Travelling Mishaps (Part 1)

ACE family trains for the Tough Mudder

I thought I would dedicate a post every so often to mishaps that happen while travelling. These will not follow any particular order but will just pop up when I am in the mood to share our misfortunes. In showing you these misfortunes my intent is to portray how important it is to take each mishap in stride and try to turn it into a positive. While we don't always do this we always do try. When I played rugby this was a popular quote I lived by  'there are no mistakes in rugby, only opportunity.' (quote has been altered slightly) Now while traveling Cam and I often talk about how 'there are no mistakes when traveling only new adventures to be had.'

When Cam and I arrived in Hamburg we were very excited. The train ride was long but Etta was very pleasant the whole ride. As we ascended the elevator to the main level of Hamburg central station we headed straight for the taxis. There was no way we were going to try to haul 3 months of baggage to the apartment via public transit. We were excited to hop in a taxi and go! We approached a large van taxi and the driver said that he would not take us. "You have too much luggage." He said. "This is absurd" I thought. "Our friend fit all our luggage in her tiny car". I told the taxi driver this to no avail. We approached several other taxis and after they saw the first driver turn us away, they wouldn't even talk to us.

All of the luggage we took for 3 months. This included: 3 large suitcases, 1 carry-on,
1 diaper bag, 1 car seat, 1 Stroller (packed with a backpack, Etta's nomad travel bed, and a bunch of food).

About 40 minutes later and after asking 3 different people we figured out how to take the train to the place we were staying. As we were finally purchasing our ticket, we were hit by a torrential downpour. I am talking heavy, fast raindrops with lightning and thunder. Cam had a look of horror on his face while I started laughing. "This cannot be happening" I thought. Instead of worrying about the rain I decided to make the best of the experience and take some photos of our misfortune.

The dark clouds start coming.

I wish I could capture the rain a little better, but believe me, it was really coming down. 

Cam was a little distressed as he worried about Etta and I. 

We soon told him it would all be alright and at least it was still really warm outside. It will make for a good story someday.

After taking some photos we decided to head onto the train and try to get to our destination and maybe by the time we got there the rain would be gone. If the rain was not gone we could just hang out in the station as we assumed if would be similar but smaller than central station. Once we arrived at our train stop we ascended the elevator. As the elevator door opened Cam and I did not say a word. The elevator dropped us right outside literally right in the rain. The stroller was jammed between the elevator door as we were trying to go back in the elevator. We immediately ran for cover and tried to develop a plan of action.

This was our plan of action. I had the stroller with a carry on bag inside.  I also had Etta in our baby carrier and was pulling a large suitcase (50 lbs+). I would crouch down and hold onto an umbrella while pushing the stroller. Cam was pulling two large suitcases (also 50 lbs+ each). A couple of times he would put the big suitcase I was pulling on top of one of his other suitcases when I was finding it too difficult to pull the suitcase, push the stroller and hold an umbrella to shade Etta from the rain. Did I mention the whole walk from the train stop to the apartment was uphill?!

After about 10 minutes we arrived where we were staying in Hamburg. This little trip brought us home exhausted and tired. The person we rented the apartment from must have thought we were crazy, soaking wet and huffing and puffing as we approached her door. Should I ever enter the Tough Mudder Race or The Spartan Race I will be sure to channel our experience dragging all that luggage around Hamburg in the pouring rain!

Future Tough Mudder Team!!!