night and day train from Hungary

The night ended much later than I expected. You see, sometimes I have a need for speed. I used to take my 1994 VW Golf GL on a side road bordering the train tracks of my little city of Belleville and hit the pedal so hard that I would almost brake 200 km/h on a regular basis. Sure, I was 16, felt immortal, had testosterone pumping through my body at near illegal levels and felt like there was no danger at all going more than 120 km over the speed limit but it just had to be done. If I wasn't speeding through the outskirts of the city I was bashing my head top-speed against the best football players in the not-so-immediate vicinity. I did this for many years and instead of calming down my unnatural need for speed it simply fed the fire until I was bashing heads with university level football players at 22 and hitting the weights with whatever was left over. At 34 I still get these urges; all the time.

After leaving the Hungarian dance-a-thon and feeling high off my own fumes, my urge to run and jump and spend my juice just kept coming at me. I was in the company of my travel friend turned close friend Shawn, a tall, stunning and uber-interesting Hungarian woman Sara and her two Indian friends who happen to work in my home town of Montreal. I felt trapped. Neither could I ditch them to run home, nor could I stand to walk at their snail's pace. Namely because I am totally lost if I haven't lived in a city for more than a year and I had only arrived in Budapest a couple of days ago. In the end I was simply too hyper to stay and also wanted to give my boy a chance alone with his lady friend, so, I asked for directions - which were too slow coming - and then hopped off to make my way not home.

I started jogging at a regular pace. The night was cool but not cold, the streets were clean and dry, my feet felt light and the air was clean and dense. A perfect night. Not really paying too much attention I ended up seeing some familiar stores and areas of Budapest that Shawn and I had visited in the previous days but had no clue whether they were North, South or East of where we were staying. I knew I wasn't too far West because the river would have been a dead giveaway but other than that I felt happily lost.

Budapest is full of ex-pats and the sounds of drunken Americans stumbling through the streets was as commonplace as the Hungarian hookers looking for free cigarettes or a quick buck. Yeah, I said buck. At one point I was playing chicken with a woman on the sidewalk. She was walking on one side, so I started making my way to the other. Then she started switching to my side so I switched to the side I started on only to have her follow me, head on. I slowed down and looked at her in the eyes. "Jibba jibba jabba." "Sorry, I don't speak Hungarian." "Cigarette, do you have cigarette?" "Man... I JUST smoked my last one, sorry." "Sex, you want sex?"

Ok, so I thought about it for a second, or two... I mean she DID have a tight body but one look at her herpe-ridden face was enough to turn my stomach. "No thanks" said I as I shimmied past her swinging hips and popping breasts as she tried to grab my ass. What a great time to start running again.

The night went by. I'm not sure how quickly but it did. I finally decided that I needed help so I stopped running right outside a bar where two Americans were talking on their cell phones. The girl kept at it but the dude stopped talking after I approached him. "Hey dude... can you tell me where I am?" "You're at so-and-so bar" "oh..." "Where are you going?" "I'm not really sure... I'm staying at a friend's house and I'm not sure how to get there." "Well, do you have a cell?" "Yeah, but I don't have service here... It's a Croatian sim card..." "Hmph... you're fucked" "Yeah... I guess I am..." At this point the girl got off her phone and started chatting me up with the same questions as I gave her the same answers. Finally the dude asked me if I have my friend's number. "No... I mean YES! Brilliant, can I use your phone?" "Sure, what's his number?" A few seconds later and we figure out that I am WAAAAAY off the mark. "Dude, your best bet is to jump in this cab right here... it's a far way away." "No way man, I got here running I'll get back running. How far away is it?" "Its about twenty minutes away." "Perfect... that means with my speed and drive I'll be there in three minutes flat. Which way?" "Down the street, turn right and all the way down and ask for directions again." "Word... thanks! Peace out!" and I was off again. Ten minutes later and I was huffing and puffing outside Shawn and I's hostess' house.

"Pavlos... what the fuck?" "Sorry man, got a little lost."

The next day was spent seeing some of Budapest, drinking beer, chilling at a cool bar with our hostess and her friends, going back to an American girl's house for some nightcaps and apple-bong hits and dancing to the beats on my iPad plugged into x-mini speakers. It's a great set-up... seriously, buy those speakers.

We were recovering well the day after and started getting ready for our 24 hour train ride to Kiev. We decided to not see anymore Budapest sights and took it easy, leaving at a leisurely pace from our hostess' house. We made our way to the train station right next door to buy our tickets. The international ticket sales office was slightly hidden to the side of the station but we found it and waited in front of one of the two ticket counters that were operating. In front of us was a tiny girl in a bright red wool jacket talking in a low and frantic German accent. "Iz it direkt? How do I get zhere? Vat time doez it leave? Vat metro stop iz it?" I felt like pushing her out of the way and squeezing her at the same time. I was totally conflicted by her cute accent and annoying questions. Finally she got her ticket and stood behind us while Shawn and I went to the counter.

I kept peaking back at her and wondering why she was still hanging around there so I left Shawn to handle his side of the transaction while I approached the sweet little German. "Hey... do you need help with the metro?" "Yez... I am not zo sure vhere to go." A few minutes later and I found out that this sweet little lady got her purse stolen from her the day before along with all her i.d. She had no way to get on the flight from Budapest to Berlin so her husband left her at the airport with a wad of cash and a pat on the back. I would have done the same, so I didn't judge him, inside me. "Well, sounds like quite the gallant husband you have there... But don't worry, you're in good company with me and Shawn. We're heading to the same station so why don't you tag along and we'll keep you company until our train leaves." "Oh, ok, szank you!" she replied and just like that, we were off.

We had a great time together and talked about pretty much everything that came into our heads... well, we talked about everything that came into my head... well, we talked about ALMOST everything that popped into my head and so the time seemed to fly. I knew right away that this girl was a gem and felt as though I would protect her like I protect my little sister. We ate, drank took pictures and exchanged facebook info and said our goodbyes on the train Shawn and I boarded for Kiev.

Shawn saw her out and soon enough we were rolling down the tracks towards Kiev in a posh train cabin while the movement of the train rocked me to sleep like a baby. The first interruption was when the old fat Hungarian border guards asked for our passports at the Hungarian border. "Pavlos?" "Yes." He put my passport in a portable scanner, stamped it and gave it back and before I knew it I was sound asleep. The second interruption was much more pleasant. A beautiful tall blonde Ukrainian border guardess with blue eyes and a grey Russian style wool hat asked for our passports followed by a young man and another beautiful brunette in tow. I suddenly felt an urge to be arrested. They took our passports and left us alone for the next few hours as the train cabins were decoupled from the wheels they were on, lifted off the tracks and moved sideways to another set of wheels on a parallel train track. Not even the jolt and clang of the train cabin being plopped down on the tracks stirred me from my sleep long enough to notice. Soonafter the border goddesses returned with our passports and we were off to Kiev on the Ukrainian side. We watched movies, drank Jaegermeister, and listened to music as the klicks rolled back.

Before we knew it we were standing outside the train with our new host Alex who took us through the maze of people and passages, down into the metro and onwards towards his home. "Kiev has the deepest metro station in the world. Well, apparently. North Korea claims that THEIR metro station is two meters deeper than ours but there is no real way of finding out. I think they are full of bullshit." "I couldn't agree more. How do you say 'Hello' in Russian?" I asked. "Dobre dien." "Cool, thanks." The next set of girls I saw got a taste of my new knowledge. "Dobre dien!" They looked at me with a smile trying desperately to overcome a frown that they tried to keep on their face. Ukrainians are shaping out to be an interesting breed of people. Cold, hard and beautiful on the outside with faces and bodies of chiseled ice but with a warmth and happiness deep inside them that often escapes its cold Siberian prison.