The travel day where everything went wrong
But with the sweetest destination at the end of it all!
If you are just joining me on my journey — I lost my job in March in international development due to the federal funding cuts to foreign aid. It was and still is an industry and a cause that I care about deeply, and am still processing this loss of income, identity, and purpose.
So as any responsible (or maybe irresponsible?) person who probably just needs a hug and some therapy would do.. I booked a 5 week trip to Europe to live my best unemployment life! And drain my bank account in the process—yay! No but seriously, I have no regrets.
The first stop on this European trip was a week in beautiful Bavaria, which I wrote about last week.
This week, I’m taking you to one of my very favorite countries.. if not my favorite of all time. FRANCE. We will be in France for a few weeks. Thank goodness too, because reliving this trip is giving me some life and helping me process what this trip meant to me in the face of losing something so dear, so suddenly.
My Germany to France travel day was truly something else. I exaggerate because all things considered it wasn’t that bad, but just about everything that could go wrong, went wrong.
I am a seasoned traveler, and I am proud of my ability to pivot (after a quick panic) when I need to. Something will always go wrong on a trip, this is just a reality that I’ve come to accept and sometimes it makes for a great story!
When you are traveling alone, there is nobody else. It’s just you. You have to be the one to get yourself to the next place, the next train, bus, accommodation, etc. You just have to figure it out! There is no other option. And by gosh if it’s not one of the most empowering things to look back on what a shitty day you had and realize how well you navigated it and still had a semblance of a smile on your face.
Alas this day was one of those days. I picked the most random place to visit in France after Germany because I thought, “Wouldn’t it be cute to have a quick stopover in a small town on my way from Munich to Paris?”
Let me tell you, it was VERY cute but it was NOT quick. It definitely took way longer for me to get from Munich to this town than it would have taken me to get from Munich to Paris, which is twice the distance.
I arrived at the train station in Munich ready for my big train journey, which was 3 different trains and maybe 8 hours of travel. Not terrible, I thought. But immediately when I got to the train station, something seemed off. I found my train platform, but there were some words flashing on the screen in German. I pulled out my trusty Google Translate app to find out that my train was just completely cancelled.
Cancelled? How on earth was I supposed to get on my other two trains if I couldn’t get on this one! I had about 2 beats of a panic, and then figured I would go talk to the ticket agents for the German train company (Deutsche Bahn) and see what they could do for me.
They were so kind and understanding and printed me off a few different schedules that I could follow to still get to my final destination at a decent hour. They said I could just use my same train ticket from my initial train to get on this first train. They also said I would need to go to the ticket counter at each of my stops to get new physical tickets since my stops were a bit different than my original itinerary.
“I can do that,” I thought. So I got on my first train from Munich to Mannheim and that went off without a hitch… except the train was late and I missed my connection to my next train 🙃
Alas, I went to the nice people at the ticket office in Mannheim and they had heard of the issues at the Munich train station and were also so kind. They printed me out a new itinerary, new train tickets, and I didn’t have to pay anything extra. They told me I would still need to go to the ticket office in Strasbourg to get a seat assignment and a physical ticket. My new itinerary meant that I had about an hour and a half to kill at the Mannheim train station, so of course I hit a Burger King!
Mannheim to Strasbourg went off without a hitch… until I arrived in Strasbourg to find that the ticket office was closed. While I technically had a digital ticket for the route from Strasbourg to Metz, on French trains you need to have a seat assignment to get on the train and I didn’t have one.
I was pretty worried I would be stuck there for the night. There were no other trains to my final destination that day and I couldn’t assign myself a seat in the SCNF (France train company) app. So I waited until the platform was announced and crossed my fingers that someone would take pity on my situation and let me on the train.
I *think* my attempts to speak some bad French helped me out here and the ticket taker motioned for someone who could speak English to come over so I could explain my situation. They complied and shoved me in what seemed to be the last seat on the train, and I could have cried with relief. It was already dark and close to 8 pm at this point and I just wanted to be done with the day, so thankfully the train ride itself was uneventful.
When I FINALLY got to Metz, my Airbnb was about a 20 minute walk from the train station and I really didn’t want to drag my suitcase across the cobblestones for 20 minutes so I tried to find a local bus that would get me closer. This was probably my worst moment of the day. I was panicking about it being dark, I was tired and hot and lost, and to top it off my dog sitter was texting me about my dog throwing up and not eating!
I honestly don’t know how I found the right bus or how I knew where to go (it took like 20 minutes and my good friend Google Maps), but I finally made it to the lovely comfort of my Airbnb and collapsed after one of my worst travel days in history
Honestly though? Worth it. I can’t to show you more of Metz and I’m proud of myself for navigating everything that was thrown my way with a relatively good attitude. I will remember this day with fondness!
Yes, travel mishaps such as yours can be so intimidating but you handled it very well.
What a travel day! Thanks for sharing the reality of travel.