We left the campgrounds in Dublin shortly after 11 and got on our flight to Budapest with an hour delay due to mechanical problems with the aircraft. That insured that the rest of our trip would be chaotic.
We got off the plane and hurried through customs to get our bags. We organized transportation to the Tran station and were about 5 minutes from leaving when we realized that Colby and Jessica were still behind customs waiting for Colby’s guitar to come off the plane. They came running through customs just as the shuttles arrived to take us to the train station.
At the train station we sent the leaders ahead to get tickets while the rest of us took care of the bags. Tommy and Josh came back and told us to get on the train as they began to run out of the station to get Hungarian currency. So our two teams set off and left the the other two behind as we had no idea what train they would be on.
After a long walk down the platform, we got on the train and got situated. A few minutes later the other two teams joined us, but don’t have their leaders. They found out that we were all supposed to be on the same train, but they were still missing Megan and Phil. We left a small contingent to find them and then meet us in Romania.
A minute before the train was scheduled to leave, I see all of them running towards us with all their bags. I ran out to help them with the baggage and got them loaded on the train with about 30 seconds to spare.
The train was pretty nice, and the snack bar took euros, so we were able to get some snacks for dinner. After wedging myself between the seats so I could sleep on the ground, I was awoken by a customs agent as we crossed the border to Romania. Luckily, he was quite nice and just took my passport to stamp and let me stay on the floor the whole time.
The next time I was awoken, it was by Josh, who was telling people that it was the stop for the two teams staying in Romania. I got up and began to get my stuff together just at the train started rolling away. Everyone from my team was still on the train, but as we started moving people started yelling that Josh was on the platform waiting for us. We tried to stop the train but had no luck. He was left alone in a Romanian train station at 4 in the morning needing to catch another train to get to where our contact was meeting us. We were stuck on the train heading in the wrong direction and the next stop was two hours away.
When we arrived in the next town, we called our contact and found out that Josh had made it safely to Timisoara and was with him. We were able to get McDonald’s and catch a train an hour later to Timisoara, where our contact was waiting for us with Josh.
We meet Dwight and he took us to his house where we meet his wife and three kids. They fed us spaghetti and took us on a tour of the town. It is amazingly beautiful, and we were able to get a great appreciation for not only the history of the town, but also the history of Romania.
We then got some great pizza and ice cream at the largest mall in central Europe and got a good nights sleep. What a great end to a chaotic day!
Today my team is taking a day to rest and hopefully beat some lingering sniffles we have before we head to where we will be doing ministry in the south of Romania.
