Traveling by Train

[ehowton]

Frankfort Hauptbahnhof

Traveling in Germany

My first trip on a train (outside the one which circumnavigates the Fort Worth Zoo) was from Weisbaden to Bad Soden to visit a girl I was sweet on. I was just short of terrified. And really, I had more reason to be once I began the journey, though I didn't know it at the time. I even had her teach me what to say if I got lost:

Eine Karte nach Bad Soden Hin und Zuruck.

But I wasn't really aware of my dilemma until I saw the track plan on the enormous display once I arrived in Frankfort, the second largest terminal in the world. At one point, in broken German, I approached two men who exclaimed in a British accent, "No worries, chap, we're English!"

I didn't leave their side until it was time for me to disembark.


Traveling in England

Taking the train in the United Kingdom was easier because everyone spoke English, and I only took the train until I got my Jag. Unless I was going into London. Mostly for trips to the record stores in Peterborough.


Traveling in Korea

I only took the train once, in Seoul. I was standing on an elevated platform with about 20 people behind me. The "bullet" train came to a silent halt at the stop and the doors opened. It was wall-to-wall Koreans. No room whatsoever. Completely and entirely filled. I turned to go, rather than wait for the next train, but was unable because the crowd behind me pushed into the wall of Koreans. Somehow we all made it in before the doors closed. I was a human sardine. Despite the next stop NOT being my destination, I got off the train and decided to walk the some odd miles back to the bus station. Fuck that.


The Train in my Dream

Mom and I flew to Boston on one of my business trips (I can't imagine any other reason I'd be in Boston) but we decided to take the train back for something different. I chose this method of conveyance despite drax0r's lesson learned on his last trip to Boston a couple of years ago: "Fun for the first hour, miserable for the next twenty-four." My mother and I would be traveling on a "party barge" type rolling stock, but it wasn't as it at first appeared, because even though there was a nicely outfitted patio area atop the car, there was a "No riding on top" rule we had to abide by. Bummer. But oiling me up like a used car salesman, the ticket master was trying to get me to buy the first class seats for $9000! The other two options were $400 & $200 respectively - small and tiny. I Would've needed an Alice in Wonderland "Drink Me" to get that small - thankfully midgets were there to show how roomy the remaining options were; I imagined my mother and I being comfortable as long as we could place just one foot in the tiny door, as that's all that would fit. Frustrated with that, I found myself at the train station bar considering a drink even though it was only 0700 when drax0r and Jane showed up. What a pleasant surprise.

---

^{There was that one time I drove to the Saint Louis Union Station to pick up photogoot only to discover that trains no longer ran through Union Station like they do in every other city in the United States...}

Comments

[celtmanx.livejournal.com]

Maybe you were going to Boston to see the Boston Pops.

P.S. As you learned living there, Saint Louis is fucked up!!!

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

Maybe.

[michelle1963.livejournal.com]

You have had some interesting train experiences. How cool that a dream inspired you to share them.

Sometimes 0700 is the perfect time for a drink. ;-)

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

Sometimes.