Day 1

I got up early the day I was going to Slovakia, as I didn’t want any repeats of any of the misunderstandings in the train station the day before when I had been attempting to buy my ticket. As I had been up so late with such a tiring day the day before, I actually overslept for 1/2 an hour, but woke up again with enough time to wash my face, grab my things and run for the bus (about 10 minutes!). Bus number 12 just didn’t turn up and after waiting for about 20 minutes, I got a cab which took me the short distance to the train station. Had I been in Eger for longer I would have figured out where it was and probably walked there the day I was going to Slovakia.

I got the train from Eger to Kosice without problems. Again, there was no sign in Kosice to indicate where it was and other travellers were having problems identifying the station. It turned out to be Kosice, I got off and went and bought a train ticket to Spisska Nova Ves, where the plan was to change to a bus for Podlesok. According to the guide book this had ‘the most diverse range of accommodation options’, so sounded good. When I got to Spisska Nova Ves, I asked in the ticket office where the bus stop was. I left the station and walked in the direction that the train station worker had told me. When I got there there were 2 women sitting in the bus station and the information counter was boarded up. I asked one of them for Podlesok and we both looked at the information board and couldn’t find it. I asked the second woman, who only after asking her, I realised that she was breastfeeding and she didn’t know where it was either. The first woman went and knocked on the door of the information counter and another woman came out, who couldn’t find Podlesok either but could find Cingov and walked me to the correct bus stop.

Whilst I was waiting for the bus to turn up I went and got some Euros, but 25 minutes later the bus had still not arrived! I went and found the same woman in the information booth, who didn’t speak any English, but walked me back over the the bus stop, told me to wait and went and found a bus driver. He suggested that I should get on the next bus that had turned up on another platform and the bus driver dropped me off about 10-15 minutes down the road and told me to walk in the direction of Cingov. I did this, in the mid-day heat, walking through the Slovak countryside with only the road signs to go on. I assumed Cingov would be a town, so headed for the nearest town, which was actually Spisske Tomasovce. I realised this before making the turning and reached Cingov, which was actually just a collection of hotels and pensions. I spoke to the bloke charging the entry fee for cars and he suggested trying one of the hotels on the top of the hill, which was called the Grand Hotel or something. I decided that I didn’t fancy the sound of that so walked to Spisske Tomasovce, which was about 25 minutes away. I quickly realised that there was nothing in Spisske Tomasovce, so walked all the way back and discovered the meaning of pension, which is actually a hotel-like chalet that seems to be used in the skiing season (in Cingov). I didn’t realise this before and walked about 50 metres up the road and found a perfect place to stay. The food was cheap, they washed my clothes and breakfast was included in the price.

I spent that next 2 days exploring Slovensky Raj, which was amazing.

Day 4

After 2 days of exploring Slovensky Raj, I got the train to Braislava. I decided to get a taxi there this time and was dropped off with plenty of time for the train. I sat people-watching for a while and the train turned up on time. The platform was pretty crowded and there was only 1 platform with 4 tracks, so which ever train turned up you scrambled across the tracks to reach it.

Once I had arrived in Bratislava, I noticed the difference between Bratislava and Budapest immediately; there was a socialist mural in the train station and the whole area seemed like a hive of activity, so there were people there. Bratislava has much more evidence of its Communist past and this is reflected in the architecture, road layout, transport systems and monuments. This I like and so was instantly excited by Bratislava. I found the hostel and went exploring.

Day 4 was spent:

• looking around the Old Town
• looking for somewhere to eat
• going on a bit of a night out, ending up in the best club in Slovakia for House and Techno

Day 5

This was spent:

• looking for a SIM card
• looking at socialist architecture
• looking around the indoor market, which after the corporate soullessness of the shopping centres I had had to go to to find a SIM card, was incredibly refreshing
• eating in a cafe that didn’t have any seats in a butcher’s shop
• going up the UFO tower (this is part of the Novy Most bridge)

Day 6

This was spent:

• going to the Natural History Museum
• climbing up to the castle
• eating pancakes from a pancake shop across the road from the hostel
• finding an outdoor market, across the road from the hotel, with real people in it
• finding a restaurant that had been recommended to me (that wasn’t that great)
• going up to the Slavin monument (a monument to Russian soldiers who died liberating Slovak cities during World War II)

Day 7

I decided to check the station that my train was leaving from before I went to bed, as I had realised that the entire train ticket was in German and that it was proably a good idea reading the confirmation email before setting off. I was glad I did this, as even though the ticket said Bratislava > Munchen on it, it was actually leaving from Bratislava Petrzalka and not the main Bratislava station that I had arrived at. The next morning I got up early, went and bought some pastries and got the bus that the hostel bloke had recommended the night before. I got to Bratislava Petrzalka, which was an un-marked set of stair at street level and walked along the underpass to the completely non-descript and almost empty main station area. I asked a woman in the ticket office which platform I should go to and it was platform 1, even though it was marked as Track 10.

I boarded the train, which had almost no-one on it and proceeded to Munich. What I didn’t realise at this point was that even though my ticket said Bratislava > Muchen on it, what it meant was Bratislava Petrzalka > Vienna Hauptbahnhof (spelt Wein on the ticket) > Vienna Westbahnhof > Salzburg > Munich. Having passed Wein Hauptbahnhof, I didn’t realise the Wein meant Vienna and didn’t realise that I had to change trains to get to Munich. The train stopped at one of the stations, waited for a few minutes and then went out of the station the same way it had come in. After about 45 minutes of sitting on this train, I decided to ask the conductor if it was the right train, as it seemed to be stopping at a lot of local stations and it was meant to be an ICE train. He said in German that it was not and somebody helpfully tanslated into English that I was going in completely the wrong direction and that the train was actually headed for Budapest. As the train had stopped, they both pointed at another train sitting on the platform which was going in the opposite direction. The door were already open so I ran back and grabbed my bag and managed to get on to the next train before it set off. Whilst on this train, which seemed to be going though a lot of countryside that I didn’t recognise, we got kicked off and had to change trains again at another station. Once in Vienna Hauptbahnhof, I went in search of someone who could tell me where I needed to go next.

The station was huge and I managed to find 1 person who seemed to be the only person on duty that could offer any assistance. I deduced from him that I needed to go to Vienna Westbahnhof, which was a tram ride away. The tram stops had a very confusing layout as there were 2 sets of tracks, both with stops in Vienna Westbahnhof but going to different places and I had to ask a bystander how I got to Vienna Westbahnhof. The track I needed was underground and not clearly marked, so I had to go down a set of stairs, an escalator, ask someone where the tram stop was, buy a ticket and go up another flight of stairs. Once on the platform, the tram turned up and it was an uncomfortable journey to Vienna Westbahnhof. Once there, the station itself was not clearly marked, although it was fairly obvious once the tram had moved, but only from the view of it and not the signage. I made it to Vienna Westbahnhof and went in search of someone who could tell me what trains I needed to take to get to Munich. I found out from a rude and unhelpful woman that I needed to go to Salzburg and got on the next train there. This arrived in Salzburg, I changed for Munich and arrived there an hour or so later.

Once in Munich I got the Metro to where I was staying; a hostel in the suburbs. I’d looked at Airbnb again, but as the hostel was half the price, I decided to stay there. I lay down on my bed and could hear cheering, from what I presumed was the World Cup and at that point Dan, an American that I’d seen in the lobby came in and we went and got traditional Bavarian food, lager in Steins and watched Brazil verses The Netherlands.

Day 8

I got up the next day, got the free breakfast in the hostel and got on the Metro to get to Munich Hauptbahnhof in time for the train to Frankfurt. I was waiting on the platform for about 30 minutes, as I had got there in plenty of time and with 5 minutes to go, the train that I was meant to be taken had not turned up. I went and asked someone where it was and they said it had been cancelled, despite it showing on the main station board and on the board on the platform as being on time. He found another train I could get which left from platform 14 in 1 minute, so I ran back to where I was sitting, grabbed my bag and ran for the train. I managed to get through the open door before it closed and quickly realised that he’d given me the wrong platform, as the train I was on did not go to Frankfurt. The train conductor reliably re-inforced this fact and I got off at the next station, which was Munchen-Pasing. Here I went to the Deutsche Bahn office and got a ticket to Cologne, as this was the only way I could get to Brussels in time to get the Eurostar train back to London. I took a complaints form, which was only available in German, just in case I needed to get a ticket refund.

Once in Cologne I changed trains, had enough time to walk around a bit (only the area around the station) and got something to eat. I then got on the next train to Brussels, which seemed very French (romantic, decadent interior). I arrived in Brussels with 20 minutes to get between platforms, check in, go through security and get on the Eurostar to London. Once in London I got the Tube and a National Rail train back home. I didn’t need the complaints form, as both the conductors on the Munich > Cologne and Cologne > Brussels trains let me go without paying for another ticket.

Summary

• Europe = bread
• Hungary = cheap accommodation, cheap transport, expensive food
• Slovakia = expensive accommodation, expensive transport, cheap food
• Slovak seems even more impenetrable than Hungarian!
• Fewer people that speak English than I was expecting; some people speak English, but there were more people that spoke no English whatsoever than I was anticipating. It really was difficult communicating sometimes, as the other person spoke no English and did not seem interested in trying to communicate in a foreign language
• Next time I will get s sleeper train from Brussels or Frankfurt to Budapest. The only interesting thing to look at out of the window is past Salzberg.

Cost

I took no money with me and got Euros out in Frankfurt, Forint in Budapest and more Euros out again in Spisska Nova Ves. I had to use my debit card in Budapest until I got my Currency Card working. The total cost is as follows:

• London > Munich train tickets: £127.50
• Munich > London train tickets: £127.50
• Munich > Budapest train tickets (plus conversion fee): £53.15
• Bratislava > Munich train tickets (plus conversion fee): £47.70
• Travel insurance: £22.38
• Emergency money (plus fees): £138.26
• Caxton FX card top-ups: £595.70
• TOTAL = £1112.19.