22 Hours of Travel

22 hours is a long time. If you have ever done anything for 22 hours straight you know that it is a long time. When you are switching from one cramped space to another, 22 hours stretches into a mind numbing trial of patience and wit. Budapest is not to terribly far from Dubrovnik, Croatia, but the train and bus transfers that one has to navigate takes a great deal of time.

Seth and I took two trains, both about 7-9 hours long, then we transfered to a bus which took roughly 4 hours. It was well worth it, though, as we arrived at our Villa in Dubrovnik and immediately took a dip in the Adriatic Sea. It made the numb ass, cramped legs, smelly clothes, and hunger pangs all worth it.

The trip was actually not as bad as I thought it would be either. Our first train puuled out in the afternoon and we were treated to a nice cool breeze as we stuck our heads out the window of the train like dogs in a car. The rail is the preferred method of travel for the traveling youth in Europe and I could not help but smile as I stuck my head out the window to see the Hungarian countryside as well as scores of twenty-somethings with their heads popped out of the windows, enjoying the fresh air.

On our first train we shared a cabin with some Londoners who had been to the running of the bulls a few weeks ago in Spain. Their story was just mental. One of the guys was telling us how a guy got gored right in front of him. What a shitty way to end your vacation. They didn't know the guy, and they said that people were getting trampled left and right. Seth and I talked later about how our adventures somewhat pale in comparison to such a story, but we quickly reminded ourselves that we also don't have any unnecessary holes from huge animals as souvenirs either. To each his own, though. We will be enjoying our health while we watch the sunset on the Adriatic from the balcony of our villa. It is a rough life sometimes.