Traveling...oh the joys!

This is a story about traveling home from Vacation…This is what I needed a vacation from:

I left my hotel in Paris, France on January 1 at about 615 a.m. I arrive just in time to catch the airport shuttle bus that picks up in downtown Paris (a 20 min trip turned in to 45 because of the New Years). I make it to the airport, to be told I was dropped off in the wrong terminal and would need to walk underground to the correct one. All in all this was easy. At the correct terminal, I found the check in spot and waited in 3 lines finally finding the correct line. Really any would have worked, but because I had pre-checked in, I needed to be in a special line. So I get my bags checked, board the plane, have an exit row to myself, and have a great flight.

We land in Warsaw on time; I find the city bus to the train station where buses going to Olsztyn should be waiting. But wait...where are the buses? They are nowhere to be found due to the holiday. I call a coworker to find out about a train and my minutes on my cell phone run out…she calls back. I get lucky and find the English speaker at the ticket counter, buy a ticket, and head to find food. After and very long lunch in the open mall food court, I head back to the train station where I find the platform for the Olsztyn bound train, and wait. But there are not many people so I ask if this was correct (in Polish), told yes, and then received help from the lady all the way home. Sound great right?

Well the bus is 3 hours, train 4, but mine was 6. We made it one stop (about 10-15 minutes) and then waited. Come to find out the conductor was in no condition to be driving the train, let alone doing anything else. So we were to get a new conductor in about 30 minutes. Then about one hour into our wait (much longer than we thought) we would be changing trains to the next train in about an hour. So we sat for 2 hours waiting to go.

When we finally get moving, we make every other stop with ease and 4 hours later I am home. YEAH! The best thing was I was in a compartment of English speakers who were very interested in who I was, what I did, and how I taught so many grades. I enjoyed the end of the trip even though the beginning was very interesting, to say the least.