Day 9- on a train from Budapest to Timisoara

 Hi all,

Endurance-that's the main theme of the day, today. It's something that is often employed in a sporting sense, and you can see why.

Whilst I can't proclaim to have partaken in any sporting event today, you can see why sportspeople have to push themselves to their limits, which is obviously an enduring task.

Well picture the image, I made my "spa debut" (an apt anagram of Budapest) today, and consequently found myself in a sauna- well not just one, but several of them- something that I'd never done before. Now I could withstand most of them, but there was one- that was so warm....it made my nose sting. An endurance, I know! I gave myself 5 minutes to sit it through, but halfway in, I wanted to throw in the towel. But! My imaginary sporting coach encouraged me to stay put, and think of the things I could achieve if I spent a further 2 1/2 minutes in a hot room. Reader, I'm pleased to say that the mission was a success, and it helped shape my attitude for the rest of the day.

After feeling suitably more composed after my shenanigans in the sauna, I prioritised pleasure and ditched plans to visit the Hungarian Parliament, for the sake of uncaging my inner water baby at the baths for a little while longer. Because let's face it- it's good of to feel like a child every once in a while.

R and R was definitely needed to prepare me for a 6 hour train ride. It was all going smoothly- or should I say, sedately, until we got to a place in Hungary that I can't remember the name of. After a few clunks enough to give you minor whiplash, we grounded to a halt- unknowingly for the next hour. During that time, both my power bank and phone were running out of battery, whilst I hastily noted down my check-in instructions for tonight, should I have needed to use "ye olde style check-inn" (Tom in Timisoara thanks Tom on the train for doing so!). And the panicking? Not overly evident. Safe to say my sauna-enduring skills (three words to make Scandinavians think I'm a wet wipe) put me in good stead.

I chose to come to Timisoara because it looked nice, and I thought it would be well-connected. Little did I know that the Romanian and Serbian railways are in the "not on talking terms" phase of their relationship. So of course, operations will be smooth right? Oh, and I'm off to the Serbian capital tomorrow. The less said about arranging transport to there, the better l.

Ciao!

Tom

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 7- Bratislava Train Station

 Hi all, I begin this piece from Bratislava Central Station, awaiting my delayed train to Budapest, city number 4 of the trip. Travelling- it all has its ups and downs but I've got to say, having started my "30 countries before 30" ambition (albeit probably prematurely) at the beginning of the year, the phrase "quality over quantity" really rings true on th is trip I've been doing. 18 nights, (excluding two stopovers if we're being pedantic), in 9 countries, all of which I have never visited before. It all sounds a bit like a condensed version of Race Across The World- and to be honest, the stress of getting from one place to another within a set amount of time does feel comparable with what I'm experiencing now- even with pre-booked accommodation and flights! Because in hindsight, I haven't really given myself much time to rest, because it's go, go go! The need to make the most of seeing countries I've never visited versus trying to not ...
Read more

Day 8- Budapest

Image
 Hi all- I think it's safe to say that it's been a tale of two halves today. We'll go in chronological order, so that we will finish on where I am at now. When I arrived in Budapest last night, I was struck by the excitement of being somewhere I've wanted to go to for years, and that in itself, was enough to pique my interest come this morning. Waking up and realising that I was a 5 minute walk away from the city's main food hall led me to have some lovely "kifli"- a croissant-like pastry with a poppy seed filling. Whilst devouring my kifli, I took some Rescue Remedy to try and prevent the nerves and anxiety from previous days from being so prevalent- something I'd neglected to do beforehand. I proceeded to the wondrous St. Stephen's Basilica, where I took the lift up to the terrace (instead of ascending 340-odd steps according to Google!) For those that know me, I have a big fear of heights-be it being on a plane or up a big building. It simultane...
Read more

Trip Reflections

 Hello from chez moi, where I have intentions to do sod all, after arriving home on Saturday. Since starting these entries, I knew that I wanted to do some sort of reflection of how things have been from my perspective. Like every trip, some things go to plans, whilst other things do not, and I think coming into the trip, my mental health was in such a good place (in comparison to previous years), that I had finished therapy (which I had been in for for the past seven years). I had- perhaps overconfidently, thought that the issues that used to affect my anxiety and mood levels could all be dealt with a toolbox of techniques. So, when I began to experience that panic (probably on Day 2 of the trip), and couldn't get my usual strategies to work, the panic exaggerated itself even more. I did experience similar in Latvia on my 2nd night of the solo trip I did at the beginning of the year. The symptoms I experienced then were comparatively more heightened, but that was the first time I ...
Read more