The Hungry ATM
Within 5 minutes of setting foot in Slovakia and arriving in its capital, disaster struck. Having come from Czech which uses its own currency we needed to get out some money to stock back up on Euros. Conveniently finding an ATM on our walk from the bus station, we entered in our request as per usual and waited for it to be processed. The machine made a strange sound, a message saying "this is an invalid transaction, your card will be retained" popped up on screen and then it went back to its home page as if nothing had happened. Oh dear!
We stared at the screen in disbelief for about 5 minutes and then panic set in. The ATM was connected to a bank but it was a Saturday morning so they were closed and we were leaving Bratislava Monday morning before they would open again. Shit shit shit. After a few deep breaths we remembered that we actually have a second identical card which could be used to withdraw the Euros instead, but the panic we felt using that card, dreading that the same exact thing would happen again, was horrifying! After a fun phone call back to Oz to work out what we should do about the card (which involved Brim hanging out of the window to get reception), the moral of the story was nothing. If we wanted a new one reissued then they would also cancel the second card that we still had and were using... Fantastic!
Hostel F Up
After we had booked our accommodation in London, an offer was released for a free night during the week and given our budget, a free night anywhere is too good to pass up! So we emailed to see if they could change our booking so we could benefit from the discount and after a million emails back and forth we were finally able to book our four nights with Matt as two separate bookings, thus including a free night.
When we checked in we specifically asked if we would need to change rooms or do anything different given technically we had two separate bookings, to which we were assured we needed to do nothing, stay in the same room and same beds and she would make sure the cleaners knew about the arrangement. Well, after arriving back at the hostel on our final night our key cards wouldn't let us into the building. Security let us in and when we went to reception the man pointed out that "obviously the cards wouldn't work because we didn't check out that morning" like we should have done and we would now need to check back in. Annoying.... But fine, until he also told us that that involved a completely separate room. Let the games begin!
Having had quite a few beers under our belts by this point we were not amused by their error or the fact that it was somehow our fault and problem. We were let back into the old dorm room to get our stuff but new people were in our beds which previously had been pilled with our clothes etc given we thought we were coming back (how the cleaners didn't think 'oh, it's a little strange for someone to have checked out leaving their entire life on the bed', is beyond me!). Our packs were still under the beds thankfully however everything outside of our packs had gone. For the next hour I was taken to the luggage room and the lost property room to sort through all the shit trying to find our stuff. On multiple occasions I was told "Let's just wait until the morning and see if they show up", which was extremely helpful given we were leaving early the next morning, Matt back to Oz and us to see family. As a final resort the boys asked to go back to our old dorm to have a final check for our missing objects and managed to find them, in a pile with someone else's stuff.
When Google Maps goes Apple Maps
To get from Amsterdam to London we decided to fork out the exorbitant £30 for the 3 of us to go via bus. The only catch with this (other than the long time on a bus) was that the bus left from somewhere on the outskirts of Amsterdam and according to Google maps would involve a tram to the end of the line and then a 20min walk over a bridge. Simple! Having rained all day we weren't really looking forward to doing this at 8pm but London awaited us.
We successfully got on and off the tram at the correct points and were quite pleased that we had made it half way. From the tram stop we could see the bridge we wanted to cross but no real way of getting to it. In the dark and rain we climbed up the side of a few roadside hills to finally make it to sort of where we needed to go. It didn't look promising though... There was no traffic on it and it looked as though midway down was a huge amount of roadworks, but Google had said that's how we crossed so we started walking. It was at this time that the thunder and lightning also started.
After walking for a good 10mins we reached mid way of the bridge where there were indeed roadworks and no way to cross so around we turned. We were now starting to panic a little as it was past 830 and our bus left at half nine and we had no idea how to get there. We could go back to the tram to take us to another stop to get another line which would get us there... But we didn't know the tram numbers and there was no map at the stop to help with that. So we walked towards the road and managed to flag a taxi (not ever within a backpackers' budget!) who drove straight to the bridge which was closed. We did make it to the bus in time so all was well but it was not a very enjoyable few hours!
When you can't get off the Train
Going from Munich to Uberlingen via train should have been quite a straight forward journey with one connection. Poor Brim was still feeling very sorry for himself as this was the day after the food poisoning incident (also known as Oktoberfest). As our final stop was coming up we started to get our packs together and head for the door. Normally we would do this about 5mins before we should arrive but as we were approaching the station we went through a tunnel and so didn't get up until there was light on the other side. The train came to a halt very quickly after the tunnel and meant we were still making our way to the door when it arrived as opposed to being ready and waiting to get off.
Swarms of school children came charging on through the door and adults with luggage pushed straight into us. No one was even a little bit interested in stopping so that we could get off. Once the onslaught ceased we finally got to the door to have it locked in our face and off went the train. Not ideal.
So for the next 20 minutes (which we didn't know how long it would be at the time) we were stood in a weird compartment near the door which had no air-con so we were sweating profusely, Brim was already trying his best not to throw up everywhere, and thanks to the lack of suspension in this compartment we were being thrown about with a front seat view of all the angles a train shouldn't be capable of, so I too was now trying not to be sick. What a relief when the train finally stopped and we got off.... To wait another 40mins to get the same train back the 20mins in the opposite direction to finally make it to Uberlingen. An enjoyable 90 minute detour!
Things that have broken/been lost along the way
One of Brim's fillings
My jeans
Brim's jeans
Multiple brain cells
Brim's thongs
Our charging cables
My gloves
Brim's toenail
