It Really is Not as Bad as I Make it Sound

It must be some sort of funny joke all over Europe to make traveling around difficult for foreigners. And I believe they as an entire people in each and every country have turned me and Andrea’s journeys into one gigantic joke. They all look forward to each every time there is a rumor heard of us traveling, they count the days until Andrea and I attempt to travel again.
Because we are teachers we have a long weekend for the Velvet Revolution, which happened on October, 28th in 1989. For history’s sake, the Velvet Revolution, a non-violent revolution, freed the Czech Republic from communist rule. It happened, as I have been told, thanks to the United States economic prowess during the 80’s. Thanks to that once booming economy Andrea and I now have a long weekend to enjoy Budapest, Hungary. The communist pulled their influence away from the Czech Republic as the United States and their money continued their surge through Western Europe and into the Eastern part of the continent. Capitalism and greed won out over a highly-imperfect communist system. And now I sit on this train writing this blog about me and Andrea’s lack of talent for European travel in a country, which just barely over twenty years ago would have been extremely difficult to visit.
Enough of my rants about history and my little off-hand jabs at Capitalism. This blog was not intended to be my political soap box for reform in a Capitalist American, where money rules and not people. Sorry, there I go again, but I thought I would throw in one more while I had your attention. Once again, I apologize, back to the story of the beginning of this trip, which I hope by Sunday will bring much better things to write. Not that our travel difficulties are all bad, but I would much rather you picture Andrea and I with smiles draped across our faces than face riddled with frustration. So, instead of picturing us frustratingly trying to figure out traveling see us as we laugh about each situation afterward.
So here we go, I am going to start it right at the very beginning, I feel each detail, maybe everyone doesn’t, is important, what makes these travels adventures and not simply vacations where we fly into some airport, are picked up by some car, and whisked away nice and easy to our hotel.
On Tuesday night Andrea arrived in Novy Bydzov, if you are an avid reader you now know is the small village I teach the majority of my lessons in, and she was not in what I call the best of moods. Rightfully so though, she had had a rough day. She went to her bank and they are still not able to help her setup her online banking, you would think it would not be so difficult, you would think this was a year-long process. No, really the bank should be able to help her set it up in about thirty minutes like the same bank in a different branch did for me, but we have been in Europe and working a little more than two months and they still cannot help her. On top of the so far inefficient bank, she still has a brand new mattress sitting in her hallway with no bed frame; she continues to be forced sleep on an uncomfortable bed, which has been giving her back problems as of late. She spoke with her landlord earlier on Tuesday, just as she had the bank; the landlord was no more help with the bed situation than the bank with her account. He explained to her the bed frame had been ordered separate from the mattress and that they were “simply” just waiting for the bed frame then everything would be taken care of. The bed frame, literally, has been sitting in her hallway for two weeks. I felt like my Father when I made the corny joke to her, “What did they order the mattress from Hradec and the frame from Antarctica?”
Quickly, on a side note, I do find I am making cornier and cornier jokes by the day. Can that really be a gene passed down through a family?
On top of Andrea’s difficulties establishing a completed and comfortable bed, her Internet in her apartment is not working probably. So, while she was speaking with the landlord about her bed, she also, asked about the Internet. From her account of the interaction, the landlord took her computer and starting typing random numbers, the computer was fixed, that is, for her apartment. Her frustrations came to a head when she arrived in my town.
(Quick note: I am writing right now and it is actually our second night in Budapest, but I started this before we left so I am trying to stay in time with the beginning. I apologize if it reads a little funny. I am too damn long-winded. I cannot complete one blog in one sitting. Need to practice.)
The Internet, which had always had no problem working at my local café, was now unable to connect to the Internet. This is where Andrea found the most frustration. Her anxiety about her wireless Internet somehow being disabled for anywhere, but her apartment due to the landlord’s actions, and for our entire trip to Budapest, pushed her to the brink of frustration; she was not a happy camper.
I had been in the middle of tutoring when Andrea had arrived at the café and had not noticed her understandable mood. When I sat down next to her I was confronted with the mood. I tried to cheer her up and it worked a little. It is really easy when you can tell someone they will be in beautiful Budapest in a day.
We, however, did need the Internet, I did not know, but I did not have one of my travel arrangements to or from Budapest confirmed. The train ticket from Vienna to Budapest had been purchased, but the confirmation of said purchase was gone. It had been in Andrea’s email and it disappeared. I had thought Andrea had booked my bus ticket to Vienna and my bus ticket back from Budapest, but she had not. I think I was supposed to take care of that, but being the absent-minded person I am I had forgot. So, there we were in the café, no Internet and no reservations for my travels. Oh, and we had yet to book our hostel for Budapest. I’m telling you, Andrea and me are getting really good at this traveling thing. Nothing like two people who both like to wait till the last minute to get things taken care of.
I keeping mentioning Vienna, I have not given the reason for its mention. Andrea and I are meeting in Budapest, traveling there separate. I have to stop in Vienna to pick up my long-term Visa before I am kicked out of the country. So, I am taking a bus to Vienna, leaving at midnight and arriving there at 5:30 in the morning then I have to go to the Czech consulate at 8:30 to pick up the Visa. Then I hop on a train from Vienna to Budapest, Vienna is pretty much directly on the way to Budapest, at 11:50 or so that is how the plan was and is supposed, to go.
I had no tickets in hand, no Internet to obtain these tickets, and at that point we had nowhere to sleep in Budapest. Andrea still frustrated and me becoming more and more so we headed to my school (skola), a little language lesson thrown in. Luckily, my skola has been nice enough to provide me with a key to every single door in the building. I am able to use the school’s computer at three in the morning if need be.
At the school, Andrea and I were able to get a hostel booked (hint for next blog: a very nice hostel). However, as for my transportation we or I, I don’t know how to phrase it, were at a loss. We would have to wait for the next day.
We were actually spending the next day in Prague before our travels with our new friend Lada, Andrea’s Headmaster’s daughter, and her boyfriend, Michal.
Although, I know the rest of the story now, I will wait for my next blog to share the conclusions of our traveling mishaps. So, you can have two happy endings. One ending in the middle when I arrive in Budapest safe and sound finding Andrea waiting for me with a hug and a kiss and another happy story about our visit in Budapest, Andrea tells me I make it sound too much like we are not having the time of our lives like we really truly our. So, the next blog will be filled with happiness and joy.