If it Doesn't Challenge You, Then it Won't Change You

"If it doesn't challenge you, then it won't change you."

I've adopted this as my motto for this trip after having a few snags in my travel plans.

The Dresden train station on my way to Prague

The original plan was to take a train from London to Brussels and then connecting trains from Brussels to Prague. It was all supposed to be done in one day and then I would check into my hostel late Friday evening. Unfortunately, my first train ended up being delayed by an hour making me miss my train out of Brussels. The international ticket manager was super cool and because it was the railway's fault that my train was missed, I was given a new ticket for free. This time I would have 4 connecting trains instead of 3 and I would be arriving even later to my hostel.

While waiting for my new train, I emailed the hostel to let them know that my train had been delayed and I would be arriving much later than expected. They said it was fine, I could check in anytime since I had already made a reservation.

So I ride my train out of Brussels and end up in Frankfurt, Germany where my train was delayed again. I was supposed to get on another connecting train in Fulda but unfortunately I ended up missing that one too. Once I got to Fulda, I went to the ticket office to get another ticket (again free because it wasn't my fault) and it turns out that there are no more trains going to Prague that day. So my options were to stay in Fulda for the evening and take two trains to Prague in the morning or go to Dresden, Germany, stay the night there, and then only have to take one train to Prague in the morning. I, obviously, decided on Dresden.

With help from my mom, we found a reasonably priced hotel in Dresden that was only a 4 minute walk from the train station called the Hotel Pullman Dresden Newa. I arrived in Dresden at about 11:30pm and hopped off the train. When I got further into the train station, I realized that I was not where I was supposed to be. I was definitely at the wrong Dresden train station and had no clue where I was in the middle of the night. I panicked a little, especially since I didn't have any wifi or data so I had no clue where I was or how to get to where I needed to be. I couldn't even contact anyone to let them know where I was. I decided at this point I would get a new SIM card when I arrived in Prague. Thankfully, after walking around the station for a while I eventually stumbled upon a taxi. It's a good thing I had the booking for the hotel in my text messages because he couldn't understand my accent and where I was asking him to take me.

He drove me to the hotel and on the way I was able to see the Dresden skyline lit up over the river. What a treat! I wasn't able to get a picture of it because I was in a moving car so I'll post a picture pulled off of Google Images below.

Dresden Skyline

Beautiful right?

So he drops me off at the hotel, I pay him, and check in. The hotel ends up being the coolest hotel I've ever stayed in. The whole thing was beautiful and it was so nice to have a night to myself after being on trains with hundreds of people all day long. After checking in I realized that I was REALLY hungry because with everything going on, I had forgotten to eat all day. There was a McDonalds across the street. So here I am, lounging in this beautiful 4 star hotel room, munching on McDonalds fries. It was great.

The next morning I get up, walk to the train station I was supposed to get off at the night before (it was literally right across the street from the hotel) and get on my train to Prague. I didn't sleep much the night before so I napped on the train for a bit, woke up to see the countryside, and fell back asleep again. Before I know it, they're announcing that we are approaching Prague. I'm supposed to be getting off at Prague hl.n (which is the abbreviation for the station) and out the window I see Prague H (something I don't speak Czech so I assume this is my stop). I rush off the train and realize that I am definitely not at the right station. AGAIN. So to the information booth I go. Lucky me -not really- there are no more trains to Prague hl.n that day. It's only 9am! I'm told I'll have to use the metro (their subway) which I have absolutely no clue how to use and again I don't have wifi. 

So I get to the metro and realize that I'm supposed to buy a ticket. I don't have any coins and there is no change machine. There is also no attendant at the booth, just ticket machines. They don't have doors that open when you scan your ticket so I just walked down to the subway. There was an older women who was kind enough to teach me how the subway worked and told me that I'm supposed to buy a ticket but they probably wouldn't check so I would most likely be fine without one. I waited for my metro, hopped on and hopped off again at the right station. They didn't check my ticket on the way out thankfully. I actually just found out that the metros and trams here run on the honor system so they trust that you've bought a ticket and if they decided to check and you don't have one they'll fine you 800 Czech Korunas. Good thing they didn't check.

I walked to my hostel, should have taken an uber but again no wifi. All of the sidewalks are made of cobblestone here which made it really difficult to pull two suitcases. I did it though.

I finally reached my hostel at about 11:30, go to the front desk to check in, and am told that I'm not allowed to check in until 3. Remember how they told me that I could check in anytime after I emailed them because I had a reservation? Well I brought that up and they still told me that I couldn't check in until 3 but I could store my luggage in a locker. So I did and I ended up just napping on their common area couches until 3.

After that I checked in, moved into my room, and took another nap before finding some food to eat. 

Getting here was definitely a struggle but I learned a lot of valuable lessons along the way and because of my mistakes I got to see some cool places I never would have gotten to see otherwise and was also thrown into learning how to use the Czech public transportation system right away. It was scary at times, being on my own and not really knowing what to do but I think I've handled the situations well and obviously I made it to where I am supposed to be.

Xoxo,

Jackey