So tonight I had my first moment of travel-related panic. I got completely lost.

Not lost in a busy train station or tourist area, but lost on the edge of Kreuzberg on the way to my hostel. According to locals it's an okay neighborhood, but it's one with very little English speakers and infrastructure so - frankly, it's not a place I would prefer to be lost in at night. In the rain. .

This whole situation happened because I had taken a tour of Berlin's street art and subculture scene earlier that day with plans to go check out the new hostel before it got dark. I didn't have my key or room yet, so I knew I needed to get back before the 10pm lock out. However, after the tour I got caught up in having some beers with our guide and some other girls. Totally worth it - the guide was a really interesting ex-Californian who graduated from Yale with a Master's degree in Urban Planning/Art History/Street Art, who now performs in a comedy club and does tours in Berlin.. (This is her blog on local street art - if you're interested.)

Anyway, we all got some beers, and it turned into dinner, and suddenly it was dark and I was trying to get checked in. I took the train back the way I came, but when I got off at the station nothing looked even remotely familiar. There were several different ways I could go, and I knew if I took the time to try them all out I would miss getting my room and key. To make matters worse, I had left all my credit cards and such in the luggage room, so I knew I wouldn't be able to find a "back up" room if I got locked out. To make matters even worse, it had started raining again, and huge rain drops were making my map impossible to read.

I thought I would get out of the situation easily (cab) but I got picked up by an old German cabbie who spoke little English, seemed annoyed at me, and had no idea how to find my street. I got out feeling quite disconcerted and kept walking down one of the side streets when I ran into a cop. Who also spoke no English. I started feeling a little panicky at this point.

I know, in the big scheme of things I was completely safe. It wasn't that late, it wasn't the ghetto, I had a little bit of time - I feel like a loser now for getting so upset. I think what threw me off so much was that all my normal avenues for help were no good, and I wasn't sure what to do. A cab was no guarantee of a safe and quick ride back like I had thought - a cop wasn't able to help either. I just kept thinking, what will I do if I have to sleep outside tonight? I know some travelers can hang with that kind of stuff, but I am not one of them.

I finally found this girl walking by and begged her to help me figure out the freaking map, which I think by this point I was too upset to look at properly. She pointed me where to go, and after another 10 minutes of backtracking, I was on my way back, and I got to the hostel about 15 minutes before the lock up. Thank God..

In retrospect, I wish I could say I handled the whole situation gracefully, but as soon as I looked around and realized nothing looked familiar . . . I was freaked out. There is just something so scary about being lost without an iphone, a car, a friend, a help number, a common language, or any of the normal resources I would rely on if I got lost in San Francisco.

If you made it through this stupid and sobby story, thanks - and sorry if this was a lame post, but I thought since I've been posting a lot about all the cool things I am doing, I thought I would share what I am learning are the downsides to traveling alone.