Today went a bit differently than my other days. I met up with a local via couchsurfing and I spent the day with her. We met up at the tram station near my place and went hiking for a couple hours. It was very muddy and slippery but luckily there were no people or little twigs hurt. Not many plants but quite a bit of mushrooms throughout the forest. None were eaten however. The air was so fresh and tasty and we weren't really following any trail, just deciding to go this or that way when we got to where the trails merged or split. At one point we're kinda just following this couple in their dogs, hoping for an exit. The dogs didn't leave us disappointed. We found an exit and decided to have lunch there, we packed some sandwiches. So we decide to start the journey back to her apartment for dinner. We have amazing timing and catch a bus only a minute walk from the exit. The bus is taking its sweet time descending the little mountain village, going back and forth this tiny road on the way down. We make it down safe and sound enjoying the view. Take another bus and two trams, something like that and we finally get to her city, slightly outside Vienna or maybe just barely inside it, I'm not entirely sure. She has a giant garden in the back of her building and I'm very jealous. She even has a root cellar, which I believe was a bomb shelter at one point and somehow a frog managed to get in there and was just chilling there. Probably quite literally as it's a root cellar and those are supposed to be cold.
We roast some pumpkin and potatoes for dinner, yumm. She also has three mice, each named after a wizard from LOTR: Radagast, Gandalf and Sarumon. However, one of them is quite silly and always tries to escape through the chicken wire and constantly gets stuck so she has to cut the wire around him. He never learns. Oh, there were also christmas cookies and lots of tea. We chat for a while, play black stories and swap some music. Just another positive couchsurfing experience. Did I mention I love couchsurfing? You can also just meet locals to hang out with through the site. Which so far has been only fun.
The next day is my last day in Vienna so I take my host out to a traditional Viennese coffee house. But when I say take my host out I mean I paid for the meal but she drove us there and back. I finish packing my bags and make my way to the train station. I get there 30 minutes early and start looking for the right track. I have a connection in Simmering and find the bus that goes there and get on the bus but the bus ride is 30 minutes and my itinerary says to take the train to Simmering and that it should only take 5 minutes... I sit on the bus pondering and decide to get off. It's now 14 minutes before my train departs. Crap... I'm running around, going back downstairs to see the departure screen again, no new information. I decide to go to the tracks from where I arrived and look at those departure screens, still don't see the right train. I find an info desk, frantically flash them my phone with my itinerary and they tell me which track to go to and it's leaving in six minutes. My phone says its leaving in three but it only takes a minute to get there. Heavy backpacks slow you down... I get to the train, make sure to ask someone if it's the right one. It is. I sit down and catch my breath. Make the transfer and get comfortable on the train to Prague.
I'm in a bit of a daze on the train, falling in and out of sleep. We arrive at what I think is my station, similar name, the time seems right. Hmm... I grab my bags and jump off thinking I almost missed my stop. I'm immediately sketched out. This doesn't look a very well maintained or modern train station. But no matter. I continue on to find my hostel. I know the general direction to get there. Straight north for about 1000m then right for some more. I know there are also some landmarks I should be looking out for. The thing is, I'm not finding any of these streets or landmarks and this place just doesn't look very populated or warm. I'm a little worried as I'm also wearing two bright and heavy backpacks, making me appear like the slow-walking tourist target I am. I try asking people for help but to no avail. I'm walking for longer than I should be and then I find someone who tries to help me and then looks up from my picture of a map on my phone and stares at me, asking if I'm trying to get to Prague. I am then informed that I'm not in Prague but rather 100km away. Fuck. Knew it. Alright. She points me in the direction of the train station, telling me it's that way. I tell her I know, in possibly the driest tone possible, I also say thank you in a slightly warmer tone as it can be a little hard to stay completely positive and friendly when dealt a blow of reality like this.
I make my way back to the train station, see the next train going to Prague leaves in a few minutes, so I hurry my ass to the train, find a compartment, confirm this is the right train (always a good thing to do) and have a seat. I then talk a little to one of the people there, tell my story and we laugh. Ha. Ha. So funny but the reality of it still stings a little. Some minutes pass and the person checking tickets comes. She looks at my ticket and is confused, probably because she doesn't read english... The person next to me clarifies the situation and we all share another laugh. Ha. Ha... I finally get to Prague, everything seems right. More people and tourists and the right street names. I eventually find my way to the hostel after some bad directions and then I find out I never actually paid for my room and I still owe them 220 euros... I had just converted $200 into Czech Crowns and give them most of it as a deposit. That leaves me with about $45 worth of Crowns. I get to my 4 bedroom dorm and no one is there, sweet. I call up the local from couchsurfing I was going to meet up with and we agree to meet up at a bar a little later. So I shower, unpack and relax for a bit.
We roast some pumpkin and potatoes for dinner, yumm. She also has three mice, each named after a wizard from LOTR: Radagast, Gandalf and Sarumon. However, one of them is quite silly and always tries to escape through the chicken wire and constantly gets stuck so she has to cut the wire around him. He never learns. Oh, there were also christmas cookies and lots of tea. We chat for a while, play black stories and swap some music. Just another positive couchsurfing experience. Did I mention I love couchsurfing? You can also just meet locals to hang out with through the site. Which so far has been only fun.
The next day is my last day in Vienna so I take my host out to a traditional Viennese coffee house. But when I say take my host out I mean I paid for the meal but she drove us there and back. I finish packing my bags and make my way to the train station. I get there 30 minutes early and start looking for the right track. I have a connection in Simmering and find the bus that goes there and get on the bus but the bus ride is 30 minutes and my itinerary says to take the train to Simmering and that it should only take 5 minutes... I sit on the bus pondering and decide to get off. It's now 14 minutes before my train departs. Crap... I'm running around, going back downstairs to see the departure screen again, no new information. I decide to go to the tracks from where I arrived and look at those departure screens, still don't see the right train. I find an info desk, frantically flash them my phone with my itinerary and they tell me which track to go to and it's leaving in six minutes. My phone says its leaving in three but it only takes a minute to get there. Heavy backpacks slow you down... I get to the train, make sure to ask someone if it's the right one. It is. I sit down and catch my breath. Make the transfer and get comfortable on the train to Prague.
I'm in a bit of a daze on the train, falling in and out of sleep. We arrive at what I think is my station, similar name, the time seems right. Hmm... I grab my bags and jump off thinking I almost missed my stop. I'm immediately sketched out. This doesn't look a very well maintained or modern train station. But no matter. I continue on to find my hostel. I know the general direction to get there. Straight north for about 1000m then right for some more. I know there are also some landmarks I should be looking out for. The thing is, I'm not finding any of these streets or landmarks and this place just doesn't look very populated or warm. I'm a little worried as I'm also wearing two bright and heavy backpacks, making me appear like the slow-walking tourist target I am. I try asking people for help but to no avail. I'm walking for longer than I should be and then I find someone who tries to help me and then looks up from my picture of a map on my phone and stares at me, asking if I'm trying to get to Prague. I am then informed that I'm not in Prague but rather 100km away. Fuck. Knew it. Alright. She points me in the direction of the train station, telling me it's that way. I tell her I know, in possibly the driest tone possible, I also say thank you in a slightly warmer tone as it can be a little hard to stay completely positive and friendly when dealt a blow of reality like this.
I make my way back to the train station, see the next train going to Prague leaves in a few minutes, so I hurry my ass to the train, find a compartment, confirm this is the right train (always a good thing to do) and have a seat. I then talk a little to one of the people there, tell my story and we laugh. Ha. Ha. So funny but the reality of it still stings a little. Some minutes pass and the person checking tickets comes. She looks at my ticket and is confused, probably because she doesn't read english... The person next to me clarifies the situation and we all share another laugh. Ha. Ha... I finally get to Prague, everything seems right. More people and tourists and the right street names. I eventually find my way to the hostel after some bad directions and then I find out I never actually paid for my room and I still owe them 220 euros... I had just converted $200 into Czech Crowns and give them most of it as a deposit. That leaves me with about $45 worth of Crowns. I get to my 4 bedroom dorm and no one is there, sweet. I call up the local from couchsurfing I was going to meet up with and we agree to meet up at a bar a little later. So I shower, unpack and relax for a bit.
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