Things Will Always Work Out

I’ve been saying for a long time that traveling has forced me to be able to deal with hardship in a much better manner.  My first day in Germany was a test of that statement. 

Let me reiterate my goal for this trip.  My goal is to not have a goal.  I wanted a trip that was open and free, and according to the first day, that’s exactly what I got.

I arrived at the airport promptly two hours before my flight.  I had checked in prior to arrival, as any good traveler does, and I assumed that all was well in the world.  I then overheard the kind lady at the desk tell another traveler that flights to Newark had been delayed.  Stepping up to the counter, I knew my fate as she repeated the same words to me.  Two hours.  The exact amount of time until my connecting flight to Germany.  I would miss it. 

Immediately, I messaged my German friend, who had been scheduled to pick me up, that I wouldn’t make it and proceeded through security.  Due to the time difference and the lack of direct communication, reaching my friend proved difficult.  When I got to Newark, I finally was able to talk with him, and we set a very flexible plan into motion. 

Aside from the mass of angry Americans screaming at the United Airlines staff for their apparent inability to conduct good business, my flights were painless.  I made it to Germany and followed the directions of my friend, which included hopping on a train with which I was not familiar and which I could not understand.  I made it safely to the stop and put my things in a locker (note that the lockers in the station lock once and for 5 Euro, a lesson I learned the hard way).  I was instructed to wait at the station for period of 5 or so hours, so I took the liberty of my all-day train ticket to nap a little as I became familiar with the train system. 

I searched far and wide for wireless Internet and finally found it and was able to talk to my friend.  He alerted me that he would be later than he thought and that I should board an unfamiliar bus to meet a German friend whom I didn’t know.  Blindly following him, I headed out on that journey.  Luckily, things again worked out.  He and his girlfriend fed me dinner and then allowed me to take a much-needed nap. 

I awoke to find my German friend in the living room and we headed home after a long day.  Naturally, my mother and I had many discussions prior to my departure, and one of them has, in many ways, become my traveling theme.  “Things will always work out,” is a mantra that I repeated to myself as I ambled through Munich on my first day.  It’s something that I’ll never forget.  Things will always work out…they must.  It may not always be easy.  You may feel lost in a city of 2.5 million people, surrounded by a foreign tongue and advertisements that mean nothing, but eventually, a German who knows your name will find you at a bus stop and take you in for glorified spaghetti. 

At least, that’s been my experience thus far.