Euro Trip Day 12: The Amazing Race

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Day 012, Wednesday June 29

Got up too early, not in a sense that we had time on our hands, we were rushed all day, but rather we didn’t get to sleep until late and had to wake up at 6:30 and be out by 7:00 in order to make our train at 7:30. Thus, as I didn't want to be up at that time, due to lack of sleep, it was too early. We made our train without issue and settled in, got to go on a ferry again, good times.

Now, we were supposed to arrive in Berlin at 14:27 and had to catch the connecting train at 14:41. 14 minutes, more than enough time to get off the platforms, find our next platform, find a post office to mail postcards, find a souvenir shop to pick up a t-shirt I regretted not buying while we spent time in Berlin, and then make it to the right platform to depart.

On our approach to Berlin Central Station the conductor announced the connecting train to Warsaw was platform 11, “Great!” we said, “One less thing to worry about.” Good start to operation “Find Platform, Get T-Shirt, Mail Shit, Catch Train”.

14:30, we arrive, late, bad start to operation “Get T-Shit, Mail Shit, Catch Train”. The platform we get off on is 11, “Great!” (Sarcastically) “We have to end up coming back to this spot, let’s hope our other destinations are close by”.

14:32, Down one level and BAM! Souvenir shop! “You ask about a post office I’ll find a medium.” I command. After pushing my way past the psychic who thought I meant her, I find the shirt, in size medium, we pay for it. “Great!” we say, continuing operation “Mail Shit, Catch Train” “Where’s the post office?” “Down one level.” “Great!” (Sarcastically)

14:36, down another level, surrounded by fast food shops on all sides! “Great!” (Sarcastically) “Where the fuck is it!?” We have one shot, we are in the direct center of the station (there are yet another 2 more floors below us!) we have to choose a direction, if we choose wrong it might as well be like choosing the wrong chalice that Jesus drank from, or choosing to look into the ark of the covenant and having our faces melt off, or choosing some other bad choice made by a bad guy in the Indiana Jones Trilogy (Like maybe that dude who showed off his sword skills in front of the guy with a gun, or the monkey who ate the bad dates, take your pick, they all end in death!)

14:38, chose right,”Great!” we arrive at the only post office, mail our shit, and continue on with operation “Catch Train”. With literally 3 minutes left we display a theretofore unseen uncanny ability of movement and speed, around back packers, strollers, running children, a flight ofstairs, another deadly death gauntlet of travellers, up another flight of stairs, the suns rays streaking down as if extending a grasp to aid our climbing efforts, and with the mentality that were one of us to fall behind such would be the end of their trip, left to die, a casualty of operation “WE’RE GONNA MISS OUR FUCKING TRAIN!!!!” we press onward.

14:41, empty train tracks, “Did we miss it?”

14:45, “Oh wait ... here it comes, it’s late, isn’t that wonderful!” ... Sarcasim.



In case you are thinking the rest of the journey was uneventful, you would be wrong, boring as hell, but only because we sat there still, on the tracks, for almost an hour for no discernable reason, and the A/C broke in our first class compartment, and we were stuffed in there with 4 others, all polish business men, very unfortunate. We finally got to Warsaw at around 21:30 (9:30 pm) found our hostel in like 10 minutes (a record) planned our next day, commenced operation “Sleep”.

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