Amsterdam to Bucharest overnight…
We had a great start in Amsterdam, early morning, easy packing, and a sense of the journey really beginning!
We were early for the train and the Netherlands swiftly moved on by, replaced by German industrial towns until we reached Frankfurt where we had our first stop. A swift twenty minute change, except the train was twenty two minutes late …so the German rail authorities arranged for the connecting train to be on the opposite platform and wait for us.
Chaos ensued as everyone rushed onto the train in the wrong carriages but we got there in the end and the beauty of Southern Germany soothed us, although it hadn’t passed me by that the train we were due to catch in Vienna was only a fifty minute window and we’d lost twenty minutes of that already (I kept it to myself though because who knows we might speed up right?)
We didn’t speed up and we ended up with six minutes to get from platform 11 to platform 10 for the night train to Bucharest …and of course platform 10 and 11 were not next to each other.
The mad dash was actually quite fun and our new compartment was spacious and comfortable – we were joined by a lovely woman called Maria, a doctor from Berlin, who knew lots about Turkey and had been to Bucharest before…perfect!
The journey passed peacefully until 1.30 am when the Hungarian border guards woke us up to check our passports – we had just fallen back to sleep when the Romanian border guards woke us again and we had a few exciting moments when they disappeared off with Theo’s passport…he eventually was allowed into the country and we went back to sleep 🙂
We woke up to wonderful Romanian scenery and we have loved Bucharest. Full of wonderful culture, street performers, art, and an easy atmosphere…(we have uploaded two short films onto Tik Tok and will add more as and when and you can access these and Rosa’s instagram account via the links on our contact page…)
Today we are going into the unknown – trying to get to Turkey without tickets…we have to ask on the train (in Turkish – hello iTranslate) – missing you already…
Find out the average wages across a range of jobs in the country that you are traveling to eg a teacher, shop worker. It will give you an idea if the prices you are being quoted are real or tourist prices.
What a great idea Natasha…we have not been anywhere long enough yet but we will be in Turkey for a week so we will make that part of our discovery…
So lovely to read your updates….. it’s all so exiting already xxxx
Can’t believe we are getting it together to write them and that anyone is reading them 🙂 …thanks Ange x
Fantastic adventure guys – we never met yet but feel like I know you through friend Persh ! Brave Journey – going to get really interesting for sure ! Hope you have some instruments along ? ❤️ Frances
Thanks for being in touch Frances – I have my guitar with me …looking forward to sitting playing that in the street sometime…
Looks like you are already having a wonderful time. I can’t believe how far you’ve got already. Have the best time; stay safe ans stay happy. Claire xx
The journey from Amsterdam to Bucharest felt like we had changed worlds …and now we are in Turkey and that’s different again – we are now literally surrounded by cats and we love it so much! Thanks for taking the time to read and caring enough to write…the spirit of adventure sits easy on you Claire…
Loving hearing about your progress.