Today I had to catch the 8:30 train from Deli station which is the other side of town from the hotel. By half past seven I'd bathed, breakfasted and checked out and was heading towards the underground.
I spotted one enterprising driver going the wrong way up a one way street. The oncoming traffic was not amused!
I got to the station by 8:00 and a quick glance at the departure board told me the train was on platform 5. I did notice that the stickers on the door were to somewhere else but dismissed it, thinking they hadn't changed them yet. This started to worry me a bit so by the time the train pulled off I'd convinced myself I was on the wrong train.
When the conductor eventually turned up he explained that I was just in the wrong carriage! I had to move all my stuff to a carriage 2 further along. After that and with the worry of being on the wrong train lifted I dozed off. I should have realised that was the explanation of the different destinations as the last train I caught from Budapest to Szombathely had different destinations on the last 2 carriages compared with the 1st 2.
Got to Szombathely about 15 mins late which meant I missed the connection to Körmend. Having an hour to kill meant I had enough time to check out the bus station to see if there was a bus to Körmend and have a kebab while I was waiting.
A train came from Körmend. There was a bit of a palaver as the train was run to the other end of the carriages so it could go back to Körmend. 30 minuted later I was getting off the train and back in Körmend! All that was left was to check the buses to see if they were running and if not walk home.
Instead of the usual stop, I went to the bus station as I had plenty of time to look around and see if I could spot my bus. It was actually the first one I checked. I had another 20 minutes to wait. I had a quick look around to see if there were any timetables I could pick up when I spotted one of the regular drivers to Halogy. He gave me a wave before pulling off. Gosh I've been recognised outside my village!
I got on the bus and 30 minutes later I was standing inside my house turning the heating up! (I'd left it on 8C so I wouldn't come home to burst and frozen pipes.)
Has the direct Budapest / Koermend train been cancelled (one per day, was it?), or was it simply inconvenient? Missed transfers are a plague.
ReplyDeleteThere was a direct one but would have got me in Kormend long after the buses stopped going to Halogy.
ReplyDeleteIn theory there is a bus but if it didn't turn up I'd be stuck.
Next Xmas I might go to Graz instead!