And then…I surfed a train. But first, I need to go back to the beginning of the day.
It was Friday (24.July.2009), checkout day in Split at the Three Turtles Hostel so Hana could get back home and I could, in my slow meandering sort of way via Zagreb return to the Czech Republic as well.We rose at our customary “oh about 9.00 or 9.30” and started moving. Coffee, doughnuts and yogurt fueled the packing of the bags and one last sojourn into the Diocletian’s Palace, just to say goodbye to the old place (and so Hana could buy a couple souvenirs). I found a Raifeissen bank machine along the way and much to my surprise the card worked (after several days Paypal apparently decided it was time to do something right). That meant I could access the money to get home.
Hana and I headed off to a cafe in the center of the old town to have a cold drink (ice cream for her) before heading to the hostel to have lunch. On the way we stopped by the train station so that I could pick up a ticket from Split to Zagreb on the same train that Hana was taking (20.50 that evening).
After lunch we headed down to the sea one last time to pay our respects to Poseidon and Apollo (sea and sun respectively) by splashing about in the first and basking in the second. I decided to completely forgo sunblock, by now I was already looking more like chocolate and less like northerner. During our time at the beach Hana received an SMS asking if she was alright. It turned out that there had been a train accident on the line from Zagreb to Split, which was the same line we needed to use later that night, for which I had already purchased my ticket.
We would find out later that it was a train from Zagreb heading for Split. The brakes apparently failed to work, derailing the train killing 6 and injuring some few dozen people. A terrible accident to say the least. This also spelt trouble for anyone else who was attempting to travel between the two cities later in the day as there is only one track between them which was now blocked. I thought that they might just pack everyone with tickets on to buses and ship us off to our locations that way. It was an accurate guess and when we were informed we sat down at a cafe and awaited the arrival of the buses.
The scene of the bus loading was truly a sad commentary on the state of humanity as it involved running, shouting, shoving and general unpleasantness. It seems some people were certain there wouldn’t be enough room and that they would be left behind. This was even after they had been told that five buses were coming. Honestly, try to maintain some dignity would you people?
Hana and I, being seasoned travelers formulated a plan. Hana scouted the buses and found a direct to Zagreb one which she then boarded to save us seats. When she pointed to it I took our bags and flung them into the hold of the bus. Easy peasy and with nary a worry we were seated on the bus and ready to go.
Unfortunately, the bus ride was not all that it could have been, again due to people around us. Between the group of loud, beer-drinking, can-crushing, music-playing guys behind us and the giant barbarian in the front traveling with three generations of his family in tow, it was quite possibly one of the worst bus rides ever.
Now I call this person in question a giant barbarian because he was in fact quite tall, had no shoes on (which wasn’t an issue as neither did I on the bus) and decided the best way to get his chair into the lowest possible position was to repeatedly slam into it with his body, crushing poor Hana’s legs in the process. This continued until I stated (loud enough for all around to hear), “I think he means to crush you by using his seat as a mallet.”
This did indeed have the desired effect of him leaving off the slamming of the chair with his gargantuan body though he did leave it in a nearly crushing position and poor Hana was quite squished during most of the trip. On top of all that he flung his gangly legs up and out of the standard leg area and decided that the best place for them was splayed atop the chairs in front of him. So the giant barbarian was now slid down in his seat with his legs up in the air and feet on display for the whole bus…
Meanwhile the group behind us had finally stopped playing music on their laptop (due to a word from the bus driver I think) and allowed everyone to try to get some sleep. So the 20.50 to almost 03.00 ride was indeed a fitful and unpleasant time for us. At one point Hana was sleeping slumped forward with her forehead pressed against the top of the barbarian’s seat which didn’t really require all that much leaning forward on her part due to its extremely reclined position.
Arrival in Zagreb was welcomed and we literally jumped in front of everyone by standing and walking to the back door while just pulling into the station. Our quick reactions probably saved us another 10 minutes of being trapped behind the giant barbarian as he gathered up his clan and got them off the bus.
Hana went to do some recon on the status of her train and found out it wouldn’t leave until 6.40. Just as we were going to settle in for a nap (I had nowhere to go and didn’t want to leave her there alone) a Czech guy said that he had found out that the train was already at the station and had convinced them to let the passengers board it to sleep and wait. I was skeptical so didn’t want to leave here to just follow some strangers therefore I tagged along. Lo’ and behold we did indeed find her wagon and since it was only about 3.30 at this time and I still had nowhere to go (and no ticket for the train remember) I slept in the compartment on the other set of seats for 3 hours…effectively, couchsurfing a train.
Around 5.50 the train was moved to the platform for boarding and we said our goodbyes. I wandered over to Dolac market for an early morning round of coffee, reading, people watching and travel blog writing (which you are reading now). As I’m now all caught up I need to leave you. But I’ve still got to get from Zagreb back into the EU and home to the Czech Republic so the adventure is not quite complete yet…