We bought the pink suitcase (which is now stuffed with 30+ kilos of clothes and books) at one of the little shops outside of TESCO in Kertvaros because we didn't have enough luggage. We were SO excited about how cheap it was and I was thrilled to have a pink suitcase. We should have known it was too good to be true...it has become the bane of our trip.
In route to Vienna, we realized that the axle of Pink suitcase was bent--the reason why it was feeling heavier and heavier as we traveled. Keith attempted to bend it back and was somewhat successful. Monday night we took an overnight train to Berlin. Pink suitcase didn't fit down the aisle of the train car, nor did it properly fit in our Harry Potter compartment. Luckily no one else had seat reservations with us.
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| An exhausted Keith with all of our bags. |
The cool part about our train...even though our luggage took up all the seats, we had beds! I reserved couchettes for us. The seats were below us, and the couchette beds were above them where the luggage storage shelves are on other trains.
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| Coming down from the beds |
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| Keith in his bed...it folds down from the wall...the strap is attached to the ceiling for support |
I slept well the first part of the night...from about midnight until 4am. Keith was a bit too tall for the bed, but eventually exhaustion won and he did get a few hours of sleep.
Tuesday morning we arrive in Berlin. Our system of moving all of our European possessions is still working well. On the walk to the flat we rented in Berlin, I start struggling with the Pink suitcase (more than usual), so Keith and I switch bags. About 10 minutes later, a furious Keith drops suitcase. This is when we notice that wheels on Pink suitcase are completely broken. Keith continues to drag Pink suitcase the rest of the way. A 45 minute walk takes us 90 minutes.
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| An exhausted Keith outside our flat in Berlin |
We keep reminding ourselves that this will be funny later....after we're moved into our flat in New Haven. In the meanwhile though, we need to figure out what we're going to do with this suitcase. It would be one thing if we were in our last city, but we still have 13 more days before flying to the U.S.
UGHHHH damn the pink suitcase! Although it is really awesome looking. Too bad it doesn't work :( It will be really funny later, keep reminding yourself that!
ReplyDeleteI can't believe your year in Hungary is over! So happy that y'all are getting to travel some before heading back to the U.S. Berlin is AMAZING...enjoy it!! The couchettes are so great in trains. I've never seen seats below couchettes, just 4 couchettes in one compartment. Just 2 in one compartment sounds great!
There were four couchettes in the compartment, we just opted to not fold the bottom two down (and crossed our fingers no one else would be in our compartment) There are also compartments with SIX couchettes (same sized compartments). Up until we boarded the train, I was kicking myself for not trying to save more money by reserving a couchette in a 6 compartment room...then I saw how freaking cramped they were. :)
ReplyDeletevery cool! I never saw the kind that folded down. 6 in one room?! Yikes! Definitely not worth saving the money. I can't even imagine how that would work!!
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