![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
A day late, due to Darth Real Life. Well, first of all, what I'm about to report are all First World/Privilege problems, which I'm aware of. Also, in retrospect these are all funny, so there's that. With these caveats, here's a hit list, subject to change according to mood.
1) By car: a more recent excperience, from September last year. The Aged Parents and yours truly spent a very enjoyable week on an island in the Northern Sea. En route back, however, and this is a long trip under the best of circumstances because I live in Bavaria, which is far, far away from ther Northern Sea, we had the misfortune of getting stuck in a traffic jam caused by the entire highway needing to be blocked due to chemical spillover. For eight freaking hours, until we finally made it, at snail's pace, to the next exit. (An additional problem was t hat the roads away from the Autobahn from the next exit were currently getting repaired, so there was basically just one tiny country road for the entire Autobahn traffic. You get the picture.) We had cause to be grateful that we skipped breakfast that morning - we originally wanted to do a late brunch in a highway restaurant instead, having left really early in the morning - because not only were we stuck, we were not allowed to leave the cars. I know because at hour 4 or so, I tried. And wouldn't you know it, a highway patrol was after me, admonishing me that walking on a highway was still illegal. Back into the car with my full bladder I went.
2) By train: This happened about a decade ago and was a work related trip from a small place near Essen, which is in the Ruhr area (i.e. the North-western German industrial area) to Memmingen (in the south), where I had to be in the evening. The original plan was to take a taxi to the train station in the small town, go by local train to Essen (which is a big city), and from there directly to Memmingen with a fast train. So far so good. Except that my taxi wasn't there in the morning, and since I had a big suitcase with me, and since my hotel wasn't anywhere near the train station, I couldn't walk. So a hotel employe (may he eternally be praised) gave me lift, and I caught my morning train to Essen. In Essen, however, my direct train to Memingen was announced to be late. Okay, I thought, still not a problem, since it's a direct train, so I don't have to catch any others, and I can call (Person who was going to pick me up in Memmingen) via mobile and say how late I am. I deliberately took an early connection so I would have some time in Memmingen to stroll around, get to know the city, so I'm flexible, a half an hour lateness isn't bad.
...and then it was an hour. And then it were two hours. By then, I could have of course taken some alternate connections, only for those I would have to switch trains repeatedly, there was no other direct connection, and as mentioned, I had this heavy suitcase. Then the Memmingen train finally arrived, the troop of fellow pilgrims to Swabia who had like me not taken some alternate connection stormed inside, and we hadn't been sitting there for five minutes when a train employee saw us and said: "But why didn't you take an alternate connection? This train only goes as far as Ulm!" (Which of course had not been announced at the Essen railway station.)
Still, Ulm at least was in the same province, and from there it would be just another hour or so to Memmingen with one of the local slow trains which stop at every village. Except, of course, the connecting local train from Ulm to Memingen which I was supposed to take started from the other end of the railway station. I raced. By some miracle, I arrived in time. Jumped on the train. And immediately found out that it was the wrong train, because as luck would have it, two trains were leaving from one and the same platform, one from platform 4a, one from platform 4b, and I had taken the wrong one. At this point, I burst into tears, and because it was early December and a lot of people had been doing some Christmas shopping in Ulm, a kind lady handed me some chocolate to lift my spirits. (Praise her with great praise.) I got out at the next village, and took the next train in the other direction, and then FINALLY arrived in Memmingen... half an hour before my work engagement started. (Person who was supposed to pick me up), whom I had constantly updated via mobile phone, had bought some chocolate as well and drove me directly to the place in question. Bless.
3) By hotel: This was a hotel in a Cologne suburb during another work related trip, which means I hadn't booked it. I arrived and immediately found out that ) evidently all the rooms must have been chemically disinfected not too long before, because you could still smell it, and b) there was no toilet in my room. Now, this was no youth hostel. Or a university campus. It was a hotel. And my room still did not have a toilet, so I had to use the one across the floor. It was late, I was there by train, not by car, and I had to leave early lin the morning, so looking for another hotel was out. This was before the age of mobile phones, which is important. Since my room of course did not have either a landline or something resembling a watch, I asked the hotel guy who checked me in whether someone could wake me up tomorrow morning. When, says he. 6:30, says I. No way, says he, and btw, there's no breakfast before 8.
How do you like your hotel? the person who had booked it for me later asked me. A short conversation ensued. But at least now I have an entry in this category as well. :)
The other days
1) By car: a more recent excperience, from September last year. The Aged Parents and yours truly spent a very enjoyable week on an island in the Northern Sea. En route back, however, and this is a long trip under the best of circumstances because I live in Bavaria, which is far, far away from ther Northern Sea, we had the misfortune of getting stuck in a traffic jam caused by the entire highway needing to be blocked due to chemical spillover. For eight freaking hours, until we finally made it, at snail's pace, to the next exit. (An additional problem was t hat the roads away from the Autobahn from the next exit were currently getting repaired, so there was basically just one tiny country road for the entire Autobahn traffic. You get the picture.) We had cause to be grateful that we skipped breakfast that morning - we originally wanted to do a late brunch in a highway restaurant instead, having left really early in the morning - because not only were we stuck, we were not allowed to leave the cars. I know because at hour 4 or so, I tried. And wouldn't you know it, a highway patrol was after me, admonishing me that walking on a highway was still illegal. Back into the car with my full bladder I went.
2) By train: This happened about a decade ago and was a work related trip from a small place near Essen, which is in the Ruhr area (i.e. the North-western German industrial area) to Memmingen (in the south), where I had to be in the evening. The original plan was to take a taxi to the train station in the small town, go by local train to Essen (which is a big city), and from there directly to Memmingen with a fast train. So far so good. Except that my taxi wasn't there in the morning, and since I had a big suitcase with me, and since my hotel wasn't anywhere near the train station, I couldn't walk. So a hotel employe (may he eternally be praised) gave me lift, and I caught my morning train to Essen. In Essen, however, my direct train to Memingen was announced to be late. Okay, I thought, still not a problem, since it's a direct train, so I don't have to catch any others, and I can call (Person who was going to pick me up in Memmingen) via mobile and say how late I am. I deliberately took an early connection so I would have some time in Memmingen to stroll around, get to know the city, so I'm flexible, a half an hour lateness isn't bad.
...and then it was an hour. And then it were two hours. By then, I could have of course taken some alternate connections, only for those I would have to switch trains repeatedly, there was no other direct connection, and as mentioned, I had this heavy suitcase. Then the Memmingen train finally arrived, the troop of fellow pilgrims to Swabia who had like me not taken some alternate connection stormed inside, and we hadn't been sitting there for five minutes when a train employee saw us and said: "But why didn't you take an alternate connection? This train only goes as far as Ulm!" (Which of course had not been announced at the Essen railway station.)
Still, Ulm at least was in the same province, and from there it would be just another hour or so to Memmingen with one of the local slow trains which stop at every village. Except, of course, the connecting local train from Ulm to Memingen which I was supposed to take started from the other end of the railway station. I raced. By some miracle, I arrived in time. Jumped on the train. And immediately found out that it was the wrong train, because as luck would have it, two trains were leaving from one and the same platform, one from platform 4a, one from platform 4b, and I had taken the wrong one. At this point, I burst into tears, and because it was early December and a lot of people had been doing some Christmas shopping in Ulm, a kind lady handed me some chocolate to lift my spirits. (Praise her with great praise.) I got out at the next village, and took the next train in the other direction, and then FINALLY arrived in Memmingen... half an hour before my work engagement started. (Person who was supposed to pick me up), whom I had constantly updated via mobile phone, had bought some chocolate as well and drove me directly to the place in question. Bless.
3) By hotel: This was a hotel in a Cologne suburb during another work related trip, which means I hadn't booked it. I arrived and immediately found out that ) evidently all the rooms must have been chemically disinfected not too long before, because you could still smell it, and b) there was no toilet in my room. Now, this was no youth hostel. Or a university campus. It was a hotel. And my room still did not have a toilet, so I had to use the one across the floor. It was late, I was there by train, not by car, and I had to leave early lin the morning, so looking for another hotel was out. This was before the age of mobile phones, which is important. Since my room of course did not have either a landline or something resembling a watch, I asked the hotel guy who checked me in whether someone could wake me up tomorrow morning. When, says he. 6:30, says I. No way, says he, and btw, there's no breakfast before 8.
How do you like your hotel? the person who had booked it for me later asked me. A short conversation ensued. But at least now I have an entry in this category as well. :)
The other days
