mirevolver

Ran a search on this and got no results. So tell us a story of your travels whether it be good, bad, interesting, amusing or whatever.

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So to start, here's one of mine

The Night in Berlin:

While I was in Germany last summer, I decided to take a weekend trip to Berlin. I was able to work the trip out rather well because I have a cousin who has lived there for the past 20 or so years. So I was able to stay at his apartment and not have to pay a hotel for my stay and he was also my personal tour guide for the first day I was in Berlin.

So it came to the last night I was there and my cousin wanted to do his usual thing and hang out at a bar across the street from his apartment. I on the other hand wanted to go out and have some fun. Unfortunatly for me it was a sunday and not much was open. But I decided to head over to Potsdammer Platz and see if something was open.

When I got there, I found that a movie theater which played OF (Origional Format) movies. So after having spent the past two weeks speaking German, listining to people speak German, and watching German TV, I was quite excited to be ableto see a movie that was not dubbed over in German.

I walked into the movie theater and bought a ticket to the next movie showing. Unfortunatly the movie was Harry Potter 3. But I really didn't care about that, all I really cared about was that it was in English.

After the movie was over, it was 12:50am. Normally this would not have been a problem, except tonight was sunday night and I needed the U-Bahn (subway) to get back to my cousin's place. And the U-Bahn shuts down at 1:00am. So I quickly made my way out of the theater and out of the Sony center. Then I ignored a red crosswalk signal (I figured the German drivers would stop anyway, plus I was not the only one to ignore the signal). I dashed across an open area, crossed a smaller street and made it to the U-Bahn station. At that point, I and a couple of German girls also heading to the station, inconveniently noticed that the station had closed it's gates.

I thought, no problem, I'll take the S-Bahn (elevated train). So I went to the S-Bahn station. Now have used the U-Bahn the entire time I was in Berlin, I did not know exactly which S-Bahn to take. After looking on a map, I figured I should go to Fredrich Strasse so I would be on the main S-Bahn line, and then figure out where to go.

But first I needed a ticket. I walked over to the nearest ticket machine and went through the process of getting a ticket. I got to the screen displaying the fair, 2 Euros. I pulled out two 1-Euro coins and fed them into the machine; they dropped into the coin return. I grabbed the coins and put them back into the machine; again they dropped into the coin return. At this time a train entered the station, and as my luck had it, it was going to Fredrich Strasse. I hit cancel on the machine and then flew through the screens to get my ticket again. I once again returned to the fair of 2 Euros. Once again I fed the coins into the machine, one went through and the other dropped into the coin return. Determined not to miss the train, I grabbed the coin and slammed it into the machine. It was accecpted.

After waiting for what seemed like an eternity of looking at the machine, then the train, then back at the machine, then at the train again; the machine finally printed my ticket and gave it to me. But I still could not get on the train. I had to have my ticket stamped by another machine. I ran over the stamping machin and stuck the ticket into it; nothing happened. While using a mixture of English and German to curse at the machine, I pulled my ticket out and put it back in. It stamped the ticket and I ran onto the train with the doors closing right behind me.

I got off at Fredrich Strasse, it's now 1:20am and I look at the train map to figure out where I should ride the next S-Bahn to. I narrowed it down to two stops, and then selected one since the U-Bahn runs through there, and therefore I was familiar with that station. The next train headed that way came and I got on it and rode it to the station I had planned on.

I walked out of the station and did not have a clue where to go from there. So I decided to go back into the station and take the S-Bahn back to the other station I had narrowed it down to. I made my way up to the platform only to find that I had just gotten off of the last S-Bahn of the night. At this point the exact words going through my mind were, "Ach, scheiße!"

The time is now 1:40am and I'm wandering in the area around the station trying to figure out where to go. Fortunatly, I have a cell phone that works globally and I figure that this would be a good time to pay the $1/minute international roaming so I can call my cousin and figure out where I need to go. After looking through my pockets for his phone number, I realized that I left the paper with his number in my bag which was in his apartment.

It's 1:45am and I come across a sign in English that says, "Tourist info center, 5min. walk." and on the sign was an arrow. I took off in the direction of the arrow figuring that they may not be open, but they might have a map of Berlin in the window.

It's 2:00am and I still have not found the info center. At this point I realized that it's 6:00pm in the US where my dad is and so I'll use my cell phone and call him thinking that he would have my cousin's number. The phone conversation goes like this:

(ring)
My dad: Hello
Me: Hi dad, you wouldn't happen to have (cousin's name)'s phone number?
My dad: Actually, I don't. Aren't you supposed to be in Berlin this weekend?
Me: Oh, yes, I'm in Berlin.
My dad: Is there a problem?
Me: No, no problem, it's 2:00am and I'm lost somewhere on the streets of Berlin, but other than that everything's fine.
My dad: What do you mean by lost?
Me: Well, I'm not exactly lost. I know exactly where I am and I know exactly where my cousin lives, I just don't know how to get from where I am to where he lives.
My dad: Can you take the U-Bahn or S-Bahn?
Me: They shut down for the night. The next U-Bahn runs at 4:00am.

At this point I found the tourist info center and just as I had hoped, there was a map in the window and on the map was a red arrow with the words, "Sie sind hier." (You are here). So I told my dad that think I've found a solution and that the call was costing me $1/minute, then I hung up and turned off my cell phone.

After breifly looking at a map I plotted a course which I later realized took me through an area with no lighting, and began walking. I arrived at my cousin's apartment at 2:45am.

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Aside from my great plans to become the future dictator of the moon, I have little interest in political discussions.

Catmandu

A travel story: July, 2001, France (Dinan, maybe? I can't remember). My wife, my daughter, and I have walked a couple miles from the train station to the hotel. I took the bags to the room and my wife made arrangements for us to leave the hotel early the next morning. Morning comes, we pack up, and find all the hotel's outside doors locked. It seems my wife was not paying attention when the desk clerk explained how we could get out 1 specific door. Since it was an old hotel, it had an emergency key in a glass box by each door. I proceeded to extract the key and get the back door open. I made it down to the parking lot to find that a locked gate with razor wire on top prevented us from going any farther. As I was going back upstairs I noticed a lady across the alley staring at me. At this point we had already missed our bus which was to take us to next town's train station. I was yelling at my wife. She was yelling at someone on the phone. My daughter was crying. A cab driver was yelling at us from outside the building, as he had been trying to get us out. Finally, the translation clicked and my wife figured out what door to use. We climbed into the cab and took off. This is where things got pleasantly strange. The cab driver said he knew what bus we needed, so he took off after it. Along the way we passed the police who appeared to be on the way to our hotel. I never found out, but I assume the lady across the alley called them about me. The cabbie caught the bus and pretty much forced it to stop. The bus driver actually let us on. As it turned out, we were on a local bus instead of an express, so we missed our train connection to Paris. However, when we got to the train station, the bus driver took us by the hand and delivered us to a ticket agent who got us a spot on the next train. Amazingly, they also gave us money back because we took the cheaper bus! So, all-in-all, a very stressful morning but we got to Paris no more than 1 hour later than we had planned.

Grasshopper Green

My husband and I went to Puerta Vallarta for our anniversary in November. Our first full day there we went swimming with dolphins; we took a cab from our hotel to the excursion area. We just got out of the cab and were walking into the registration area when I realized I had left my purse in the cab. My credit cards, passport, drivers license, room key (100 dollar replacement fee), anti-depressants (which make you very sick if you come off them cold turkey), and paperwork necessary to leave Mexico were ALL in my purse. I freaked out. They didn't have a phone book in the registration office, so we couldn't call our hotel. My hubby explained to the girl in the office what had happened, so she called her company office and got the phone number to our hotel and explained to the concierge what had happened. In Puerta Vallarta, cabs will return to the hotel/area that they started at that day, so thankfully the cab went back to the hotel. After an agonizing fifteen minute wait, the girl told us they had found the cab driver and he was on the way back with my purse. I can't believe I had been so careless, and my purse didn't leave my side the rest of the trip. However, it was a testimony to the helpful nature and generosity that we continued to experience while we were there. Our trip could have turned into a disaster but turned out great.

Catmandu

Medusa, I was about to write that you were lucky you didn't end up paying for a couple of TVs, a few extra meals, etc. But then I thought to myself that maybe I'm being too cynical. The majority of the world are peaceful lawful people. I shouldn't be surprised by stories like yours that end well. I guess it's cuz we usually only hear the horror stories.

maleficent

Paris, France
I was on an extended business trip to London, and had seen everything ther was to see in London so I branched out. Made reservations for a hotel in Paris for a weekend, nothing fancy, company wasnt paying for it, I was. So I took the train thru the Chunnel, and off for some fun.

I dropped my stuff at the hotel, 4th floor of a hotel that had no elevator, no air conditioning, no one that spoke english, oh, and the bathroom was at the end of the hall. I learned then and there, what charming really meant, shit hole.

So, this is OK, I head off and start exploring Paris, and I'm having a grand ole time for myself, stop for dinner a cute restaurant and do more exploring, by now, my feet are aching, I am tired, need a bathroom, want a shower, and some quiet. I get to the hotel, only to find it locked up.

One of the things onthe check in sheet, that I couldn't quite translate, the hotel had a curfew, and if you miss curfew, well, see ya in the morning. Now, I left my passport, my wallet, and other important stuff in the hotel (i just took some cash with me when I went out), so another hotel would be impossible, I wandered over to a bench and sat down. At some point, I must have fallen asleep because I am being tapped on the foot by a policeman. WHo'd babbling away at me in French. I have problems with English when I am just woken up, French was impossible.

he's firing off questions at me, I'm sitting there looking like an idiot, at some point, I think he stopped yammering long enough to hear me say, Je Ne Parle Francais, Je suis une Americain... He got this weird look on his face, shook his head and just wandered off.

I left Paris the next day.

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Grasshopper Green

Maybe I'm cynical too, but had it happened here in the States, I don't think I'd have gotten it back. I was very lucky indeed. We gave the cab driver a huge tip in thank you, but I honestly think he would have done it for free, that's just how everyone down there was.

Crisis

Not too interesting but my most recent travel experience had me delayed for 17 hours in Pearson Intl (Toronto). They were good enough to give me a hotel room for the day and meal vouchers. I thought that was good enough for the day I lost dicking around but when I finally got on the plane they gave me a $200 voucher to use for the airline.

Rippley

Medusa99, I had a similar experience in Chile, e few years back. Managed to leave my dayplanner, with my passport and planetickets, on a crowded downtown bus. So I freaked out, shanghaied some local assistance and made my way to the buscompany headoffice (which turned out to be a hole in the wall somewhere, where the drivers all went to hang out. I think the "administrative staff" was one guy with a phone...). Against all possible odds, some passenger had found the dayplanner, given it to the driver, who had then dropped it off at the office. I just about passed out from gratitude when they gave it back to me, contents intact... Goes to show, human nature isn't all bad.

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roadrazer - 300kgs, 300hp = pure fun.

tommylee02

My wife got a little too drunk in Greece one night. Her sister and I put her in bed (naked) and went out to party at a local bar. When we returned, we learned that she had sleepwalked around the hotel, naked, drunk and blind (without her glasses). She woke up to someone at the hotel saying "Damn, what kind of crazy orgy is this?!". She immediately gained 'conciousness' and realized what had happened. She tried to make it back to the room ... but she didn't know the number!! She had to go to the front desk!!! Luckily we were in Greece, and nudity is prevalent and accepted. There is a lesson to be learned though! HAHA! She was crying, but we (her sister and I) could hardly hold in the laughter. Now, we can all laugh about it.