Anything that could go wrong yesterday, went wrong. Ok, well.... Not quite EVERYTHING, or I wouldn't be typing this post right now! I woke up early to catch my train to Innsbruck, Austria. Fortunately, it wasn't raining, so I was able to wait for the tram in the gray, early morning light. The tram ride was short, and we got to the train station right on time. I made it onto the train with no problems, and I settled into my seat to begin the journey. I pulled my kindle out of my bag and.....it wouldn't turn on. I figured it was dead, so I plugged it in... Still not turning on. I don't really sleep on trains because they move too much, so I ended up just sitting there staring out of the window for 3 hours. When I was able to get internet, I found out that holding the power button for 30 seconds will reset the kindle. It worked!
One problem down, many more to go.
The bungy jumping company had emailed me and given the exact name of the bus that goes out to the bridge... I couldn't find it, as nothing here is labeled like you'd expect. After grabbing some lunch (9 euro got me a huge plate of schnitzel and fries, which is amazing compared to the prices I've been dealing with!) I asked someone where it was, and showed them the name of the bus, and they put me on it! It was only 30 minutes later, when I thought, "We should be at the bridge by now..." that I found out I was on the wrong bus. I got off, and walked for 15 minutes or so until I found another bus stop. I made it back to the train station, and called the bungy operator. The time was 2:15, and she told me they stop jumping at 3. The bus takes 30 minutes to get there, and at this point, I still had no idea where the bus was. For the first time on this entire trip, I broke down and paid for a taxi. "Now I'll get there on time!"
Two problems dow.....wait... blue lights....behind us... The taxi driver was speeding and got pulled over. Are you kidding me? We went through the whole charade, license, registration, etc. The only unusual thing for me is that the cab driver pulled out some cash and paid for the ticket right there! That's definitely different than how we do it in the US.
Ok so we finally made it to the bridge, I run run run to the bungy operator and pull out my wallet to pay for the bungy. They don't take credit card. It's over $200 and they don't take credit card? Ridiculous! She tells me there is an atm in the little village nearby, so I take off. Luckily, it really wasn't that far away. I get the cash and head back.
What number problem are we on? Whatever, another problem down.
This bungy was different than any other that I've done. You have to walk across the bridge out to the middle, and then attach your harness to a cord running next to one of those ladders on the side of the bridge... You know, the ones you see and think "Who in their right mind would ever go down that?" Well, that is the way down to the bungy platform. The wind is blowing, and the big buses driving by send up a gust of wind even stronger. I am not lying when I say that going down this ladder was scarier than the bungy itself. Seriously. I make it down the ladder alive, get suited up, and the next thing I hear is 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, bungyyyy! I leap off, soar through the air like a graceful rock, and hit the end of the cord. The recoil on this bungy was so much more than the other 2 jumps. I felt entirely weightless for quite awhile! As they explained beforehand, they lowered an orange ball to me with 2 big clips. The first, I attached to my harness, and the second was to be attached to another cord that they were lowering. The probelm arose when the wind kept moving the cord to where I couldn't reach it. We all know how short my arms are... In the video on Facebook, (I'll try to get it on here eventually) you can hear the guys yelling at me to try and grab the rope. I guess to them it looked like it was close enough and that I wasn't trying to get it... On my end, it was never close enough for me to bother reaching for it! I wasn't sure what this meant... Can they pull me up without it? Idk! After a little whIle of trying to get the rope to me, they finally started pulling me up without the second clip attached. I made it to the platform alive, so that's another problem down.
I asked the bungy people where to catch the bus and they said it was about a 15 minute walk away in the next town over. I begin walking, and about 30 minutes later, I ask the first person I see if I'm on the right track. "Yea! It's about 10 minutes that way!" I continue trekking along, uphill, in snow, with my bookbag... I stopped a few times to eat some snow (not the yellow kind) and as I continue, I finally see what might be a bus stop. It was a tiny pavilion, unmarked other than 2 bus schedules posted on the inside. I got on the bus, made it back to Innsbruck, and began looking for the bus that my host told me would take me to their area of town. I finally find it, and show a guy on the bus the name of the stop. He told me when to get off, and I thought, wow, that was nice... Well, it was the wrong stop. I got off 2 stops early! The bus wouldn't be back by for another 30 minutes so I just started walking in the direction the bus went. I called my hosts and they started walking towards me until we found each other. This, my friends, happens to be the final problem solved.
I'm staying with 3 college students who live a little bit up a mountain, with gorgeous scenery all around. It's all just so beautiful!
When we got back to the apartment, we made pizza with corn, onion, some kind of meat (salami maybe?) green bell pepper, and mozzarella. Yummmmmm! We sat and talked about different places we've been, and I had the pleasure of telling them about Iceland since they're planning a trip for next year! The 2 girls went to Ireland last year and told me how beautiful it is... If people living in the mountains of Austria think it's that beautiful, I can only imagine what I'll think!!
Since I was unable to find a congregation to worship with here, I tried to watch the live stream from a church in Birmingham. I was able to hear a few songs and part of the lesson before the internet crashed. I miss my church family, and I look forward to being able to worship with them!
Traveling isn't always butterflies and rainbows... But I welcome any experience, good or bad. I've learned to take what comes at you, and keep on going. The moral of the of story is more about the fact that I solved each problem...not that the problems occurred in the first place. Being a problem solver has helped me in every aspect of my life, and I look forward to the problems of the future. I can handle anything.
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