Trans Balkan Express
Well believe it or not, we departed RIGHT on time. Just before departure the car started to fill up...next compartment to me two young girls..obviously drunk...talking about f this and f that and how they were just sweaty whores. Hmmm, interesting trip ahead. So off we go..first thing I do is plug in my batteries to recharge so I can get some pictures...damn, the outlet doesn't work. I flipped every switch in the room...didn't work. Oh well, bad charger....I'll charge the movie camera....same result. I asked the conductor..."Sweetch doesn't werk"!!!
Ok...well just resign myself that there will be no pictures till after Budapest...and decided to just go to sleep. About an hour after departure a knock at the door..."Passport"...ok, gave it to them...they stamped...and gave it back. So back to sleep. Then about 3am...another knock at the door..."Pazzport pleeze"...Ok...gave it to them and got it back. Back to sleep.
This time it took...was in Bulgaria and woke around 6 am in Sofia. The girls next door had just now realized that THIS train had NO food or drink. They were really throwing a fit with the conductor.."What the f___, you expect us to make it two days without food or drink!!!". I told them that I had realized there was no food on the train. I had heard them during the night talking to another english speaking guy a couple of rooms down.
I looked up and down the aisle..all the guys were in their underware...women in night gowns, because as I quickly realized after departure...no AC either, and it was HOT as hell when we left Thessoloniki. Well now that we were in Sofia it had not cooled a bit. The guy a couple of rooms down turned out to be Don from San Deigo. He was backpacking across Europe prior to reporting to school in Barcelona. He too had not realized there was no food or drink to be had on this train.
The girl immediately started trying to contact friends via cell phone to find a flight out of Sofia to Budapest...but by the time they completed arrangements the train had pulled out. It was a full day of riding on a hot train and hoping that any place we stopped people would be able to get water or food...but none to be had. Don said he had been nursing one package of chocolates and was on the last one. Of course the girls still had nothing. They did manage to find someone that had some water that gave them a little.
The day wore on....past the beautiful scenery of the morning to the Kansas like fields filled with sunflowers of the afternoon. Small town after small town of dilapidated houses, run down villages, one horse towns that this train stopped at all the way through Bulgaria. Finally to the last stop in Bulgaria...Russe. There were 'hustlers' along side the train selling water, coke, and sandwiches which the girls and Don both ordered. I sort of layed low to see what was happening.
The first guy brought a coke and water to the girls....15 Euro....during this time Don had asked for two sandwiches and two cokes from another guy....he also said 15 euro. Don had already given him five and tried to give the sandwichs back but they argued. So finally Don gave him a 20 and asked for a 10 back. They said they'd get change...well obviously they never returned. 25 euro for 2 sandwichs and 2 cokes...still no water.
By now the gestapo was on board to check passports. First thing out of the bag was to tell one of the girls she'd have to get off the train. She was from New Zealand and would have to have a visa to enter Romania. Of course that visa could only be obtained in Sofia....9 hours back, so the other girl from Australia said she'd have to get off too, she wasn't leaving her friend. Then she asked for her visa back...well they had all been taken to the office to be stamped so she got back on the train and said she wasn't leaving till she got her visa.
Finally they come back with the visas...BUT, her (girl from Australia) visa had already been stamped so she would have to get back on the train....well small story short, they took the visa back to erase the Romania stamp and both girls got off the train, destination undetermined. Now the Romanians were on board to check visas and took them all.
Just then the train started to leave and we realized we didn't have our visas...we started hollering at the conductor who really wasn't sure..but some Romanian citizens on board said we'd get them back on the other side of the border..which we did. Once on the other side, the train split...my half going to Budapest and Don had to go to the other half, going to Buccharest. After that, I had had enough for one full day and pulled my bed down and decided to sleep across Romania.
Ok...well just resign myself that there will be no pictures till after Budapest...and decided to just go to sleep. About an hour after departure a knock at the door..."Passport"...ok, gave it to them...they stamped...and gave it back. So back to sleep. Then about 3am...another knock at the door..."Pazzport pleeze"...Ok...gave it to them and got it back. Back to sleep.
This time it took...was in Bulgaria and woke around 6 am in Sofia. The girls next door had just now realized that THIS train had NO food or drink. They were really throwing a fit with the conductor.."What the f___, you expect us to make it two days without food or drink!!!". I told them that I had realized there was no food on the train. I had heard them during the night talking to another english speaking guy a couple of rooms down.
I looked up and down the aisle..all the guys were in their underware...women in night gowns, because as I quickly realized after departure...no AC either, and it was HOT as hell when we left Thessoloniki. Well now that we were in Sofia it had not cooled a bit. The guy a couple of rooms down turned out to be Don from San Deigo. He was backpacking across Europe prior to reporting to school in Barcelona. He too had not realized there was no food or drink to be had on this train.
The girl immediately started trying to contact friends via cell phone to find a flight out of Sofia to Budapest...but by the time they completed arrangements the train had pulled out. It was a full day of riding on a hot train and hoping that any place we stopped people would be able to get water or food...but none to be had. Don said he had been nursing one package of chocolates and was on the last one. Of course the girls still had nothing. They did manage to find someone that had some water that gave them a little.
The day wore on....past the beautiful scenery of the morning to the Kansas like fields filled with sunflowers of the afternoon. Small town after small town of dilapidated houses, run down villages, one horse towns that this train stopped at all the way through Bulgaria. Finally to the last stop in Bulgaria...Russe. There were 'hustlers' along side the train selling water, coke, and sandwiches which the girls and Don both ordered. I sort of layed low to see what was happening.
The first guy brought a coke and water to the girls....15 Euro....during this time Don had asked for two sandwiches and two cokes from another guy....he also said 15 euro. Don had already given him five and tried to give the sandwichs back but they argued. So finally Don gave him a 20 and asked for a 10 back. They said they'd get change...well obviously they never returned. 25 euro for 2 sandwichs and 2 cokes...still no water.
By now the gestapo was on board to check passports. First thing out of the bag was to tell one of the girls she'd have to get off the train. She was from New Zealand and would have to have a visa to enter Romania. Of course that visa could only be obtained in Sofia....9 hours back, so the other girl from Australia said she'd have to get off too, she wasn't leaving her friend. Then she asked for her visa back...well they had all been taken to the office to be stamped so she got back on the train and said she wasn't leaving till she got her visa.
Finally they come back with the visas...BUT, her (girl from Australia) visa had already been stamped so she would have to get back on the train....well small story short, they took the visa back to erase the Romania stamp and both girls got off the train, destination undetermined. Now the Romanians were on board to check visas and took them all.
Just then the train started to leave and we realized we didn't have our visas...we started hollering at the conductor who really wasn't sure..but some Romanian citizens on board said we'd get them back on the other side of the border..which we did. Once on the other side, the train split...my half going to Budapest and Don had to go to the other half, going to Buccharest. After that, I had had enough for one full day and pulled my bed down and decided to sleep across Romania.
posted by dfwjeep42 | 12:15 PM
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