Bratislava was in my to-do list before 2014, I didn’t accomplish it on time but I still did it. And you can’t guess whom I traveled Bratislava with? Whom I thought I was not gonna see in a long time…MONICA!!!
I started traveling one night before because I live further away than her.
We also did Couchsurfing and we stayed with French guys living in Bratislava: Nico and Sylvain, they had another French friend over, Florent.
I was supposed to meet Monica in Vienna and then take the same train but she never appeared… I got really worried about her, maybe she had missed the train or what the hell happened to her. And after 10 hours I finally got to Bratislava. First impression? Train station has free wifi, which doesn’t happen everywhere. It’s quite small, and the information center is not so easy to find.
I waited for Monica for one hour or something, but she never appeared. I just kept on with our original plans. Take the free walking tour at 11 in the main square. I took the bus and headed over there. I was hungry too and needed to use a restroom I went to McDonalds to eat breakfast and do myself.
The main square was right outside McDonalds. At 11, I went outside and saw a group of tourists; I guessed it was the free walking tour. We were around 15 people, all from different countries: Canada, USA, England, Brazil, Bolivia, Mexico, Colombia, between others I can’t remember right now.
Something I might never forget is how freaking cold was!!!! Sensation of 1.4 F, that’s -17 Celsius, plus it was windy as hell. Weather was terrible.
I started the tour with the group and kept on walking, taking pictures. I had not yet stopped by our cs host. I was waiting for a message from Monica. After approximately one hour of tour, I suddenly hear someone saying my name, of course I didn’t know no one over there. I turned around and she was there!!! She had her eye allergy by then, so she was crying, it was cute to see she could be crying because she found me haha. We hugged and the group looked at us weird, we are just random! We kept on with the tour, our guide was really nice and she was also familiar with couchsurfing which always makes people talk about their experiences and stuff.
At the end of the tour, we thanked her and kept on walking. Bratislava’s downtown is really small. We headed to the castle, which is an art museum inside, of course we didn’t go inside, it was just to enjoy the view. It was nuts cold and windy, plus we were carrying our heavy backpacks for a couple days. I don’t know how the hell we always figure out to pack a lot. We took some pictures up in the castle
We didn’t know what else to do. We went around and around, and when we finally decided to go meet our cs host. He was not home. We were freezing and starving. There was a mall in the near of his house, we went into the mall to try to find some internet but it didn’t work so we went into an apple store and used an iPhone. Haha what we do to survive. We sent him a msg and he finally answered and went back to his house, and hey, he was there!
We came in, they were all there, really welcoming. We told them that we were going to cook for them and they thought we still needed to buy all the stuff, buy hey we are always ready for everything. What did we eat? Any guess? Pasta Bolognese! Our classic, ha! I also had brought with me a box of little bottles of schnaps. We were going to party of course. It was the last time Moni and me would hang out in a long time.
Monica is going back to her home country on March. My travel mate is going to be gone.
Two more French guys arrived. It was pretty much a French night in Slovakia. We started drinking everything vodka, gin, French alcohol, schnaps, beer, rum and I can’t remember what else. Around 12 we got dressed and went out to a bar. It was a cool bar, not my type definitely but it was really chilled. One of the guys was so drunk he passed out in the couch… and before we left the bar, he puked. Embarrassing but oh well, it could happen to anyone Then we went to this other sort of British place. Music was really good, although for me it was not the dancing music type. The music that was playing was rock, classic rock, and the type of songs you would sing on top of your lungs with all your friends. People here in Europe dance so weird, it’s cool because everyone is doing his or her own shit. We left at 5am the place and went back to our host’s apartment.
Nico was really nice and kind. He told us before going to sleep we could wake up at whatever time and take a shower. No rush or something. We did it so. Woke up at 11, took a shower and left around 1. They were going to eat lunch somewhere but Moni and me didn’t have any money, or not enough to eat somewhere. They eventually told we had the “backpacker look”, not sure how the look is, but I guess so, we felt flattered. Nico liked my hat, I wish I could’ve give it to him, but it’s my favorite, and attach to it I have so many memories of my last couple of months here in Europe, plus I got it for only 5 euros!!!
Moni and me headed downtown. We were not sure what we were going to do. We decided to work on our little project, make a sign that says,“Have a nice day” and walk around downtown. It was really interesting, there was not a lot of people around so sometimes we would just wish a nice day between us haha. There were all kinds of reactions, people looking weird at us, people smiling and wishing us a nice day back, or just saying thank you. It felt really somehow and it reminded me of the simple things. How I didn’t have much with me, just the essential but still enjoy. I’ve learned through the past couple of months, it’s not about where you are but with whom, and I could’ve not wish for a better company. I really can’t imagine Bratislava without Monica. We also tried the free hugs sign but it didn’t work so we stayed with the have a nice day one.
At some time we got hungry but we didn’t know where to sit and eat. It was really windy and cold. We ended up eating in the street and freezing. Our food? Tuna with cookies and water. Nothing better. We kept on walking and headed to the train station since the time to day goodbye would come soon. It was just weird, we had said goodbye for 2 times already, but life brought us together for a last time before her departure. It felt real but weird. What was I thinking? Is this really happening? I am sad but somehow I can’t cry. I know I’m going to see her again. My train left first. As the train started going, just saw how her faster and faster would become small and suddenly vanish.
On my way back, I almost missed a train in Vienna and eventually I missed the second one. I had to sleep in the train station in Innsbruck. I got home at 6am and I was working at 10 the same day. Of course I was done at the end of the day.
Dear Nico and Sylvain, I hope I can meet you guys sometime again, and if you ever decide to cross to America, I would be really happy to have y’all.
Bratislava is a really nice city with lots of history. Not my favorite though. I would definitely say visit it on summer. Winter is too cold, you won’t enjoy everything.
Tips:
- Walking free tour in front of McDonalds at 11am and 3pm. You can search it in Facebook and Trip Advisor.
https://www.facebook.com/bratislavafreetour
- Book hostel.
- Don’t watch hostel and if you have already watched it, nothing is true.
- Eat food street if your budget allows it!
- Free wifi in McDonalds and train station.
- Everything is walking distance if you like to walk.
- Walk up to the castle.
- Don’t go into the museum.
- Have a beer
- Enjoy!
Coming soon, Liechtenstein!
Eating my boogers! 