September 25, 2019 - Leaving for Swedish Lapland - Adventures with Deutsche Bahn and TT Lines
Yesterday my humans packed suitcases and cleaned the small house after removing all our stuff. They told me we would leave to Swedish Lapland the next day. Swedish Lapland, what does that mean now, what are we supposed to do there?
We stayed for the night at my master’s mom’s house. She was in the hospital because she wasn’t feeling too good since after the flea market.
Today we went up very early again. Looks like this becomes a habit I will not get used to. We took the train from Frankfurt am Main main station to Rostock, via Hamburg. The train left Frankfurt main station at 5:50 am. My humans had reserved seats on the train to Hamburg. The train wasn’t very crowded and I had enough space to sleep quite comfortable.
Shortly before we passed Kassel there was an announcement that the train would have to make a detour from Kassel to Hannover as the entire area between Kassel and Eutze was closed to train traffic because the police was looking for a suspect that had probably killed a woman the day before. The detour meant a delay of 75 minutes. My humans did not have a problem with it, they weren’t in a hurry. The passengers even got free water from Deutsche Bahn.
Before we even arrived in Hannover the humans on the train were told that the train would stop in Hannover although it was supposed to go to Hamburg. Now what? Luckily there was another train going to Hamburg and this train waited for the passengers from the train we were on to continue their travels to Hamburg. This train was already very crowded but my humans managed to find a seat in a compartment together with other travelers. Thank you to these two nice people in the compartment that allowed us to sit with them. Two more people joined us in the compartment. One of them was a nice lady that told my humans she just finished a commercial spot for barfing dogs and she showed the spot to my humans. Ha, just sitting there and looking at food that rains from the sky can’t be that hard. I am sure I could do the same thing. But according to my humans it’s not that easy. Maybe I should overthink my career as a support dog and consider becoming a movie star, well at least in dog food commercials. I am sure I can have a lot of food that way.
Time flew by while we were heading towards Hamburg. In Hamburg was a train to Rostock, which we could take as our original train already left. We had a two hours delay. The train to Rostock was over crowded and my humans could not find a seat with our entire luggage. In the other trains was a spot where you could park your luggage in the compartment, not on this one. Before the train left Rostock a man came to offer my humans two seats. Unfortunately there was not enough room for the luggage so my humans and I had to stand all the way from Hamburg to Rostock. My mistress told me to make sure I thank these two nice people on her behalf. My humans had some nice conversations with people on the train and it looked like it wasn’t a boring ride. I was busy sniffing at all the people boarding or de-boarding the train or even just walking by.
When we finally arrived Rostock my humans were tired and wanted to sit down somewhere. They thought of doing some sightseeing in Rostock but they did not want to take the entire luggage. So they decided to go to a Café close by and leave soon for the ferry terminal. They had a little snack and my mistress went to the travel center in the train station to get a money refund because of the delay. My humans told me that because we had a two hours delay we get 50% of the ticket price refunded. She did not understand why she did not get the refund for my ticket but as it was too late to ask when she found out she could do nothing about it. In case you wonder, yes, I do have to have a ticket for Deutsche Bahn. Big dogs have to pay the same price as a child.
My humans and I took public transportation to the ferry terminal. We arrived early but it did not matter, after all the delays my humans wanted to make sure we make it on time and without being in a hurry.
When we arrived at the ferry terminal my humans checked in and had a bite to eat in the restaurant. It was still early and we had to wait until 10 pm to board the ferry.
I did not know what a ferry is and my mistress forgot to explain to me so all I could do was wait for things to come.
Meanwhile I was tired and wanted to nap but the floor was cold and hard so I started to get the attention of my mistress to let her know to do something about the cold floor. Normally my humans carry a blanket for me in my backpack. No, not my backpack, I don’t carry that around, my humans have a backpack where they store all my stuff like treats (most important), doggy bags, comb, brush, nail clipper and most of all my blanket. This time they had a small carpet as they tossed the blanket because it was too dirty and couldn’t be washed. So my mistress put the small carpet on the floor and I lay down right away to nap. The other people around got huge eyes when they saw what happened and were amused by the fact that I had a carpet to sleep on. I don’t care if it is a blanket, a carpet or something else as long as it is warm and comfy.
At 10 pm the shuttle bus arrived in front of the ferry terminal and we boarded the bus. The bus took us to a huge house, at least it looked like a house, but it was sitting in the water. I could hear the engines. Wait a minute - is that house swimming? When we got into the house I could feel it move. What is that good for? Is this something like a canoe with an engine?
Shortly after we boarded the house, ship or ferry ,as my humans call it, that thing started to move. As it was dark outside I couldn’t see much but I noticed that the lights of the ferry terminal got further and further away until there was no light outside any more. My humans tried to sleep as did the other passengers that were sitting in the lounge as we did. My mistress told me that all the cabins were booked and we had to sleep in the lounge. Not a problem for me, the floor was warm and comfy even without my personal carpet. My mistress was sleeping just right next to me.
We stayed for the night at my master’s mom’s house. She was in the hospital because she wasn’t feeling too good since after the flea market.
Today we went up very early again. Looks like this becomes a habit I will not get used to. We took the train from Frankfurt am Main main station to Rostock, via Hamburg. The train left Frankfurt main station at 5:50 am. My humans had reserved seats on the train to Hamburg. The train wasn’t very crowded and I had enough space to sleep quite comfortable.
Shortly before we passed Kassel there was an announcement that the train would have to make a detour from Kassel to Hannover as the entire area between Kassel and Eutze was closed to train traffic because the police was looking for a suspect that had probably killed a woman the day before. The detour meant a delay of 75 minutes. My humans did not have a problem with it, they weren’t in a hurry. The passengers even got free water from Deutsche Bahn.
Before we even arrived in Hannover the humans on the train were told that the train would stop in Hannover although it was supposed to go to Hamburg. Now what? Luckily there was another train going to Hamburg and this train waited for the passengers from the train we were on to continue their travels to Hamburg. This train was already very crowded but my humans managed to find a seat in a compartment together with other travelers. Thank you to these two nice people in the compartment that allowed us to sit with them. Two more people joined us in the compartment. One of them was a nice lady that told my humans she just finished a commercial spot for barfing dogs and she showed the spot to my humans. Ha, just sitting there and looking at food that rains from the sky can’t be that hard. I am sure I could do the same thing. But according to my humans it’s not that easy. Maybe I should overthink my career as a support dog and consider becoming a movie star, well at least in dog food commercials. I am sure I can have a lot of food that way.
Time flew by while we were heading towards Hamburg. In Hamburg was a train to Rostock, which we could take as our original train already left. We had a two hours delay. The train to Rostock was over crowded and my humans could not find a seat with our entire luggage. In the other trains was a spot where you could park your luggage in the compartment, not on this one. Before the train left Rostock a man came to offer my humans two seats. Unfortunately there was not enough room for the luggage so my humans and I had to stand all the way from Hamburg to Rostock. My mistress told me to make sure I thank these two nice people on her behalf. My humans had some nice conversations with people on the train and it looked like it wasn’t a boring ride. I was busy sniffing at all the people boarding or de-boarding the train or even just walking by.
When we finally arrived Rostock my humans were tired and wanted to sit down somewhere. They thought of doing some sightseeing in Rostock but they did not want to take the entire luggage. So they decided to go to a Café close by and leave soon for the ferry terminal. They had a little snack and my mistress went to the travel center in the train station to get a money refund because of the delay. My humans told me that because we had a two hours delay we get 50% of the ticket price refunded. She did not understand why she did not get the refund for my ticket but as it was too late to ask when she found out she could do nothing about it. In case you wonder, yes, I do have to have a ticket for Deutsche Bahn. Big dogs have to pay the same price as a child.
My humans and I took public transportation to the ferry terminal. We arrived early but it did not matter, after all the delays my humans wanted to make sure we make it on time and without being in a hurry.
When we arrived at the ferry terminal my humans checked in and had a bite to eat in the restaurant. It was still early and we had to wait until 10 pm to board the ferry.
I did not know what a ferry is and my mistress forgot to explain to me so all I could do was wait for things to come.
Meanwhile I was tired and wanted to nap but the floor was cold and hard so I started to get the attention of my mistress to let her know to do something about the cold floor. Normally my humans carry a blanket for me in my backpack. No, not my backpack, I don’t carry that around, my humans have a backpack where they store all my stuff like treats (most important), doggy bags, comb, brush, nail clipper and most of all my blanket. This time they had a small carpet as they tossed the blanket because it was too dirty and couldn’t be washed. So my mistress put the small carpet on the floor and I lay down right away to nap. The other people around got huge eyes when they saw what happened and were amused by the fact that I had a carpet to sleep on. I don’t care if it is a blanket, a carpet or something else as long as it is warm and comfy.
At 10 pm the shuttle bus arrived in front of the ferry terminal and we boarded the bus. The bus took us to a huge house, at least it looked like a house, but it was sitting in the water. I could hear the engines. Wait a minute - is that house swimming? When we got into the house I could feel it move. What is that good for? Is this something like a canoe with an engine?
Shortly after we boarded the house, ship or ferry ,as my humans call it, that thing started to move. As it was dark outside I couldn’t see much but I noticed that the lights of the ferry terminal got further and further away until there was no light outside any more. My humans tried to sleep as did the other passengers that were sitting in the lounge as we did. My mistress told me that all the cabins were booked and we had to sleep in the lounge. Not a problem for me, the floor was warm and comfy even without my personal carpet. My mistress was sleeping just right next to me.
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