Vacation Horror Story

Stuck in Bratislava

Finding my way around Bratislava, Slovakia, was not much of a problem. After all, the train station is near everything, and the public transportation loops about everywhere. The real problem arose when I tried to leave Bratislava and return to Vienna, Austria.

I’m an American, so the fact that I even speak some Spanish intelligibly is a plus, and many in other countries consider me a rare and respectable species. Unfortunately, English is not much spoken in Bratislava, and Spanish even less so. The ticket agents at the transportation hub were not much help either, since my German (one of the more common second languages spoken in Slovakia’s capital) at the time amounted to “hello,” “goodbye” and “thank you.” And “Gesundheit.”

So instead of relaxing my way to Vienna, I found myself in some little town called Galenta — an hour or so in the wrong direction. The ticket agent there had not even an inkling of what I was saying, and I understood even less. I’m not sure I could have used one of my four German phrases. We communicated when I said “Bratislava,” and she rang up the price and showed me the display on her register. Then I pointed to the tracks and she held up five fingers to let me know that I needed to go back to the fifth track. Luckily, counting does not require knowledge of another language. I was very happy to see Bratislava again, but depressed to arrive at the train station with all of the ticket windows closed and no more trains to Vienna until morning.