DRAMAZ!

I made it! I am in Germany, currently sitting in the lobby of my hostel lamenting the weather with some fellow travellers.

SNOW! Official verdict: HATEHATEHATE. Do. Not. Like. Snow. It's cold and icy and sits around in inconvenient lumps just being cold and dirty and COLD and icy and COLD.

Righto, lets go from the very beginning. I've had an epic five hour night that took twelve hours on the plane, and epic dramaz this morning in the EVIL SNOW hunting down my hostel.

The flight.
I ended up in a seat completely different to the one on my ticket, because the row in front of my row wanted to swap for some reason. Whatever, I don't care. Then there was this girl who was travelling with a boyfriend and her mother, but for some reason they weren't sitting together. She was kicking up a fuss trying to swap seats and stuff, and I somehow ended up not sitting on the aisle. I was in the seat next to the window, next to a girl who was just as bewildered as me with the fuss being made. I ended up with the boyfriend on the other side, and though he wasn't exactly small, he took up waaaaay more room than he needed to. I had a very uncomfortable twelve hour flight wedged up next to him. That wasn't the worst thing though, I don't really care about lack of personal space. I hate that the Cathay Pacific seats don't tilt backwards. Instead, the seat bit slides forwards, tilting the back rest bit, but not the head rest. No matter how you have the chair, your head is always upright. I couldn't get comfortable enough to sleep, so I drifted in and out all night. Then my lower back started aching, making my hips ache and sending achey-ness all the way down my legs. I stood up every chance I got, which felt really nice. It was literally the longest night ever. It was night for twelve hours, and we landing at 5:30am local time.

Frankfurt.
Dark and rainy. The sun didn't start coming up until 8:30am. Yuuuuck. Seedy customs guys are seedy, I just grinned at him until he stamped my passport. After collecting my luggage I had nothing to declare so I just walked straight out. Easy as. I went to the information booth and got a little map of the city and some train numbers. Then I went outside. COLDCOLDCOLD. It's all foggy and dark and COLD. I stood there obviously looking confused because the sign said bahnhof but there was clearly no train, and a shuttle bus driver told me to get on his bus, which took me to the bahnhof. When I got there I went up and down escalators dragging my stupid suitcases behind me trying to find the right train and buy a ticket for it. One lady sent me back into the airport terminal to buy a ticket from the hotel booth. What even? Anyway, eventually I found the platform and bought myself a ticket. I couldn't match the numbers I'd been given with the labels on the trains though. Eventually I went back up the escalator AGAIN and got the information lady to label my train map. It all makes sense now. I managed to get on the correct train to the Hbf, the big main station, then transfered onto another train, which was also the correct one, just going in the wrong direction. Luckily after three stops I figured this out and got off, and had to drag my suitcases up and down some stairs to get to the other side of the platform.

I finally made it to my station, decided it had definitely gotten colder during my journey, and started walking. I had my little map, but I went the wrong way. After about half an hour of dragging my suitcases through the snow and getting my feet absolutely sopping wet, I decided that I was hopelessly lost. I was lost in a foreign city dragging two STUPID suitcases behind me, I could barely feel my feet, and it was raining. By now I was feeling just a little tired and fed up, so I had a little cry. I then decided that what I needed was a taxi. I have no idea how to go about flagging down a taxi, and I also had no idea how to tell which taxis were occupied or not. I sort of stood there on a street corner in a daze being rained on, until a taxi driver decided I clearly looked like I needed him. He put me in the car and I had another little cry as I told him where I needed to go. It was only a kilometre away, and he told me off for walking in the rain and the sludge.

I tell you, that hotel was the most welcome sight in the world. All I wanted to do was check in, have a shower and a big cry, then sleep. Then I got told check-in was at 3pm. It was 9:30am. Waaaaaaah. The dude gave me the key to the luggage storage room, so I went down there, stowed my STUPID suitcases, and dug out a pair of proper warm socks and my boots. My little sandshoes were absolutely sopping, so I chucked them in a plastic bag. I went back upstairs and ordered a coffee, because I just wanted to sit one one of the nice looking cushions in the cosy corner and sort myself out.

I watched on dubiously as the girl, who obviously didn't make coffee very often, fiddled around with the milk jug, REHEATING THE MILK, and then poured a shot of muck over the top because she'd packed the basket too fine and it had all come squirting out the sides. She turned around, saw the look on my face and told me to sit down while she started again. I actually ended up with a drinkable cup of coffee, I was pretty amazed. It must have been a nice blend she had there :P

Coffee was exactly what I needed. I opened up all my maps and bits and pieces and tried to get my bearings. The information guy at the airport had suggested that I go Hauptwache, which is like the main shopping touristy part of the inner city. I felt much more cheerful after my coffee, so I ventured outside back to the train station. Oh my goodness you guys, you won't believe how close the station is to the hotel! It's a five minute stroll down the street. What even. I couldn't belive it. If I'd been paying attention, the train actually passes the hotel just before it stops, AND YOU CAN SEE THE HOTEL FROM THE STATION. Seriously, huge letters on the side of the building are clearly visible as my hotel. I nearly died trudging through the snow in the complete opposite direction, and it was so close the whole time! Gah.

Anyway, now equipped with just a handbag, I caught the train back to Hauptwache. It was an awesome place! I spent a good two hours wandering around the endless streets of shops and funny little buildings. I forgot my camera, but I'll prbably go back tomorrow and take some touristy pictures. There are so many little bakeries! So much bread! And everything smells of sausages :P I bought myself a bargain pair of boots and a couple of pairs of leggings, and I had my eye on a jacket which I might go back and get tomorrow.

Eventually my back started hurting again, and my feet were aching like woah, so I sat down to eat some lunch and then caught the train back to the hotel. I got back around 1:30pm, and had planned to get my laptop out and surf the free wireless until 3pm when I could check in. But when I got back, there was a sign saying that for 5 euro, I could check in early. I was like HUZZAH *happy dance*, checked in, dragged my STUPID suitcases to my room, had a shower and fell into bed. I didn't have much of a nap yet again, but now I feel refreshed enough to stay awake until a normal time and then have an actual full night's sleep *glee* I can't remember the last proper sleep I had *wistful*. I have roomie, I can't remember his name but he's from Mexico and seems nice. When I got into the room and saw someone's stuff I was all worried that I'd do the wrong thing and offend someone, but he seems pretty easygoing :).

I wanted to source out some theatre tickets or something for tonight, but I couldn't find any information in Hauptwache like the guy at the airport said I would :( I might ask at reception to see if they have any suggestions for something I can do tonight, otherwise I'll be staying in. I don't particularly wanna go out in the rain again, but I don't particularly feel like amusing myself here either. There's a tv in my room though, so I suppose I could watch that.

After the disaster that was this morning I'm really glad I ended up not writing off this day. I was seriously ready to just spend all day moping, but now I've done something in Frankfurt!