I do believe that it is time for another Road Trip Saga.
And, what?
You thought that I had told all of my Sad Sojourner's Sagas???
Trust me.
Back in the day, if you decided to travel with me on one of those trips, you were signing up for some sort of adventure. Maybe it would be missed or cancelled flights. Perhaps it was a training ride turned express and headed way farther than expected or hoped for. Who could tell?
But the stories and sagas have not yet all been told.
And here comes still another.
This one involves a trip that only signed on a small number of travelers, perhaps not even numbering a dozen. While small, it was still a go. There one onlyall (but significant) adjustment.
Instead of one of those sizable travel tour busses, we would be shuttled around in a mini-bus, more like an oversized van to be exact. It was the right size for our group size.
And to further accommodate, our driver would also serve as our tour guide.
The trip itself promised to cover a decent amount of territory. We began in Rome, headed from there into Austria and then on to Germany, back down and around and into Switzerland and from there into France. There may have been some additional destinations but those are lost to time and a faded memory.
What is vivid in memory is that tour guide/bus driver.
Friendly, personable, eager to assist.
And slightly absent-minded.
We were on our way out of Rome, headed to Austria, about an hour and a half or a bit more away from Rome when he gave us the information.
"Seems that I forgot my maps!" he let us know.
No problem, he assured.
"I know where we are going."
Or so he said.
Austria was no problem. Getting to Innsburck and our hotel, likewise, no problem. The days there, no problem.
And then we headed to Germany.
We entered Munich.
And drove and drove and continued to drive.
Our driver was totally lost. He had no clue as to the location of our hotel. Somehow he thought that if he drove around enough, circled enough streets, sooner or later he would spot the hotel.
He was so wrong!
Finally, he hailed a cab and with the cab leading the way, we found our way to the hotel.
But on our way there we had likely had the grand tour of the city!
The missing maps came into play once again as we left Germany and headed to the Swiss border.
We came to the border crossing and went through all of the proper diplomatic stuff, show the passports, have faces checked against photo, etc. and finally we were admitted and free to go.
On the road we headed to our evening's destination.
Or so we thought.
I felt as if I was the only one noticing it but I could see the sun growing lower in the sky, setting behind us.
We were headed due east.
Only our destination and Switzerland was due west from that border crossing!
Back and forth went the conversation between me and our driver/tour guide.
We are going in the wrong direction!
No! I know where we are going!
But we are headed east!
No! We crossed the border, remember?
But check out the sun! It's behind us!
And eventually it came to pass.
The driver stopped, pulled over into a gas station and actually went to get directions.
And sure enough!
The border we had crossed a couple of hours earlier was between Germany and Austria.
We were in Austria (again) and Switzerland was now a couple of hours away in the opposite direction.
Needless to say, we checked in to our hotel rather late that day and dinner was also rather late.
Anyhow, you get the idea of this trip's little series of adventures. There were others. What I have narrated gives you the idea, the flavor.
One final memory - departure.
We got to the airport in ample time for proper departure. Somehow, we did not get lost on that segment of the journey.
And having arrived at the airport, our driver/tour guide began to unload the luggage from the carriers beneath the van. He bent down to draw out some of the luggage and right then it happened.
Riiiiip!
A nice, also rather sizable rip right down the backside of his trousers.
Mapless, clueless and now with trousers well torn, our tour guide/drive bid us adieu!
(I think he got back home eventually!)
