It all starts well enough. We are on time for our train leaving from Hamburg to Rotterdam. It’s a long day, about 7 hours, of travel, with a couple of easy train changes. Hamburg to Osnabruek is a smooth couple of hours. Our 1st class Eurail pass has us sitting comfortably, drinking coffee and reading. We change, as scheduled at Osnabruek and settle in for the long haul to Amsterdam and our final change for Rotterdam. 

But a short way out of Osnabruek I become aware of restlessness in the forest. There’s monkey chatter and the odd screech from group of loud Americans – We were at the concert. I’m from Kansas City and I could’ve reached out and touched him! It was amazing. Yes, that’s all well and good but why are you gathering your bags to get off when we’re all going to Amsterdam. Further investigation reveals the train we should all catch is not happening and we need to transfer to a regional train then change again a bit further down the track. Why? No one knows, but we follow the herd. We gather bags and get off along with 50,000 others and move to the new platform, and wait. 

Then Scott realises he’s left his phone on the train. He takes off at a run back up to the platform, but the proverbial train has left the proverbial station. Faarrrkk.. The best the information office can offer is to give details to lost property. That fills us with confidence. 

Feeling pretty good about now as you can imagine. 

Nothing to be done but board the next train and consider options. Now the train we are boarding is about half the size of the train we just left, and everyone is hell bent on getting on. It’s like trying to squeeze the filling back into a sausage casing.  Then there’s half a dozen people with bikes and they’re determined to get on first so they can block the entry for everyone else.  Cheers. 

Half an hour on the sausage express and we change trains again. The only upside so far is no one is checking tickets. Because Scott’s train pass is on his phone. Which is on a train. And not the same train we are on. 

A WhatsApp arrives. From Scott’s mate Tony, who’s in Rome. Text as follows: Hi Bev, I just got a call from a person in Germany, he has Scott’s phone that he left on the train. We are embarking on our cruise today from Rome and basically are doing one night stops all the way to Barcelona where we then fly home to NZ, no overnight stop in Barcelona. One option might be to get the phone couriered to the Barcelona airport???  Let me know if I can help in anyway.

Like me, you’ll be curious as why Tony got a message. So is he. He received this:

Scott Wilson lost his iPhone in Our Train in Germany. The Phone is in Cologne Mainstation. You are his emergency contact. I would inform You About this. Maybe You can inform his wife About the Situation.

Scott says I’m his emergency contact, but clearly not. Perhaps he and Tony are now married? Or perhaps it’s a hangover from a motorbike trip. Maybe we have a “situation”.

Anyway, I engage in a long round of texts with the train conductor who has the phone. He doesn’t tell me his name, but I christen him Thomas (the tank engine). In a game of pass the parcel, the phone enjoys a tour of Germany and Thomas and his mates engage in an all new Olympic relay event. The phone leaves Cologne and continues to Munich, the final destination of our initial train. 

Good – we have friends near there and will visit them later in September. Maybe they can help. More texting and WhatsApping. They can help and give Thomas a call. It’s now in their hands. 

We arrive in Rotterdam after another train change. Scott looks pale and  is getting shaky, suffering device withdrawal. We have to make a beeline for the nearest apple reseller. €299 for a stopgap iPhone SE sees the colour return to his cheeks. He perks up even more when we check in to the accommodation and see the view.