No Asterisk

At about 4am, I woke up from my two-hour slumber. All the passengers were told to leave the bus and board the train on platform 2. I wasn't sure where I was. I entered the station and looked for platform 2. On the information screen there, it read "Alpine Pearls", "4:30" and "Beograd". To Belgrade with an S-Bahn type of fleet?

I boarded the train and grabbed a seat. So did other passengers. As the train departed, I began to nod off and returned to dreamland. About 30 to 40 minutes into the journey, I needed to use the toilet and I just realised that the only toilet was on the second car from the front and we were all either seated on the last or the second last car.

90 minutes into the journey, we arrived at Villach. The train that we first took from Zurich had got there earlier waiting at the adjacent platform. It had been slightly modified. The ÖBB cars were no longer attached and on the remaining carriages, the electric sockets that were previously removed had been fitted.

The sun had already risen and at around 7.05am the train stopped at Jesenice. We had left the Austrian border. Ah, the joy of Schengen - you don't even realise that you've entered another country.

A conductor came to check our tickets. This was the third checking for me - first by SBB, second by ÖBB and finally by SŽ. I also learnt that you could buy your ticket for local journeys from SŽ conductors. Outside, the crystal-clear water of Sava River were as if inviting me to take a dip. Oh well, I hadn't taken a shower in 20 hours.

It was 8.15am. The train stopped yet again. But this time I had reached my destination. I alighted. The train would continue its journey towards Zagreb and eventually Belgrade

At the station where I alighted, I noticed that vending machines were selling Cockta, a local soft drink brand, instead of Coke.

I smiled and greeted myself with "Dobrodošli v Ljubljani". In Slovene, 'ljubljeni' (not 'Ljubljani') means to be loved. May be someone would love me or maybe I would get a better deal.