I really hate not having a solid, no loop-hole plan. If you've known me for anything more than 30 seconds, you know this about me. So that time I quit my job, and decided, yeah, I'll go to Belgium for a week by the cheapest means possible, all within a two week period--well, I think I may have gone a little off my rocker.
This morning I was supposed to catch a ride share to Brussels. The driver wanted to meet at Karlsplatz (which if you don't know Munich, is a huge square in town, with busy streets cutting through it, shopping centers, every kind of Munich public transport, and during Oktoberfest it's swamped with tourists). This was bad decision number one. Instead of making sure he knew what I looked like and I knew what he looked like and we had a clear "we're meeting on this corner at this time and I will be wearing this color" plan; I decided that no, I'll fly by the seat of my pants.
So of course I missed my ride. I actually saw him an hour and a half after we were supposed to meet, driving away to the Autobahn on ramp and looking very angry. Understantable.
But then what did I do? Admit defeat? Go back to the family friends who keep me so well fed? Drop my stuff at the train station and go to Oktoberfest? Wouldn't that have been clever.
Nope. I went to the Reisebuero (travel agency) and asked for directions to an internet cafe, which I couldn't find, but spent a good 20 minutes walking the cobbled streets looking for. I bought a charger for my new cell phone. Which was not the ideal kind of charger, and is also redundant, since I forgot that I brought my American cell phone and charger with and they are packed and perfectly functional in my rucksack. I went and sat in another internet cafe for an hour trying to find another ride for today. But nothing was free and the man who I called three times in a row had to explain to me three times that his car was full. And then I carried my thoroughly beaten butt home (slowly). Listened to funk music (while the guy standing behind me on the S-Bahn kept looking over my shoulder at my song choices). And gave my family friends a good laugh (I mean, I was supposed to be half way to Belgium at that point). Mind you. I did all of this while wearing dress clothes, boots and dragging behind me 45 lbs of clothes, books and camera, all intended for my vacation.
6 hours of waiting and trains and dragging a roller suitcase with one wheel that gets jammed on bumps over cobblestone streets, I'm home and fed and trying to make plans that don't involve me laying on a couch reading instead of visiting a beautiful European city. Hopefully this time with a little more security and experience to back up my choices of transportation and hosts.
Of course there's always that ride to Gent on Wednesday. Yep. I'm totally off my rocker.
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