Nothing
brings dread, stress, and anxiety into a World Racer’s life quite
like a travel day. Our travel day to Pula, a coast town in
northwestern Croatia, was a fourteen-plus-hour adventure that went a
little something like this:
-
We
left the youth center in Osijek at 10:45 pm to catch the 12:05 am
train to Zagreb. -
Due
to a lengthy team debrief, no one on Petra got any sleep until after
4:30 am. -
The
train arrived in Zagreb at 5:05 am. Even the spirits of our early
risers were squelched. -
Once
we arrived in Zagreb, about half of us needed to find a restroom.
Restrooms cost 4 kune. Emptying my bladder was suddenly much less
of a priority. -
There
was a moment of panic as we realized we were missing Lauren’s ticket
from the set that was produced on the first train. Tim asked me to
search Lauren’s backpack. No luck. -
Lauren
came back from a bathroom search. Tim asked her to check her bag.
She found the missing ticket within about ten seconds of starting
her search. -
After
some debate about where our train was exactly, we piled on and
staked out four compartments. -
Three
minutes before we were scheduled to depart, the conductor came by
and said we were on the wrong train. Cue eleven frazzled,
sleep-deprived twentysomethings frantically collecting packs and
daypacks to bring on the real train to Rejika. -
Incidentally,
the Croatians on the train looked at all of us like we were off our
rockers. The more I think about the concept of the World Race, I
realize increasingly that we are, in fact, off our rockers. I need
to get used to those looks. -
About
halfway to Rijeka, the same conductor tells us that we need to get
off the train. He then ushers us onto a bus. Apparently something
went wrong with the train schedule (or something), and so the train
was going straight on to Split (in southwestern Croatia) and not
stopping in Rijeka at all. -
The
Croatian countryside that we did see while we were awake is
absolutely gorgeous. -
I
probably would have found it more gorgeous if not for the pouring
rain that hit us all day long, or the hailstorm. Yes. Hailstorm. -
Once
in Rijeka, we got off our bus and immediately onto another waiting
bus. This bus took us to some small train station, where we caught
our final train to Pula. -
Once
in Pula, we hung out at the train station for a couple hours before
climbing in a van (in two shifts) and driving out to the church. -
Jennifer
and I proceeded to sit in the van for three hours while the team
leaders met with the local pastor. -
As
soon as David (one of our contacts from Osijek) decided it was a
good time to find the church bathroom, our girls came back out of
the church. Of course.
Moral
of this story: I have never been so excited for sleep in my life.
And yet I’m writing this first before I forget anything. Oh, travel
days.
