This was the other really intense travel day for me - getting from Brno to Rabi, the small town 30 minutes from Strakonice where we (Sue Placek, Eric Placek and myself) were staying (since the hotel in Strakonice where we had made a reservation a year in advance for the festival dates went out of business and we had to scramble in early June to find other accommodations. Rabi was the closest option.) This seemed like it would be a fairly simple journey. I would be taking the same train I had taken to visit the relatives in Veselí nad Lužnicí and would just need to stay on for four more stops until we got to Strakonice, then get the bus from there to Rabi. It seemed like I had enough time to make the connection. The train arrived a little late, but not too much, and the bus depot was right across the street from the train station. I just needed to figure out which platform the Rabi bus was leaving from. By this time I was making sure I had a copy of the full itinerary, so I knew how many stops there were before I got off and what their names were, as the names were missing on some of the stops, so I needed to count stops to make sure to get off at the right one.
Coming out of the train station, the street in front was full of buses. It seemed like they weren’t really using the bus depot across the street. I thought this might be because of the festival crowds in town requiring more than the usual number of buses. So I found someone who looked official, showed him my itinerary and asked him which bus I should get on. I lugged my two suitcases into the one he indicated and off we went. I was still thinking maybe I should have found the bus with the number that matched what I knew was the bus to Rabi, but the bus I was on was at least going the same direction and I figured I could wait at the stop and get the right bus when it went by.
As I had feared, the bus only got me half way to Rabi. There were about four buses making this trip. I showed each of the drivers the number of the bus I was looking for and the stops that the bus was supposed to make, including to the town we were in. They were all older and non-English speaking and seemed impatient with my stupidity. I still felt that there would be the correct bus coming by soon, but they insisted that it wasn’t. It was about 6 p.m. and other than the bus drivers, the town was completely shut down for the evening, with no one out on the streets.
The bus drivers finally decided that there was a local train that would take me to a small town about 2 km. from Rabi (Žichovice) and I could walk the rest of the way once I got there. One of them led me to a spot at the train station and indicated I should wait there and get on the train that came. About ten feet from where he had me stand was a family who looked like they might be Rom and a rather punk Czech youth. They were drinking and smoking together, and the bus driver asked if any of them spoke English. The Czech youth indicated he only knew some German, but no English. They seemed rather amused by my predicament and puzzled as to why I was traveling alone when I didn’t speak the language. I felt very vulnerable, to say the least, and when the bus driver left, I wondered at what point I was going to be robbed. The Czech youth asked if I wanted a beer, which I politely declined. I tried to focus on deep breathing and trying not to panic!
After I had been standing there about 30 minutes waiting for the promised train, the Czech youth went into the train station and came back with a small print-out that had the departure time of the train and the arrival time at the village the train was taking me to. I was surprised at his kindness. There was another 45 minutes before the train was due, so I realized I could go sit down on a bench for a while and didn’t need to keep standing. There was a bar in the train station that was open and I could have gotten some food there, but I was too tense to think about eating at that point. Finally the time came and a train arrived. I got on and confirmed with the conductor that the train did go to the stop I needed. While I was waiting for the train to leave, another dreadlocked Czech youth came on the train and said that his friend (the other youth) had sent him because he knew some English to see if I was okay or if I needed any further help. We agreed that I was going to be okay now and I thanked him, as well as his friend outside. And I realized I had completely misjudged the whole group of them based on my stereotypes and the fear I had from feeling so vulnerable. This was truly a “kindness of strangers” moment!
The train finally took off, went for about 5 minutes, stopped and picked up some people, and came back to where we had started! Again I tried not to panic – apparently we had gone to another stop before heading on in the right direction. Not too long after, we got to the town where I needed to get off.
I was not sure which direction to start walking to get the 2 km to Rabi, but fortunately there were still a couple of employees finishing up their shifts at the train station. One even knew a little English and understood that I had the phone number for the pension in Rabi, so they called to let the owner know I was nearby. The train people didn’t think it was a good idea for me to walk with my two suitcases and they asked if I was interested in getting a taxi. At this point I would gladly have paid $100 to get those 2 km and be settled for the night, so I readily agreed to take a taxi.
They told me to wait outside and one would be there in 5 minutes. A van pulled up and it appeared the driver was from the pension. He said there was no taxi, so he came to get me. As we drove on a series of winding roads, I realized I would never have found the place walking and it was getting dark, so I was very glad for the ride!. A few minutes later we were at the pension and I could start to unwind from my 3-hour adrenalin rush. I asked about a restaurant and was pointed in the direction of the town center. I should have asked if any of the restaurants were open, as again the town seemed shut down for the night. I found a pub where I could get a beer, but no food, and so lived on “liquid bread” until breakfast the next morning.
Lovely, idyllic Rabi
Sue and Eric had arrived earlier and were well settled in.
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