So, this is where the story gets interesting.
Our group decided to split, with Kayla and Jeremy staying to see Britt off to the airport and Lucas, Christy, Aubrie and myself starting the trip back home to make it in time for church. At this point, my cough is starting to wear on me, and I’m pretty much just following whoever is leading. At the tram stop, we bid goodbye to Britt, with a fair well hug and final words. The butch that she gave to Lucas was a very special moment indeed. Our group climbed on the tram, heading down our yellow brick road in fine fashion, with a plan figured out…. though I’m pretty sure we ripped off the public transportation system since we never figured out how to pay for taking the tram. Oops.
We got off at the Holosovich stop at about 2:30-ish in the AM, planning on catching a bus at 3:33 AM to get us back at around 8 AM, changing buses at some point along the way. However, as the crowd dispersed from the tram stop into the night, we discovered we had no idea where the bus station was. While Lucas and Christy studied a map, we realized we weren’t the only one who wasn’t quite where they were going. This is where we met Kristen, a lone backpacker who was traveling Europe by herself for 2 months. After an evening of clubbing, she had been pointed by some non-English speaking locals to get on the tram and to get off where we were, however she wasn’t sure where her hostel was from there. Heroic Lucas jumped to the rescue, and we determined to get her safely to where she needed to be. We wandered up and down several empty streets, analyzing maps, struggling to understand signs in Czech and in general laughing at our predicament. We finally figured out where she needed to be, which was only a few blocks away from our current location, and sent her on her way. At that point we had all decided we were never going to backpack in Europe alone.
Once we had ensured Kristen’s safe travel, we again turned to our own travel home. In the process of finding out the location of Kristen’s hostel, we had found our bus station…. or so we thought. After seeing Kristen off, we headed back to where we thought our bus was going to come at 3:33, only to find out WE WERE AT THE WRONG BUS STATION. Looking at the schedule, we realized the only buses leaving from that station were not until 7 or 8 in the morning. Lucas and Christy spring into action, and we head to a nearby gas station, praying that somebody has directions and a bathroom. It was closed. The taxi driver nearby tells us that the bus station we were looking for was 2 subway stops down. Problem: the subway closed at at midnight, opens at 5 AM, and we don’t have money to pay for a taxi. I follow the rest of my team reluctantly, shivering and praying that we somehow get to the bus station on time.
This is where we meet crazy drunk girls #1, #2 and #3. As we walk to the tram stop again to see if we can take the tram to our correct bus station, we hear girls screaming at each other on the dark empty street. Drawing closer, we hear English words, and not nice ones either. Basically, drunk girl #1 was yelling at #2, and #2 was yelling back, each of them swearing that they knew how to get to the final destination, and the other one needed to stop being an idiot and listen to them. Girl #3 was just standing their shivering, waiting for her companions to make up their minds. Studying abroad programs are a bunch of crap, I’m just saying. So while we are trying to figure out how to get to where we are supposed to be, in the background are the screaming, cussing girls. The uh-oh moment came when crazy drunk girl #2 came to where we were standing to try and figure out where SHE was supposed to go. She then tried to tell US where we were supposed to go as well, all the while crazy drunk girl #1 is screaming at our whole group from a block down the street. When the Czech police showed up, we promptly removed ourselves from the scene to avoid association with the drunk Americans.
When we had gathered together the information we had collected, we came to the conclusion that even if we found the right tram to get us to our bus station, we were still gonna miss our bus. “If the bus even runs on Sundays,” Lucas joked. Us girls vehemently told him that was NOT funny. The resulting decision was to wait at our current but station for the next bus at 7:50 AM to get home. We called our team leader Kayla, (remember, she is with Jeremy getting ready to drop off Britt at the airport) and let her know the situation and that we would not be back in time for church. We then arranged for the two of them to meet us to catch the same bus.
It was at this point that I realized that the four of us would be staying in that empty bus station for the next five hours, and I wanted to cry. So I leaned on Lucas’ shoulder and let a few tears fall, while the other two girls tried to find a bathroom. Of course the bathrooms are closed so they had to make do with a bush….. however, creepy random bus station dude tried to WATCH, so they sneaked out to the dark parking lot and peed behind a cement pillar. The comedic value of the situation brought some laughter to the situation and we tried to make the best of it. Lucas found some cardboard for us to sit on and taught us how to play Rummy. We looked completely homeless, down to Lucas’ stocking cap beanie and scruffy beard. We tried to kill the time and stay warm, but right around 5 AM I almost had a breakdown. I was cold, coughing, exhausted, and they were kicking my BUTT at Rummy! I was pissed off and refused to play the game any more. Yes, I know that is called being a poor sport. Yes, I know I should have kept playing. But it probably would have ended with me chucking the cards at Lucas….. Oh wait, I did do that. Well, it would have ended much worse.
We were freezing our butts off when 6 AM rolled around and McDonald’s finally opened. Yes, the homeless World Racers took shelter in a McDonald’s…. and it was marvelous! We got food and used the bathroom and proceeded to fall asleep on the benches. Could we be more typical? I think not. And apparently while I was asleep on the benches of the golden arches, Lucas also made some French woman’s day by giving her a cigar. Not sure about that, but if it blessed her, right on man. Aubrie woke me up at around 7:30, when we walked to the bus station in order to catch our bus.
Things continue to get more interesting, don’t miss Part 3 of “A night in Prague.”
