Krakow, Polska
Haha ... just kidding. I didn't quite make it to Poland. In fact, I didn't quite make it past Hannover. Here is the story to end all stories:
I had booked a trip to go to Krakow, Poland. I was to leav Friday at 4PM from Mannheim to Krakow, with connections in Hannover and Berlin. My train to Hannover was going along pretty fine. I found a seat on this crowded train, wrote in my journal a bit, listened to some music ... until I was unexpectedly kicked out of my seat by someone who had claim to it. Not fair. They didn't have claim to it when I sat down. Now, this train is really crowded and all the floor seats are also taken (as in the space between cars where people sit on the floor) so I stand for about 2 more hours. Lovely. As we are ambling along the countryside, the train personal comes on the loud speaker and informs us that the train is running late. About 20 minutes late. He then mentions that if we are trying to get to Berlin, we may want to get off in Göttingen and make our way to Berlin from there. Since I am trying to catch my night train in Berlin, I make my way to the train personel office and inquire if I should get off in Göttingen of if I should stay on to Hannover (note: my train to Berlin was supposed to leave 15 minutes after I was supposed to have arrived in Hannover ... so since we are running 15 - 20 minutes late, this did not look promising). The train personel man called some people and then informed me that the train to Berlin was also running about 10 minutes late, and it would wait for our train, so I would be fine. Oh good. I settled in for the rest of my journey.
Upon reaching Hannover I ran off the train and made my way to Platform 9, where the Berlin train was supposed to be. It was scheduled to depart at 7:31PM. It was about 7:35PM. I was going to make it, I thought. It probably wouldn't even be at the track yet, since it was running late. When I reached the track I saw no train. This backed my first conclusion. I then looked at the train information board for the track and it listed the next train departing from this track was at 7:55PM and it was heading to Braunschweig. Hmm. Where is the Berlin train? I thought it might have changed tracks, so I hurried to ask someone. The person in charge of the track said the Berlin train came and went. This was now a problem. I made my way to the Travel Center to see how else I could make my way to Krakow that evening. The lady there said there was only one possibility: Hannover - Warsaw at 12:34AM, and then I could take a train from Warsaw to Krakow the next morning. Ok, I though, I could do that. There was another problem though. I could only board this train if they happened to have a free bed, since reservations are required, and I obviously didn't have one for this train. The only way I could find out if they had a free spot was to wait til 12:34 and ask when the train arrived. I decided to chance it. I wandered about the train station a bit, looking at shops to kill time (I had 5 hours to kill). I then made my way outside to look at Hannover a bit. I had never really been there except for the airport and train station. As I was making may way through the pedestrian zone it started to spinkle, then rain, then deluge. Perfect. Now I was wet. I went back to the train station and settled down on the floor to read (because, of course, there are no seats in the train station, only on the platforms).
I don't know how I killed 5 hours, but eventually it was almost time for the Warsaw train to come. I went to the platform and waited. And waited. This train decided to be 20 minutes late as well. When the train arrived I went up to the first train personel I saw and tried to explain my situation. He instead grabbed my ticket and looked at it, then shook his head. I tried to explain again but he said he did not speak German. English?, I asked. No, Ruska, he replied. Apparently have the train was going to Moscow while the other half was going to Warsaw. I made my way to the Polish side and found a girl arguing with the train guy there. She was in the same predicament I was in. They train guy was very rudely telling her she could not get on and there were no free spots. He told me the same thing. So now I realized that I was stuck in Hannover and would not be going to Poland for the weekend. Not cool. I decided to catch a train to Braunschweig where I could spend the night with the Canadians I had met when I studied there (Braunschweig is an hour away). Of course, by this time (1AM), there were no more train running. The next train to Braunschweig was at 4:55AM. Another 4 hour wait.
I was getting really tired by now, so I decided to find a hotel or somewhere I could sleep. I searched and found four hotels, but none of them had a free room. I called up Calvin, one of the Canadians in Braunschweig, and asked if there was any way to get to Braunschweig at that time of night. He replied no, and tried to help me find a place to stay for the night. No luck. The hostels in the area did not accept night time check-ins. I saw a poster for a hotel a few subway stops away, and since I had nothing else to do, I decided to try it. It wasn't a few subway stops away, but many subway stops away. This was one of those subways where they didn't announce the stops, you just had to know when to get off. At one stop, I could not read the signs because it was so dark, so I asked someone near me what stop it was. It was not the stop I wanted. He then asked me where I was going and I said I didn't know the name, but when I saw it, I'd know it. We ended up getting off at the same stop and he asked if he could help me find something. I said I was looking for a hotel that was supposed to be in the area. He seemed confused and replied there was no hotel in the area. We made our way to the nearby bus stop and asked some teenagers hanging out there. They too knew of no hotel. The suggested I take the bus a few stops and there would be a hotel there, and even said they would take me. By this time it was about 2:30 and I decided just to go back to the train station and wait til 4:55 for the train. I thanked them for their help and went back to the tram stop. While looking at the tram times, a car pulled up by the stop and some guy started calling for my attention. I looked around and realized they were talking to me. They asked if I knew where a gas station was. I replied that I was not from the neighborhood. They asked me where I was from and I replied Ludwigshafen. Yugoslavia?, they asked? No, Germany, Ludwigshafen, I replied. Oh, well you have an accent, they said. I know, I though. They then asked if I wanted to go to a party with them. I declined. Since I did not want to wait at the tram stop by myself and longer I made my way to a taxi, thinking I couldn't be too far from the train station. I told the taxi driver the train station, then asked about how much it would cost. 10€ he said. Hmm ... too much. I decided just to wait for the tram. As I went to get out, he said I could stay and sit in the taxi until the tram came, so I did. He was really nice. We chatted about all sorts of things. He was from Turkey. A nice old man. Then he got a call and had to leave so I got out and went back to the tram stop. Another old guy approached me (who had seen me on the tram from the train station the first time around) and asked me if I had found my hotel. I said no, and was just going to go back to the train station. He talked with me for a bit then said I could go home with him if I wanted. I declined. He said he was harmless. I still declined. He went away. Finally the tram came and I went back to the train station
Now it was 3:30AM. Only 1.5 hours until the train. I sat on the floor of the station and tried to nap, but I was wary of falling asleep, since I was alone. I used a pay phone to call Chris (the boyfriend) so I wouldn't be so alone. While talking, a very drunk person (I think the alcohol was seeping out of his pores) came up and started breathing on my shoulder. He then clapped me on the back and said "good job". Odd. Finally, at 4:55 the train came and I boarded. I slept the whole way to Braunschweig, thankful to have a seat again. When I got to Braunchweig at 5:55 it was bright and sunny. Stupid northern latitudes and early sun rises. I went to Calvin's room and was just so happy to see that he had acquired a mattress for me to sleep on with blankets. I fell right asleep and stayed like that until 1PM.
So that was my weekend in Poland. Fantastic.
Berlin, Deutschland; Praha, Ceska Republika; München, Deutschland
Ah the ATM story. And what a story it is folks. It all started on a sunny Monday afternoon in the wonderful city of Berlin. Everyone had taken some money out at the airport in Frankfurt from a Deutsche Bank ATM (because Bank of America is partnered with Deutsche Bank so there are no ATM fees) but now Dad needed some more for the rest of the day and into the next day. I spotted a Deutsche Bank ATM near Checkpoint Charlier. One of those hole-in-the-wall ATMs. Dad puts his card in and selects 200€ to withdraw. Out pops a receipt that says the transaction cannot be completed, contact your home bank. Not cool. He tries again but to no avail. We make our way to a Deutsche Bank branch and inquire as to what the problem was with the ATM. The lady at the desk tries to find out information for us but has none. We shrugged our shoulders and chalked it up to a faulty ATM. Little did we know what was about to begin. We tried one of the ATMs in the lobby of the Deutsche Bank branch. Once more, Dad's ATM card did not work. Not to worry, I said. I just took out the money he wanted from my Deutsche Bank account. We would solve the problem later. Upon returning to the hotel, Dad wanted to call Bank of America to see what the problem was. He did not want to incur large fees on the hotel phone, so he used my cell phone. I had 16€ on it when I gave it to him. After 8 minutes of talking, the line was cut off. Apparently it costs 2€ A MINUTE to call the US from my cell phone. Sheesh! I remembered seeing a telephone card store in the area around the hotel so I ran there to fetch a new one for my cell phone and one for Dad to use from the hotel phone, because it would be a lot cheaper. After a long conversation with Bank of America, Dad said that apparently the Cirrus network was down, but that it would be up the next day. Problem solved. Or so we thought. The next day we traveled to Prague. Upon reaching our destination city we immediately went to the ATM to get money in the local currency: the Czech Crown. Dad tries his card but to no avail. Neither Mom's nor Martha's worked either. This was getting tricky. I could not finance our whole vacation on my intern salary. Once again I took money out with my Deutsche Bank account. Dad's debts to me were mounting. Throughout the whole time in Prague, everytime someone saw an ATM, they tried their Bank of America card and every time we received the same message: transaction could not be completed, please contact your bank. Well, finally Dad decided to call the bank again. We obtained a Czech calling card and made our way to a pay phone. They said the Cirrus network was still down, so just use and ATM that has the Plus network. We found one (right near the phone) and tried it. No dice. We call back. They now said the Cirrus network was up, but the Plus network was down. The ATM we had tried HAD BOTH NETWORKS, so that was obviously not our problem. They transferred our call to Visa. Apparently now it was Visa's problem. I watched my Dad type in buttons as he navigated through menu after menu in Visa's call center. He then grumbled in frustration. The menus directed him back to Bank of America. Now Dad was irate and you do not want to see him irate. It was quite commical. Needless to say, problem was not solved. They listed a whole bunch of banks to try, which we did, but still no luck. After the phone conversation we made our way back to the hotel. I stopped at an internet cafe to check my online bank balance with Deutsche Bank. Uh oh. Not good. My credit card bill had just been deducted and I had not gotten paid yet for the month. The recent withdrawals in Prague were not going to clear. I immediately emailed a Mr. Chris Piecuch and asked for help. He came to my rescue and transferred some money to my account so I would not overdraw. Having friends is nice. Especially when they have the DAAD scholarship. So, on the 1st of July we made our way to Munich. Our problems continued to follow us. Trying again at Deutsche Bank, my Dad still could not withdraw money. I again loaned some money to the pops. The next day, Mom went out early on her own to do some shopping. She saw a Citibank and stopped by to try it. Magically .... it worked! Amazing. Later that day I received a call from my friend Kyle who lived in Munich and knew of our troubles. He said he had been having the same problems with his Bank of America card at all Deutsche Bank affiliated banks. He suggested trying an unaffiliated bank .... Citibank is one of these unaffiliated banks. Martha was then able to take money out of Sparkasse and Dad took money out of another bank. Hooray! Our assets were liquid again! Seriously though, what a time for these problems to happen. Stupid Bank of America. I hope Dad had words with them when they went home.
Ludwigshafen - Frankfurt Flughafen, Deutschland
So the family was slated to arrive at 12:52 PM on this Friday afternoon. Being the good daughter/sister that I am, I was going to go to the airport with a rental car to pick them up. I had reserved an automatic Mercedes C class with Navigation system, because I had no idea where the airport was. I hadn't really driven in Germany yet. I picked the car up at 10 AM. It was an Audi A6 instead of the Mercedes, but still very nice. I did some errands around town then went back to my room to wait a few hours before heading to the airport. The airport is about an hour away by car, so I planned on leaving at 11:30 AM. That would give me plenty of time, I thought. I would arrive at the airport at 12:30 PM and then probably wait about an hour until they came through after customs and getting their luggage. So at 11:30 on the dot I am in the Audi A6. I turn on the Navigation system to program in the airport. I receive the following error message: "Please insert Navigation CD". I check the glove compartment and find the CD. No problem. I go to put the CD into the CD Player. Only problem is, that I cannot find said CD player. This could be a problem. I search all over the dashboard and under the seats and everywhere I think a CD player could be. I think take out the User Manual from the glove compartment and thumb through it to find where the CD player is. It is in the trunk. Ah. No problem. I go to the trunk and look. No CD player. I look back at the book. The book says the CD player should be right where I was looking. It was not there. 11:38 AM. I rush back to the rental place and inform them that I had just rented the car this morning and I could not find the CD player, which I needed for the Navigation system. Some of the agents come out with me to the car. They then preform the same search I had just completed. They called more guys over. They all searched. 12:00 PM. They reach the same conclusion I reached: the CD player is missing. The agents return to the building to see if there is another car they can give me. I find out there are no more cars meeting my requirements on the lot. Perfect. 12:20 PM. Now I am getting worried. At this rate I am arriving at the airport after my family arrives, with no way of contacting them that I will be late. It is too late for me to catch the train from Mannheim to the airport that will get me there in time. I go inside the rental agency to see what is taking so long. They are on the phone with other rental agencies. I explained that I needed to get to the airport quick, and suggested that if someone could give me directions, I could take the Audi A6 up to the airport, and perhaps switch cars there (we needed the Navigation system to get to the hotel and other places of interest during the first two days of their stay). They tell me to hold. 12:36 PM. They have located a car for me. It is in Mannheim. They say that they will drive me there and then I can pick up the car. 12:40 PM. I arrive in Mannheim and receive keys to my new BMW 5 series. Very nice. I got upgraded. 12:45 PM. I am finally on my way to the airport. My family touches down in 5 minutes. Perfect. I hit the autobahn, see no speed limit signs, and floor it. I made record time to the airport, reaching top speeds of 210 km/h (130 mph). I reach the airport at 1:20 PM. I quickly park the car in the first spot I find and race to the arrival gates. Sprinting up the last steps I glimpse my mom and sister surrounded by their luggage. My mom looks worried. My sister looks annoyed. They spot me and my mom breathes a sigh of relief while my sister roles her eyes. They had only been waiting 10 minutes. Not too bad. My dad comes walking over, glad that I have arrived. Our vacation commences.