Another Mishap: Repercussions of Mishap #1

So you know how I had a mishap before I even got to Europe? One in which I accidentally purchased a bus ticket for August 25th instead of September 25th? Yeah, that one came back around to bite me.

The night before I left my aunt's house to come to Prague, I printed out my bus and train tickets for the next few journeys. Thanks to her friend taking me directly to the bus station in Frankfurt, journey #1 (Frankfurt to Prague) went off without a hitch.

Tomorrow is the 25th of September, and since I wanted my morning departure to go smoothly, I was double-checking my hostel room to make sure I'd packed everything, and double-checking that I had my ticket ready to go. It was then that I noticed: I'd printed the wrong ticket.

That's right, the ticket in my hand was for that bus on August 25th.

Starting to panic, I scoured my emails to find the train ticket that I was sure I'd bought. When I searched "Vienna," all that came up was the stupid bus ticket. Really freaking out now, I went through my emails one by one, finally finding one for "Praha to Wien." Why does every language have to have its own name for the same dang city?

Wild-eyed, I booked it to the hostel reception desk, hoping that they could print it for me. The oh-so-patronizing guy at the desk told me to relax; nine times out of ten, you can pull up your ticket on your phone and they'll accept it. I told him I just wanted to be sure, so where could I print a paper copy? He told me that all I had to do was take the yellow metro line 13 stops to the end, then get on bus number 112 and take it for 5 stops, and the copy center would be right in front of me when I got off the bus.

Internally, I was panicking. I'd taken the tram all of once in this city. There was no way I'd be able to figure out the metro and the bus to get there in time to print my ticket before they closed, let alone get back before dark. But I stood no chance trying to find a copy shop on my own, so I peeled off the map he'd scribbled on and prepared to go figure it out.

The other guy working reception decided to speak up at this point. He called the other guy a jerk and explained to me that I could walk about five blocks, where the nearest copy center actually was. He drew the route on my map, and I set off in tears. I mean, I don't trust people on the street here, but you'd think that the people working in the hostel wouldn't do something so mean.

I made it to the copy center, where the guy handed me a key card on a lanyard and then pointed to the nearest computer. After struggling for 5 minutes to get logged in, I watched a girl waltz over and log in by tapping her card at the base of the monitor. I did the same, and managed to get logged in to Gmail and pull up my ticket. I then got stuck on the print settings (which were all in Czech, of course), until the guy from the desk took pity on me and clicked away with the mouse. Magically, my ticket spewed out of the printer in the corner. I thanked him profusely, paid my 29 crowns (about $1.20 USD), and left.

I spent 30 of the last 32 crowns in my pocket on a chocolate ice cream cone on the way home, both to celebrate my success, and to calm myself down. I don't know what I'm going to do when it's too cold for the ice cream vendors to be out.

Bonus mishap!

Yesterday evening, I came back to my hostel and found a newcomer sitting on my bed. Apparently, my bed was so neat, he thought it was a fresh one.

That's what I get for making my bed. #neveragain

Jess out.