Sleeping in my car… Swisttal, Germany: After running a marathon, 8 hours driving back from the race, dinner, and watching a football game, all I wanted to do was crawl into my familiar bed at Hotel Weidenbruck in Swisttal. After getting settled in around 1am, I ran out to my car to grab my glasses and contact case. “CLICK” went the outside hotel door, and I immediately knew what I had done… left my room key in my room… and now I’m outside the hotel in the cold (8C/46F) with no way back in.
This is a small, family run hotel in a little German town. At 1am on a Monday morning… I am the only person awake. The hotel buzzer was met with no response… all doors / windows locked… all I can do is laugh (to avoid crying or getting stressed about my fait accompli) and set up camp in my VW Passat. My body was tired and getting stiff from a marathon run that day… mind exhausted from being up for nearly 20 hours…
I tried to sleep in the car, keeping warm with some dirty clothes from the weekend. Five long hours passed until someone from the hotel staff arrived to open the restaurant for breakfast. I sheepishly asked to be let in at 6:30am… and crawled into a wonderful, soft, warm bed for about 1 hour of real sleep before heading in to the office. LOL – my kids are telling everyone who will listen back home that their dad slept in his car in Germany… oh… what they must think!
I'll never forget the feeling of "oh crap" when I heard that door click. There was no hesitation... I knew I was screwed and would probably be sleeping in my car... I was right! : (ALL I WANTED TO DO WAS GO TO SLEEP IN MY "OWN BED" AFTER RUNNING A MARATHON AND BEING IN 3 DIFFERENT COUNTRIES IN THE SAME DAY!!
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