This is a warning for every foreigner who dares to use the Deutsche Bahn as a means of
\ntransportation. It can be hell! First of all you will notice that it is fucking expensive. Compared tot he
\nticket price you will realize that the service is poor (if there\u2019s any). But most of all the train
\nconnections are horrible. It is very rarely that you will manage to catch your connections. This is the
\nstory how a Bavarian taxi driver saved our lives.<\/p>\n
No attendands in sight<\/strong> It is not soo bad, we have our DB-App on the mobile. Luckily enough there is another train going to Rosenheim, Aibling oder Salzburg?<\/strong> Is it groundhog day?<\/strong> Okay, let\u2019s just call a taxi to Munich. Yes, good idea. Let\u2019s do it. No way. We call three different taxi Four ladies on a backseat<\/strong> Track construction<\/strong> Well folks, be warned: take the Deutsche Bahn can be a nightmare unless you come across Uli, the This is a warning for every foreigner who dares to use the Deutsche Bahn as a means of transportation. It can be hell! First of all you will notice that it is fucking expensive. Compared tot he ticket price you will realize that the service is poor (if there\u2019s any). But most of all the train connections are horrible. It<\/p>\n
\nUpon reaching the train station of Braunschweig on a Sunday midday I just have to take a look into
\nthe face of my colleague to realize that something is already going wrong. Our first train is
\nannounced to be late. Good start! Will we catch our connecting train at Halle. We are supposed to
\nask the attendant on the train for help. Well, we would have loved to do so, however, nobody shows
\nup. <\/p>\n
\nMunich. And thanks to the fact that we are late for half an hour we don\u2019t really have to wait. Where
\nis the rub? Well, this train take a different route to Munich and thus needs more time to go there. I.e.
\nwe will not catch our connection over there. Still that is not a problem. We learn that the surburban
\nrailway we intended to take is not running due to construction works on the route. What now? We
\ntake another look onto our App. Oh no, the information tells us that we have to take a train to
\nRosenheim (which is located behind Westerham) first and then go back by train from there to
\nWesterham (no joke!). <\/p>\n
\nArriving at Munich we see that the rail track no. ten is already packed with people. Nice. A public
\naddress announcement tells us that today\u2019s train will have three different directions: one part goes
\nto Rosenheim, a second one to Aibling and a third one to Salzburg. I am sure that absolutely nobody
\nunderstood which wagon is the right one to take. We stopped caring and just step in. Once again the
\ntrains leaves the station with a delay of 15 minutes. That means we will not catch the connection to
\nWesterham and thus have to wait for another hour at the trains station of Rosenheim.
\nAt 21:40 we finally catch the train to Westerham. We started today at 12:30 Uhr in Braunschweig
\nand had so far joyful 9 hours on different trains. Half an hour later we arrive at our final destination:
\nWesterham. We are not the only lost souls that day. Another woman arrives after an odyssey from
\nFrankfurt to the Bavarian province. Completely overtired we arrive at the hotel and fall into bed.<\/p>\n
\nOur return journey is on tuesday afternoon. Well at least we try. When the five of us arrive at the
\nlittle train station we are still hopeful that everything will work out fine. It won\u2019t. The DB-App still tells
\nus that the train is on time, until … Well, until a colleague says that the train is cancelled. Well, at first
\nwe think this is a hoax, just to test us. But it is not. The public announcement confirms it. We panic.
\nWhat can we do about it.<\/p>\n
\nenterprises and everybody tells us that there are not going to collect us from Westerham. What?
\nAbsolutely unbelievable. We call the meeting place, they refuse as well to help us. Another colleague
\ndesperately storms the train station kiosk and aks the owner for help. The guy gives ear to us and
\ncalls a friend who works with a taxi company. The first try is not successful, but a second call brings
\nthe commitment. A driver will arrive in about half an hour. Oh, we might run short. Our train leaves
\nMunich at 14.56 p.m. and the taxi driver will not pick us up before two o\u2019clock. Our panickness is
\nalmost hysterical. Everybody wants to get home \u2013 somehow. Then comes Uli. That\u2019s the name oft he
\ntaxi driver and out angel today. He is not only calm and does not only emanate Bavarian coziness. He
\nis moreover sure that we will make it. <\/p>\n
\nOur luggage is almost to big for the trunk. The backseat however is definitely to small for four ladies.
\nThat means one of them has to sit on a lap. Is that legal? There is no time for such considerations. We
\njust go. We take the \u201eAutobahn\u201c to the city limits. Than comes the hardest part: the drive through
\nthe city. Time is shorter and shorter. We pass by some police cars. Will they stop us? Uli does not
\ncare, he drives on. It is 14:50 Uhr. We almost gave up when Uli plucks up his courage and delivers us
\ntwo minutes later right in front of the train station. We grab our luggage and reach the train with our
\nlast ounce of strength<\/p>\n
\nYou might guess it already: there is more inconvenience ahead of us. Five minutes later we are stuck
\non the main track for some construction. We can\u2019t help it but laugh. Once more we will not catch our
\nconnection. We pull out the DB-App. There is a train at Leipzig that will bring us nonstop to
\nBraunschweig. We are running out of time again. We arrive at Leipzig with a delay of 23 minutes. We
\ntake our suitcases and run to track 15. We are really pissed off but make it. And finally we arrive
\npunctually at our final destination. I refuse to envision what would have happened if we missed the
\ntrain from Leipzig. The alternative would have been a train via Vienenburg (which is in the Harz
\nMountains) to Braunschweig.<\/p>\n
\nangel of Westerham.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"