Train Mastery

Filler picture from Mostar

When planning how to get to Pecs I had two options both of which got me to Pecs at the same time but one left earlier in the morning. Normally I would opt for the shorter trip, leaving at a later time but there were more connections and 1 connection gave me 10 minutes while another gave me only 2 and they were near the end of the trip so I was worried I would not make them and my already lengthy (11 hours) trip would be even longer. As such I woke up earlier and got on the 8:15am train instead of the 8:40am one. I was supposed to exit the train at 10:30am but before 10:00am the train terminated in Villach, Austria. I was not supposed to be in Austria, I was supposed to be in Croatia. Somehow I had managed to get on the right train, but in the opposite direction that I wanted to go.

I had walked to the platform and saw Zagreb on the sign and got on, but the train had already stopped there and was heading away from Zagreb. Luckily in Austria the train service is great and I was able to go to the ticket window and tell them my mistake and they were able to make a new itinerary for me. The new itinerary didn’t put me in until after midnight making my total travel time nearly 16 hours.

While waiting in Villach I found a power plug and plugged in my laptop to charge so I could use it on the train. I was looking across the train station at a family that looked like they were beggars. After some time the teenage daughter crossed the train station to me and stood in front of me making eye contact, I looked at her and waived my hand from left to right and said “no”. I didn’t want to give her any money. The girl reached into her pocket and I continued to express “no” with increased vigor. Out of her pocket the girl produced a cell phone and a charger. She wasn’t asking for money, she wanted to charge her phone and I was using the only publically available outlet.

I took the next train to its end and then quickly got on my next train as it was pulling out of the station. When the third train arrived at its destination a couple of minutes early I looked at the departure board to see if I could catch any more direct or earlier trains to Pecs and saw that a train had just left going directly to Pecs. I jogged to the platform anyway to make sure the train was gone and it was still there. The train was having electrical problems and all of the lights in the second class car were strobing on and off. I boarded the train and sat in the car with the strobing lights. I put my blindfold on and pulled my hood over my eyes, but I could still see the strobing lights, it was very annoying. The train finally took off and the lights couldn’t be fixed so the train employee moved everyone up to first class where I got my own private extremely hot compartment. I ended up making it to Pecs by 9:30pm, not to bad considering I took my first train in the wrong direction.