The Joys and Miseries of Travel

This past week, I took a much needed vacation. I hopped on a train and, overnight, went to Pague where I met up with a friend from Gordon. Prague was as beautiful as I imagined, and the weather even better. It was so great to see my friend Dan again. He's also from New Hampshire and our common backgrounds as well as the fact that we are both living in Europe right now made for much animated conversation. I haven't laughed that much in a long time. In Prague we also hung out with a lovely British girl who complemented us perfectly. After three wonderful days in Prague it was off to Krakow, Poland. Dan and I arrived early after not sleeping all night and took naps. When we awoke, we were sharing a room with a really fun Quebecquois guy, who would join us on daytrips to amazing salt mines and sobering Auschwitz. Auschwitz was surreal, and gave me a few new insights that will frame my thoughts of the holocaust. I think anyone who wants to teach WW2 should see it.

The next day, Dan left and i spent a day wandering Krakow in the rain, and then hunkered down until my flight in the morning, which is where the real adventure begins. First off, my ticket said my airport was Krakow-Katovice...i assumed this was one place, like Boston-Logan. Nope. I went to the wrong one, an hour away. That was an expensive taxi, but couldve been worse, and i made my flight. But then my baggage took so long after the first flight that i missed the second one back to Bucharest, and the only flight i could change to with just the change fee was today at 6 am. I was stuck in Rome with no euros, over budget, and no place to stay. Janelle did some research and found a flight that left in 2 hours, but it was at Fiumincino and I was at Ciampino with no clue. I asked a few people how to get to Fiumincino and got a different answer everytime. By now, im exhausted, starving, and (im ashamed to stay) starting to cry. Then this girl, who i had asked earlier about Fiumincino, tells me to come with her now. No other choice, I race off with her, get on an empty bus with a sympathetic looking bus driver about my age. At this point the tears were just streaming. He drove us to a train station where the girl dashed off and i had to chase after her as fast as i could with my backpack. She put me on a train and said not to speak any Italian if a conductor came. This train took me to the main station where I got a train to Fiumincino, after calling Janelle to have her book the new flight.

I made it to Fiumincino with time to spare, and when I found my check in gate, it was obviously for Romania. There was no line, just clumps of pushing people holding crying babies and large plaid plastic bags. It was a comforting sight. I checked in and found out i was the only non Romanian on the flight. The flight was fine, although no one apparently understood the whole landing turbelance thing, since they would all get up and open the luggage hatches just as we were touching down, and things and people flew everywhere. Off the plane, to Passport Control. Two lanes for EU Citizens, one for me. Except the Romanians weren't about to pay attention to signs, so they pushed their way up to it, to get yelled at. I found my way to my lane and waited in front of the sign that says by law you must stay behind it (in Romanian). Everyone couldn't understand why i was waiting, so they all started collectively pushing me. After checking in (finally used my Alien card) I retrieved my backpack, which was mysteriously wet. At this point i didn't care. By now I had missed all the trains to Lupeni, so I had to stay with a stranger, a friend of a friend, who proved to be a great and helpful host.

My bus to Lupeni left at 8:30 am, and I had directions from my host. But I don't know where to get metro tickets in his section of town, and nothing opened in time for me to catch my bus anyways. So I crossed myself and got on a metro, hoping to pay when I got on (not unheard of) By the way, at this point, im on five hours of restless sleep and haven't had a meal in 24 hours. The second I get on the metro, a ticket controller pops up next to me. I ask if I can buy a ticket from her because I didn't know where to buy one. She doesn't believe me and a confused discussion goes on, with much repeating and frustration. It ends with her taking my alien card and telling me to sit down. I do, and then she pockets my card and tells me to get off to buy a ticket. I still don't know where and if she thinks this is a viable option for me, i don't see eye to eye. I'm not leaving my alien card, and if I lose any time, I'll miss my train home again. So again, the tears start to well up in my eyes. And of course every person on the bus is staring. And then this old man pushes his way through and gives me his ticket. I cry more now, out of exhaustion and gratitude. After that, the rest of the trip was fine, and my little city was the best sight for sore eyes today. I love how traveling makes Lupeni feel so much more like home!