Follow the Yellow Brick Road? Poland Day 0

June 14: So what's the best way to get to Krakow? Get there any way you want, but you probably don't want to follow me. To begin with, I was running late, but wanted to get a gift for my friend who is letting me stay with her for free in Denmark later this week - so I got a box of Neuhaus chocolates.

I just made it to the train, but then the train was running a little bit late. Also, I apparently filled out my ticket wrong and had to convince the person validating them that I wasn't trying to cheat them out of 4 euros. Then, because the train was late, I missed the bus to the airport meaning I had to grab a taxi. Ugh.

All was fine with the flight until I realized that while I thought I had all of my hostel information and directions written down as I usually do (with more information than I'll ever need), I had nothing more than the hostel name... oh yea because I had forgotten my map on the floor in my room. So I'm sittting on the bus that runs between the airport and the city center with a bunch of Polish people.. and I started to get a bit nervous. All I knew was that it was going to be nearly 11 pm by the time we arrived and that my hostel was somewhere on the opposite side of Krakow from the bus station. So - I started talking. I heard some Americans and thought they might have a guidebook. They didn't, but they told me to talk to the Polish guy behind them.... the guy who spoke no english and just looked at me like I was crazy.

It turns out that while he spoke no english, he understood... because about a half hour later he handed me a telephone with his son on the other end who offered to have a friend look up the hostel and get me directions. Fabulous! Well, when we got to the bus station, they also realized that it was on the opposite end of town and insisted on giving me a ride. Well, they were nice and the son was cute so hey.. why not. ;) I ended up getting a free tour around Krakow by night and a ride to the door. I did end up saying goodbye to that box of chocolates that I bought earlier in a last ditch effort to say thank you. Anyways, I made it! And I was greeted by my roommates: 4 English and 3 Irish guys. Oy... it's going to be a long trip.