The Train & the European Winter Chaos

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It was a crazy train travel. We paid for a hi-speed train but we rode a slower one with several train transfers just to get to Germany due to winter weather chaos.

We went from Amsterdam Central to Amersfoort (abt 1 1/2 hr), Amersfoort to Ede-Waginengen (another 1 1/2 hr), Ede-Waginengen to Arnhem (about 15 min). People expected that from Arnhem there will be an ICE train to any city in Germany but nay still. It was so cold and we have to wait for more than half an hour for a train going to Oberhausen which was almost an hour journey and from there another train going to Frankfurt Hautbanhoff for another 2 hours stopping over from several towns and cities. Basically it was almost eight hours of travel. It doubled which was supposed to be only 4 hours 10 minutes of travel from Amsterdam to Frankfurt if there had been an available ICE train.

One thing I learned if the weather was bad, it was more possible to get the hi-speed train if you are at the train station early before 10 AM.

But as one of the Germans I've talked to who came from New York and their connecting flight to Germany was cancelled so they opt to go on train to go home to Dusseldorf, she said, "Still lucky."

Probaby, I was still lucky because I got to mingle with these different people from different parts of Europe, there were even other Asians like Korean and Taiwanese.

At the beginning of my train journey while waiting at the train office, a woman approached several of us people seating on a sofa. She said, "Excuse me, do you have 60 cents euro?" Of course, the initial answer of people including me was a "No."

Even a man beside me said he can't understand English and he's from Poland. But I think he was pretending. He looks like a crazy guy and that I know he's not pretending. It was eerie sitting beside him. You never know if he has a bomb in his shoulder bag or if he's going to suddenly hit you .

The guy was a different story. But going back to the woman asking for cents. She asked about eight group of people then a middle-aged guy traveling with his kids get up from his seat, put his hands in his pocket, and gave her what she needed. I don't know if the woman was a beggar or she just needed some coins.

I've seen people are still kind. They still help people strangers to them. With just a simple gesture of offering help to carry the luggage up the stairs and they even give their seats somehow to old people.

With the Germans who came from New York for a holiday, the lady's husband showed me his Tiger Balm then I showed him my Katinko. I told him it's also Chinese because he thought the balm was Filipino.

I still have 2 more trains to hop on before I can finally end my journey today. It's dark and colder in Germany but I have to seek St. Nicholas.

Well, during those two more train travel, I conversed with interesting people. A guy whose job gets him to travel around the world inspecting turbines. He's an engineer and he said it was his first time traveling thru trains yesterday because of the airport chaos and he and his lady companion lost their luggage. He was helpful to a guy telling him direction in English because the train announcement is in either in German, Dutch or something else and I barely heard any English. I didn't expect the turbine engineer enjoyed conversing with me because he told me before he left, "You know, I have been around the world, you are good to look at."

I hope that after all these train hoppings that double the time spent in my German journey is all worth it.

I survived this and I will survive some more. I'll defeat the fear of danger traveling alone

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