Always try everything once

Before I begin my story, you need to know something about me:

I HATE public transport. The thought of being stuck on a crowded bus or train carriage in the sweltering heat or shivering cold gives me the heebie-jeebies. So when I was faced with several eight hour train journeys across Romania, let's just say I was not enthused. I had heard all of the horror stories about thieves or beggars targeting inexperienced travelers, and had even experienced a scary overnight train journey in Vietnam where soldiers had stopped the train in the middle of nowhere to arrest somebody.

Little did I know that trains are actually a wonderful place to get to know people, whether it's a friend sitting next to you or the stranger across the aisle.

One of my most memorable train experiences was on the journey back to Bucharest after spending six weeks volunteering in a kindergarten in the north of Romania. My only companion was the Chinese girl who had been volunteering with me, and we sat in silent tears at having to leave our new friends and our children and go home. About half an hour into the journey, and old\ gypsy woman leaned across the aisle and started chattering excitedly away to me in Romanian.

Now, I should note that this had happened to me many times in the past weeks, as I have European features and I was clearly traveling with an Asian girl. I was quite often mistaken for her Romanian translator.

After realizing that neither of us could understand her, she switched to more simple sentences so that we could reply to her questions. We managed to communicate with gestures and a simple yes or no format of questions, telling her who we were and why we were visiting Romania. After a while, the old lady pulled out her phone and called a friend who then started translating for us, not wanting our differences in language to be a barrier for us.

We talked for the entire eight hour journey, and at the end of it I helped her out of the train carriage and she kissed me and called me her daughter before we went our separate ways.

I didn't know that old lady, and I didn't even learn her name. I will probably never see her again. But on that train we shared a bond, one that I will never forget.

So yes, I hated public transport. But sometimes you can find that the best things can happen when you least expect them to. You can get to know a complete stranger on a train in a foreign country, never see them again, and have a great memory despite all that appears a barrier.