Building Travel Tolerance

Our flight from Glasgow on Sunday landed on time at 11 p.m. The last train from the airport to Freiburg for the night was at 9:53. The next one didn’t come until 2:15 a.m. We took this train, and it arrived in Freiburg at 5.29 a.m.

When I learned about the 4+ hour gap in trains, I felt bad for ever complaining about the lack of trains from EWR to Princeton Junction. Another difference between NJ Transit and Deutsche Bahn is advance ticket purchase. In NJ, the ticket price is set. Most of us buy tickets minutes before we board the train. On Deutsche Bahn, the ticket price varies similar to airfares.

Luckily, I knew this set-up before Sunday and had learned about our unfortunate train timing issues when I bought our tickets last week. It was annoying but not impossible. I was confident that Vinnie could handle a night’s sleep in three places. I slept a bit on the train.

Errol did not support my plan and urged us to stay in a hotel in Frankfurt. The concern was appreciated, but I respectfully declined.  

For years following my backpacking trip, each night I’d fall asleep thanking God that I had a warm bed of my own to sleep in. I don’t remember when I stopped, but I had.

Last night, when I crawled into my Freiburg bed, I remembered.

Sometimes I need a lost night’s sleep in transit.

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