A Trip to Dublin #2

Usually I'd take a plane from Munich to Dublin, since the Munich airport is only about 60 miles from here where I live. However, on that particular Thursday there was only one flight that would have arrived at midnight. So I decided to take a flight from Frankfurt which would get me to Dublin at noon. The problem is: Frankfurt is 300 miles from here...

Normally it would be a 3-hour train ride to Frankfurt, but on the day I was to catch the plane the only available train that would get me there on time was a 6-hour night train which on top of that would arrive in Frankfurt 4 hours before my flight. The next train was out of the question. And: it was obligatory to make reservations. I did so by phone getting a seat and not a couchette and paid an extra 25 Euro just for the reservations, although the ticket itself was already paid for. I was told that I can print out the reservation confirmation at one of the tellers at the station.

So, since I knew from experience that most of those machines don't operate correctly
I got there earlier than necessary. Naturally, the first teller didn't recognize me at all, but after a few desperate attempts I found a second one that did.

As usual my train was 15 minutes late, but that didn't matter much, since I was to have so much time to spend. I got on the train and searched for my reserved seat all prepared for a 6-hour reading session till Frankfurt. Well, I found out that my reserved 'seat' was part of a bench in a couchette, the compartment was absolutely dark, a young woman fast asleep across from me and the top benches 6-7 feet above were clapped down, too, ready for further sleepers.



Therefore I was in the uncomfortable situation that I had to sit still not waking the girl who strangely was not disturbed by my presence in any way, she just went on sleeping. I spent the first hour in silent contemplation, then decided to lay myself down, too, if nobody joined the compartment after the next stop in Nuremberg, and so it was. I dozed off and awoke occasionally hearing the girl moving in her sleep. In fact I heard her movements, but awkwardly I didn't see her moving! It took me about 3 hours to realize that way above us were another two sleepers I hadn't even noticed...

Well, I finally fell asleep now that I knew what the situation in this chamber was and was awoken by my cell phone alarm at 5.45am, set for 15 minutes before the train was to arrive in Frankfurt. Luckily I had set the alarm I would have slept right on through. I slowly got myself back in an upward position and noticed that the train was standing still in a station. I went out and checked where we were, and it was already Frankfurt! My train, 15 minutes late, had arrived 15 minutes too early (or maybe even more, since I had been fast asleep).