So, I left you in suspense in Bucharest.
We arrived in Romania, from Germany, at about midnight (Saturday night/Sunday morning). We are all sleep-deprived and past the brink of exhaustion; we collect our bags, and realize that we over packed and our packs are much too heavy. We leave the baggage claim and make a giant pile of our things out in the main area of the airport, (which is dead quiet) and just sit down.
We are in Bucharest. The capital of our first month on the World Race. Hallelujah!
Basically, we sit with our stuff. Several hours later, we move all of our things downstairs because it is about 2:00 and the bus that will bring us to the train station won’t run until about 6:00. A few people pull out sleeping bags and try to rest, a few jam out on their guitars, the rest of us wander around / sit / chill because there’s nothing to do.
Nothing significant happened.
[Here's a pic of our stuff in the airport and teammates sleeping.]
At about 5:00 we get back together, purchase train tickets, and wait for the bus to bring us to the train station. It’s not really a bus though, it’s more of a van, and we definitely won’t all fit in it. Half of us cram on, and we drive away. It’s still dark out, and we’re assuming that we will get out at a train station.
He drops us off in the middle of nowhere.
There’s a ramp, and some shrubbery, and some houses off in the distance.
The two men who were in the van with us motion to us that the train is up the ramp. Dubiously, we follow up the ramp with our things. At the top is the sketchiest strip of asphalt I’ve ever seen in my life, with a railing on one side and a train track on the other. We minorly freak out; we’re sure that this can’t be the place we’re supposed to be. As we wait for the other half of our group to join us, we discuss how ridiculous it is that this is the “train station.” It’s more like a platform, and even that is being generous.
The other half arrives, freaks out, joins us. We wait a few minutes, and jump on board the next train, cram ourselves into compartments, not knowing when we’re supposed to get off. The window’s open, my head is stuck outside as I watch the sunrise. 50 minute train ride, we scramble off and find ourselves at the main station, where our group splits. Team WALDO and Team Beauty for Ashes get tickets and board a train to Brasov. I sleep for the whole trip, and miss all of the pretty mountains that I hear exist.
About 3 hours later we arrive in Brasov, a little rested.
The wait is about 2 hours, we have time to get lunch and sit outside before we get on a train to Tirgu Mures. We have our first encounter on the Race with bathrooms that we have to pay for. It reminds me of Turkey, I giggle, and the girls on my team are a little shocked, but it’s only 1 lei (equivalent to 33 cents). Board train to T.M., get separated, I end up with Ruth and Wes in a compartment with a little old couple, and a closed window. After a few hours, they get off the train, and we sweat to death in our heat box. The three of us are the only ones in this car from our teams, and there’s not a single open window. At about hour five the train stops and almost everyone gets off, but not us!
Ruth runs to the other car, finds compartments with open windows, we thankfully move.
Open windows meant air, and pictures. Much better.
The next few hours were fun, but pretty uneventful. We saved team WALDO from certain death in a similar heat box where they were sleeping. I took a lot of pictures, and felt as though I had traveled back in time – there are beautiful villages, and the country is gorgeous. It’s 9:30 pm when we get off the train in Tirgu Mures and meet our contact. We’re exhausted.
It’s Sunday night, 2:30 pm Eastern time when we arrive. I have gotten only a total of seven hours of sleep since Thursday morning, 9:00 am Eastern time. What is that, 77 ish hours?
I’m convinced the Lord gave us superpower strength to stay awake to travel. I was in bed by midnight, zonked out completely, and was actually the first one of our two teams to wake up at 2:30 in the afternoon on Monday. Alive and well in Tirgu Mures. Thus ended our first travel day(s), and I personally am excited for more of them.
