Lost on the Autobahn...

As we had no transport we had to walk into the little village near Chipping, which wasn’t such an issue really, but when you’re carting a heavy pack and have to walk 3.6kms and pick up the pace as you’re running late it can become tiring! We got to the bus stop as the bus was pulling up which was a stroke of good luck but also promoted in us this little sense of proud satisfaction, we had made it JUST in time, picking up our pace had been necessary and we had done it, heavy packs and all.

The bus trip didn’t take long and soon we were at Stanstead airport with 3 hours to kill… and as we all know airports are really quite boring once you’ve discovered all the over priced eateries, news agencies and little last minute oops I forgot this and that travel stores.

We tried to go and check our bags in but the Ryan Air lady was very rude in telling us “You’re too early, go away and come back in an hour” It wasn’t the fact that she wouldn’t check the bag, it was the fact that she was rude about it. So, we went and sat down in a little over priced café to have a coffee and wait out the hour… As we sat it came vastly apparent that there was an unattended suitcase sitting at a table beside us. We waited and waited for someone to come back and claim it, it was a large suitcase, not one you could easily forget… We waited and waited and I noticed other people around us noticing it as well. Chris and I decided that we would wait another 5 minutes, if no one had claimed it then then we would notify someone… 10 minutes passed and still no one, so, up I got to find a security guard who duly followed me to the café, where we found… a man sitting with the case now. Typical. The security guard rolled his eyes at me and said in a very annoyed voice that “people should know better by now, sometimes they’re just stupid and don’t think, you did the right thing love, thanks for letting us know” So I didn’t feel too stupid then.

We were able to drop our bag (Ryan air lady informed us that yes we COULD drop our bag now, the baggage drop had opened one minute ago, such attitude!) and then gone through the metal detector where for some reason, unknown to me, I sent the alarm off and had to be searched. At first I didn’t realize what the lady was on about, she stood in front of me with her arms outstretched and it took me a wee while to cotton on as to what she wanted me to do as the whole time she was talking over my shoulder to a man behind me about some silly TV show that was on last night. I stood with my arms out where she gave me quite a thorough search really, a bit to invasive of my privacy if you ask me in such an open place, hands down my pants and up my top. Hmph. They didn’t find anything and what tripped it I don’t know as I was wearing my standard “no fuss and maximum comfort” flight clothes that have never caused me a problem before. Oh well. We then had hours to kill at the airport so the purchasing of tacky magazines was a priority and we settled in for a bit, before having to leap up and run to our gate. We kept looking at the board and it didn’t have a gate number or time and there was also no PA call for it, but then suddenly it came up flashing “BOARDING” so we had to RUN to the other side of the airport and got there in time to be some of the last in the line, we were now really quite buggered.

The flight really wasn’t that great. Bumpy, jolting and with crying children. It wasn’t the best flight we could have asked for, but we touched down soon enough (but not before the air stewardess went about the cabin offering cigarettes for sale) and then waited for Anya to pick us up! We had to wait an hour or so for her as she was finishing up work and it is about a 45 min drive from her house, but it was okay, we settled down with a drink and waited patiently.

Anya finally arrived and it was great to see her again! Big hugs hello and we head to the car where she asked “would you rather the autobahn or the quick way?” We opted for the autobahn (still a novelty for us all) and we head off…but then, there was a detour and we had to head off the road, and then… we got lost, even with a GPS… and then… Luke leant over and very casually asked “How far til we get home?” Anya said “about 70 or so” and Luke calmly asked “is that going to be enough petrol?” We all looked at the gauge and it was sitting on empty, and then the reserve light came on then flashed then off… oops. We were now lost and almost out of petrol and we were on little dark roads that seemed to have no civilized life form… we drove and drove and drove, past some amazing scenery, past an old castle on a hill in the middle of nowhere until Anya stopped and asked a little pizza shop that was open where the nearest petrol station might be, and thankfully it wasn’t far. We head there and filled up duly before heading back towards her home. What should have been a 45 min drive took us 3 hours and after this Anya took us to dinner, or, really, more like a midnight snack of pizza before we got back to her home and fell into bed exhausted!

written by  Chris and Emily on August 21, 2009 from Frankfurt, Germany
from the travel blog: Europe 2009
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