Another shorties for today!
Since I really love my first shorties' title (see : That Winter, The Lake Freezes), for today's post, the title is inspired from the K-drama titled "Gentleman's Dignity" - a drama starring Jang Dong Gun, Kim Ha Neul and Kim So Ro. I will not write more about the drama since this is the travel blog, not a drama blog AND this is not the reason why I write this post today.
Actually, I write this post to commemorate the first journey of RR Tour in Europe that was on April 6th 2012 - which was TODAY - one year ago.
Netherlands and Paris were our RR Tour 2012 first destination. Why? Because I heard from my friends that April is the best time for me to visit Keukeunhof which is located in Netherlands. And, since Paris is located only hours away from Netherlands, I could go to both place on my Easter holiday.
Since I was still a newbie in planning the budget for travel, I thought that the cheapest way to travel is to choose the cheapest train ticket (no matter how long the journey is), the cheapest transportation (bus is the winner!), the cheapest hostel (no matter how long the hostel from the city center) and anything as long as it is the CHEAPEST. I have no idea that by choosing what is stated as the cheapest would make me spend more money, time and ruining my journey. (even though sometime, it really IS the cheapest)
First lesson: Be careful when you find something that is CHEAP.
I did not see any troubles in choosing the cheapest ticket - because I was happy enough that train ticket from my place (Reutlingen) to Venlo (the closest city in Netherlands from NRW) costs not more than 50 Euros. But, the problems came up in the middle of my journey from Reutlingen to Karlsruhe (I met my friend there). I should changed my train in an unknown train station and has to waited for 1 hour (even more, I forgot) before the train departed to Karlsruhe. It will not matter only IF I did not have to catch a train in Mannheim less than 2 hours from that time. You could imagine how panic I was and when the train departed and arrived in Karlsruhe, my train from Karlsruhe to Mannheim has just departed less than 10 seconds ago!
Second lesson: During public holiday, the train schedule is not always 100% true.
I was panic since I have to catch my train in Mannheim - no matter what - because it was the train that took me to Venlo and the ticket price could be doubled if I was late. Since Mannheim was my priority, I searched every train that directed to Mannheim and arrived before my train departed - and the climax - the only train available was ICE - the express train where the ticket costed for 21 Euros! I hesitated but I did not have a choice, it was the only choice and I have to buy it.
To cut it short, I bought the ICE ticket and I found out that the train was FULL OF PEOPLE (because it's holiday) and I could not get a seat during 20 minutes journey - and no one checked my ticket (which meant, my ticket did not mean anything). Eventhough I could arrived in Venlo safely - but if I looked back, I has already changed 4-5 trains and wasted about 8 hours in the train. It was a long journey and the journey has not ended yet, because Venlo is still far away from Rijswijk - the place where I stayed for the next 3 days in Netherlands. A surprised came (again) when we found out that the train ticket from Venlo to Rijswijk costs for 20 Euros. (okay, now my transportation fee from Reutlingen to Rijswijk would be 100 Euros!)
Third lesson: Always plan for the unexpected cost whenever you travel.
I thought the long journey will be ended in few hours but the last problem came - when I was on the train from Venlo to Rijswijk. The train suddenly stopped at Breda train station because an accident just occured at that time. Due to the accident (someone jumped on the railway), all passengers have to wait for 2 hours for the next train. It was a lo--ng journey and definitely tiring journey (I spent more than 10 hours in the train - changed train up to 8 - 9 times - A DAY!)
After this journey, I reflected and realized that the cheapest is not always the cheapest and not always worth it. Sometimes, spending a little bit more will give you better journey experience. Though my first journey was quite far from the pleasant journey, but through this experience I could learn many things that helped me to plan my next journey. And, thanks to this (terrible) yet memorable journey, I could travel to another 10 countries and could keep the journey on the budget and of course no more wasting more than 10 hours in the train!
I hope you could learn something from this shorties and I would like to ask, do you guys have a similar experience like me? I would love to hear your story!
Since I really love my first shorties' title (see : That Winter, The Lake Freezes), for today's post, the title is inspired from the K-drama titled "Gentleman's Dignity" - a drama starring Jang Dong Gun, Kim Ha Neul and Kim So Ro. I will not write more about the drama since this is the travel blog, not a drama blog AND this is not the reason why I write this post today.
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| RR Tour: The First Trip - Netherlands |
Actually, I write this post to commemorate the first journey of RR Tour in Europe that was on April 6th 2012 - which was TODAY - one year ago.
Since I was still a newbie in planning the budget for travel, I thought that the cheapest way to travel is to choose the cheapest train ticket (no matter how long the journey is), the cheapest transportation (bus is the winner!), the cheapest hostel (no matter how long the hostel from the city center) and anything as long as it is the CHEAPEST. I have no idea that by choosing what is stated as the cheapest would make me spend more money, time and ruining my journey. (even though sometime, it really IS the cheapest)
First lesson: Be careful when you find something that is CHEAP.
 |
| Bad Honnef train station |
I did not see any troubles in choosing the cheapest ticket - because I was happy enough that train ticket from my place (Reutlingen) to Venlo (the closest city in Netherlands from NRW) costs not more than 50 Euros. But, the problems came up in the middle of my journey from Reutlingen to Karlsruhe (I met my friend there). I should changed my train in an unknown train station and has to waited for 1 hour (even more, I forgot) before the train departed to Karlsruhe. It will not matter only IF I did not have to catch a train in Mannheim less than 2 hours from that time. You could imagine how panic I was and when the train departed and arrived in Karlsruhe, my train from Karlsruhe to Mannheim has just departed less than 10 seconds ago!
Second lesson: During public holiday, the train schedule is not always 100% true.
 |
| Another out-of-nowhere train station |
I was panic since I have to catch my train in Mannheim - no matter what - because it was the train that took me to Venlo and the ticket price could be doubled if I was late. Since Mannheim was my priority, I searched every train that directed to Mannheim and arrived before my train departed - and the climax - the only train available was ICE - the express train where the ticket costed for 21 Euros! I hesitated but I did not have a choice, it was the only choice and I have to buy it.
 |
| Where is it? I have no idea hahaha |
To cut it short, I bought the ICE ticket and I found out that the train was FULL OF PEOPLE (because it's holiday) and I could not get a seat during 20 minutes journey - and no one checked my ticket (which meant, my ticket did not mean anything). Eventhough I could arrived in Venlo safely - but if I looked back, I has already changed 4-5 trains and wasted about 8 hours in the train. It was a long journey and the journey has not ended yet, because Venlo is still far away from Rijswijk - the place where I stayed for the next 3 days in Netherlands. A surprised came (again) when we found out that the train ticket from Venlo to Rijswijk costs for 20 Euros. (okay, now my transportation fee from Reutlingen to Rijswijk would be 100 Euros!)
Third lesson: Always plan for the unexpected cost whenever you travel.
 |
| The Yellow Seats - Welcome to Netherlands! |
After this journey, I reflected and realized that the cheapest is not always the cheapest and not always worth it. Sometimes, spending a little bit more will give you better journey experience. Though my first journey was quite far from the pleasant journey, but through this experience I could learn many things that helped me to plan my next journey. And, thanks to this (terrible) yet memorable journey, I could travel to another 10 countries and could keep the journey on the budget and of course no more wasting more than 10 hours in the train!
I hope you could learn something from this shorties and I would like to ask, do you guys have a similar experience like me? I would love to hear your story!
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