Aaah, Luxembourg.
I woke up one fine day in April
2013 and decided I wanted to go on this trip by myself. Except for just short
flights to visit my extended family and friends, moving to Milan and a
disastrous 2-day trip to Haridwar, I had never traveled alone. I spoke to my
parents, quickly and quietly arranged my tickets and accommodation, packed my
bags and took off on 24th April.
When I landed in Luxembourg, for
the first time in my life, there was no one at the airport to receive me. First
time ever. It was terrifying and exhilarating. My flight landed at 4.45pm, and
I had to reach the apartment I had booked (with AirBnB) at 6.30pm, or later. A
bus ride would have taken me there in 10mins. So… I decided to walk. It was a
7km away, which, under normal circumstances, should have taken me no longer
than 1.5hours. Perfect timing. Well, theoretically at least!
Sometimes I think I push my luck
to the point of foolhardiness. I walked through absolutely deserted highways
(with a car passing by every 7-8minutes) for almost an hour till I reached some
semblance of civilization and human settlement. The map I was using on my phone
was offline, thanks to the fact that I was in a different country and had no
access to the internet. So what SHOULD have been another half an hour, took me
over two. Two hours of walking up and down (LITERALLY up and down- Luxembourg
is not flat!) and turning back from a million dead-ends, I finally managed to
reach the apartment, which was, thankfully, lovely. The host, Sabrina, was absolutely
delightful. And since I was so exhausted after the unexpectedly long walk, I
decided to stay in, and chat with my host over a steaming mug of coffee, during
which she told me she was leaving for Paris the next day and wouldn’t be back
till the day before I left.
The next morning, the first thing
I did was visit the Chocolate House. After a thoroughly satisfying breakfast of
Caramel Bourbon Vanilla hot chocolate and a humongous brownie (it was the
chef’s suggestion, I couldn’t possibly say no!!), I walked over to the railway
station (through a little fair, which had a bunch of incredibly tempting food
stalls, but I couldn’t possibly eat thanks to my breakfast which I hadn’t even
been able to finish) and took a train to Metz, France.
I came back from Metz the next
day by sharing a ride with my new friend, T, in a man’s car who drove from Metz
to Lux and back every day for work. After a quick stop where I was staying so I
could drop my bags, T and I went from point to point in the city, taking
pictures in front of every pretty and/or interesting spot, and trying not to
get too wet in the very inconveniently timed rain.
We visited the Chocolate House
(yay!) while waiting for the rain to subside a little bit (Helloooo Dark
Chocolate Caramel hot chocolate), and continued on our little exploration. Soon
afterward, while trying to figure out how to enter the crypts, we met another
girl, S, who was alone as well, and asked her to join us. They may say Two’s
Company, Three’s a Crowd… But I don’t think any of us felt that way. For three
people who were perfect strangers less than a day ago, we had a brilliant time
walking, talking and laughing together for the rest of the day!!
Goodbyes and facebook IDs were
exchanged in the evening and we parted ways after T went back to Metz, S to Brussels,
and me, back to the empty apartment. I won’t lie, I was scared. I was in a
strange home in a strange country and the door to my room wouldn’t lock. I was
more than a little relieved when I woke up safe and sound the next day.
Day 3 saw me taking a train to
Diekirch, a little town half an hour north of Luxembourg city where I was going
to meet a girl, C, that I had spoken to on CouchSurfing, and her friend, M, and
go with them to Trier, in Germany. In the car, C handed me a container
of Kniddelen (a traditional Luxembourgish dish) that she had prepared
for me. I was amazed. All I had done was ask her once about what kind of food
they ate, and she actually made some for me!! On the way back from Trier, C
went out of her way to show me some beautiful sights of the Luxembourg
countryside… Castles, waterfalls…
I devoured the Kniddelen when I
got back to the apartment (it was DELICIOUS), and swallowed my fear as I
settled into bed in the still empty house for the second time.
The next day, again, I went
straight to the Chocolate House for breakfast (Praline Nougat, this time :P)
and then, since I had an abnormal amount of time on my hands, and nothing to do
(yay Sunday), I decided to walk to the airport again (when will I ever learn?
:/).
During my (extremely long and
tiring- thanks to my super heavy backpack) walk to the airport, I had plenty of
time to collect my thoughts.
This trip taught me a thing or
two about trust.
First there was Sabrina, who had
absolutely no qualms with leaving her house in the hands of a strange woman
(me) she knew nothing about. She didn’t even ask to see any identification and
just welcomed me into her home and her life with utmost warmth. Then there was
T, who was going to go from Metz to Luxembourg with a man she had never met.
And then there were the leaps of faith I took… Choosing to live in an apartment
belonging to two strangers (of course, the reviews online were reassuring),
joining T in the Metz-Luxembourg journey, and finally following C and M into their
car on the Diekirch-Trier trip. It was one hour long. I had no idea where I
was, and they could have been ANY kind of people, as could I. But we all
decided to trust one another, and I think I came out of this experience a
better person.
My last few hours in Luxembourg
(in the airport) are quite a haze. I was exhausted and half asleep. But at the
end of the day, looking back, I think this trip was a success. It’s difficult
to find a perfectly compatible travel partner, but that shouldn’t discourage us
from traveling. Being alone is an art, and an extremely enjoyable one. I
wouldn’t trade this experience for the world!
If I could do it over… What would
I change?
Well, for starters, I would spend
all four days in Luxembourg. Since the country and its capital have the same
name, I wrongly believed I needed just a day for Luxembourg, and that’s why I
visited Metz and Trier. Lovely though they were, I regret missing spending more
time in the Luxembourg countryside exploring the castles and the amaaazing
hiking trails.
And, finally, I would carry
sunscreen. ALWAYS carry sunscreen (the newly multi-coloured unevenly-tanned
skin on my face has learnt that the hard way)!
