LOST ABROAD
Written by Captain Mary on Monday, May 23, 2011As I traveled Europe alone, I had only one fear, that was what if I missed a flight and was stuck in a foreign country. Well, as always our worst fears come to pass. I moved at a ridiculous pace keeping up with my itinerary. So much to do in such little time, not getting enough sleep and my brain cells fried in the process. I was doing well, until it came to Greece. I was so overwhelmed by all the amazing sights and sounds. I wanted to do so much, when I knew I wasn't exactly getting enough rest the first time is when I got locked in a train that had made it to its termination. I was heading to see a Greek beach, to enjoy the coast line of yet another country, perhaps just to escape the city to clear my empty head. I fell asleep on the commuter train, as everyone aboard departed from the train I was in deep sleep. I finally woke, looked around and realized that I was locked in. I stood at the train door wondering how I was going to get out. I guess I made enough noise to alert the conductor and he smiled his big beautiful Greek smile and let me out. How could anyone fall asleep with all that noise and commotion of people getting on and off a commuter train? I do believe that everything happens for a reason and this is a picture of where I ended up.
Not such a bad mistake. I enjoyed the beauty of this beach, surrounded by mountains and islands. Well, I shrugged that off and continued on my journey. I had already checked out of my room for the night because my flight was at 4 am, that meant I had to be there by 2 am, which of course meant I had to first get to the airport. The last train left at midnight, figure out the math, no time for sleep. I met some fantastic girls from Canada and we headed out together, but first we decided instead of hanging out at the hostel we would go to the plaza and just enjoy the evening, the view of the Parthenon looking over the city. We made our train without a hitch, checked in and just waited for our flights. This particular flight was the only one I had that wasn't direct. I had a one hour lay over in Prague, Czech Republic. Didn't seem like a big deal, I slept on the
flight there.
I arrived at Prague and followed the signs to my gate, I didn't notice anyone around, and out of pure exhaustion I fell asleep in my seat. I woke looked at my watch and the plane had boarded without me. In a panic I went for help. The people in Prague are not friendly at all. All they did was send me in the wrong direction and even at the help desk, talked to each other saying I was a stupid American, which, of course, I understood and told them so. My connecting flight was only an hour away, so there must be alternate transportation! I knew from my travel thus far, that there is always a central train station, which I found after lots of wrong directions. Finding English speaking people was a task, but I did find the international train station to Berlin. I was only partly relieved when I got on the train, because now I didn't know where I was going to get off. At this point I was scared to death about falling asleep, not knowing how long the trip was or any information about my journey. Even the people on the train would not help me. Finally, finding someone who was also going to Berlin, I simply followed her and when I walked out of the train station, the familiar sights of Berlin was the first time in 8 hours that I had felt relief. I know with all the stress of missing my flight and finding my way somehow, I couldn't help looking out of the trains picture windows and see what I would have missed if I didn't miss my flight. Czech Republic was breath taking, the train followed a beautiful river all the way to Berlin. So, everything does happen for a reason. No regrets.
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