Departure: Pirna to Dortmund
The trip started before sunrise, which is always a little cruel and somehow also the right way to leave. I woke up at 4:30, got myself ready for the 6:24 train from Pirna, and let the first chapter begin on steel rails. Deutsche Bahn added its traditional signature (about half an hour of delay), but nothing dramatic enough to disturb the plan.
By late morning I was already in Dortmund, not at the coast yet, but in a different kind of good place: the adesso main office, joining our team meeting in person instead of through the familiar rectangle of Microsoft Teams. It felt good to stand in the same room with colleagues I usually only meet as voices and small camera windows, and I was honestly proud to be part of our SAP team.
The evening softened into a proper team dinner: good food, warm conversation, and the kind of easy vibe that makes a work stop feel like part of the journey. Around nine I checked into the hotel, tired in the best possible way.
One last coffee in a quiet, stylish hotel corner (obviously to sleep well), and day one closed with the feeling that the trip had started exactly right: delayed only by half an hour, but positive by much more than that.