Taking the Long Way

One thing about packing to go on a trip is I’m very careful to note everything that goes into my bag and double, triple quadruple check it. For some reason, leaving Paris for Amsterdam I kinda just threw everything in my bag and stuffed my daypack as well. I had even bought one of those cans of protein powder at Carrefour and took that with me, which took up about half the daypack.

But with so little in what I packed, I figured it didn’t really matter. Cut to the bus station for the long 8 hour ride to Amsterdam (hey it was the difference between $20 for the bus and $150 for the train, saving only about an hour). Got there with plenty of time and the driver asked to see my passport.

Sure, it’s right here in the daypack. Oh wait, I think it’s here in my coat. No, not there. Maybe I packed it in my bag. This meant taking everything that I had stuffed in there out to find it. Nope, not there. Look in the daypack again. And again. Finally, taking every little thing out there, there it was at the very bottom of the bag. To say this is unusual for me is an understatement as I check to make sure I have my passport, then OCD and recheck about ten times. So for me not to know where it was is completely out of character.

Once my heartbeat subsided from raging to normal, I got on the Megabus and was on my way. I didn’t realize it’d be making a stop in Brussels, which is ironic since part of this trip is revisiting some places from my first Europe trip 24 years ago.