cash is king

… so we learned

today tested every ounce of strength we had and then some. For the first time this morning we were finally braver than the jet lag sleep monster and woke up at 8am. We wandered over to a cute coffee shop got a pastry and a coffee then went back to the hotel to eat and grab our belongings. Although a treacherous 20 minute walk to the train station lugging our suitcase down the gravely streets of salzburg still loomed over our head, the day was heading in the right direction! We checked out and wandered the streets until we arrived at the salzburg station (1 hour early per mers request) passing our time in the waiting area. The process was seamless. We wandered up to the track, showed our tickets and then we were off. We had a 9 minute transfer which was a little daunting, but we weren’t too worried. That was our first mistake. The train began to slow and slow and slow until eventually it was completely stopped in the middle of nowhere. The conductor informed us that we had to stop for another train and we would be slightly delayed. One minute passes, then two, then three and we are finally moving again. Now with only 6 minutes to make our transfer tensions had risen quite a bit. Yet as the train begins to slow at the station we start marching down the aisle still confident we have conquered yet another international transport system until the masses started flooding in. I kid you not we were three seats from the exit when about 30 men and women started shuffling in. You would think that they would possibly wait for us to exit but instead, they decided to keep moving forward forcing us to stand to the side. At one point I had to lift our suitcase into the aisle seat so another traveler could pass with their suitcase. Finally, the very last guy in the line said something in German gesturing to the door and he ran to try and catch it hitting the button to open it up for us. We shoot down the aisle and turn the corner only to discover he was too late and we were slowly passing the station our hopes and dreams fading with the seconds. The 5 stages of grief hit us as we rode in silence to the following station.

We were now in the glorious city of Wels which left a lot to be admired. We had two options now a train at 11:36 back to the station we just missed our transfer at for 44 euros or a train at 13:34 for 20 euros and it was a straight shot right to hallstatt’s station. After heavy contemplation we chose the 13:34 train which was around 2 hours away and decided to grab food at a nearby restaurant. Surely we thought the worst was behind us! Before we left the station to get food we put our luggage in storage mer thought we could fit into a large and i was advocating for extra large. Turns out we were both wrong! that which we learned after trying to fit it into the XL and it not working. So we had to purchase another locker and left demoralized. The food was the equivalent of a bad NY deli further the void building inside us. Eventually we made our way back and caught our next and final train to hallstatt.

*An uncrushable spirit facing an incredibly unfortunate day*

the views along the way were absolutely gorgeous and it made us incredibly excited to finally arrive in Hallstatt and relax after what turned into a long travel day.

Here we are the ferry to Hallstatt! Finally what could go wrong! oh no wait what does that sign say… Cash only?? Yep you got that right cash only no card. We had 5 euros cash because I insisted we tip the worker at a beer garden all our coins… in retrospect he was probably the least deserving. The workers offered no exceptions they said our options were to catch a train to the next station which she claimed had an ATM or beg for money. They legitimately suggest we beg for spare change. No offer to let us use the ATM on the other side of the water because thats just too convenient and logical. We thought maybe if we offer our belongings as collateral they’d trust us but they seemed to have a stern policy. So back to the trains we went! The only train wasn’t coming for another hour and the waiting room was packed to the brim so we just had to stand outside for an hour slowly turning into ice.

the only good thing to come from waiting at the Hallstatt station was this beautiful sunset view before we boarded. The town taunting us in the distance.

On the way to our next station we booked our ticket for our return. Which of course the earliest time possible was an additional hour away. Our 2 hour travel day had become closer to 10 hours and the sun had completely set. Now you must be thinking things cant get any worse but you’d be so wrong!!!!! there was no atm actually there was basically no civilization at this station so we couldn’t even ask a restaurant for some cash. The last idea i had was to see if a bus could take us the rest of the way and we could skip the whole cash thing all together while mer tried valiantly to call a taxi company to come get us. Lets just say verizon count your days. If not we were heading straight to vienna and never looking back. Thankfully there was a bus that was schedule to pick up near the station in 30 minutes and was a 15 minute drive to Hallstatt. Finally we are saved! That is if we survived long enough to get on the bus. The picture does not quite do the eeriness of the bus stop justice. With a single dim overhead street lamp and a rundown yellow church across the street we figured the nun was just around the corner waiting to get us. Not to mention it was dark, cold, and we had probably been standing still outside for 3 hours straight now. Finally after a few minutes we see a bus come around the corner. We made sure to double check it was the right bus and then asked if they take card. The bus driver replied yes but our machine is broken :\ you have got to be joking. He let us known it was 5.60 per person and mer counteroffered with 5 euros for the both of us! Naturally that did not work and he repeated “5.60 please” mer then extended 3 dollars USD and said will you take this?? he sighed grabbed the money and said just sit down. Finally, we were graced with a nice helpful person. I informed him that I was in the process of booking the bus tickets online but since it was the last bus we had no choice but to hop on. He understood and I showed him the tickets at the next stop. Finally on our way to Hallstatt for real this time. The bus went without any issues except for a little traffic jam with our bus and a coach heading in opposite directions on a road only big enough for 1. Yet despite this we were in Hallstatt in no time (if 10 hours is considered no time). We thanked the driver profusely wandered across the street to a supermarket bought 2 bottles of wine and pringles accepting this as dinner and began our 12 minute walk down the streets of Hallstatt with our suitcase for hopefully the only time this trip!

To wrap this long dramatic story up our hotel is lovely and we got upgraded to a room with a balcony (which we planned to ask for anyways) and enjoyed a nice meal at the restaurant below the hotel.

Even though today was a whirlwind of a mess, we had a lot of great laughs, memories, and an opportunity to exercise resiliency. Stay tuned for tomorrow where hopefully everything goes a lot smoother…not that the bars that high anyways. -Conner