I often say the great thing about Holland is how small the country it is, and how easy it is to get to other places. Even when you don't want to.
See, I was out in Amsterdam on Friday night because I had some friends visiting. They were staying at a hotel in the city, but I had planned to go home. If you live in the main cities, there are night trains running every hour. I am lucky enough to live near Leiden Central Station, and it is always good to know that I can get home at any time. Amsterdam is only two stops away, and by now I was looking forward to being home in my bed by 3:30. That would give me about 7 hours sleep before meeting up with my friends in Amsterdam again.
I got on the 2:45 night train and started on my trip home. Like I had been looking forward to, I had a brilliant, restful, deep sleep. However, I woke up at 5am... In Eindhoven. I had overslept. Bigtime. To let you understand the magnitude of this fuck-up, here is a map.
(my stop, Leiden, in just above Den Haag) I had traveled basically to south Netherlands while in a sweet sweet dreamlike state. I was already worried what my friends and family would think, as I have a history of sleeping in unfortunate places. (At least this time, I still had my shoes).Now it was 5am, and I had more than 1 1/2 hours before the next train would depart. See, it was too late in the morning for the night trains, and I had to wait for the first regular train... I thought that since I was already in Eindhoven, maybe I can take a look around the city centre. That way, I can pin it on the map, making this trip not a complete pointless excercise.
So, I took a walk. It was that point in the morning where it gets even darker before it gets light. Within a minute, a friendly local on an old bicylce spots me from across the street. He calls out to me and bikes my way.
Him: "You want to buy a bike? 15 Euro"
Me: "No."
Him: "10 Euro?"
Me: "No."
Him "Seven Euro?"
Me: "No, I don't even want to be in Eindhoven!"
He biked away, and I realised what a stupid idea this walk was- in the dark hours of the morning walking around by myself in a big city with a blatant criminal element. I mean, he was obviously trying to sell a stolen bike. So, I went back into the station where they have security cameras and tried finding a place to sit.
I found a seat in a passport photo booth. It even had a curtain! So, I set my alarm for 7am incase I fell asleep again, and tried relaxing a bit.
That's when I heard the unmistakeable sound of the footsteps of a dirty homeless man with heavy, floppy feet. The nerve of the guy- he opened up the curtain of my booth and asked me for 5 Euro. For what? Does he need to buy a bike? Because I happen to know a guy. I mumbled my way into boring the homeless guy into leaving. But he was either a complete asshole, or completely off his face on drugs because he came back to interrupt me twice more. Man he pissed me off. The nerve! (Sorry, I but now is not the time to ask how anyone could possibly be homeless living in socialist Holland.)
So anyhow, the time passed so slowly, and I eventually caught the train home- although this time, I did not sleep very deeply. When I studied in Japan, I learnt the ancient art of the train power nap. I never once missed my stop, although if I had of, I would have ended up in downtown Tokyo. I think I need to retrain myself before I consider sitting down when I am tired (drunk) on a night train.
I got home at 9:30, and instead of getting some proper sleep before going back to Amsterdam, I decided to have a nice breakfast and a nice hot shower. And so it was when I learnt that perhaps Holland isn't such a small country after all.
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