamburg and stopped. I thought, ok, they are taking new passengers and letting off some. No big deal....until a female employee of the train company approached me and motioned for me to get off. I was very surprised and showed her my e-ticket on my phone. She was not moved. In German she told me to get off the train. I understood zero of what she said but it was obvious what she wanted me to do. So, I got off the train.

Panicking, I walked quickly to the Bahn ticket office (thank god it was open), asked an employee what was going on (train stopped there overnight for maintenance), and asked to buy a ticket back to Hamburg. I bought my ticket back to Hamburg and boarded the train (very very carefully this time) around 10 PM.

I got back to Hamburg around 10:20 PM. Now my panic had subsided and I realized I could buy a train ticket online with my phone. So, I searched for the best ticket to Berlin, since I didn't want to spend the night.

Talk about planes, trains and automobiles! I had to take a bus to Schwerin (ENE of Hamburg) and then another bus to Rostock (NE of Schwerin). Rostock is very close to the Baltic Sea, so it's very much northern Germany. Then, at 3 AM, I was scheduled to catch a train from Rostock back to Berlin.

Catching the bus to Schwerin was pretty easy. It was a very comfortable night-time ride through the German countryside. Catching the bus to Rostock was a bit more anxiety-provoking. I had to run very quickly through the Schwerin terminal to catch it, and thankfully the bus driver seemed in no hurry to leave. The ride from Schwerin to Rostock was also very pleasant, and I took a cat nap on the bus.

I arrived at the Rostock terminal at around midnight. My train to Berlin did not leave until 3 AM. So, I had 3 hours to kill in a zero celsius unheated train terminal with 5 other miserable souls. The bathrooms were locked (to prevent the homeless from sleeping in them) so that was a bit of a challenge.

The next 3 hours were some of the most miserable in my entire life. I resolved 1) to triple check trains from now on and 2) to wear insulated pants/long johns/etc since my lower half was a tad chilly. The signage for my train was a bit confusing, so I asked a train employee if the train in front of me at 3 AM was indeed going to Berlin. "Ja", he replied and nodded. I got on the train. My trip back to Berlin was uneventful, and I had a pleasant chat with a drug company sales representative who invited me back to Germany.

Hindsight ? Probably spend the night in Hamburg next time. Check the trains extremely carefully. I am not experienced in train transport nor in the German train system. Hope you enjoyed reading my little story

[Alliepoo]

1. Yikes!

I think I’d have just sat down and cried !!

[steve2470]

10. I was too busy panicking and castigating myself for my mistake lol nt

[Karadeniz]

2. We accidentally got on a train going the wrong direction to what we thought. It was the middle

Of the night in the middle of winter in Germany. Realizing the mistake, we popped off at some tiny station in the middle of nowhere. I have never been so cold in my life and I've lived in cold climates. The freezing cold cut straight thru us. There was no escaping it, nothing to hide behind. There were three couples on that platform and I bet we all thought we'd die before a train came.

[steve2470]

3. oh I know exactly how you felt

Time went by so slowly. The train coming was a real blessing, to me anyway, a heated coach with comfy seats.

[DFW]

4. In 1973, I had an airplane story like that

I caught up with a classmate and her family in Petrovac na Moru (Montenegro, then still Yugoslavia). I took the ferry over from Bari in Italy to Bar, and then a hair-raising bus to Petrovac. After three days there, I then wanted to go to Zagreb, and the terrain was so rugged that train service was full of changes, and I spoke no Serbian at the time. So, I booked a flight from Titograd (now Podgorica) to Zagreb. There were regular buses from Petrovac to the Titograd airport. Needless to say, the Titograd airport was more like a small shack with a few doors as gates. I checked in my one small suitcase, got my boarding card for Zagreb, and waited. Some announcement came over what passed for a loudspeaker saying something like "BXQUZWPL TEJHIOOEN AGGHWRXQPUW GOOGOOGAJOOB!" Whatever it was, it caused a mad rush for one of the doors.

Not wanting to miss my flight, I joined the crowd, waving my boarding pass saying "ZAGREB" and was pushed through with everyone else. We boarded the plane, which then rolled to the take-off runway. On came an announcement in Serbian. The only word I understood was one I did NOT want to hear: Beograd. Beograd was the capital of Yugoslavia, and it was at the other end of the country from Zagreb. Sure enough, the announcement was then repeated in English, and confirmed I was on a flight to Beograd.

I called over a flight attendant and showed him my boarding card. He looked at it and made a profound observation in English: "Mistake." I agreed wholeheartedly. After takeoff, he consulted with the cockpit, who radioed ahead. When we landed, he said, "go to counter 8 in Beograd."

At the Beograd airport, I went to counter 8. The woman there looked at my boarding pass, and said, "mistake." They didn't miss a thing in Beograd, apparently. She filled out a form, and told me to take it to counter 4. I did so, and the woman at counter 4 read it through, looked at my boarding pass, and pronounced her assessment of the situation: "Mistake." Nothing got by those observant Serbs, let me tell you. She filled out another form, gave it to me, and said, "your flight for Zagreb is now boarding at that gate over there." And so it was. All in all, I got to Zagreb all of one hour late and my suitcase was waiting for me at baggage claim (now THAT is what I call a loyal suitcase).

A somewhat more happy ending, but those were simpler times, too.

The moral of the story: if someone at an airport tells you in a Dracula accent "mistake," it doesn't necessarily mean the end of the world.

[Coventina]

7. LOL! You certainly have a flair for writing!

"Mistake!"

[DFW]

13. That was a year before I met my wife

But I told her the story, and to this day, when she messes up with something, she says, "mistake!" in her best Slavic accent.

As for my writing, well, I try not to put people to sleep, although my first novel never made it to the New York Times bestseller list despite great reviews. I think for the next one, I'll suggest that James Patterson "co-write" it with me. THAT should do the trick!

[steve2470]

8. a great story, yes, with a happy ending!

I had never heard of Beograd before today, so that is so interesting. I always feel well-travelled until I read your stories. I am a mere piker compared to you

All the best to you, MrsDFW and your family! My time with you and MrsDFW helped make my German trip a success, and your suggestion about visiting more places while there sparked my travels to Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Prague and Amsterdam.

[DFW]

14. In English, I think they call it "Belgrade."

After that day, though, it was pounded in my head permanently to call the place Beograd.

We were glad to show you around out little corner of the Rheinland, and I'm glad you took my suggestion to broaden your travel plans. And between my wife's culinary skills and the Greek place up the street, no one leaves here hungry. As long as you are here, places like Prague and Amsterdam, etc. are so relatively close, it seems a shame not to check them out if you have the time.

[Fla Dem]

5. Did that myself long time ago and luckily it was only a commuter train.

Commuting to and from from Boston on the B&M railroad. One night, God know how or why I ended up on the wrong train home. Realized almost as soon as we left the station because we weren't taking the usual route. Also the conductor told me when he went to punch my ticket that I was on the wrong train. He didn't punch my ticket.

Had a couple of choices. Get off at the first stop and call home to have someone come and pick me up (I was in my early 20's still living at home), but then my Dad would have had to come get me, as we were a one car family, and he may not even been home from work yet. Plus it was a good distance from home. Or ride the train to the end of the line and then ride it back into Boston to get the next train out.

Well obviously I chose the latter. I did the round trip. Had almost the whole train to myself on the return trip. Finally got on the right train and after a couple of hours made it home. Always checked the train before getting on from then on.

[Aristus]

6. By and large, the Germans are easy to deal with. But don't transgress the rules.

They're sticklers for the rules. If you break a rule knowingly or unknowingly, well, the words "politely but firmly" come to mind with regard to the reaction of the German charged with upholding those rules.

[steve2470]

9. She was indeed polite but firm

The Germans were great, and I actually felt quite at home despite the fact I don't speak German.

[Aristus]

11. I like the German people.

Have you figured out yet that when you ask a German if they speak English and they reply "A little...", it means they speak it fluently?

[steve2470]

12. yes, that is true about them :)

They then apologize for not knowing a precise English word and I always felt compelled to say "your English is excellent, no worries!"

[DFW]

16. Germans almost always assume Americans are too dumb to master their language.

Once we met up with my daughter and some friends of her boyfriend in Stuttgart. One of them had never met me, and when told I was American, she immediately spoke English. I went along and didn't let on that I knew German. She said German was just too hard for us to pronounce. I said it didn't sound so hard to me, and she should just say a word, and see if I could pronounce it. She said "Streichholzschächtelchen," which means "little matchbox." She figured she was playing a trick on me by using such a long word. I feigned unfamiliarity with the word and asked her to repeat it. She smugly repeated: "Streichholzschächtelchen." I repreated it perfectly, and said "what's so hard about that?" Her mouth dropped open, and she mumbled, "well, MOST Americans have trouble with it." Oops. NEVER assume any given American is "most Americans." Some of us aren't!

[DFW]

15. "Vorschrift"

Don't EVER mess with a Vorschrift here. They make sure you regret it.