Yes I did and it was just 5 months ago.
My over dependence on technology got me into trouble.
It was the month of August, I had just been in Germany for the first time in my life. No I am not rich, It was part of my work. The first two weeks I had company for weekend adventures and roaming about the country, exploring places. The third week he returned back to India. Boy that weekend was the most boring weekend of my life ever. Saturday was a bit OK but Sunday was the greatest depressing day I ever faced. You see I was at a small city in Germany where the population was pretty less so it was hard to spot people or some sounds that I am usually used to in India. Everything looked empty and did I mention that on Sunday everything is closed, no shops, no restaurants. The parks that were beaming with life and dogs and kids on the weekdays were empty, ghosted.
That is when I decided that the next weekend I would venture out on my own.
Cologne seemed to be the nearest big city where I could enjoy both sight seeing and my colleagues at the office also told me that they have a nice night life. So come Friday, I packed my bags booked a cheap Hostel stay and on I went.
Friday I slept the night in Cologne and my roommates for the night were cool too, one from Canada, one from the US and another from Finland. They told me some of the hot spots to see.
Went to see the Historic Cathedral right next to the train station and on the tour I met a fellow Indian brother who also happened to be in the same state that I was from.
He suggested that we go that night to a club where they hop on several bars, I forgot what it was called. It's a thing where you pay a one time fee like 15 euros and you can get into several bars where otherwise you would need to either pay a huge entry fee and maybe would need to buy a huge pack of beers or other drinks.
So there I was spending my great weekend enjoying with my new friend. There was also some super friendly people from the Netherlands who we talked to , danced with and had a great time. They seemed to be from a city in Netherlands that was closely bordered with Germany. They would visit Cologne all weekends attempting to flirt with a German girl and get their number. At least that's what they told me.
3-4 beers in I proceed to enjoy more and more. Forgetting my worries and where I was from for a few minutes. It was nice.
And then I watched my time and it was almost 3 am. Oh boy I need to get home I thought.
And then I waived my friends goodbye , one of them offered me a ride to the hostel in their car but being the friendly fool that I am I refused and said I can take care of myself.
I then begin to walk and walk in what I thought was the right road back to my hostel. You see when we walked from the place I stayed my fellow Indian brother was with me. He knew all the streets. But on my return I was solo. This is when my real German adventure began.
I had walked 15 mins into the road what I thought was the way and then I went, hey why am I not there yet. Everything looked familiar, all the signs the restaurants, hey I had seen all this when I was walking to the bar.
Ah no worries my trusty side kick Google maps to the rescue. No sooner had I taken out my phone and then BAM right there my palm struck my face. I was pretty sure that I did not turn off the GPS and internet option on my phone , My phone died and the sober old me did not realize that all those low battery warnings from my phone wasn't a part of the club music.
I was totally lost. It was dark, not much lights, almost everything was closed, no people on the streets. Boy oh boy was I in some deep trouble. And then the ultimate gift from the skies was sprinkled on me , it started raining. and luckily I had my pull over with me that would make sure that I absorbed all the tiny droplets of water the sky bestowed upon me.
Drenched and wet as a dish washing bar I walked and walked trying to find one person to talk to and ask them the way. I didn't even have the proper Hostel address with me, all I knew was it was a few meters from the station so if I reach the station , try to find a way to charge up my phone I would be fine.
And I kept guessing where to go , I saw huge universities and offices and looked for a security guard. But hey this is Europe I guess it's too safe to have security guards for them. Empty totally empty.
Signals everywhere, but no human in sight !
And then there she was an angle under an umbrella walking towards me , the more she walked towards me the more her head turned down and down, her umbrella covered her up as she approached me. I guess my state of being totally drenched had scared her enough and she might have thought I was dangerous or mental. Either way she did not respond to me. Or hey maybe she didn't understand my English. All is forgiven.
A couple of blocks into my midnight walkathon and there was fighting amongst some drunkards, bottles being thrown and what not. Woah... I ran a little and continued my walk on the street parallel to it.
I walked more and more maybe around 15 minutes here and there, looking at my watch I had spent an hour more trying to find my way. It was 4am and some minutes. Oh great the sunlight should be here any minute. Did I also mention that the nights were super cold ? hmm.
And then finally I spot a restaurant, a Turkish Donor restaurant with load of people inside. Yay.
I was saved, I would make it another day. It was pitch black and the they way this restaurant shined through it , ohh I thanked God for this gift. I talked to the girl who was at the counter and she helped me charge my phone up and even explained me the way back to the station. it was just a couple of blocks away. "Bless you" I thought in my head and gave her a heavy thank you.
And then a couple of steps in the direction she said and there is was, the hostel I was staying laughing at me and almost asking me where I was.
I went into my room , changed my clothes and jumped onto the double decker bed. and then slept until 11 am, the max time I was allowed until I checked out for the day. The lady at the reception almost gave me a fine for overstaying by half an hour but I explained my Lost story and got away with it. No, I'm not saying that was a good thing.
Got into the train to make my way back to the city I was originally staying in.
Anyway I made the night, survived, it was all OK in the end.
But from that day I carried in my wallet a little piece of paper with the address written on it so that I can show that piece of paper and ask people in my broken German, “Hey Woher ist das?”