I had planned to meet up with the Mexican/ American woman who had sex in front of me in Paris. I have no idea why but she wanted to see Frankfurt but I actually wanted to go to south Germany and see Munich or Nuremberg. Since Paris she had herself travelled to London and was now on the last few weeks of her trip.
I packed up my stuff and checked out of the hostel. I'm not sure what happened to the New Zealand guy, I believe he was still sleeping on the top bunk. I walked back to the Flix bus station and caught a bus to Frankfurt. I remember speaking to someone who was sitting next to me but they departed before we got to Frankfurt. Once we arrived some people departed the bus and collected their bags but then the bus driver stopped anyone else getting off. I was confused, I thought maybe they would just depart to their next destination with me still on. I did not understand German and when the driver pointed me to go sit back down I was even more worried.
After 15 minutes of waiting some police boarded the bus and collected everyone's passports and identity cards. I handed mine over and waited for another 30 minutes before they eventually let me depart the bus. I collected my bag and walked to the front of Frankfurt's main train station. The area was full of homeless and some were openly injecting drugs on the steps to the train station. The closer I walked to the hostel the worse it became. Just as I walked to the hostel I noticed two people in a heap of clothes and bags lying on the floor near the entrance, used needles strewn on the pavement. The hostel was called "Five Elements Hostel Frankfurt".
I checked in and found the American woman from Paris sitting at a table scrawling notes on paper. I sat down opposite her, she told me that she was writing a memoir of her travels in Europe. She had got bored of backpacking and did not have any further interest in exploring, she wanted to go back home and get a job. The rest of her trip consisted of Frankfurt, Prague, Berlin and Copenhagen where she would fly back. She had also ran out of money and was asking for her family to send her some. We spoke for a while longer and I went to my room to dump my bags.
In my hostel room I find a group of very overweight men from South America. They had just flown in to attend an electronic music event called "Time Warp" in a nearby town called Mannheim. They seemed like fun guys and I did want to see if the event still had tickets but I knew it would be too hectic. I took a shower and went back out to see if the American woman wanted to go and explore Frankfurt, but she declined. She said the area was too scary.
I headed out and went to a REWE supermarket that was near by to get lunch and then walked into the city centre. I first walked into the Gallusanlage park where I found a high concentration of skyscrapers. I continued into the centre where I found a shopping centre called Galeria Kaufhof Frankfurt. The weather was really hot so I knew I needed to buy a new cap to protect myself from the sun. I also wanted to buy a compass to help me navigate cities, I thought it would be especially helpful when my phone inevitably runs out of battery.
I walked back towards the hostel, back through the skyscrapers. I entered the reception area of one with the intention of catching the elevator to the top but was quickly shooed away by security. I knew that I needed to hatch a plan. I grabbed some Mcdonalds food before heading back to the hostel to meet with the American woman.
She was still in the reception area now, talking to a tall guy from Brazil. She had not left the hostel all day. The hostel had a bar and I had yet to try drinking a cocktail. I noticed on the menu that a drink called Pina colada contained milk, like an alcoholic milkshake. So I ordered one and chilled out on my laptop for a few hours. I told the American woman about my plans to ascend one of the skyscrapers to see the view of the city. I came up with a cunning plan.
"I will be an investment banker from HSBC looking for new office space due to the recent brexit vote. You will be my American assistant."
They both laughed but she was not willing to commit to my cunning plan. I went to my room and took a shower.
YOU ARE READING
My Backpacking Memoirs
Non-FictionIn 2017 I embarked on a three month backpacking trip around Europe. Motivated by the many accounts of travel from within religion, I went to learn. But what I experienced was not what I was expecting. This was my first time leaving the UK since I wa...
