... might as well qualify as one of the last unpredictable adventures in Europe. In the last two weeks of the month of May I travelled a lot by train in Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands and experienced almost all varieties of disruption, hassles, and failures. Highlights in summary:
- 25 segments travelled
- Train types used: Eurostar, ICE, EC, IC, RRX, RE, S
- 19 May: Stralsund - Münster, ICE to Hamburg cancelled (the very first leg of the entire tour!); detour via Berlin, arrival 90 minutes later than scheduled
- 20 May: Brussels - Antwerp, route interrupted due to a suicide on the tracks near detour via Puurs, delay of 2 hrs.
- 28 May: Cologne - Bochum, train stopped at Köln-Deutz for 20 minutes due to staff shortage, 30 min. total delay
- 29 May: Bochum - Bremen, reserved ICE 50 min. delay, got an earlier one running at 40 min. delay
- 1 June: Bochum - Cologne - Brussels, chaos on regional train, overcrowded with carnevalesque people heading to Japan Days in Düsseldorf, 40 min. delay (scheduled transfer time 30 min.), still caught ICE due to overcrowded boarding so that train could not depart on time. Had to run up and down stairs with full luggage.
- 2 June: Antwerpen - Schiphol Airport, Eurostar had to be evacuated due to power line failure, stepped over onto another Eurostar in a hollywoodesque manoeuver, delay 2.5 hours, missed flight at AMS, flight rebooked to following day after overnight stay (provided by KLM, as the Eurostar segment was part of a flight ticket)
