Train Misadventures 1

Was in the train today, with the sun high up in the sky and I couldn’t help but remember about one of my misadventures with the trains in NRW last summer.  Blame it on the heat, or the hour, or on just plain confusion on my end.

So, this day I got up, prepared and was ready to go to work in Düsseldorf, from where I live the connection is pretty simple, takes an average of 15mins and the train supply for the route is more than sufficient. So usually, when I get to the bahnhof, I take the one leaving soonest and sometimes, I don’t even cross check especially when I find them on the usual Gleis (platform)….mistake number 1.

This day, I decided to take the train headed towards Aachen, it’s no brainer that it should pass through Düsseldorf…that’s what I thought. I got on the train and as always, I was on the phone chitchatting away…mistake number 2.  The train choochoos along and after 2 stops I realize the place looks funny, I’ve never been to this place before. Shocked, I stop chatting on the phone and ask the guy sitted next to me if the train was going to Düsseldorf…..need I explain that he couldn’t even get the words out of his mouth as he laughed his head off.

In my confusion, I got off the train real fast…mistake number 3. Now I was stuck in the middle of nowhere, so I check the train plan there….you know how those are when you are stuck in a tiny village that has only 2 trains passing by every hour in each direction.  I came down the platform…yes, they only had one so its not even a Bahnhof (train station) really but one mini-hof. I try to look around for a cab….hehehe, what a joke in such a village. The next train to go back to where I came from comes in half an hour. I call a cab, he asks where, I am….explain the name written on the platform, he starts laughing and says that’s to far.

I decide to get back on the gleis and wait, guess what I do as I wait. You guessed it, get back on the phone and start chitchatting….LOL, seems I never learn. This time the train comes, I get back to where my journey had started, a whole hour since I had left and as nature would have it, I take another train to Aachen but this time, it passes through Düsseldorf.

By the time I get to the office, I’m exhausted, as I open my office door…my Boss looks at me and says “Seeems this morning isn’t so good ha?”… If only she knew….

Still wondering why I hate Deutsche Bahn, stay tuned for the next misadventure.