I called for a taxi at 1:00 am so he could take me to Syntagma Square where I would take a bus to the airport. I was told the busses were not running because of the 24 hour strike they were having in Athens. Why do I not believe this? Then I was told the taxi to the aiport would be 8,000 drachma. I only had 7,000 in change which was the amount I had allotted for today’s budget. I got into it with the hotel clerk saying I didn’t have the money. He was like, how did I expect to get to the airport. Let’s see, taxi to Square, bus to airport. Doesn’t cost as much ….. I ended up having to cash one of my traveller’s cheques at the airport to pay the cab driver. I waited at the airport until 6:15 am when my plane left for Milan where I would need to change planes to Warsaw.
I arrived in Warsaw about 1:30 pm and was dealt with a language barrier right away. I went to the right bus 175 to take me to Smolna where the hostel was located. I had to show the driver the map with Smolna on it because he couldn’t understand me. Then he wanted me to have smaller change since all I had were 50’s in zloty. I had to miss the bus and head back into the airport to get smaller change. I got on the next bus and couldn’t find Smolna listed as one of the stops. Warsawa Centralny was listed as one of the stops which is the main train station in Warsaw. Decided to get off at the train station and walk down to the hostel. I managed to buy my ticket to Zdunska Wola which was a feat in itself since the ticket agent didn’t speak any english. Someone behind me spoke a little english and was able to help me purchase my ticket.
Then I walked into the Marriott Hotel to get directions to Smolna. I wanted to make sure I was going in the right direction. The clerk I spoke to spoke english since it was one of the requirements of the job. I made it to the hostel about 3:30 and had to wait until 4:00 pm when they would open back up since they have a lock out during the day. After I got into my room, I didn’t do anything else but catch up on some much needed sleep since I didn’t get any sleep at all the night before.
