A Rocky Start

---

So I left Nottingham on a RyanAir flight to Bratislava. I had exhausted myself through nerves, but couldn't sleep on the plane. I sat next to this really cute little girl, but I couldn't understand a word she said. There were really low clouds, but once the plane got above them the stars and moon were beautiful. Looking down, I could see the lights from the ground below reflecting on the clouds. Then they turned on the cabin lights and ruined it all. Once in Bratislava, customs was really quick - they looked at my passport and waved me through. None of the standing around that we had done when we got to Heathrow. So I found my backpack, withdrew some cash and went looking for the bus. I couldn't find it. After about 10 minutes of looking I found the stop I needed, hidden of course around a corner of a building. But where to get a ticket? The driver pointed out a small ticket booth about 30 meters away, and said I had four minutes until the bus left. Problem: I didn't have the right change. Thankfully, a really nice security guard showed me to a coffee/hot drinks machine so that I could get change. By that time the bus was leaving, but the driver (probably took pity on me) waited and let me on. Finally, at about 11:00 pm, I made it to the hostel. I was extremely tired, so I couldn't really understand what the guy at the desk was saying to me. Then I couldn't get my room key to work. Once I got all my stuff in my room I went back downstairs to try and figure out how to catch my flight to Vienna. The guy at the desk directed my to the bus station, not the airport, which turned out to be a good thing. After eating a very late, very small, probably not to healthy dinner of a granola bar, I collapsed in my bed. I figure I got about 5 hours of sleep before I left to catch my plane.
I figured that if I just retraced my steps of the night before, I would end up at the airport. It would have worked, but I could not find the 61 bus stop heading the right direction. After a half hour of fruitless search, I gave up, got back on the tram, and headed for the bus station. Within ten minutes of arriving I had a ticket and was on a bus headed to Vienna.
Pictures from my trip will be posted sometime between January 5 and 8, so make sure to check back then!

---