Euro Diaries

Warsaw Chopin Airport, Poland

Flight Attendant: Sir, you can't travel to India.

Me: what are you saying?

Flight Attendant: You don't have Visa to travel to London

Me: What are you saying? I am not travelling to London. It's just that my flight is flying to Mumbai via London. 

Flight Attendant: If your flight is flying via London that means you are at London.

Me: Sir, I applied for visa with this air ticket. If I am not allowed, my visa would have got rejected there itself. Please figure out something.

Flight Attendant: Sorry Sir, we can't do anything.

I wanted to take this trip for a very long time. However, I had been postponing my long due Euro trip for last two years. This time I just closed my eyes and booked the tickets. My point of entry was Vienna and Warsaw, Poland was my exit.

First thing you will notice when you travel to Eastern Europe is its cleanliness. Second thing you notice is less crowd. Atleast in all places I traveled. Coming from Mumbai, where you will find crowd almost everywhere every time. In Eastern Europe, no matter how beautiful palaces it may be, you will find very limited crowd. 

I had my first challenge with language barrier when I set my foot at Vienna, where most people could not speak English. I had a hard time locating my hostel. My sim was not working and had no internet. I had to ask local people to help me locate my hostel. I roamed around everywhere only to come back to where I started. Such problem you can face when you travel to eastern part of Europe. Best thing download the map on your mobile or tablet and find on your own. I use map.me app, this works even when you don't have internet on your phone. 

Innsbruck is part of Austria that touches the beautiful Alps. This place is so beautiful that you will forget all the tiredness of walking 40 km in a day or lack of sleep due to jetlag/ travelling. You will enjoy Europe more when you walk around the city. Believe me, most European cities are small and you can cover all the places by just walking. Don't waste your money on taxis here. Instead use local transport (buses, tram or metro).

From Innsbruck I traveled to Salzburg. First thing that comes to your mind when you hear this city name is movie "Sound of Music". Another part of Austria that touches the mighty Alps. If you have watched the movie "Sound of Music", you must have noticed the beautiful architecture and the scenic beauty of the place. I hired a cycle and traveled all across Salzburg. The beauty of the place just remains with you forever. If anyone wants to travel to this part of Europe, I would suggest, just hire a cycle and get lost. 

I had to go to Brno, Czech Republic. This city was not in my itinerary. I had to go there to meet my sister Bonny and her husband (who works there). Brno is another quiet and beautiful city that has the mix of both city and village life. I could stay there only for a day. The next day, I had bus to catch to Warsaw from Prague.

When I was in Class 9 and 10 I read a lot about World War II. Warsaw was one of the cities that was very badly affected by this war. When you visit any of the castle at Warsaw, you can get the feel of how these castle which was used to shelter war affected people were targeted by the Germans and thousands of Polish were bombed during the war.

I traveled 5 countries (Austria, Germany, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland) and 8 places(Vienna, Innsbruck, Salzburg, Munich, Bratislava, Prague, Brno, Warsaw) during this trip. It was an amazing experience. Of course I had some hiccups as well including my credit card getting blocked at the start of my trip and running out of Euros in between the trip.

Meanwhile in some club at Bratislava, Slovakia 12:00 AM
(Background Music at max volume: So far away)

Me: Do you like working here?

Girl at the bar: I like sometimes..

Me: Sometimes....
Girl at the bar: (After some pause) I work two jobs,  day time, I work somewhere else
Me: Are you from here?

Girl at the bar: No (she named some place 300 km away from Bratislava which I don't remember) Why are you here?

Me: I am on holidays, I am travelling across Europe

Girl at the bar: ok

Few seconds later, she got up, walked straight past me and climbed up the stage. She danced round the pole. Then, she dropped her bra.....

Some facts:
In Europe:
WC stands for Toilet
Danke means Thank you in German
Czech Republic Currency is koruna
Poland Currency is Zloty
Austria, Germany and Slovakia use Euro
Austrian speaks German