Homeless in Austria!

October 15, 2013

 

We boarded a train from Zurich, Switzerland  to Taxenbach, Austria very excited to have a couple of days to hike in the Austrian Alps! The train took about 6 hours and the views were absolutely amazing! The train route took us through mountains, valleys and beautiful Austrian countryside! Neither of us could express how magnificent the mighty mountains were that we passed by! We raced from side to side within the train trying to capture as much of the vast beauty as possible. This was not a train for sleeping , reading or journaling! This was like a tide at Disneyland! 

Our day was just super restful and wonderful, but then as the sunset on our gorgeous views, then starts the problems. We get off at Taxenbach station (if you can call it a station) and there was no soul in sight! Not a bus, no taxi not even a random fog roaming the streets! We tried to use a pay phone to call a taxi and got hung up on. To top it off, Kirdy's iPod was dying with all our phone numbers to call on it. We decided to walk the 15 minutes into town to ask how to get to Rouris (sp?), a little town about 10k away holding our hotel. We get to "town" and everything is closed! Of course! Why not close at 8pm!? We walked back to the train station hoping a fellow traveler or local might magically appear! 

We did meet a local and, in his very broken English, he told us the directions to get a taxi. We walked down a dark deserted road for a while before making the decision to go back to the train station and take a train to Salzburg, because, at this point, being in a big city was our best option! We got to the train station in the nick of time! 

Also, can I just say, we love having a eurail pass, it made our crazy night possible and free!

So here we were on our way to Salzburg, no idea where we would sleep or what we would eat! It was a bit scary to think about sleeping in the station but at the same point we were up for the adventure! All we kept saying was "Man, our moms would die right now if they knew!" 

After our 2 hour ride to Salzburg we wondered the streets around the station searching for Internet. Finally, we found we could steal the Internet from the Ramada. So we lurked outside on a corner like true homeless people to connect to the Internet. We decided that instead of trying to find an expensive place to stay that night (which we would only be sleeping a few hours at this point) it was best just to head back to Switzerland, and continue our relaxing stay at our friend Max's. 

Before we boarded our train to Zurich at 1:40am, we accomplished almost all the things we usually do when visiting a country (just didn't get our patches)! We bought groceries, talked to locals, Kirdy tried a s Austrian beer, we slept and we took some pictures! Ya, so check it, it counts. We visited Austria.  :)

We slept soundly on the train for 6 hours and arrived on Max's doorstep right before his roommate left for work at 8:30am! God truly had his hand in this event. We are both now sick and sleeping a lot! We are so thankful to have a wonderful home to recover in for the rest of the week before we restart our traveling!!

The night in Austria was very far from planned, yet Kelsey and I loved it! Yes, scary at times. Yes, we just wanted to be in warm beds. And, yes, hiking in Austria would of been great, but like we say, "nnnrrrraaaaa!" NRA - no regrets...ADVENTURE! We say this to replace YOLO (you only live once) because lets face it, YOLO is way over used! We are excited about each of our days and we don't regret the big mistakes we may make because each moment shapes our adventure! And, adventure we are having :) 

P.s. Kelsey lost her iPod on the train in Austria! Please pray, hope, wish,etc. that there is a miracle and we get it back!!!!