Thank god for helpful Dutch people.

So I'm here in Maastricht, and its lovely here.  But it would seem even getting to here without dramas is impossible.  I got to the train station in Amsterdam ok, bought my ticket and said goodbye to Soph for a couple of days.  I then killed an hour or two there as I arrived way earlier than I needed to.  Finally the 10.30 train arrives, the platform says Heelner/Maastricht, I was a little confused by that but just jumped on the first carriage that I came to.  Mistake.  I did ask someone if the train was going to Maastricht and she said yes, so I sat down feeling settled that I had finally managed to get myself sorted.  Two and a half hours later we arrive in Heelner and I think hold on...I asked the other people on the carriage who were getting off, well I basically said 'Maastricht?' and they said no you're on the wrong train, to which I replied 'oh no, oh god really, oh my god'.  Here the lovely (and perfect English speaking) Dutch people really pulled through for me.  They told me I'd need to get a train back, so I got off with them and they walked me to the next platform and pointed to the train sign and said this would get me to Maastricht and that I wanted Maastricht central not the one written on the board.  I thanked them profusely and jumped on the train still shaking.

By this time Clarissa who I was on my way to visit had checked to incoming trains and I still hadn't arrived so she was starting to get worried.  I arrived at Maastricht with no phone, and no idea where to go.  Luckily the station has wireless so I jumped on there, really not caring how much it cost, and managed to get her on facebook.

From there Maastricht has been fantastic, its a lovely peaceful city, though apparently not at night, which I may get to experience tonight.  Clarissa has taken me for a walk around town, and taken me to an amazing ice cream store - I had an apple flavoured ice cream it was fantastical. 

Seems like this trip is a never ending series of mistakes.  I completely forgot it was going to be the weekend when we left, so accomodation expensive and hard to come by.  We've managed to find somewhere not out of this world expensive, but its still more than we're used to, and not nearly as convieniant as where we first stayed and where Sophie is now.  The guy at reception there is the one that clued us in, and was so very helpful, he even printed a series of instructions of how to get from there to the new hostel.

So we've booked a head for Berlin (we have to change hostels but at least we have cheapish beds), and Prague and Cskey.  Hoping there are a few less nasty shocks from here on out.