The long ride home.

I left Innsbruck on Friday night, having bought my ticket the day before. I had a reservation on the night train -- the lovely, lovely night train, where you close your eyes and wake up at home.

Turns out my train leaving Innsbruck was 30 minutes late -- and I had only 20 minutes between trains in Munich. No problem, said the guys at the info desk. The train manager can call ahead and ask them to wait 10 or 15 minutes.

But then the train was 40 minutes late. Then 50.

The train was freezing, so after about 20 minutes the manager told us we could move to first class because the heat wasn't working. I'd never sat in first class in a train before, and with good reason -- for a lot more money, there aren't many perks aside from a footrest and more leg room.

The train manager did call ahead. But then he came back and said, "The train..." and did a little wave of his arm to indicate "is long gone". Damn it.

So, I got to Munich and found out the next train headed in my direction left at 3:23 am. That's a four-hour wait in the Munich train station. I bought some coffee and hunkered down.

I got on the train, which took me to Duisburg in five hours. Luckily, I boarded a little early and spread my sleeping self out on two seats, so no one sat beside me even though the train got rather full. I didn't sleep much -- it wasn't the most comfortable -- although a laughing train manager did have to poke me in the leg at one point to get my attention.

Waited one hour in Duisburg for the train that would take me to Arnhem, where I could then catch a train for Den Bosch. If I had managed to catch my night train from Munich, not only would I have had a bed, but I also would have not had to stop in Duisburg.

But all's well that ends well, and things were well, aside from my being incredibly tired. And considering that's the most negative experience I had on my three week journey, I'd say that's pretty nice.