The beauty and the curse of travel are that unexpected things happen. What sometimes feels catastrophic in the moment can evolve into something you never expected — a treasured gem, even. Traveling by train seems pretty straightforward and predictable right? Still, there are a few rules for train travel that can spare you some trouble.

Travel Rule 1: Buy the more expensive ticket

When you buy a train ticket, say from Stuttgart to Zurich, you will see an option to buy a ticket for "Train Specific Travel" or "Flexible Travel." We, of course, did not know the purpose of spending nearly 50€ more per ticket when we knew our train connections, where we wanted to go, and when we wanted to get there. So, we bought the cheap tickets.

Our first hint that this wasn't a good plan was when our train broke down in the town of Horb. We cheerfully went to lunch in this charming town and climbed on board the next train without breaking a sweat. To our surprise, once we crossed the Swiss border, the ticket agent threatened us with a fine for having tickets for an earlier train. "But it's not our fault the train broke down," we said. It turns out that the Swiss don't really care about trouble with DeutscheBahn. The ticket agent somewhat grudgingly allowed us to stay on that train and complete our trip to Zurich. We did not realize that this was an exception.

After a somewhat libatious afternoon and evening, we decided to take an earlier train back to Stuttgart the next day. We climbed into the first-class car, two out of three passengers total in a vehicle designed for more than 20 times that amount.

Travel Rule 2: Don't yell back at the ticket agent

Okay, I admit it. I was a little hungover and grumpy, so when the ticket agent raised his voice to us, poked at us with his index finger, and accused us of trying to cheat the system by taking an earlier train, I might have copped a bit of attitude back at him.

The next thing we knew, we were booted off the train in Schaffhausen, waiting two hours until the next train. Schaffhausen is a little resort town known for the Rhine Falls, the biggest waterfalls in Europe. But we didn't know that.

We wheeled our suitcase up the stairs from the train station and walked around what appeared to be a business park, totally deserted on a Sunday afternoon. Black clouds loomed and threatened a downpour, so I suggested we find a place to wait it out. We stumbled into a worn but welcoming Bier Garten. The bar area took up the courtyard and ground floor of a hotel located in a battered 16th-century building that looked like it might have been last updated post WW2. We both immediately noted a giant screen TV set up and brightened at the thought of watching a football match.

"Who's playing?" we asked.

"Switzerland and Turkey."

Travel Rule 3: When the home team plays, drink with the locals

We parked at a table, introduced ourselves to the two people watching the game, and ordered a beer and then another. The bar quickly filled and became heavy and humid as the crowd raced inside to dodge the thunderstorm. One of the bartenders ordered us a pizza (subnote/travel lesson: avoid Swiss pizza), and our new friend Bertrand treated us to more beer, then shots of Jagermeister. He also insisted on calling his darling girlfriend Michelle (from Florida) to tell her that two Americans were watching the game with him. More shots ensued. We were definitely staying the night.

Then the home team WON, and we celebrated with more shots.

Peter had gone up to investigate the room we hastily booked over our second round of shots and returned with a look of consternation. "The room is nice enough," he said. "But…it has a shared bathroom that's a bit questionable." Okay, I thought, it's just one night. It turns out that we were also the only guests. And once the bar closed, we would be the only people in the building.

I hoped that we didn't accidentally lock ourselves out.

It was not the best night's sleep. It was made a little creepier by the man sleeping on a couch in the hallway outside our room, discovered during a middle-of-the-night bathroom run. Was he there to rob us? Was he a drunk who had no way home after the game? Was he there to provide service to us in case of an emergency in the middle of the night? We still don't know. In the morning, he was gone. And so were we.

We futilely searched the empty town for a coffee place and then returned to the train station, hoping for a coffee cart. Then, I saw the signs to the town center, the opposite way we had walked the night before, so we climbed the stairs again and emerged…

Travel lesson 4: Read the signs (at least once, better twice)

Into a stunning 15th-century town with restaurants, shops, hotels, beautifully restored buildings, and tourists. We had gone the wrong way. Instead of spending the night in a somewhat questionable spot, we could have comfortably settled in a charming B&B with a lovely dinner. But, I doubt the B&B would have a strange man sleeping outside our door, and that wouldn't have made for a great story, now would it?

The biggest Travel Rule: BE OPEN

It's hard to second guess our overall experience. While I could have lived without the sketchy room and the creeper outside our door, it was a unique experience partying with the locals in the less glamorous but more authentic part of town.

While I learned many lessons from our weekend in Switzerland, the most important one was to be open to the experiences that present themselves. Sometimes your journey does not go as planned. But perhaps that is fate.

5 rules for train travel in Europe