One lesson I’ve learnt is that it is very easy to get lost. Particularly if you think you know what you’re doing but actually don’t. And especially if you don’t want to ask for help.
Obviously, I know what I’m talking about.
In my defence, you really don’t want to ask for help in non-English speaking countries for two reasons. One is that you want to believe that you’re clever and resourceful enough to work it out for yourself. The second is that it is really embarrassing bumbling your way through a language you don’t know, but to expect that people speak English is at best hopeful and at worst, thoroughly patronising.
Since my flight flew into Frankfurt and I wanted to be in Berlin, Glenn bought me a cheap train ticket in advance. He gave me three hours to get from the airport to the main train station. That was plenty of time so I felt relaxed about it all and dawdled my way out of the airport. Once at the train station I felt a little confused that my train was not showing up on any timetable or indicator board but not concerned enough to do anything about it.
Eventually, I asked at the information desk and was told to go downstairs and something else that I couldn’t understand because of language problems. I still wasn’t panicking, but I asked a conductor and was told that I was at the wrong station and to get on the next train. As he walked off, he turned and said “two, twoâ€. In my stupidity, I thought this meant the second carriage and hopped on the next train. Wrong. He had meant that I should take the second train. I was on an express to the side of the country that I didn’t want to go to.
Still, doofus that I am, I didn’t realise this until the friendly ticket inspector told me. Since it was an express train, it made very few stops and I was on it for at least 15 minutes. My available time was rapidly starting to dwindle. I arrived in Mainz, asked about the next train to Frankfurt Main and ran to catch it. Of course, this train was an all stops. At each stop I willed the train to keep moving but my psychokinetic powers were not strong enough. The 35 minutes I had to get back weren’t enough. I arrived into Frankfurt Main about three minutes before my train was due to leave and it was a long way from where I was to the platform.
Assumptions are bad – don’t assume everything is going to be cool until it is!
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