The train left Orlando behind…with Ruth on it…in Amsterdam! 🤦‍♀️

Lugging a bunch of old, two-wheeled suitcases, we made it to the train platform at the Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam just in time.

 

A crowd of people showed up right after us hoping to catch the ride into the city centre.

 

As the train approached, everyone bum-rushed the single-person accordion door and packed in the car to claim their space. From the tons of subway madhouse videos I’ve seen, I knew we had to squeeze our way on too.

 

So I hauled my over packed suitcase over everyone elses, throwing it over the gap with Orlando behind me. All sorts of people were trying their best to get in.

 

Phew! We made it. being pushed to about the middle of the car, standing room only shoulder to shoudler, I wiggled to turn around to face him and to my horror our eyes locked when I was just half way around. Through the window.

 

Here I was packed like a sardine headed to the “city center” we didn’t even know what or where that would be, and there he was stranded, staring into my eyes through the glare of the glass. “What are we going to do?!” Is what I heard from his clearly frightened and shocked face.

 

We could attempt to meet up at the end destination of the train, but it would be complicated and frustrating because our phones weren’t working yet and we had no clue what would happen.

 

So I started yelling “Let me off, let me off!” as the doors closed and no one remotely attempted to let me through.

 

I tried to push through, shouting, but every inch closer felt like it took a year and I knew I wasn’t going to make it.

 

Locking eyes with the attendent in her red uniform and hat I just stared, yelling and trying to move.

 

Finally she understood my distress and started yelling at everyone, “Let the girl off!” And they parted like she was Moses and they were the Red Sea.

 

Tripping over luggage and bulky shoes and people’s children, I made it off and the train left like nothing ever happened.

 

Turns out as I had acclimated and joined the bum-rush, Orlando was helping people with their luggage and letting them get on the train ahead of him. The polite thing to do. But those people knew. And they got right on with no mercy.

 

So we waited 45-minutes for the next train and as the school of people pooled around us, I pushed him on the train ahead of me an bowed my way in. And we were finally on our way to the city, which would later become another trek full of mistakes…

 

Just kidding, I didn’t intentionally hurt anyone getting on the train. But I could have. 🤜

 

So the rest of our way through Europe, we were the first bums in the rush, and I will never forget seeing his face from inside that train.

 

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