Twenty hours of involuntary transit

You have been told of a couple of long journey I've undertaken on this trip already. Those ones I was prepared for. But starting from when I left my hostel in Istanbul, I had another long trip.

I almost called this "Why I organise travel and don't do too much on a whim", or "The Nazis Last Laugh."

00:00 - I left the hostel, picked up by a shuttle to get me to Sabhia Gocken airport. The trip took about 90 minutzes, thanks mainly to the worlds worst shuttlebus driver. He forgot his card to pay tolls on the roads (and just parked in the gate on the motorway until someone behind him gave him one), missed the turnoff for the airport and seemed to abuse everyone who drove past.

01:30 - I arrive at the airport, hoping to get about three hours sleep before hopping on my 6:05 flight. Except its not at 6:05, its at 3:55 and theyre checking in already. So no sleep for me.

02:00 - While waiting for boarding, I check where Hitler's Eagles Nest is located in my guidebook. Turns out it is right on the Austrian border, like Füssen, but SE of Munich near a town called Berchtesgaden. On a whim I decide I will try and see it that day, before heading to Füssen.

When travelling, I never do something like this on a whim.

03:40 - We board and soon after (although a little late at about 4:20) we take off, bound for Münich. Onboard I manage to get an hour's sleep.

05:50 (German time; I gained an hour) - we touch down. About 15 minutes later, while wiping away whatever sleep accumulates in your eye in an hour, I am interrogated by a German border official. I promise him I don't want to work in his country and he lets me through.

07:10 - I arrive at Münich Hopfbahnhof on the S-Bahn, and make enquiries about getting to the Eagles Nest. Its a three hour trip, including a change at Freilassing. I decide to take the 07:26 train. It is delayed by 15 minutes, meaning I miss my connection at Freilassing and have to take the next train an hour later. I left my luggage in a locker.

11:05 - I get into Barchtesgaden. I have to catch two buses to get to the Eagles Nest. I have just missed one, so wait annother 20 mins for the next one. By now I am well and truly sick of delays, and still unable to sleep on any trains or buses, so very tired.

11:40 - I arrive at the spot to change buses, which is also a spot where a heap of walkers in the Alps come to start their walks. Its quite busy there. I head to the information booth. I ask about getting to the Eagles Nest. The response:

"We're not running buses up there today as the lift is out of order. You can still get to the top though - you have to walk and it will take two and a half hours."

I run away from this lady. In hindsight, it was exactly the type of run you do when you have one to many sculls of beer in a drinking game and need to have a spew. Except I was running away because I knew I was about to swear. A lot. Very loudly.

11:45 - I got away quick enough, but had to wait for the next bus to take me down the hill to the train station. Anotgher 20 minutes. Swearing by then had receded to white noise levels.

12:10 - I arrive at the train station to find I have just missed an hourly train to Freilassing. I am not overly happy, but grab a coffee and sit for 55 minutes to wait for the next train.

13:00 - I hop onboard the 13:05 to Freilassing. It sits there for 25 minutes and turns into the 13:25 to Freilassing (which was an different scheduled service). This, ironically, was the train I was going to get anyway, after seeing the Eagles Nest.

14:10 - Its supposed to be an hours journey to Freilassing, which makes me nervous: my planned connection to Münich is due to depart at 14:20 and I´'m not there yet. And I have no idea if this is running on time. Given today's luck I doubt it.

14:15 - We mercifully pull into the station fully three minutes before my connection. I race to make it there in time, and sit down for anopther train journey.

16:20 - Arrive back in Münich. I check the times. I am in a state of mind that surpasses anger and cynicism. In this meta-cynical state I expect that the next train and all others for the evening have been cancelled. But I am lucky, the next train is 20 minutes away. I get some food and jump aboard.

19:00 - Arrive Füssen. Utterly stuffed. It has been a cloudy, warm, humid and windless day. So it would've been uncomforatable anyway, even if I had showered that morning instead of being interrogated.

19:30 - Finally put my bag down in the hostel. If I hadn't had the whim to get to the Eagle's Nest I would have been in Füssen by 10am. And in the nine hours since then I have absolutely nothing to show for it, except that I spent about 80 Euro.

Awesome.