Ok, ok… So maybe we weren’t completely held at gun point, but in my book, it’s close enough! Let me tell you about our exciting travel day from Sofia, Bulgaria to Subotica, Serbia. One that I wouldn’t care to experience again.
After spending a couple days in Sofia, Bulgaria and having a 4 day break, it was time to move onto month 8 of our World Race journey in Serbia. Let me point out that this is NOT the same as SIBERIA. Praise the Lord. It was cold enough spending one month with snow in Romania, I can’t begin to imagine going to Siberia! So, anyways… Yes, month 8, Serbia.
We left our hostel at 7pm, and immediately we were off to a rough start. When our 2 cabs arrived, half of our group loaded up and heading out in the first one, while the other half of us attempted to get into the second one. Here we are, 4 of us, ALL of our luggage, and the trunk won’t open. LOL. So we wait, hoping and praying that our cab will arrive before our train departs at 8:15pm on the other side of Sofia!
Eventually it arrives and we’re off! We get to the train station, unload all our packs and begin to search for our platform. We’re not sure where the platform is (cause we don’t read/ speak the language) so these two men who work at the station lead us to our platform and help us find our seats. Ok. Well, we head to our cabins (4 in 1 cabin, 3 in the other) and soon find that there are people in our seats. Normally this isn’t a big deal, except for the fact that all the other seats are taken. So for the next 15 minutes or so, the two men who helped us find our platform, have a “throw down” with the folks who are in our seats. After 10 minutes of refusing to move to another cabin, the station worker rips the luggage, of the folks in our seats, down from the storage area and beings to sling it out into the hallway. All the while they are still screaming and hollering very loudly at each other.
Side note… I HATE CONFRONTATION.
So by about 5 minutes into this dispute, my nerves are shot. I’m ready to just find another way to Serbia, haha… Eventually though, the folks move and we are able to take our seats. Then we find out that the “station workers” were only doing this so that they could get money out of us… Because people constantly think; Americans (or when it comes to our team specifically), Brits, & Canadians = Money! Maybe so, normally, but when you’re a WR’er you usually tend to stay broke.
Our train ends up being delayed 30 minutes, so we finally pull out around 8:45pm. Francis, Amanda, Ann & some other random people are in one cabin… Jenn, Raquel, Michelle, myself, and an older eruopean brother and sister who are traveling together, are in the next cabin over. We were having a great time in ours! The brother and sister were able to speak enough english to where we could have some small conversations, we shared snacks with each other, and exchanged pictures. It was great and finally seemed like we were on our way, problems behind us! For a little while…
Not long after we pulled away from the station, there were 2 young men who were walking back and forth through the hallway in the train. After passing by several times, they opened our door and attempted to make us move seats. Drackon and the young men exchanged a few words, and they finally gave up and left. After shutting the door, Drackon turns to me and says, “In Serbia, some very bad people. Some no safe people,” and I understood enough of his broken english to get the point. Drackon told Michelle to tell the rest of our team in the other car, to always have one person awake. It wasn’t safe for everyone to sleep, so she told the others and came back.
At around 11 pm, Drackon decided that he was going to stand guard for both our cabins, so we could all rest. We didn’t object, and next thing I know, we’re all out.
I’m not sure exactly what time it was, but it registers to me that there are people “exchanging words” again inside our cabin. I open my eyes and realize that there is a 6.5 foot man standing over top of me, staring at me, telling me to move. I’m sitting between Raquel and Drackon, and quickly both of them rise to their feet. All this is happening so fast, it takes me a second to realize it’s the same young men from earlier. Before I can get to my feet, the man reaches across me, rips Raquel’s seat up and starts to dig for something. Eventually he removes some of the flooring/ garbage from under the seat, and then his other friend starts to dig under Drackon’s seat also. So, here I am stuck between the two men, unable to move because the one is reaching across me. Next thing we know, the taller man slides something under my seat to the small guy, and as he pulls it out from under the seat, I make eye contact with Jenn, just in time to see her eyes get big…
Out of the corner of my eye, the men pull a shot gun from under the seat. My heart stops, and all I can do at this point is pray.
It was the scariest and most helpless feeling in the world. I don’t know if you’ve ever been scared enough that you thought you were gonna throw up…? Well, that’s exactly what I was feeling. Fighting back the urge to protect the others, we all just set there in silence.
The men have smuggled weapons from Bulgaria to Serbia, hidden them throughout the train, and I just happen to be the lucky one sitting over one of them… So now, standing in the hallway, he begins to unwrap the gun, and all I could do was continue to pray. Next, they head into the cabin where Francis, Amanda, and Ann are sitting and retrieve a package as well. Not sure what the men are planning to do, we are all sitting ducks at this point. Talk about scary stuff! I guess though they finally retrieved their packages and they take off to another train cart.
The first words out of my mouth are, “Welp, I reckon I just got my next blog entry…” HAHAHA…
Needless to say, we didn’t sleep much the remainder of the night… I’m so thankful to Drackon though, because after this, he literally stood watch for us the rest of the train ride. So there you have it… Our exciting, but not so exciting travel day to Serbia… Welcome to the World Race, friends… You never know what the day might hold 🙂
Thank you so much for y’alls continued prayers and support over us while we take this journey! I’m thankful for folks who go to battle for us in prayer 24/7… I’m forever grateful!
I’ll let you know about our month 8 ministry soon… For now, it’s time to get some rest!
Love y’all!
