blog...b-log...backlog
lots of catching up to do...
I take it back!! I take it all back!!! Everything I said about the Deutsche Bahn!!! The DB is amazing. It's wonderful. So well-organized. So efficient... in comparison to the trains in Spain and France, that is. Oh the drama here...
...WELL, I started writing that a couple weeks ago, and since then, I've had a few more unpleasant encounters with the Deutsche Bahn, so I don't take it back. Not a single word. For those of you who were still masochistic enough to at least *think* about traveling with me, here are a few more reasons not to...
so when i had to go pick up my bag that the airline had lost--yes, i had to go pick it up myself...long story--i had to take a train from perpignan to girona. or, to be more accurate, i ended up having to take 3 trains, but you know. after getting the call from the airline, i stopped by the train station to see what time i could leave. the next train was leaving at 1:45...but happened to be delayed an hour and half--or rather, it was basically just cancelled/replaced by the next regularly scheduled train at 3:15. no problem. i wouldn't have been really likely to make the first train anyway. so 3:15 it is. except that when i get to the train station...cancelled again. no explanation. no apology. just no. riiiiight. next train: 5:06 or something like that. fine. it'll have to do. and it does. there was, of course, lots of drama with languages and train timetables and trying to work around hourly bus schedules and bizarre spanish taxi drivers. but i make it to the airport, get my bag back. everything's there, it's all good. i make it back to the train station in girona literally two minutes before the last train to france is leaving, and of course, i have no idea, if there'll even be a connecting train to perpignan once i get into france at cerbere... but such is life--or at least my life anyway.
i'm not exactly keen on sleeping at--or rather, outside of--train stations, but you know... there are worse places to do it than southern france in mid-april, right?? so you'd think... but... if you could SEE the train station at cerbere... the place looks worse than your average abandoned... i don't even know what. prison? asylum? public restroom? i don't know, but it's gritty, dirty, covered with a layer of gray i don't even know what, and you'd NEVER know you were just a couple of kilometers from the ocean. that's for sure. my point? NOT exactly the kind of place you want to spend the night.
which is why i was EXTRAORDINARILY relieved when i saw that there was one last train stopping in perpignan... but i had to wait an hour and a half at the creepy train station first--good times. so i finally get on the train--it's now almost midnight. the train ride is about half an hour, and since i didn't have an itinerary or anything or really know how many stops there were, and they don't really announce those things on the trains in france, i was a bit paranoid about missing my stop. then, as it got closer to the time i was supposed to get off the train, i got up and moved to an exit. then it occurred to me, that i might actually be the only person getting off in perpignan--it was a night train to nice, and it seemed like everyone i had chatted with at the train station was going there--and i had visions of me standing there, for some reason unable to get the door open, no one knowing i needed to get off the train and being trapped there... i don't know. it was late. i was tired. i wanted to go home. it happens. so i wander through the train til i find someone else waiting to get off the train. cool. at least i'm not the only one. then i look at my clock. it's about time for us to be arriving in perpignan. but we don't. five minutes go by. ten. fifteen. i'm getting nervous. suddenly the train speeds up and seems to be rocking a lot more than is necessary. i was literally thrown against the side of the train. oh my god, am i going to die?!!? of all the ways to go... it's now almost half an hour after the time we were supposed to get to perpignan. again. no explanation, no apology. nothing. finally, we get there and i do manage to open the door. all by myself. and make it back to mel's--this time WITH my bag--in one piece.
then there's the flight to england. mysteriously delayed. about an hour. no apparent reason. other delayed flights were at least listed as "delayed"... not mine. we didn't even start boarding until well after we were supposed to have left. typical.
i was already going to be getting to london pretty late. and poor steph had arrived earlier in the day--from california, jetlag and all, and now has to wait up even longer for me... not MY bloody fault, but still kind of sucks.
london, of course, was fabulous. as was hanging out with steph in general. good times. not to mention that just being in an english-speaking country--especially after the french/spanish/catalan chaos--was a beautiful thing...
the return flight was...surprisingly uneventful. i flew with germanwings from london to stuttgart, and as i was boarding the plane, i noticed the Baden-Württemberg logo/motto thing on the plane:
and i found myself smiling: i'm going home.
how weird is that?? ... "that IS weird." =)
I take it back!! I take it all back!!! Everything I said about the Deutsche Bahn!!! The DB is amazing. It's wonderful. So well-organized. So efficient... in comparison to the trains in Spain and France, that is. Oh the drama here...
...WELL, I started writing that a couple weeks ago, and since then, I've had a few more unpleasant encounters with the Deutsche Bahn, so I don't take it back. Not a single word. For those of you who were still masochistic enough to at least *think* about traveling with me, here are a few more reasons not to...
so when i had to go pick up my bag that the airline had lost--yes, i had to go pick it up myself...long story--i had to take a train from perpignan to girona. or, to be more accurate, i ended up having to take 3 trains, but you know. after getting the call from the airline, i stopped by the train station to see what time i could leave. the next train was leaving at 1:45...but happened to be delayed an hour and half--or rather, it was basically just cancelled/replaced by the next regularly scheduled train at 3:15. no problem. i wouldn't have been really likely to make the first train anyway. so 3:15 it is. except that when i get to the train station...cancelled again. no explanation. no apology. just no. riiiiight. next train: 5:06 or something like that. fine. it'll have to do. and it does. there was, of course, lots of drama with languages and train timetables and trying to work around hourly bus schedules and bizarre spanish taxi drivers. but i make it to the airport, get my bag back. everything's there, it's all good. i make it back to the train station in girona literally two minutes before the last train to france is leaving, and of course, i have no idea, if there'll even be a connecting train to perpignan once i get into france at cerbere... but such is life--or at least my life anyway.
i'm not exactly keen on sleeping at--or rather, outside of--train stations, but you know... there are worse places to do it than southern france in mid-april, right?? so you'd think... but... if you could SEE the train station at cerbere... the place looks worse than your average abandoned... i don't even know what. prison? asylum? public restroom? i don't know, but it's gritty, dirty, covered with a layer of gray i don't even know what, and you'd NEVER know you were just a couple of kilometers from the ocean. that's for sure. my point? NOT exactly the kind of place you want to spend the night.
which is why i was EXTRAORDINARILY relieved when i saw that there was one last train stopping in perpignan... but i had to wait an hour and a half at the creepy train station first--good times. so i finally get on the train--it's now almost midnight. the train ride is about half an hour, and since i didn't have an itinerary or anything or really know how many stops there were, and they don't really announce those things on the trains in france, i was a bit paranoid about missing my stop. then, as it got closer to the time i was supposed to get off the train, i got up and moved to an exit. then it occurred to me, that i might actually be the only person getting off in perpignan--it was a night train to nice, and it seemed like everyone i had chatted with at the train station was going there--and i had visions of me standing there, for some reason unable to get the door open, no one knowing i needed to get off the train and being trapped there... i don't know. it was late. i was tired. i wanted to go home. it happens. so i wander through the train til i find someone else waiting to get off the train. cool. at least i'm not the only one. then i look at my clock. it's about time for us to be arriving in perpignan. but we don't. five minutes go by. ten. fifteen. i'm getting nervous. suddenly the train speeds up and seems to be rocking a lot more than is necessary. i was literally thrown against the side of the train. oh my god, am i going to die?!!? of all the ways to go... it's now almost half an hour after the time we were supposed to get to perpignan. again. no explanation, no apology. nothing. finally, we get there and i do manage to open the door. all by myself. and make it back to mel's--this time WITH my bag--in one piece.
then there's the flight to england. mysteriously delayed. about an hour. no apparent reason. other delayed flights were at least listed as "delayed"... not mine. we didn't even start boarding until well after we were supposed to have left. typical.
i was already going to be getting to london pretty late. and poor steph had arrived earlier in the day--from california, jetlag and all, and now has to wait up even longer for me... not MY bloody fault, but still kind of sucks.
london, of course, was fabulous. as was hanging out with steph in general. good times. not to mention that just being in an english-speaking country--especially after the french/spanish/catalan chaos--was a beautiful thing...
the return flight was...surprisingly uneventful. i flew with germanwings from london to stuttgart, and as i was boarding the plane, i noticed the Baden-Württemberg logo/motto thing on the plane:
and i found myself smiling: i'm going home.
how weird is that?? ... "that IS weird." =)
posted by be at 11:11 PM
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