On the overnight train from Paris to Berlin, I lost my luggage. The train left Paris at around 8:30pm, and I was in this sleeping chamber with five other guys. My bed is the lowest one on the right side, so I don’t need to do any climbing, which is good. The train started on time, and everything seems to be all right. I decided to sleep right away so that I would wake up early the next morning before the train would arrive in Berlin. Everyone else in the sleeping chamber seemed to share the same view, and the light was off by 10pm.
At about 5am, I woke up, starving. I got out of the sleeping chamber, and enjoyed some fresh air. I figure it would be a good idea to have a long breakfast so that I could delay getting back inside the foul air. So I did. About an hour passed. When I paid, I asked the train attendant when the train would arrive in Berlin. She looked at me, surprised, and told me that the train was not going to Berlin. I thought she must misunderstand my question, so I took out my ticket and showed her. She said, yes, part of train was supposed to go to Berlin, but this part of train was going to Hamburg! HAMBURG! For a moment, I didn’t even know how to react. I guess it was still early morning, I was not to alert enough to feel really astonished. But after a few second, I began to think and ask the train attendant for help. They contacted the captain of the other train immediately, and informed the other train where my luggage was stored and asked them to keep it in the Deutsche Bahn (German Train) office in Berlin. Later, they told me that it was only about one hour and half by train between Hamburg and Berlin, so don’t worry!
So I ended up in Hamburg around 8:30am in the morning. After figuring out the train schedule from Hamburg to Berlin, I decided to take a short walk around the train station. And luckily, I found a tour bus waiting right outside the station. The tour guy told me it is about one hour and a half tour, so I hopped on. I turned out to be the only one on that bus, so the tour guy offered me an extended English version of the tour. Did you know that hamburger was indeed invented at Hamburg about a hundred years ago, and the Beetles actually spent quite a long time in Hambug before they become famous.
Anyway, after the bus tour, I took the next train back to Berlin, and arrived at about 1pm. I looked for the “service point” to inquire about my luggage. At first, the service person told me that there is no way they can return my luggage on the same day, and handed me a lost-luggage form to fill out, which makes me really stressed. I just started my trip!! After harassing a second service point in the same station, I was directed to the lost-and-found office at a near by subway station. Again after several rounds of redirections by different DB representative, I finally found the lost-and-found office at a back corner of the station, and also there, my luggage.
Now when I think it over, there were probably announcement about detaching a part of the train at Hanover, except that it was in German. Things could get worse, but thanks to the help from DB train attendant.
