Travelling evokes joy in many of us and when we think or plan a trip, we purchase plane tickets and bus tickets and hotel rooms and tours, etc. We plan it so that at our destination, things fall into place and we can have the best time possible while on our vacation. But sometimes though, things go wrong.
On a recent trip to Bremen, Germany, (whilst en route to Groningen, Netherlands!!) I had a complete meltdown and let my difficult situation get the better of me. At the time, it was “the worst thing EVER” but now I look back and laugh at myself and how ridiculous I was.
So, what exactly happened, you ask?
My Travel Meltdown
I flew to Bremen from London, where I was living at the time, to see my Hunk in Groningen. Ryanair does cheap flights from London Stansted airport to Bremen, and the 2 hour train ride from Bremen to Groningen is fairly cheap making this a cheaper option than travelling to Groningen via Amsterdam.
Anyway, my plan had an unexpected spanner in the works when I got to the train station in Bremen to take my train to Groningen.
ALL TRAINS to Groningen for the entire day were CANCELLED! Yes, that’s right – CANCELLED! So – now what?!
I kept my cool and went up to the information help desk to ask what the alternate route would be.
This posed a problem as it seemed no one spoke English, and I don’t speak German. Quite a predicament which isn’t uncommon while travelling.
After much motioning and pointing and saying the word “Groningen”, I got one piece of advice. My helper pointed behind himself. I was baffled. What was he pointing at and why?!
I asked another helper and went through my entire ‘I need to get to Groningen but my train is cancelled’ dance again to receive a similar result, with the addition of a word “bus”.
Now, as I was at Bremen’s Central Station, there were many buses outside. So this is when I started to get a touch frazzled.
I walked outside in search of a bus helper. After 5 minutes of waking aimlessly, I found a room which looked to be some kind of ticket booth for buses. Wonderful!
I asked for a bus ticket to Groningen in English after apologising in German. I received not even a word from the German help desk person.
A voice came from behind, a young German girl saying she could speak some English. I asked her about Groningen bus and she advised that I go back outside and find the bus. Supposedly I buy a ticket on the bus. I asked “where do I go outside?” And she had no use of English anymore… just marvellous.
I walked around in circles trying to figure out where this bus was, to no avail. This is when I started to proper lose my cool.
TEARS BEGAN
My eyes began to water as I was realising how helpless and useless I was, and how frustrating not being able to communicate was, considering I had no clue how I was going to make it to Groningen.
I called the hunk and yelled at him, cos you know, this was all his fault!
Luckily for me, the hunk has magical soothing powers over my rage and was able to calm me down enough to give me ideas of what to look for. I don’t remember why, but I still managed to hang up on him even though he was only trying to help me…
After another bout of aimless walking, and another phone tantrum to the hunk, I found an area for coach buses, which is not well sign posted. This made me angry again.
“How am I meant to find the ****ing bus of its not ****ing sign posted!! That’s it – I’m flying back to London!”
My stress levels of no longer being in control drove me to actually consider going back to the airport. What a looney toon!
Throughout my meltdown, hunk found the bus ticket website, purchased my ticket, and calmed me down so that I could simply go on. Without him I think I would have attempted to go back to the airport.
I expect halfway there I would have realised I was being a dickhead and turned around.
Once the bus came, I had a lovely journey over to Groningen and spent 3 days with my pacifier.
So, the moral of the story is this: sometimes travel goes to plan, and sometimes it’s really hard. But don’t be like me and cry in the street because that’s lame.
Have you lost your cool while travelling? (Please say yes!)
Australian expat, married to a Dutch guy, living in Amsterdam. Previously lived in London for 3 years, too! Lover of travel, coffee, brunch, beaches, fresh flowers, and family. Now a new mum, navigating life with a baby!
2 thoughts on “My Travel Meltdown”
Yep. Copenhagen. Got there late, got a train ticket right before the booth closed (YAY!) Then had a hard time finding the train. We did end up in the right place but unsure about how to use the ticket. So I asked a local. Ok, cool. Then the train didn’t stop where we needed it to. It was late and I had been awake for 36 hours eating crap food and I was DONE. I started crying and decided at the last minute to get off the train. The conductor just said “too late”. The original local that helped, came up and said to follow her and get off at the next stop and she would get us to where we needed to go. Turns out that she didn’t know why the train didn’t stop at our stop, but she got us on a train going the other way and to the right stop. I’ll next forget that girl.
Sounds very stressful – and also, I love helpful locals! Thanks for your story Jessica! 🙂