After 65ish hours of traveling, VERY little sleep, airports, train stations and 3 stamps in my passport later we finally made it to Oradea, Romania about 2 AM this past Monday!
We first arrived in Romania in the city of Bucharest. After several hours of waiting for the bus we discovered the difficulty of being in a foreign country and not speaking the language. The Lord blessed us with a “random” woman from the airport who could speak broken English. So we hopped on a bus that we hoped would take us to the “train station” that would take us to the main train station where we would then take a 13 hr train ride to Oradea. Keep in mind that it is about 5 AM. I’ve decided that everything looks scarier in the dark, especially sketchy trains.
Proof that I'm really in Romania! Lots of packs on the train
We pull up and the headlights hit the group that went ahead, and I see them standing in the dirt beside the train tracks. I didn’t hear that this was only a stop to board this train and head to the REAL train station so I’m thinking that this is where we’ll be camped out until 1 PM. I am now officially out of my comfort zone and not feeling safe for the first time on this trip. Soon after arriving I discover that we will only be here a few minutes. Relief floods over me. The train pulls up, we try to step WAY up (at least for a short person like me it was) into the train with our 50 lb packs on our backs plus our regular backpacks on our front and anything else we may be carrying. Then we enter a NARROW, dark hallway. There’s no possibility of turning back with our packs on. A few of us get to step into one of the rooms off of the hallway. I ended up with one other World Racer and 3 sleeping Romanian men. I’m thinking, “Good thing my parents don’t know where I am right now…” and randomly saying “Oh, Jesus” in hushed tones (I didn’t want to awaken the sleeping Romanians). 20 minutes or so later we arrive at the real train station in Bucharest.
Hanging out in Bucharest, Romania
It’s about 6:30 AM so we dump all of our stuff in one spot. I need to renew my mind at this point so I read the Word for a bit. Just so ya know, that does wonders for your spiritual health. God’s got this. He’s my protector and provider. Always has been. We do some praying as a group and for the rest of the afternoon people sleep or go exploring. 1 PM finally came around and we boarded a MUCH nicer train and hung out in there for about 13 hrs. Fun times for sure. By this time it was now Sunday afternoon, and I haven’t had a full night’s sleep since Wednesday night. I had slept about 5 hrs or so in the midst of all of the travelling. Sleep finally came on that train ride!
Our contact picked us up at the station, and we arrived at our destination around 2:30 AM. It was craziness, but we finally made it! More to come soon. 🙂
"We give thanks to you, O God, we give thans, for Your Name is near; men tell of your wonderful deeds."
Psalm 75:1
