The joys of travel in a foreign country

Paris has been a wonderful stop on my travels, so much so, that I extended my stay a few days… But foreign languages and foreign cultures have their pitfalls. I disovered that in my last two days in Paris.

I decided to take the train to Amsterdam, to explore what freedom of expression really means, so went off yesterday to buy my ticket – easy enough and 94 Euros saw me booked on the train, 2nd class, to Amsterdam, leaving today. Except, that when I arrived back at my hostel – I am staying in hostels on this part of my holiday and it is great fun – I found that my ticket had vanished, disappeared, it was no more….. Oh well, a few drinks and some good company at the bar watching France win the football, got me over this loss.

So this morning, after not sleeping that well for some reason – I found myself going over and over what might have happened to my train ticket – I got up early and went back to Gare du Nord to buy another ticket. I explained that I had lost mine, but the French lass was not that sympathetic and in fact I had to pay 20 Euros more for the second ticket, still 2nd class – not sure why. This all took me much less time than I had allowed, so to pass the time had a second breakfast at a cafe on the street – coffee au lait and croissant – and waited for my train to leave. Now, I had no clear idea, from my (second) ticket, where I was sitting, except I had an aisle seat, no 107.

The departure time finally arrived and I made my way to the train, which seemed miles long. I asked directions to my seat (not something a man usually does) and was, rudely I thought, mayeb it was just the  French, directed further down the train and finally settled down in seat 107 for the 4 hour trip to Amsterdam. Luxury seats, onboard wifi and power point for the laptop. So I felt good. But then the announcements came, to say this train was going to Cologne, via Brussels, with no mention of Amsterdam. And I heard this announcement in 4 languages, French, Dutch, German and finally English, so I guessed it was correct. Hmmmm, maybe I am on the wrong train, but as I begin to gather up my things, the train starts moving, so what the heck, I am on, and I am going where it is going. 

Luckily a conductor came along after 15 minutes, during which time I imagined myself ending up where I didn’t want to be, to check tickets and he informed me that I was on the wrong train, but luckily the right train was attached, even further up front, and I would be able to change when we arrived in Brussels – a 5 minute stop to delink the two trains. So I finally found my correct seat, also 107, on the forward train, but in much more cramped seats, no wifi and no power point for my laptop – but I have arrived safely and right on time, in Amsterdam.

The good news and happy ending to this slightly more stressful trip, is that my hostel is within easy walking distance from the train station and right in the middle of all the action, the coffee shops, the red light district and all the activities that Amsterdam is famous for. So I guess I won’t get much sleep tonight.