Pre-Intermediate Reading Exercise

My Most Embarrassing Travel Mistake

My most embarrassing travel mistake happened during my first trip to Japan. I was trying to get from Tokyo to the smaller city of Odawara. I arrived at the huge Tokyo station and actually felt quite confident. I found the correct platform, saw a train with 'Nagoya' on the destination board, which I knew was in the right direction, and quickly got on. I found a comfortable seat by the window and started to relax.

For the first hour, I was enjoying the view as the countryside flew past. But I slowly began to realise that the train was not stopping at any small stations. In fact, it wasn't stopping at all. I started to feel a bit worried. I looked at my cheap ticket again and then at the other passengers. They all looked like business travellers, and the train was very quiet and modern.

About ninety minutes later, the train finally slowed down. An announcement said we had arrived in Nagoya! I was completely lost, very embarrassed, and a long way past my destination. I got off the train and tried to speak to a station guard. My Japanese was terrible, and his English was not much better, so it was a complete misunderstanding at first.

Eventually, with a lot of pointing at maps and a translation app on my phone, he understood my problem. He laughed and explained I had taken the 'Shinkansen', the super-fast bullet train, not the local service which stops at Odawara. I had to pay a very expensive new fare to get a train back to my destination. I was just relieved that I knew where I was. It was an embarrassing mistake, but now it's a funny story to tell my friends.