Post 17
May 20, 2014
I had only planned to pass through Bratislava for the night from Budapest to Vienna so I was due to check out at 10am this morning. I woke up at 10:15 and jumped out of bed in a hurry. This American guy named Chad was also in my room and was heading to Vienna as well. We had also figured out that we were staying at the same hostel in Vienna and agreed to travel together. We headed out to find the bus station. I then remembered I wanted to buy some post cards and stop by a church to pray. Chad decided to go ahead to Vienna without me. I said my goodbyes and realized how much I preferred to just travel alone. I could do what I wanted on my own time and not worry about accommodating to anyone. It may seem a bit selfish but it's so liberating! This trip is solely for me and I didn't want anyone steering me off track of what I wanted to do.
I wandered around Bratislava and grabbed some breakfast in their Old Town Square. It was such a gorgeous day in Bratislava! Do you know the film Hostel takes place in this city? Crazy because it's so unlike what they make it out to be. Some people can be so closed minded and lose out on amazing things life has to offer. It's important to give yourself the chance to explore whatever your heart desires. If it doesn't work, turn around and go the other way. It was like my life as a backpacker, I get lost and end up in the wrong place but I just keel going.
After I had my lunch I headed to find a unique blue church in the city that I had researched and read about. I was able to find it with a local's help but unfortunately it was closed. I walked up the steps to the front door anyways, put my things down, kneeled and prayed.
It was then time for me to continue my journey. Bratislava was pretty small so I walked back to the same train station I arrived in and bought a ticket to the next train to Vienna. On the train I met an American guy who was currently living in Bratislava teaching. He was from Seattle and said he heard about the job when he graduated and decided to move. I really commend people who can move to other countries. I love to travel, just love it but I'm not sure if I'd want to actually live in another country. My home has my heart for sure but I wouldn't entirely rule it out.
Once I arrived in Vienna I found my hostel pretty quickly and checked in. I didn't feel like wandering anywhere so I walked to the grocery store next to my hostel. The grocery store was actually an Aldi! I LOVE Aldi! It was in a completely different language but the logo was the same which is why I knew it was Aldi. I picked up some pasta and sausage to make for dinner and headed back to the hostel to cook. I had decided to spend the evening in my hostel and just relax.
While hanging out in my room one of my roommates entered. I introduced myself and realized that she was also from the States. Her name was Nicki and she was from California. She said she had just gotten to Vienna earlier that day. She also mentioned that her and another one of her friends were wandering the city all day. She said that she was traveling on and off with this friend of hers. After she kept talking about her friend I realized that I knew the girl she was talking about!
Ok, so try to follow along because this can get a bit confusing. I went onto a forum earlier this year searching for other travel partners and found this Thorn Tree Forum online that pretty much helped me to find all the people I was scheduled to meet up with during my trip. I talked with 5 girls, 3 from the States and 2 from outside of the States. I was supposed to meet up with them and we were going to travel together but it didn't work out schedule wise. I remained Facebook friends with the ones I had found online. One of them is named Nicole and I followed her trip on Facebook as she posted each picture in different parts of Europe. When I arrived in Vienna she also posted a picture that she was in Vienna so I commented that I'd love to meet up. When Nicki said Nicole and also said that she was traveling on and off it kind of all clicked. I asked Nicki if Nicole's last name was Park and it was all history from there! It was really cool how that worked out so I made plans to travel with Nicki and Nicole the next day and discover Vienna. I spent the rest of my night in my hostel to get some rest for the next day in Vienna, Austria.