Day 33 Born to Run?

We were sad to be leaving Copenhagen, but even sadder when we realised that we would have to backtrack over much of the same journey that had brought us from Kiel to Copenhagen earlier in the week. One of our aims on this trip is to keep going forward and to try not to go backwards. Because we had to backtrack it meant that we had to once again alight from the train onto the ferry as it crossed the Baltic Sea. But this time for us, it nearly ended in tears. The train boarded the ferry, as before, and we got off the train and onto the ferry, leaving our packs on the train. This time we were keen to get some photos of the bow of the ferry opening to allow the train, the cars and the trucks to disembark. We were busy taking photos well after the ‘Please leave the ferry now.’ announcement. When we had finished, we looked around and noticed that the ferry was looking decidedly empty. Immediately we made a mad dash through the now completely empty ferry. We ran down three flights of stairs and tore open the door only to discover a section for buses and lorries. In short we seemed to have lost the train. Immediately we made another mad dash back up the same three flights of stairs and made a desperate plea for help at a sales counter. (We can only imaging what two 48 year old panicking and sprinting backpackers must have looked like). We were directed down a different flight of stairs, and after a couple more wrong doors and several stumbles, we finally opened the correct door and found the train. Once back in our seats it was less than a minute before the train began leaving the ship and heading for Berlin. There was no check of passengers and missing the train would have separated us from our packs. Who knows which European city they would have ended up in by the end of the day?

We have commented before that the journey can be as rewarding as the destination. We are very glad that this day ended at our planned destination, with our packs, in Berlin. Maybe calling this trip “Born to Run’ might have been a mistake.