D13: Train travel

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So, interesting day.

Went to catch the tram to the train station and I waited. And waited. And waited some more. 45min and still no #1. There were some other backpackers - the guy walked over to see how long I'd been waiting - we decided to take the next #3 and just run the 4 blocks to the station lololol.

We made it though! Train left at 11:17 - we got there at 11:15. Plenty o' time 😉

First half of the trip I sat in a full cabin with Bosnians none of which spoke English or French haha. One old man kept trying to speak to me but I'm like uh english? francais? He just went "oooooh" laughed at me lol and kept going in Bosnian... so, I just kept smiling haha. Not much else to do, really.

I love how social they are here though - I changed cabin mates every stop or two (seems the only people staying on longer were tourists), and everyone always wanted to talk. It's great! When was the last time you were on public transit and spent the ride conversing with strangers? Right, a decade? I seriously love the social aspect here.

There was aslso a super cute old couple that were feeding each other peanuts. Awww.

The journey itself was long (10 hrs) but beautiful - Bosnia is remarkable. Passing through all the small villages, their rustic houses, kids running thru the streets playing football, zig zagging thru mountains and valleys alongside the rivers, farmers in their fields, and even a few dogs chasing the train and barking at us haha.

But the best? Their haystacks. Honestly. I just kept staring at them and it finally struck me: they look like giant Cousin Its!! (Addams Family) I swear I just kept smiling to myself the entire rest of the journey each time I saw one... which was basically every 3 min for half the ride haha.

They have complicated train systems here. We changed engines (and staff) in Doboj, they checked my ticket like 5x lol and there were 3 passport checks. The first border control was funny. He asked, "do you want a stamp?" Without thinking I was like ok sure! I immediately regretted that choice. "Ok you wait here" and he left with my passport. I almost panicked I was like OMG NO. WAIT. There is nothing worse than parting with your passport especially when you're on a train and if it pulls away you are screwed. But he brought it back. Phew.

I had my own cabin for about half the ride too which was nice - I pulled my mac out to watch some movies and read some pdf books and just relax. It was a good time.

About an hour out of Zagreb they told us we had to change from the train to a bus because there was a "train track issue"... whatever that meant. It was cute, the ticket guy didn't speak English so he went and got another passenger to tell me what was happening. I was very thankful - a lot of places would have just left you to figure it out.

So, that was my travel day - happy camper in Zagreb now 😊 Looks like a lovely city.

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