Serendipity: How the wrong place was the right time.

It was the late August summer of 2019. I was embarking on a once in a lifetime opportunity to backpack through parts of central and eastern Europe. At this point, I was leaving Budapest by bus and on my way to a small city called Bratislava in Slovakia since it was on the way to Prague in Czech Republic. Bratislava was only an hour in a half drive from Budapest so I knew it wouldn't be a long excursion. I dozed off for a bit rather passively. When I woke up, I noticed we were close to a bus terminal being that the rural lands off the interstate were behind us. However, I looked around from my seat and there were clearly less people on the bus. Looking at the time, it had been three hours since I boarded the bus. It was then that the driver announced, “We’ll be pulling into Vienna’s station in about five minutes.” To my surprise, I slept long enough to miss my stop and wind up back in Vienna, Austria, where I had stopped a week prior but had no plans on returning. I walked up to the driver and explained my story, which he could only chuckle a bit and then advise me to get off at the next stop and wait for a bus leaving for Bratislava. I was taken aback, but there wasn’t much I could do but heed his advice so I went back to my seat.

It was shortly after I took my seat, a young man from the row of seats adjacent to me called to my attention saying, “Hey man, we overheard your situation to the driver, my girlfriend and I live here right by the main station and we’re just getting back from a small trip to Croatia, you’re welcome to stay with us until you get your situation sorted out again”. It was hard to believe a random man and his girlfriend on the bus were welcoming me as a complete stranger to stay with them until I arranged a bus fare to leave again. I remember thinking, “I don’t know if this kind of thing would happen in America’s cities, it certainly has never happened before.” I obliged, and joined them on their way back home. I learned that he (George) was an English man who migrated to Austria and she (Rhona) was an Iranian woman who had done the same; they met during a hiking trip meetup. Upon getting to their apartment, they made a space for me on the living room coach, pushing in the dresser and hanging up a paisley curtain so I had a sense of privacy, which I can’t act like I was expecting.

My only downright awkward moment was that night, I woke up to use the bathroom and do number two, when it became apparent that their toilet didn’t flush, and what a more ‘shitty’ time to learn that than 4 in the morning when these hospitable strangers are fast asleep. I texted the guy I had an issue with the bathroom (putting it nicely), and went back to sleep with the hopes of waking up early enough to take care of it, only I didn’t...I woke to the sound of someone exiting the bathroom and that was me meeting his roommates for the first time (yeah, awkward). I learned that they keep a bucket under the sink, filling it about half way and then pour it in the toilet to flush their urinary/bowel movements (and it actually works, but the dirty deed was already done, and there was no ‘oops my bad’ that could recover that)

I ended up showering there, doing laundry, and the three of us went to a local park and split the food they prepared after stopping at the local market. I had them write in my traveler’s scrap book titled, ‘advice from a stranger’. I had met a girl in Vienna when I was there a week ago, I let her know I was back in her city (insinuating that I came back for her, like a backhanded romantic gesture). I took the train to her apartment, we stayed up watching/not watching Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and I’ll leave you to your own devices to assume the rest.

I was so delighted by the whole experience that I stayed an extra day, going off into the city and exploring a nearby museum garden and eating locally before leaving the following morning. They even loaned me a spare key to go about my business and return to the apartment at my own will.

I certainly would have waited at the terminal for the next bus and been on my way, but it was the unexpected kindness from complete strangers and their hospitality that made it the most memorable experience of the entire trip and something I’ll never forget. It is my forever duty to pay in forward for a fellow traveler(s) in need.

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans"