Way overpacked traveling through Switzerland
Location: Lausanne, Switzerland. My friend and I were exhausted, and more importantly, terribly lost. Add to that the fact that we hadn’t eaten in many hours, and we were getting cranky. (I believe the term is “hangry,” and my friends will agree that I’m much more tolerable when I have food).
We had just been trying to save money – the food on the Swiss trains had been outrageously expensive – and I was outrageously stubborn about overpriced food.
So there we were, tired, hungry, and cranky, lost in Switzerland, and trying to find our hostel. We held our tiny map up to the evening sun and turned it this way and that. We squinted, we walked, we tried to find familiar street signs to match the roads on the map. I got desperate and pulled out my trump card – my iPhone data plan. But it didn’t help. The map there looked the same as the map on the book.
Then we looked over and saw him. A tiny little elderly gentleman, walking chipperly down the street. “Excuse me, excuse me, sir?” We approached him and gestured toward our map. “We’re lost! So lost!”
“Do you speak English?” (he shook his head no)
“Parlez-vous Français?” (we shook our head to gesture “not quite”)
“Habla usted Español?” (he shook his head no)
Okay, let’s try this, we thought. “Parli Italiano?” (he shook his head no)
“Sprechen Sie Deutsch?” (we shook our head no)
Nothing. No words in common. And thus began the oddest game of charades that I have ever seen. I moved about and waved my hands in large gestures while explaining our problem. I finally mentioned the name of the hostel, or the street, I’m not sure what I said that finally sounded native. Whatever it was, we finally made a connection.
And there he went – off and chattering up a storm, waving this way and back, his arms creating a high-speed traffic directing pattern. We talked back, motioning and shrugging our shoulders, nodding and pointing.
The great thing was, neither of us slowed down talking in our own languages, and neither of us had any clue what the other was saying. But we pointed at roads and laughed at ourselves and somehow he was able to tell us which direction to go.
We found the hostel and settled in. I thought about that encounter the entire evening. It was the most endearing thing that had happened all day, and I wouldn’t have traded it for anything.
The view from our hostel in Lausanne
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And the times where I don’t know the city streets? Those are the times that I take in every detail of my surroundings and really look at where I am. I often get so caught up in the day to day routines and habits that I don’t appreciate the scenery around me.
So the next time you’re tempted to avoid an adventure because it might put you in an “uncomfortable” conversation situation, remember that the situation might be the one that brings you more enjoyment and insight than you’ve had in a while.
What’s your “charades” story from trying to communicate while traveling?
This is just too cute. It reminds me of being in Italy. I speak the language pretty well, but we did have to play a game of charades once when roaming around Venice. We were told to “get lost in Venice,” and that we did. Thankfully, we found the best hole-in-the-wall pizza place ever, so it worked out.
Haha I love that. I’ve heard to get lost in Venice as well. Some of my favorite stories are from getting lost….although they weren’t at the time 😉