Bussing it through Poland

Just when I was beginning to think that I was getting pretty good at the whole travel-through-Europe thing, the Polish bus system brought me back down to size.  In a perfect world, I would have boarded a bus in Prague this morning and then would have arrived in Krakow, Poland, 9 hours later, well-rested and with luggage in hand.

Alas, that’s not exactly how things went down.  The journey started out well…I woke up on time, I had my passport in hand (after a brief and frantic search at 4:45 in the morning), and I didn’t get lost on the way to the bus station.  I boarded the bus, which was only a harmless 15 minutes late, and settled into a seat in the back between two plump women in big puffy coats.  It was like being wrapped up in a big, cozy quilt, so with the comforting sound of the wheels rolling below me, I fell asleep (it was 5:30 in the morning, after all).

Fast forward 3 hours, and I’m being tapped awake by the ticket-checker.  The conversation that followed went something like this:

Ticket-checker asks me something in Polish, none of which I understand.

Woman on my right says something that I heard as, “Werasdnnfe aosdoiwer Eeen-glaaay-zeee,” which I assume was her telling Ticket-checker that I speak English, not Polish.

Ticket-checker pulls out the ticket I had given him upon boarding, pointing at my name with a questioning look on his face.

I nod, say yes, and repeat my name…just to be sure he knows that yes, that is indeed my ticket.

Ticket-checker shakes his head with a slight air of pity, says another incomprehensible phrase in Polish, and walks back to the front of the bus.

So at this point I was quite confused, especially because I had just woken up from a very deep sleep.  Why had I been singled out in this bus of 30+ people? Had we passed Krakow? Did he want to see my passport?  I would have asked for some more details on what the encounter was all about, but the woman on my right couldn’t offer much assistance, as she didn’t speak any English.  The woman on my left did speak some English, but was sleeping so hard she was beginning to snore, so I didn’t want to disturb her.  In any case, the bus was rolling on, so I figured I would reassess the situation at the next stop.

The next stop turned out to be Wroclaw.  As the bus pulled into the station, the driver said a few things over the loudspeaker, but the words were once again incomprehensible to my ears.  But then, in the mix of unfamiliar phrases, I thought I heard my name.  “That’s me!” I said, as if I had won a prize.  Fortunately, the English-speaking woman to my left had woken up to disembark, so she explained that I needed to change buses here.  Okay…that wasn’t listed on my ticket anywhere, but I could go with it.  I disembarked and went to fetch my luggage from the lower compartment, only to be greeted with another pitying shake of the head and the somewhat horrifying words, “No bag.”  Ummm...what? Fortunately, yet another English-speaking woman was around to clarify things, and she explained that I was apparently supposed to switch buses a while back (guess I slept through that…).  While I hadn’t successfully made the transfer, my luggage had, so it was somewhere en route to Krakow, leaving me in the dust.  At this point I could have chosen to panic a little bit, but I stopped myself.  I reminded myself that it was only a bag full of clothes.  I had the things that really matter…passport, money, and camera.  And who has time to panic when the bus driver is shoving you onto the next bus, comforting you with a big smile and the words, “No worry! Krakow!”

A few hours later, we rolled into some unknown town to pick up a few more passengers.  I jumped off the bus for a bathroom break, and by the time I had returned from the restroom, the bus driver was saying “Madame, bag! Bag!” He pointed into the compartment of a nearby bus, and lo and behold, there was my suitcase!  Somehow we had caught up with the bus I was supposed to have been on all along.  So I hopped on, feeling peaceful in the knowledge that I had all my possessions with me, and I was on my way to Krakow.  I just had to marvel at how the world can throw some kinks in your plans, but if you take it all in stride, you will probably still get you to your destination.