Yesterday I got up early-very early-at 4:30 am much to the dismay of my other room mate at the Retro Hostel in Chisinau. (yes only 2 of us we're in the 6 bed dorm, as matter of fact the entire hostel (in addition to one staff member)). I wanted to reach the train station to catch the 7:34 train to Odessa. (I had no idea how long the walk would take so I left early).
So after dressing and showering, I left the hostel at 5:05 or so, and walked through the cold, drizzly, poorly-lit streets (in many American cities the type where bad people might come out).
After about an hour's walk using the map given to me by the hostel, I found the station pretty easily. I bought a ticket-and a fellow tourist, whom I found out was from Italy, asked me where I came from. I was a smart a__ and answered the hostel. I then said the US.
The problem, and irony, of travelling alone is it really easy, indeed sometimes too easy, to meet fellow travelers, and I just didn't feel like small-talk at 6:30 am.
After an hour, when I got some bread at a nearby 24 hour store, I got on the train for the 5 hour ride. The car was an old classic rail car, with wood and even a bar at tend. And the 5 hours was for a length of 150 kilometers (which would be roughly 1 1/2 hours without stops). The twisty train made several "customs" stops, through Transnistria I believe, and then a long stop at the Ukraine border. People in army fatigues got on the train, complete with sniffing dogs and rifles. They checked and stamped the passports. It was actually pretty uneventful, past fall foliage, sheep, cows, towns with old communist structures,etc.
On the train, a guy behind me starting talking to me, a 20 something guy who lived in Connecticut, NY, Florida, and many other states, which annoyed me at first but I started to like the guy-as he had traveled through Europe as well, and had interesting stores to tell. He also mentioned how everything worked out (how when he didn't think he had enough money for a train ticket he was able to get somewhere by ride-sharing service), which I could relate to.
It turns out we we're both going to the same hostel-the Babushka Grand Hostel. We had some problems finding it, even though it was only a few blocks from the station, but we eventually came to it. The Babushka grand hostel looks like it sounds-Grandma's apartment, with comfy armchairs, a love seat, grandfather clock-it is quite nice. After checking in, the guy showed me his videos of his trip, mainly of partying and women sit to dance music. He did a good job I thought.
Afterwards, I took a nap, and walked around the city-which is beautiful with Russian-type architecture. I walked to the port, which was freezing, and then a downtown shopping-and-dining area. After awhile I walked back to the hostel and went to bed.
