Day 12: A long @$$ train trip

Today was my 12 hour train trip to the capital of Bosnia. Well, it was only supposed to take that long. In the first few hours, there was an accident that prevented the train from going all the way through to Pecs, still in Hungary. An hour of bus later, we resumed our trip on the train. At Pecs, we had an unannounced transfer to a single coach train headed to Sarajevo. It started off with four people in our compartment: me, two British girls, and a nice but sweaty-smelling Central European man. The window, our only source of cooler air refused to stay open, and the man kept putting his legs up on the opposite bench, right next to me and my stuff. He was replaced, after three passport stops, by a Bosnian woman - also nice, but she didn’t like the window open. We were then joined by two Bosnians, siblings, who were returning to visit from Germany. She was a doctor-in-training and going to work a year in Sarajevo, and he was a computer engineer who got German citizenship after years of schooling and working in Germany. They were good company, and they helped translate the older woman’s suggestion that I room at her place to keep her company. It wouldn’t have worked out - she got off before Sarajevo and was replaced by a skinny Bosnian guy who played American music off his phone. At this point, we were almost 2 hours behind schedule, and I needed to nap. I almost didn’t wake up for the final stop! But, hours later than expected, I was finally there!