Short Stories and Travel Mishaps
The Time I Snuck into Private Event and Hung out with the Austrian Fussball Club
In 2008 I visited the city of Vienna, Austria with my mom, her friend, and my buddy from school. One night, Jimmy and I went out on our own, I think we were looking for Doner Kebab. Safety first, we were waiting at a stop light, talking and all of a sudden someone turned around and said, “Hey, you guys speak English.” This exact moment has lead to one of the most memorable nights of my life.
This individual was a teacher and photographer from Colorado. Small World, we were also visiting from Colorado. It was night time, and we were standing in front of the Hofburg. He had all his camera equipment and I was just getting into photography. We set up his camera on a tripod and he taught us some techniques for shooting at night. After a couple shots, we walked around a bit more. We neared the Rathaus (City Hall), and saw a couple guys standing outside dressed very nicely. My friend Jimmy turned to me and was like “Dude that guy has a really expensive suit on.” We went up to the group standing there and asked, “What event is taking place?” He told us that Fussball Klub Austria Vien finished their season and they are inside celebrating. Then he said, “I’m about to leave, but try and see if you can get in, here is the password…..” No Way, there is no way this is happening! Our plan of attack? Well, we have the password (maybe), we have all this camera equipment, EASY! Let’s say we are the photographers of the event!
As we entered the Rathaus the gatekeeper asked us what we were doing here, all we said was we were the photographers and said Da Passwort (Beerfest). We were let in, we found an open table and saw a buffet table, an open bar, a jazz musician playing, and the players in front of us. Of course, we helped ourselves to food and beer. As we were standing there awkwardly, several people came up to us asking what we were doing here, all we said was the password and they apologized. After probably about 25 minutes we started to feel out of place and slowly left the building. To this day, my friend Jimmy and I still talk about this night and how it truly was one of our best memories!
I Met a YouTube Celebrity before it was a thing on Vancouver Island, Canada
Again, I took a trip with my friend, Jimmy. We were visiting Vancouver, Canada and took a day trip to Vancouver Island. He was or still is a huge Smallville fan, so we had to see the Hatley Castle, known as the Luthor Mansion and is used in a ton of other movies/shows. It was getting late, we hopped on the last bus to take us back to the ferry terminal. Across from us on the bus was a unique looking individual with a lot of odd gadgets. We talked for a bit, he told us he writes songs and can write a song about anything. So we told him to sing a song about Jimmy and his Birthday. He sang, it was umm funny to be honest. As our bus stopped to pick up a few more travelers, a group of women instantly recognized this man from YouTube. We’ve never heard of him, but apparently people around Vancouver know of him. That was the first time I actually heard of a YouTube Star.
We got off the bus and to the ferry terminal, he was with us as well. He invented a hypnotic device, where you close your eyes and he twirls this handmade wooden object in front of your eyes. I was not to keen on trying it, but I grasped my wallet, closed my eyes, and waited. He stood in front of me twirled this device and it actually was quite spectacular. Never really knew or understood what it was. He tried it to this Indian couple, and they were not having it.
Fast Forward a month or so, Jimmy and I found this mans YouTube channel. We watched a few episodes. He basically sings and plays guitar in front of a soap opera. No idea why or how he even became popular, but it was not very good. One of his videos he was playing, the phone rang, he stood up, had a 15 minute conversation and went back to his song, so Bizarre! Odd story, it has stuck with me to this day, sometimes you never know who you will meet!
Travel Mishap, I Boarded the Wrong Section of a Train in Germany and ended up in an Unfamiliar City!
I just spent a wonderful weekend in the city of München (Munich). As my time neared its end, I had to catch the train back to Bad Kissingen, in order to be picked up by my aunt. By the way, I could not miss this train since it was Sunday and my aunt had to work the following day. I bought a Bayern Ticket for the weekend, which allows cheap travel throughout Bavaria over a given weekend. My train departed München and was headed toward Schweinfurt.
What I didn’t know, is that there is such thing as a dividing train. It makes great sense, I mean you get to one train station and it separates in two pieces, one portion of the train goes to one city and the other half to a different city especially passengers become far and few between the further you get from larger cities.
Unfortunately, I missed the concept of this “dividing train” completely. I mean, I’ve never heard of dividing trains, no one has ever warned me about this. What I do know, is that Bad Kissingen is not far from Schweinfurt. After I began seeing unrecognizable stops, I began to question myself. I asked someone when my stop is, and they told me that this train is headed toward Erfurt! Wait, What?? Erfurt? That is in an entirely different state, a few hours away! Well, turns out I was sitting on the wrong section of the train. I instantly got off at the next stop, in a town called Meiningen. I had no cell phone, and about 10 Euros in my pocket to make matters worse, it was nearing midnight and trains were no longer departing. I had no idea what to do. Thankfully there was one shop open, a record store with a younger man working the night shift. He was nice enough to let me borrow his phone. I got a hold of my aunt and nervously told her what happened. Meiningen was a little over a hour away, she said just to wait at the train station and she would pick me up. After waiting in the rain at a sketchy train station for an hour, boy was I happy to see my aunt. Well, I guess you learn from your mistakes, that won’t be happening again!
It's all Fun and Games until you are Locked out of your Rental Car in the Florida Keys
Jill and I had the perfect trip lined up. I’ve never been to Florida and I wanted to spend time on the Keys and see the Everglades. We found a cheap flight, booked a rental car, and after a few months of patiently waiting, the day arrived! We landed at Ft. Lauderdale Airport, hand picked our shiny blue rental car, and set out to the Keys! Miami traffic was awful, it delayed us a few hours. Our destination was a campground at Big Pine Key. It was evening time already, but because of traffic, slow speed limits between the islands, and a craving for Conch Fritters we stopped in Duck Key to grab a bite to eat.
Like any hungry couple would do, we got out the car, closed the doors, and entered the restaurant. This evening was off to a great start, we ordered delicious conch fritters, and split a fresh fish sandwich while enjoying a few local brews. We paid our tab, and left unaware of the nightmare that would occur in about 30 seconds. I grabbed the key and realized it did not have the electronic openers. No problem! I’ll just unlock it manually like back in the day. Well, damn, the driver side door didn’t open. Jill, will you try your side quick? Bad news, there was no key hole on the passenger side or the trunk. After twenty minutes of unsuccessful attempts, we sort of gave up. I’ve never had this occur, so we called the car rental company. Her first words of wisdom were, “Did you try putting the key in the keyhole?” Oh man! That never crossed our mind, what else you got? After a few back and forth conversations they managed to call a tow truck. Well the keys are pretty remote and the tow truck guy was in the Miami area, so two hours later they arrived. Apparently, he’s never seen anything like this before. But easy, we can pry open the door and then just start the car. We got the door open, but the mechanisms disabled the engine so the car didn’t start. After several minutes of trying, nothing! Magically, Jill jumped in the car, turned the key again and boom, it worked! We told the tow truck driver that we will just try to get to our campground now and deal with it tomorrow, but thanks!
We did make it to the campground, terrified of locking the car door again, but we were so beat we just wanted to set up camp and deal with it the next day. We had a two person backpacking tent, not a whole lot of room for any extras. I’d rather not have anything taken from our unlocked car, so we managed to fit two suitcases and backpacks in the tent, not the most comfortable night! We called the rental company and they said they would switch out the rental with another car, thankfully there was a smaller airport nearby, so we wouldn’t have to drive 3-hours back to Ft Lauderdale. Well this airport was 20 miles away, yeah it sucks but we need a car, so we went to the small airport and requested our car. Well, when it rains it pours, the lady at the counter never received a phone call and had no rentals available. This was my first day on vacation, I was looking forward to the crystal clear waters and relaxed vibe of the Keys, so I was not happy. Are you telling me, we have to drive 3 hours, 6 hours round trip to pick up a car? Yup! The second I turned around to leave, I heard a wait! Someone just dropped off their rental car, you can use this one, instant relief. “We don’t have time to vacuum it or anything but if you want we can just trade the cars.” Ma’am, I can care less if it is clean inside, give me the keys and you can deal with my current car. This car was basically the same size and had an electric key and on a plus side, had a full tank of gas. In the end, everything worked out. For sure, it was a huge inconvenience, but traveling is not always glamorous and relaxing. Sometimes, negative occurrences happen, and that is life! The slightest changes can impact travel plans, so always have a plan B, think about everything you do, relax, and make the best out of any situation!
Who knew Crossing the Canadian Border would be so Difficult!
Why does my buddy Jimmy end up in so many of my travel mishaps? After the fact, these make for great stories! Well we drove over 4,000 miles round-trip from Colorado Springs, CO to Vancouver, BC, there will be a road trip post on this! In total we spent about 3 weeks on the road, and showered once! Unless, washing oneself in a Dairy Queen sink in the mornings counts.
We were 17 or 18 at the time, loaded my Ford Explorer with a few suitcases, snacks, and good tunes, waved bye to our moms and set forth to Canada!!! We drove to Wyoming, stopped in Yellowstone before making our way to Glacier National Park in Montana. After spending the night in our car in a parking lot, we were excited to wake up and cross the border to a new country, Canada! I am not sure what we were thinking, but our thought process was the second we crossed the border there would be towering snow capped peaks, gorgeous scenery, friendly people, etc.. In reality we drove into Alberta, CA which looked just like the state of Kansas – flat, brown, prairie, Boring!!
Us two teenagers stopped at the border crossing thinking we could just show our passports and drive right into Canada, boy were we wrong! We got questioned right away, you know the usual, do you have any drugs? “Umm no sir” Border Patrol response was, “So you are telling me you are the only two people in America that don’t do drugs.” Well yeah, I guess so. Here is the deal, we are going to jack up your car tak you guys in and search every inch and if we find something, you’ll be in big trouble… Uh, ok! We each got interogated for about 30 minutes each and obviously border patrol did not find anything. Next, they asked about our funds, I just planned on using my credit card. Not good enough, they wanted to see $500 in cash. We ended up driving to a small town an hour south in Montana in hopes of finding an ATM, we did, I pulled out cash, and we showed the border patrol our cash and they finally let us into Canada!
Fast forward 4 years. I take a solo trip to Montreal. I fly into their International airport and am asked to sit in a waiting room. After waiting for a few hours, I finally get called up! Apparently, my name was on a list of being denied access into Canada from my previous trip, they never removed my name! After explaining my story to the people at customs, they finally said that my name should be removed, and I was allowed into Canada for a second time!