Travel Day From Hell

On my way back to Holland from Ratingen it had to be the worst travel day I have ever experienced. I leave for the train station at about 6 and when I go to purchase my ticket from the kiosk it says the first two connections I won’t make because of delays. I figured that is ok, because they were only 30 minute train rides anyway. So my first train was scheduled to arrive at 6:30 it doesn’t show up until 7. At 7:15 I arrive at Dusseldorf  HBF and I check the timetables to see if I can get onto another train because my previous timetable wouldn’t work anymore. So I see that there is a train leaving in 5 minutes so I run to the platform and the conductor person, or ticket man is standing outside the door facing the train talking to a man. So I stand behind him waiting for him to move so I can get onto the train. He finishes talking, walks up the steps onto the train, presses a button, turns around and looks down on me and I look up at him, like can I get on? Then all of a sudden the doors close and he is still looking down at me and I up at him as the door slams shut and off the train goes. I’m standing there like what the heck just happened and then become enraged because I wanted to get onto that train to get back to Apeldoorn. So as I’m mouthing obscenities I walk back downstairs to the kiosk to find yet another timetable. Find out there is another train leaving the same platform I was just on, so head back up the stairs with my luggage, tennis bag, backpack, and flowers I received from the tournament. So I’m waiting on the platform and the board changes and there is no train. I ask information what happened and he tells me the train was cancelled. Now I am fuming because all the trains are delayed and cancelled, and it’s wicked hot in the station. So I’m sweating lugging my things around. I end up squishing all my flowers so I throw them into the trash. I go back and check the timetable for a third time and find a train that is going to Munster which was delayed so I had time to get it. It arrives about an hour later at Dusseldorf. So at 8 I’m on it, but there is no AC on the train and the car I get into is closed. (It was the one with the small rooms and a long hallway down the side.) So I sit on the floor next to the bathroom sweating like a pig. About 30 minutes later the ticket lady comes and tells me there is AC in the next car. So she helps me with my bags and finds me a room with a husband and wife and their small boy who must be about 3 or 4 years old. The kid starts climbing all over me, trying to take my water, and wants my Kindle. His father slaps the kid on the head, yanks him off the chair by his ankle so he falls to the floor, he starts crying until his mom picks him up. Like I didn’t realize how harsh you can treat you kid in Germany, either that or Americans are just soft. Who knows, but it made me feel very awkward. So finally we get to Munster at 9:30 and the place is just overrun with people. There were people hanging out the windows and doors of a train across the track, on the other side there were about 300 people lined up waiting for a train to arrive, and a huge line at the information booth looking for answers about which train to get on. There was also construction going on, so there are barriers and yellow tape everywhere, the pavement was unfinished, and the escalators didn’t work. So I walked down the steps to read the big board of arrivals and departures and it says where I need to go. So head back up to the platform and there is a different train there. Not the one I need. The information says this train was leaving two minutes after the one I was supposed to be on. So just to double check I take me stuff, walk down to the big board again and it still says the same platform. So I head back up and wait. Apparently we need to wait until the first train left. So finally get onto the train, the ticket man comes around and says I need to get off the train at a certain stop and get to the front because half of the train is continuing on and the other is heading the opposite way. So at the stop I get my things and walk to the front of the train so I don’t get left behind. I finally reach Eschnede at about 11:30 and my next train doesn’t arrive until 5am. So I’m thinking whether or not to find a hotel room, staying at the train station, or take a taxi home. So I’m just sitting on a bench thinking about what to do when three security guards come walking over with some man in a red shirt, who looks like he is on drugs or drunk and sit him down next to me. Of all the benches! So they’re talking to him then two police officers come and ask him questions. Then one of the security officers asks me if someone is picking me up. I tell him the situation and he says I can’t stay here because the station is closing. So I take my things and walk outside and sit on the bench contemplating and about 5 minutes later the same guard comes out and tells me a taxi would be expensive to get back, try for a hotel because the area isn’t very nice to just be sitting around. So I look up hotels then just decide I want to head back, so I ended up taking about a 45 minute taxi ride back to Apeldoorn. The first 20 minutes the driver was texting probably his girlfriend because it was nonstop. I thought we were going to end up off the side of the road, or in the back of another car. Scary. Then he pulls into a gas station and asks if I want something, I say no but he insisted so I say a Coke. He comes back with a Coke and a Red Bull and candy for him. Apparently so he wouldn’t get tired. But I finally get to the house at about 1am after spending about half of my prize money. And in bed by 2am. Crazy day. Life is an adventure that’s for sure!