Fuite la France: Le Fini-
My flight to Hamburg lasted one hour and 15 minutes but really it felt like seconds. It was the first hour of full sleep I had in the last three days (the 15 minutes was basically spent being plied with liqueur...thank you Lufthansa)-
It was now the evening of June 18th. Stepping off of the plane I had my first breath of German air (and yes while the air here is not that different than the air in France the key word here is that it is GERMAN, and personally I have always liked the way the word GERMAN rolls off of the tongue- a nice JA sound...I digress, moving on) from here on out it was going to be smooth sailing. I would hop a transport to Lubeck, meet up with Erika and all would be well. Unfortunately you would think I would have learned my lesson by now and immediately found some wood to knock on - crazy of me thinking such thoughts.
I walked over to the information who informed me that I had just missed the bus going to Lubeck but another would be arriving at 10:30 pm, meaning I would arrive at my destination around quarter to 12. However if I choose to use the train system the ride would only take me about 30 minutes. Well- after taking a gander at the train map there was no way in hell I was going to attempt navigating that mess of lines without someone who knew the language. Bus it was- buying my ticket I found a phone and after several unsuccessful attempts at using the German public phone system i finally connected with mom. Quickly explaining that i was in Hamburg- I told her my bus was to leave at 10:30 and I would be at the bus station at Lubeck around quater to 12- Erika could connect with me there- pass the word along. Hanging up I walked out to my stop and low and behold there was a bus already there with my bus number on it....except that the side of the bus said Hamburg - Keil. Double checking my ticket I discovered the wrong destination was written on my ticket...WHAT THE HELL.
REALLY ARE YOU KIDDING ME. COULD ANYTHING ELSE POSSIBLY GO WRONG. I GIVE UP. THE POWERS THAT BE HAVE WON. I AM NOT GOING ON THE FLIPPIN' CAMINO - CAN WE STOP ALREADY WITH THE MISADVENTURES!
Sigh.
Walking back to the information desk I turned in my ticket...for nothing. Apparently the information desk was all out of paper tickets for the bus. I would have to buy my ticket directly from the bus driver which meant I was not entirely sure what bus number i was to get on...- I was handed back my money and back to the bus stop I went.
Around 10:20 a bus pulled up in front of me. Walking up to the bus driver- I asked if the bus was heading toward Lubeck and....to my pleasant surprise the man spoke English. Germany was beginning to grow on me. Onto the bus I went and promptly at 10:30 we were off. Once again I fell asleep. Before I knew it the bus was pulling up for its final stop ( we had three stops in different towns before Lubeck). Ok I am now in the same postal code as someone I know! Now hopefully Erika would be waiting for me.....
Getting off of the bus I looked around. Empty. I walked around the entire building just to make sure she wasn't sitting somewhere. Nope. Sighing I sat down on the nearest bench. Now what- should I try to call mom back? German phones worked differently calling collect and my success rate was not good. Actually, I never did figure out exactly how I managed to connect to her back at the airport. Blind luck? A half and hour went by ...no she probably wasn't coming. ....
and that was about the time when Germany soccer team decided to lose their first world cup game.
Yes I knew this not because I had heard it on some radio or seen the latest news report on a t.v. Oh no...I was informed by the mass amounts of angry drunk Germans that suddenly and without warning filled the bus station. When I say angry I mean the the bottle smashing,- are you talking to me- what did you say about my mom- type of angry. Anything to pick a fight...keeping my head down and my mouth shut I felt it was pertinent to vacate the premises...I really hoped Erika was not wandering around in this mess. The days of stress finally had severely lowered my tolerance for these types of situations and I could feel my stomach start to clench once again. Flagging a taxi down, i simply said Best Western? He nodded and off we went. Less than five minutes later we were pulling into the Best Western Aquamarine Hotel. Ok, I would get a room, call home and figure out where the chain of 'telephone' broke down. Walking into my room I collapse onto the bed and took in the moment.
Somewhere on this island Erika had a nice safe apartment. This would be the last night I would have to spend alone. I wouldn't have to worry where I would sleep - or how I was going to get funds. Even if I didn't connect with her tonight - there would be no question in the morning. Calling mom- this time the tears that came were one's of relief. I found out that Erika wasn't sure which stop I was at, which bus I was on - where I would be dropped off. But to be honest I was happy she had not ventured out into the craziness that had over took the populace of Lubeck at the moment. After some futzing around with addresses and phone numbers, it was determined that Erika would walk to the hotel in the morning- in fact she was about a 15 minute walk away.
I slept. Finally. and in the morning around 9 a.m. there was a knock at my room. Opening the door there stood Erika.
Thank you God Thank you God Thank you God.
I was going to be ok.
It was now the evening of June 18th. Stepping off of the plane I had my first breath of German air (and yes while the air here is not that different than the air in France the key word here is that it is GERMAN, and personally I have always liked the way the word GERMAN rolls off of the tongue- a nice JA sound...I digress, moving on) from here on out it was going to be smooth sailing. I would hop a transport to Lubeck, meet up with Erika and all would be well. Unfortunately you would think I would have learned my lesson by now and immediately found some wood to knock on - crazy of me thinking such thoughts.
I walked over to the information who informed me that I had just missed the bus going to Lubeck but another would be arriving at 10:30 pm, meaning I would arrive at my destination around quarter to 12. However if I choose to use the train system the ride would only take me about 30 minutes. Well- after taking a gander at the train map there was no way in hell I was going to attempt navigating that mess of lines without someone who knew the language. Bus it was- buying my ticket I found a phone and after several unsuccessful attempts at using the German public phone system i finally connected with mom. Quickly explaining that i was in Hamburg- I told her my bus was to leave at 10:30 and I would be at the bus station at Lubeck around quater to 12- Erika could connect with me there- pass the word along. Hanging up I walked out to my stop and low and behold there was a bus already there with my bus number on it....except that the side of the bus said Hamburg - Keil. Double checking my ticket I discovered the wrong destination was written on my ticket...WHAT THE HELL.
REALLY ARE YOU KIDDING ME. COULD ANYTHING ELSE POSSIBLY GO WRONG. I GIVE UP. THE POWERS THAT BE HAVE WON. I AM NOT GOING ON THE FLIPPIN' CAMINO - CAN WE STOP ALREADY WITH THE MISADVENTURES!
Sigh.
Walking back to the information desk I turned in my ticket...for nothing. Apparently the information desk was all out of paper tickets for the bus. I would have to buy my ticket directly from the bus driver which meant I was not entirely sure what bus number i was to get on...- I was handed back my money and back to the bus stop I went.
Around 10:20 a bus pulled up in front of me. Walking up to the bus driver- I asked if the bus was heading toward Lubeck and....to my pleasant surprise the man spoke English. Germany was beginning to grow on me. Onto the bus I went and promptly at 10:30 we were off. Once again I fell asleep. Before I knew it the bus was pulling up for its final stop ( we had three stops in different towns before Lubeck). Ok I am now in the same postal code as someone I know! Now hopefully Erika would be waiting for me.....
Getting off of the bus I looked around. Empty. I walked around the entire building just to make sure she wasn't sitting somewhere. Nope. Sighing I sat down on the nearest bench. Now what- should I try to call mom back? German phones worked differently calling collect and my success rate was not good. Actually, I never did figure out exactly how I managed to connect to her back at the airport. Blind luck? A half and hour went by ...no she probably wasn't coming. ....
and that was about the time when Germany soccer team decided to lose their first world cup game.
Yes I knew this not because I had heard it on some radio or seen the latest news report on a t.v. Oh no...I was informed by the mass amounts of angry drunk Germans that suddenly and without warning filled the bus station. When I say angry I mean the the bottle smashing,- are you talking to me- what did you say about my mom- type of angry. Anything to pick a fight...keeping my head down and my mouth shut I felt it was pertinent to vacate the premises...I really hoped Erika was not wandering around in this mess. The days of stress finally had severely lowered my tolerance for these types of situations and I could feel my stomach start to clench once again. Flagging a taxi down, i simply said Best Western? He nodded and off we went. Less than five minutes later we were pulling into the Best Western Aquamarine Hotel. Ok, I would get a room, call home and figure out where the chain of 'telephone' broke down. Walking into my room I collapse onto the bed and took in the moment.
Somewhere on this island Erika had a nice safe apartment. This would be the last night I would have to spend alone. I wouldn't have to worry where I would sleep - or how I was going to get funds. Even if I didn't connect with her tonight - there would be no question in the morning. Calling mom- this time the tears that came were one's of relief. I found out that Erika wasn't sure which stop I was at, which bus I was on - where I would be dropped off. But to be honest I was happy she had not ventured out into the craziness that had over took the populace of Lubeck at the moment. After some futzing around with addresses and phone numbers, it was determined that Erika would walk to the hotel in the morning- in fact she was about a 15 minute walk away.
I slept. Finally. and in the morning around 9 a.m. there was a knock at my room. Opening the door there stood Erika.
Thank you God Thank you God Thank you God.
I was going to be ok.
posted by susan at 9:59 PM
1 Comments:
I wouldn't have thought there'd be multiple directions for buses leaving the airport; in Berlin I'm pretty sure it's the end of the line. Oh well. You escaped from France, which is what really matters.
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