Ambulando

Leaving is not always the easy bit of a trip.
You will be never sure of everything is right, if something has been going missing during the night (it happens, it is the monaceddhru at work), if you forgot something that has no importance now but that would be disastrous in a few days.
In my case, I was not even leaving from my own home. Actually, I did have not at all an home.
I have been before in the same situation: my stuff scattered in friends’ houses, left rotten in some self storage somewhere, parents’ space full already of stuff I do not even rememmber I have and I am not sure I have anymore, in some way sacrified to the cleaning impetu of my brother.
So, in such a situation I have to act with what I have saved from the moving, hoping I did not leave something really important buried in some box at the bottom of the pile, making list of unforgettable stuff I could need, checking evertything once and again and again.
But I always managed to forget something. Luckily this time I just forget my driving licence. Not much use for it on a train trip, but who can know? Hertz, according to advertising, is everywhere.
So I was leaving, from Francisco and Alessia temporary home: they as well were left without a proper house, being their flat going under restoration. Quite a nice bunch of homeless people, I am tempted to say. They also were straight back from a 3 months Colombia trip across Amazonian jungle. Still suntanned and energetic.
I got my only and hopefully last flight ticket to Berlin, bought last minute to give me more time to fix my camera (it fell when in Italy and I was despairing to see it repaired before leaving – they actually did it).
My first move was to buy a very cheap flight to a small town lost in what was before East Germany, and then from there take a bus and then a train to Berlin. Cost: approssimately 25 euro; time to get there: not calculable due to possible Ryanair delay, bus delay, German train availablility. But I loved the idea to be rigth into business from the beginning.
At the end, ‘cause of the camera, I did get another flight straight to Berlin, from Barcelona main airport.
Also, I got some chinese food to consume when travelling, dried sugared ginger roots, ginger caramelos, sesame sweeties and green tea.
I tried to go light, but the full of my luggage was just a few grams under 15 kilos. I have to work more on what is supposed to be a light backpack. I “consolated” myself thinking I was going to use a Hansel & Gretel strategy: leave track of my passage letting stuff behind me when not more needed.
My piece of pride were a set of disposable paper pants bought in New York last year for no other reason I just liked the idea.
The leaving was as usual. A small collection of small disasters.
I thrown my goodbye party, a pisco sour party. Unfortunately the barman finished the bottle of pisco after the first two rounds.
I got the wrong taxi (I got a special gift to select always the worst taxi drivers available – will do a list one day) that left me NOT where it was supposed to leave me. So walk to the station.

I got a train to the airport, but the train arrived at the wrong terminal’s terminal. So I had to walk all the way to the right one.
I found out on the way I did forget my driving license. Alessia promised me to send it wherever I would go if needed.
At the end I was safe and sound, but sweating, in my seat, listening to the Clash on iPod (sorry for the easy association, Should I stay or Should I go) and trying to finish reading the only paper book I took with me, a Roberto Bolano collection of stories, proven to be more difficult to finish than expected.
And we took off.