The Dutch Are Kind

As I posted below, I was lucky enough to be on the Disney Fantasy as she was conveyed down the Ems River in Germany on her way Eemshaven, Netherlands, before heading to the North Sea.  What followed was even more of an adventure.

After the really lovely trip down the Ems River, with people lining the sides of the river as we went through each town, I arrived home to Papenburg on the bus from Eeemshaven. I then got the car, took a couple people to the train station, and arrived at our German home and settled in, when all of a sudden it hits me... My Passport, Residency Card, U.S. Drivers License, Cash, All Bank Cards are...ON THE SHIP in the safe in my husband's stateroom. YIKES!!!  I need to catch the ship before they go to sea that day and have no access to it for several weeks!! As it stands now, I'm effectively a penniless foreigner with no documentation!

I find a copy of my passport in my luggage (I always put a copy of our passports in all our suitcases) get my husband, Pete, on my pay-as-you-go German cell phone and we decide that I will drive, without any license or passport (but with the copy), to the Netherlands and back to the ship before they pull the gangway. 

I ask what is the address there? No one knows. Okay, come on Garmin,let's go!  I can't find the port address on the GPS, so I pick an address. Zoom! I'm driving, it's an hour + a way.  Mind, you, I've driven this car exactly three times in the five months we've lived here, so this is kind of intimidating. My hope is I don't make some kind of traffic rule error or get blown off the road by a no-speed-limit driver.

I'm driving. I'm on the way there and the gas light beeps...I'm in the red! I keep going but call Pete (this is illegal)  to let him know -- and my pay-as-you-go cell indicates I have 2 euro left and to "top up." Um, I don't know how...and I have no money anyway. I keep going.

I'm driving. I'm driving. I spot the stacks of the ship in the distance but I'm literally edging past the last red tick mark on the fuel indicator and I can't figure out where the entrance to the port is. I stop and ask a couple of well-dressed gentleman and they don't know, but they'd seen a petrol station nearby. I stare at them...they offer to show me.

 

They drive so I can follow. We get to the petrol station and we discover... it's credit card only. Of course, my 'everything' is on the ship. I look at them with the eyes of stressed woman. I find 10 euro in change (whew) and give them an "alms for the poor, sir" stare. They look sympathetic. I stare. They crumble. They run their card so I can get diesel fuel (at 5 euro a gallon, 10 euro just gets you to the top of the red zone) and I give them the 10 euro and thank them. They say "no problem, just tell people the Dutch are kind". I assure them they are and I will.

I'm off -- and still can't find the entrance. I stop by a large group of people looking at the ship through the fence at the port and park the car. What they see: a determined woman approaching. I ask if they speak English. A woman says "a little..." I say "that ship you are looking at, I just got off this morning..." this solicits interest. I tell them my story and  that I need to get to security and into the port. No one knows how. A woman nearby says "you want photo?" The other woman translates. You-want-photo woman knows how to get to the front and gives me directions in broken English. Danke! Dank U!

I use my last pay-as-you-go cell balance and let Pete know I'm almost there. I make it to the security gate. My husband is there and fortunately their trip was delayed until morning. Whew. The nice Dutch people who directed me toward the port entrance drive by to check to see I found it. They are relieved.

Yes, the Dutch are VERY kind.  Spread the word. :-)