Hello LilyOnTheLam.Com Readers:
I thought I had written my last post for 2014, but I guess I had another post in me!
For better or for worse, I try not to stop to think whether something scares me - I just do it. Because if you allow yourself a moment to let self-doubt and fear into your heart, you may never do what you know you need to do. I credit my Mother for this. Growing up poor, you don't have the luxury of kindly demurring when things get rough. You just have to jump in and hope for the best.
When I was nineteen, I backpacked around Western Europe on a shoestring budget with the woman who is now known as Mrs. BKJ of Minnesota. To save money on youth hostels, we would occasionally travel by night and sleep on trains. This made for such adventures as: (1) waking up to find a swarthy pickpocket trying to steal our luggage as the train made a late night stop in Avignon, France; (2) watching a man urinate in the middle of the Rome train station and (3) having "gentleman" after "gentleman" try to con us out of our money or virtue. But two girls from Minnesota are FARM STRONG! and we made it through the experience unscathed.
(Fact Checker Alert: OK OK neither Mrs. BKJ or I lived on a farm, but my Great-Aunt did have a farm - check out my post as The Strawberry Queen "Pink Was The Color of My Itchy Discontent" here.)
So when I was in Budapest, Hungary for work; I decided to hop a train to Slovakia to check out Bratislava. Why? WHY NOT!
Do I know where Slovakia is on a map? Nope.
Do I speak Slovak? No.
Do I speak Czech? No.
Do I speak Hungarian? No.
Do I speak German? No.
Have I ever been on a train in Hungary or Slovakia? No.
Do I know what currency they use in Slovakia? Nope.
Do I know anything about Slovakia? No.
These are questions a normal, rational person might ask themselves before starting a train trip between Hungary and Slovakia. But if you are a regular reader of LilyOnTheLam - you may be aware that I am not a normal, rational person!
My preparation for a trip to Slovakia was 1) checking the train times, 2) checking a map to see where the Budapest train station was, 3) checking to see what currency they use in Slovakia (the Euro!), 4) checking a map to see where the Bratislava train station was and where the "Old Town" area was located and 5) double-checking that US citizens did not need visas to enter Slovakia. (That last one is kind of important!)
I did look for a Bratislava city guide - but fat chance, neither the internet, online bookstores or Budapest bookstores had anything on Bratislava. I wondered if Bratislava was a mythical city that did not exist.
I shrugged my shoulders and said a very famous Lily line "I'll figure it out when I get there."
Seriously, if I had stopped to really think about hopping a train and just showing up in a country where I had absolutely no familiarity with the language and except for a short stay in Prague (now Czech Republic) a million years ago, had no clue about Slovak history ... I would have never seen this ...
It was a gray cold day, but the scenery between Budapest and Bratislava (about a 2 1/2 hour train ride) was still lovely.
I had an uneventful trip, caught up on my American TV and before I knew it I had arrived in Slovakia.
I hopped off the train - no apprehension, no self-doubt, no raging fear of Slovaks ... just excitement (and gratitude that it wasn't raining). I was ready for my Slovakian adventure to begin!
The purpose of writing this blog post was not so much to talk about the trip between Hungary and Slovakia but to talk about the spirit in which the trip was taken. As we say "goodbye" to the remainder of 2014, I hope everyone who reads this is living their lives to their full potential, hopping trains (literal or metaphorical) to new lands and have hearts full of excitement and gratitude!
P.S. Long story short - walked 13 miles around Bratislava, had a great day, saw lovely sights in the Old Town of Bratislava, had some bad pierogi, had a good beer, some awesome cake, delicious coffee, found a tiny pamphlet on Bratislava history, bought some souvenirs and then went back to Budapest. It was an excellent day! It was definitely a nothing ventured, nothing gained adventure!
I thought I had written my last post for 2014, but I guess I had another post in me!
For better or for worse, I try not to stop to think whether something scares me - I just do it. Because if you allow yourself a moment to let self-doubt and fear into your heart, you may never do what you know you need to do. I credit my Mother for this. Growing up poor, you don't have the luxury of kindly demurring when things get rough. You just have to jump in and hope for the best.
When I was nineteen, I backpacked around Western Europe on a shoestring budget with the woman who is now known as Mrs. BKJ of Minnesota. To save money on youth hostels, we would occasionally travel by night and sleep on trains. This made for such adventures as: (1) waking up to find a swarthy pickpocket trying to steal our luggage as the train made a late night stop in Avignon, France; (2) watching a man urinate in the middle of the Rome train station and (3) having "gentleman" after "gentleman" try to con us out of our money or virtue. But two girls from Minnesota are FARM STRONG! and we made it through the experience unscathed.
(Fact Checker Alert: OK OK neither Mrs. BKJ or I lived on a farm, but my Great-Aunt did have a farm - check out my post as The Strawberry Queen "Pink Was The Color of My Itchy Discontent" here.)
So when I was in Budapest, Hungary for work; I decided to hop a train to Slovakia to check out Bratislava. Why? WHY NOT!
Do I know where Slovakia is on a map? Nope.
Do I speak Slovak? No.
Do I speak Czech? No.
Do I speak Hungarian? No.
Do I speak German? No.
Have I ever been on a train in Hungary or Slovakia? No.
Do I know what currency they use in Slovakia? Nope.
Do I know anything about Slovakia? No.
These are questions a normal, rational person might ask themselves before starting a train trip between Hungary and Slovakia. But if you are a regular reader of LilyOnTheLam - you may be aware that I am not a normal, rational person!
My preparation for a trip to Slovakia was 1) checking the train times, 2) checking a map to see where the Budapest train station was, 3) checking to see what currency they use in Slovakia (the Euro!), 4) checking a map to see where the Bratislava train station was and where the "Old Town" area was located and 5) double-checking that US citizens did not need visas to enter Slovakia. (That last one is kind of important!)
I did look for a Bratislava city guide - but fat chance, neither the internet, online bookstores or Budapest bookstores had anything on Bratislava. I wondered if Bratislava was a mythical city that did not exist.
I shrugged my shoulders and said a very famous Lily line "I'll figure it out when I get there."
Seriously, if I had stopped to really think about hopping a train and just showing up in a country where I had absolutely no familiarity with the language and except for a short stay in Prague (now Czech Republic) a million years ago, had no clue about Slovak history ... I would have never seen this ...
 |
| The interior of the Bratislava Train Station |
Don't get me wrong - I'm a big believer in rational thinking, looking before you leap and not dying on a train to a country you have never been to before. BUT I also strongly subscribe to the James Russell Lowell quote: "FATE LOVES THE FEARLESS." Sometimes you just have to hop on that train and see where life takes you. This line of (somewhat warped) thinking has served me well in my life and as I think about my 2015 goals, I know I need to embrace this even more!
So on a Saturday in November, I loaded up on a highly caloric buffet breakfast at the Sofitel Chain Bridge Hotel in Budapest, Hungary. Each month, the hotel has a special pastry and this particular month it was "Strudels of the Monarchy" - an array of different flavored fruit strudels at the breakfast buffet. It will also be the name of my future all-girl, one-cat punk band. Watch for our album in 2016.
Judging by a Budapest city map it looked like I could take a long walk and get to the train station, but I am not the finest of cartographers so I took a taxi. The ride was quick and yet surprisingly expensive. (I walked home from the train station when I returned, proving that it indeed was walkable in the right shoes.)
I entered the Budapest train station looking for a ticket booth - but none was to be found. I was stumped! I have been on trains all over Europe, parts of Asia and America - where are they hiding the ticket booths??
Finally against a wall I saw these mini travel agency offices. One marked domestic and one marked international. There was a ginormous long line at the domestic travel agency office. I stood in this line for about three minutes until I realized that Slovakia is not a domestic part of Hungary. (Not the smartest girl in the world!) I tried to subtly step out of line without drawing any attention to myself before sprinting over to the international office.
I sat in a chair in front of a glass encased booth inside another glass encased office. In America, so much is fast-serve, self-serve, automated - you stand in line to get everything. I must admit I felt very weird getting a train ticket by sitting down in front of the travel agent. She quickly sold me a 2nd class round-trip ticket for Bratislava good for one month.
I hopped out of the office with my very old school, slightly Soviet looking, 3 attached pieces of paper ticket and went to find my train!
The 2nd class train compartments had individual compartments with 6 seats each. The seats were faded and threadbare in spots, but comfortable.
I found an empty compartment, kicked back and pulled out my iPad. I had two episodes of Bravo TV's "Top Chef: Boston" that were just begging to be watched.
I had an uneventful trip, caught up on my American TV and before I knew it I had arrived in Slovakia.
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| Bratislava's Hlavna Train Station |
The purpose of writing this blog post was not so much to talk about the trip between Hungary and Slovakia but to talk about the spirit in which the trip was taken. As we say "goodbye" to the remainder of 2014, I hope everyone who reads this is living their lives to their full potential, hopping trains (literal or metaphorical) to new lands and have hearts full of excitement and gratitude!
P.S. Long story short - walked 13 miles around Bratislava, had a great day, saw lovely sights in the Old Town of Bratislava, had some bad pierogi, had a good beer, some awesome cake, delicious coffee, found a tiny pamphlet on Bratislava history, bought some souvenirs and then went back to Budapest. It was an excellent day! It was definitely a nothing ventured, nothing gained adventure!
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