My Voyage to Deustchland - Part I

It all started with my telephonic interview with German client.The next day a mail from my manager was waiting for me in my mailbox which said that I had to fly to Germany asap. Since this was a new client, I would be the first person to go there. My Manager gave me 5 days time to fly. I had to run to and fro to office and home to get the necessary documents for the Visa. Our travel desk said, visa itself needs 5 working days. So I was thinking I would be flying over the weekend and had some shopping still waiting for the Nth moment.My Visa came on Wednesday and I was still not prepared because I did not know when I would be exactly getting the Visa. My Manager asked me to fly on the same night. Nothing was prepared, no packing was done, still shopping was pending. I started panicing. However all this worked out with the help of my Brother, My sister and my close friend. I still cant think anything about what I would have done without them on that day.
Finally was in Bengaluru airport with my friends, my father and brother. I was carrying a checkin baggage and a cabin baggage. Thank God! I was not flying to the US. Else I should have carried 2 checkin baggages (later in this post,you will know why I said Thank God! It is a different thing that I could have carried a single checkin baggage to the US also :P).Boarded the flight at around 10.50PM after all the formalities in the airport with lot of apprehension.
My friends who had travelled earlier had warned me about claustrophobia. I was actually waiting to experience it. But nothing like that happenned at all. I was a little disappointed and started blaming my friends :P.
Safely landed ALL ALONE in Frankfurt airport at around 8am their time. I had changed the time in my watch in the flight itself. Now I had to take an other domestic flight to Dusseldorf. The gap to my connecting flight was just 1 hour. I had to clear the formalities there and run to the other gate.Those who have seen Frankfurt airport can imagine how difficult it would have been for a first timer like me to manage to reach another gate within 1 hour. I was running following the sign boards. Thank God! Many others were also running :P. Still I was 10 minutes late. I went and enquired at the counter and got to know the flight was 1 hour late. I was so much relieved.
Landed in Dusseldorf at around 11.30-12.00pm with my 2 baggages. Now the actual adventure of mine starts and now I got exposed to the importance of knowing Deustche(I did not know a single word in German ). Very few people knew English there. My client location is in North-west Germany, 150kms from Dusseldorf. My Manager had mailed me the train timetable from Dusseldorf to my location. Now I had to somehow go to the Railway station (It was airport railway station itself :P). I made use of the information center facility that was available in the airport. They told me to take the Skytrain. But did not properly understand why I should use it. I went there and stood looking at the Automat(ticket wending machine) understanding nothing. Everything was in Deutshe (english also was there but I didnt know about it :P). I asked an elderly person to help me out. He said 'No English'. God!!I had my train at 1.30. But I have to mention this "Germans are very Helpful". A lady voluteered in english and said she was going to the railway station by skytrain and she would take me to the ticket counter instead of automat. So I simply followed her to the counter, got the ticket from the counter. He asked me to punch the ticket before 5 minutes of the train arrival(for the ticket to be valid for 2 hours). Now where to punch?? I had to search for that punching machine (it was just beside me :P). wherever I go, I had to drag these 2 luggages with me (now you understood why i said i Thank God!). One more person there helped me in punching. He knew a little bit of English. So he started speaking to me. He said he was also taking the same train but going a little further than my place. I was really happy. He helped me to get my luggage into the train.Before travelling to Germany, I had asked my manager about how would I know about when the place has arrived. I was expecting him to tell me the previous station name. But he simply said, it is given in the timetable that the train will reach the place by 2.30 and I am sure at 2.30 you can simply get down at whatever place it stops. What a nice way to guide!!!Finally with the help of that person embarked the train. In the train, for every station there was announcement about the next station. I simply smiled at the way how my manager had guided me. But what he said was also true. Time management is simply awesome there. I enjoyed my train journey without blinking my eyes. The landscapes, the passing buildings, cities which looked like model cities, everything was so different for me. Beside the track, I noticed buildings on which some slogans were written, some bills were sticked, some advertisements. For a second I felt, at least this is similar to India :-).Finally reached my place and that co-passenger of mine helped me to get down the train with my luggage and wished me nice stay in Germany.
Now I had to get into the taxi towards my Hotel. In this small place, literally no one knew English. I was really in a foreign country. For the first time in my life, i felt like I was the odd man out there :P. I asked someone about the taxi. He said "keine English" (No English). I made a sad face. But I think he understood the word TAXI. He saw me and my luggage :P. He simply showed me the taxi stand and showed me the way to go out. To go to the taxi stand, I had to get down the stairs keeping my luggage on the slider. There was no lift or elevator in this small station. I started struggling with the luggage. That person came from behind, said something in German and simply picked my luggage and got my luggage down till the taxi stand,found me a Frau taxi driver(lady taxi driver) and told her something in German. Thankfully, that lady knew some words in English. I gave her the address and she drove me towards my Hotel. We were speaking all along the way in ENGLISH till we reached the Hotel.