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Published: July 24th 2010
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July 19 - I am an idiot. I don't know what I was thinking about, getting a ticket to Warsaw and then transfering when I could have just gotten a direct ticket to Gdansk. This is frugality at it's worst, ladies and gentlemen. I am no longer traveling for a year, trying to save pennies whenever possible. I live in Switzerland, and make a Swiss-ish income. I can afford to pay more for some reasonable amount of comfort. It's like I'm chartering a jet plane. But I still can't help myself. The ticket to Warsaw was about 1/3 the price, in the same amount of time, so I took it. I did not consider that my ten hour overnight journey would then be followed by an avoidable seven hour journey to reach my destination. But this is what happened. I left in a flurry last night, as I realized it was about to rain. I even forgot my special flavored water. I was on my way to the bus station when the deluge started. It poured and it poured hard. I was still early, so I took some cover, and then realized that I was still getting wet and my feet
were starting to get caugth up in the newly forming flood waters. Unbelievable. A taxi even came and offered me a ride for like $2 and I said no! How is that even possible? Yet I decided to walk the rest of the way in the rain rather than deal with something else. Stupid. I got to the station and used the toilet - I had to pay! - and then got a seta right across from the toilet on the bus, ironically. Then a man who smelled like a chimney sat by me. Perfect. The bus left at 9pm and staopped about every three hours. Sleep was in pieces and I felt like crap when we arrived at 5am, an hour early I think. My smoking friend had left around 2am so that allowed me some more space to rest anyway.
Once we arrived I went into the bus station, newly dried, and saw that it was closed, but that there was a bus leaving for Gdansk just then. I know the trains are faster, but had no idea when they would be leaving or from which train station, as there are several, so I decided to take
a chance with the sure thing. I did not realize that it would take seven hours to get there, probably an extra hour due to traffic in the middle of nowhere. Seriously, we were driving through grain country for seven hours, or whenever I opened my eyes anyway. And I had the pleasure of having two make-out type couples sitting in front of me. More entertainment I guess. Even stranger was my food situation. I had gone to the store to get some snacks for the journey but decided to jsut take an apple on the original bus with me. I mean, what was the chance I would need food between 9pm and 6am? And I didn't. The rest of the food was in my big backpack, under the bus. I figured I could access it during the train ride. But, of course, there was no train. And I had to hurry to get on the bus so I didn't think to get the food first. So I had my apple, which it turns out I didn't eat as there was no trash and nowhere to put the remains when I finished. So from 4pm Sunday afternoon to 1:30pm Monday
afternoon the only food I had was the smell of the food everyone else around me was eating. You really do get numb to it. Maybe this can be a diet strategy.
Once in Gdansk, I spied a McDonald's at the train station I had to pass to get into town. I so almost went in, but the numbness and the annoying bags allowed me to continue on to the hostel. I couldn't officially check in until 2pm, so I dropped off my bag and then went to get some food. I ended up going to a milk bar, a classic Polish type eatery that is crazy cheap, a leftover from the communist movement. Luckily the woman spoke some English, and I was able to get four huge dumplings with mushroom sauce. For about $3 I will be full until tomorrow. From there I got some more cash and decided to check in before going out and about. I washed a shirt and underwear and set them to dry from my bunk and then headed out to explore. Gdansk is quite a cute town. It's on a river and has a great look. Huge churches, beautiful buildings, it works.
I'm really glad that Morgan suggested coming here, as it was not on my original itinerary. I walked around most of the main points this afternoon and will also have tomorrow to continue and to go to some museums. Did I mention this is the first day in weeks where the temperature was comfortable? Fantasy travel. In the evneing it even got cool. Amazing. I will use tomorrow as a relaxing day, since I don't build many in. The next day I will go to a castle out of town that I am looking forward to, before moving on to my next destination. Dinner tonight involved a coke and some leftover cheetos since the dumplings were still filling. I will try to get an early night, if the roommates allow.
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