I Am Unwinding

Vila Veselova Hostel, Ljubljana, 6.57pm

Man, what a mental day! No, actually, just stressfully uncertain. And you all know how trying that is for me, Little Miss Prepared. Today was Salzburg to Ljubljana, Slovenia and I should've known something was up yesterday when I tried to reserve a ticket.

The girl in Salzburg printed out the times of when the trains went, but couldn't reserve me a ticket. She said not to worry, with my Eurail pass I could just get on without a reservation.

Turn up this morning for the 10.12 train which should go straight there. Decide that I would feel better if I had a reservation so have another crack at getting one. This time I pay E9.40 and get a ticket but still no actual seat and carriage number. Hmmf. Whatever.

The 10.12 train does not seem to be stopping in Ljubljana, in fact half the train might be headed for Serbia. That's all wrong! There's an announcement in German and then in English which says something about going to one end of the train or the other. No idea. Get on, ask a teenager and she is unsure whether it's the right one. How strange, a clueless 15 year old, they're universal. Jump off and ask some staff, am told it's the right one but I should be down the other end and at the next station I should move to the other end. Okaaaaay.

Ticket inspector comes round and he tells me that I just need to change in Villach, the train for Ljubljana will be on the other side of the same platform. Relax until I get to Villach. Train is where he said it would be! It's going to Ljubljana! I get on!

There are lots of announcements in German and/or Slovenian. Not in English. Who cares?! I am on the right train for the right city!

What is that expression about counting your chickens?

We stop in Lidernitznowhere and one man gets out of my carriage. Then the Norwegians get out. It's not my stop so I keep reading and listening to my iPod. Glance out the window. Everybody from my train is wheeling their suitcases across half a paddock and getting on a bus. WHAT?!

Call out to the last two girls getting off the train 'Excuse me, Ljubljana?' and point madly at the bus across the paddock. 'Yes.' RIGHT! Shove book and iPod into backpack and fling that over one shoulder, jacket and jumper in left hand, thump down the corridor with my thirty kilo suitcase in my right hand. Almost fall down the steep steep steep stairs and into the paddock. Hare madly across the paddock with my suitcase, but it's okay, I'm not last now and the ticket inspector did check the train to make sure no one was getting left behind.

So now I'm sitting on a bus still in Austria, I think, going I don't know where. All I can think is 'WHAT IS GOING ON? WHAT? WHAT?' Sit and panic silently for awhile. Then see that we are on a highway and following all the signs to Ljubljana. Okay, it's just a bus replacing the train, will just stay on it until I get to Ljubljana. I can handle this. Ooh and now we're in Slovenia. Okay.

Bus pulls in to the station in Jesenice, I don't get off because I'm not going to Jesenice. Except again everybody except me is getting off, perhaps I should too. So we all get back on a train. It's not a nice train. It's very Eastern European or vintage Spanish. Again I sit there for a very long time, hoping I'm not catching a disease from the 1970s and thinking 'WHAT? WHAT NOW? I DON'T UNDERSTAND! NOBODY ELSE SPEAKS ENGLISH! WHAT WAS I THINKING COMING TO THIS SCARY PLACE?!' And yes, I only thought in capital letters, it was that kind of day, hence I'm quite exhausted.

Train eventually starts to move. We stop in one place we're meant to and one place we're not meant to. By this stage the timing is all off, which means my safety back up plan which I normally use of knowing when to get off based on what time the train is supposed to arrive at my station, has gone out the window. I grip my iPod and give the Slovenian countryside desperate crazy eyes instead.

The train arrives in Ljubljana! I get off the train! It's okay! I'm here! Meanwhile, tell Communism I said hello, Ljubljana train station.

Now I just have to find my hostel. Directions. Exit station by main exit and go west.

Go WEST?! GO WEST?!?!

I'm not a compass. I didn't bring a compass. And I see no helpful signs saying 'For people wanting to go west, go this way'. The most helpful thing in my head is that Pet Shop Boys song 'Go weeeest, life is peaceful there. Go weeeest, da dee da dee dumm....'

The sun! I can navigate by the sun! Good lord, my intelligence knows no bounds. Locate the sun through the hazy cloud cover and realize that 3pm in Europe on daylight savings time is not a great time to start navigating by Old Man Tracker methods. Well anyway, if I were the sun, I'd be going....that way, I think.

I go that way. Find the right street. Dance madly in celebration in my head, continue dragging my suitcase and sweating profusely in reality.

The rest of the hostel directions are all in metres. 'Go 800 metres and turn right down Persenova'. Must have left my pedometer/measuring tape/wheelie measuring thing in my other pants. Bugger. So I keep going and going and going. 800 metres feels an awful lot like 3kms with a suitcase and too many layers on.

Found the hostel! It's quite nice! Brekky is included! Laundry is cheap! Internet is free! They have a TV with shows in English with Slovenian subtitles! The supermarket is nearby and huge and EXCITING!

Am absolutely exhausted by all the uncertainty, can't wait to go out tomorrow and explore and try to buy lunch. Am having SUCH fun!