Let the Games Begin

I've made it.  I arrived in Erlangen two days ago after a couple of little adventures and Murphy reminding me that he's still there.  In retrospect, I suppose it's a wonder I'm even alive, seeing as I should have died from alcohol poisoning thanks to my friends sending me off in style, but what're you going to do?  All in all, it's been an interesting few days.

Let's start with the sendoff.  This was weeks in the making, as I don't think I could have crammed another ounce of activity into my schedule since I got back from my recon trip earlier this month.  Between training classes and cleaning up at work, getting ready to move, and selling the house (and all the fun that goes with that - show of hands, who else hates inspectors), I didn't have a moment to myself.  

So when last weekend rolled around, and it's all about me, I was ready to get stupid.  Rest assured, mission accomplished.  After having a good day at my friend's golf course, the party in my honor started.  I'm pretty sure there was some food there, and pretty good stuff from the looks of it, but I was all about the booze.  Now this is the point where another facet of the name became evident.  I was definitely the dog's ass, but it wasn't because the sun was shining on it.  Apparently, if you were female and single, I was making a pass at you.  Ah, good times all around.  And I take no blame for this, either.  If I hadn't been given a naughty blowup doll as a going-away present, and then been forced to make and partake of several shots, then there's no way that sex even crosses my mind.  I'm sticking to that, and there's nothing you can do to change my mind.

So after making it through the next day, and completing the last few errands that I needed to do before I left, I got to the airport right around when I wanted to, ready to embark on this grand adventure o' mine.  Travel arrangements made, itinerary in bag, everything taken care of.  I approach the ticket counter and hand the lady behind the counter my passport.

"Yes, I'm here to check in for the 5:20 to Munich, flight 429."

"I'm sorry, sir, I don't see your name on the passenger list."

These are not words you want to hear upon arriving for a flight that takes off in two hours.  But, no, this can't be right.  Like I said, I've got my itinerary in my bag.  Well, I'll show her.  I'll just get out that piece of paper and prove her wrong.

"No, no.  It's listed right here.  Flight 429, leaving May 29th, at 5:20." 

It hit us both at about the same time.  If you haven't seen it yet, look at that last sentence again.  Yep, that's right.  I'd shown up for my flight a month in advance.  Not really, of course, but that's what it amounted to.  How the hell this happened I have no idea, but at this point, it didn't matter two shits how, just that it was happening.  Well, a frantic phone call to the travel agent ensued, and lucky for me, there were seats left on the flight, and everything was good.  Turned out that the same was true for both the train from Munich as well as the hotel.  Granted, I'll have to return the train tickets somehow (since I didn't get them from the train people in Germany, I couldn't just exchange them),  but hey, worst case, I'll just make sure I'm in Munich on the 29th just to travel here again.

The train ride was fairly interesting as well.  You'd think that I'd quit assuming how things work by now, but no.  I was figuring that a first class ticket got you a big comfy chair and a meal.  Guess again.  Big comfy chair, check.  Meal, not so fast.  Yep, you gotta pay for meals in first class.  Now, they're not bad at all (and I ate a dish with cucumbers in it, and liked it - go figure) and not even that expensive, but come on!  It's first class, for Pete's sake.  You should get something other than the big comfy chair, surely.  Come to find out that it also gets you a seat.  Yes, that's right, a seat.  

You see, if you go second class, that gets you on the train, but it doesn't guarantee you a seat.  You have to also purchase a reservation, and that is what gets you the seat.  Same thing with first class - you need a reservation in addition to the ticket to get a seat, but the catch is that you can't get a reservation on the day of purchase for second class, just for first.  Couldn't make it simple, could they?  Now it turned out that the train wasn't even close to full, so getting a seat would have been no problem, but how are you supposed to know that in advance?  I'm guessing experience, and I bet it's the kind of experience that has you standing someplace for a three hour train ride.

So anyway, that's all for now.  I'm here, I'm rested (I think), and I'll have further stories later on.  Gotta go drink some bier.  Auf Wiedersehen.