Travel log part 1

During my few days in Bratislava (August 10,11,12th) and Prague (August 13,14th) I took time to write in my journal (a lot of time that is; I enjoy it and it brings me comfort to sort out my thought). Now that I read it I see I’ve contradicted myself on many occasions; nevertheless if there’s something I have written then it’s because I’ve felt that way at that particular moment.

08-10-2007

8 AM

Why does passing customs control at the airport have to be so humiliating!? I have to take off not only my belt but also my combat “warrior” boots and go by the metal detector in my socks holding up my trousers with one hand feeling like a victim of a practical joke. Every time!

Hey! Did I just say I was familiar with airports, customs i.e. I had multiple experience with traveling and all the annoying details that accompany it? That was not to be believed mostly by me less than a year ago. That’s definitely good news. I’ve tried it, it’s been horrible on many occasions but I haven’t given up. Stick to that thought, girl; it might be the only thing to hold on to for the next few days.

Authorities scare me. Every time I find facing someone in a uniform I feel like a retard and think: There, now I’ll be busted for saying something really stupid!

Why fear? The plan couldn’t be simpler:

Get on the plane.
Take off.
Land in Vienna.
Pray there’ll be a smoking area at the Sky Europe’s shuttle bus stop.
1 hour on that bus to Bratislava.
Exchange money.
Coffee and cigarettes.

OMG. The machine’s rolling again.

8.50 AM

Baaa, waiting at the gate for boarding feels like the end of the world is coming this way but is running off schedule due to busy traffic.

Accept; accept what you can’t change. Regrets are vampires.

3.15 PM

A latte coffee and a blueberry cheesecake-that’s my lunch. At last!

What an exhausting day! And it’s not over yet! My back is killing me; I’m dirty; I’m tired; I need a rest, a bath and a decent store to buy some decent healthy food. And water! ; lots of it.

Once again it’s not much fun to be alone in a strange town. It’s one of those everything-looks-horrible-at-the-start-but-ends-up-pretty-OK days. And it’s not just because it’s in my nature to see troubles where they don’t even exist. There were some real troubles on the way to Bratislava.

(-) The beginning of it all was delayed. The plane took off to Vienna more than a half an hour later than it should have.

(+) But my companions by seat were quite as mice. A few rows behind some woman didn’t shut her mouth up through the whole flight.

(-) I had no desire to neither read nor write.

(+) But I was very sleepy and instead I napped the whole time.

(-) We all waited a lot for our luggage at the Vienna airport.

(+) But my bag was the second one to come so at least I was spared the dreadful anticipation whether I’ll see it again or not.

Who made me put so many things in my bag?! It’s heavy! Unfortunately there’s not a single unnecessary item in my bag; on the contrary-there wasn’t enough space in it to put everything I’d eventually need on the road.

OK, so I have my bag with me. Now what?

The Sky Europe shuttle bus to Bratislava. Where is it? The Sky Europe site clearly says the bus stops right outside the arrivals hall. Was it true? Nooooo. Luckily I saw a Bulgarian couple that I’d seen on the plane and I asked them if they happened to know where the damn bus should be. To my even greater luck they were looking for it too. So the three of us grabbed our luggage and wandered forth and back all over the airport asking 20 people at least and receiving a different answer each time. We got on the bus literally at the last minute.

Back to flying: we experienced a bit of a rough landing and when the plane finally had full contact with earth all the passengers saluted the captain clapping. That made me smile; it was sweet.

It took the bus less than an hour to Bratislava. And, OMG, we passed right by my hotel! So instead of going all the way to the Main Coach station I got off a lot earlier-just one stop away from hotel Incheba.

So far so good. At least I’m in Bratislava already.

Such sacrifices I bring to the altar of music! Which brings me to the logical question: Am I a music fan or a worshiper? Somehow I can’t imagine regular music fans to put themselves to such misery for the sake of sharing the same air with their favorite bands for an hour and a half.

So I am a worshiper :) It’s not the biggest crime I can think of. Nor it is something to be proud of. It is; end of story.

7 PM

So where was I?

Tomorrow I have to explore the route to the airport and back (twice if necessary); I’ll go to that internet café I saw somewhere (if I only can remember where it was); I’ll by some goods from TESCO supermarket; after that-back to the hotel. Sightseeing? No, thanks.

And, of course, the first picture I took in Bratislava 10 minutes after I got off the bus: