I am becoming increasingly annoyed with rail travel in Eastern Europe. The people are friendly, the food and beer are good (and cheap!), and the landscapes are beautiful, but the trains just suck. As I'm writing this I'm sitting in the stairwell of a train to Budapest. I'm sitting here because this, just like my train to Ostrava yesterday, is packed to the gills. It also showed up 10 minutes late to the station.
On top of that, since it's a Czech-operated train, there are never any announcements for what stop you're at or when it's coming up. Navigating the stations can also be a paint. If you manage to find a schedule, the platform numbers are never listed. Instead, you've got to run inside, find the right sign, and then run to your platform. Needless to say, there is a not insignificant amount of luck involved in getting anywhere, especially on time.
On the positive side though is the cost. From Ostrava to Szob, a town on the Hungary-Slovakia border, I paid a mere 847 Kč, or about 34€.
It seems I was wrong about the announcements on this one, as they said something just before we stopped in Bratislava. I should be taking pictures here, but I'm lazy and don't feel like digging for my camera, even more so now that I've got a seat.
I should come back later and take pictures of the nicer parts of town anyway. The movie "Eurotrip" must've been great for the tourism industry here.
We seem to be making pretty good time, at least. I can't wait to hit Budapest and get some supper and book my night train to Bucureşti. Goulaš actually sounds pretty tasty. Goulaš and Hungarian beer. Hmm. Perhaps even some internet. After all, I should contact the Slovenians to see if they want to hang out some. Eh, we'll see.
