Homesick

Well, we know it would happen sooner or later. We would get a little tired, a little restless, and get a little homesick. I haven’t spoken to my parents or heard my sister’s voice since the day we left. It’s been even longer since we could commiserate about the week's start with friends over wings or spend Friday nights drinking wine in the garage. And we still have three months to go.

When we arrived in Zagreb, we were tired and aimlessly wandering around the city - which sort of made it all worse. We tried to duck into cafes for a cappucino or birre and that didn't seem to help. The tiredness craves a comfortable couch and home cooked meals with a warm, soft dog to cuddle with. The restlessness craves a place where moving around and exploring is not required.
That is when we decided to add a stop to our itinerary. Our original plans involved going from Zagreb, Croatia to Wein (Vienna), Austria on a 6 hour train ride the next day. We were already loathing the time spent on trains, which Jason and I have calculated to be a total of approximately 64 hours so far. So we took a look at the map and train schedule and noticed a very small stop that is halfway to Vienna. That is how we ended up in a place called Szombathely in Hungary. We looked it up online and it didn’t seem to have much going on except a nice looking hotel with a small pretty lake out front. Perfect, a place to go where with nowhere to go, get some R&R and shake the illness of missing home.
It was just what we needed. We arrived in Szombathely while it was raining pretty hard. So we caught our third taxi of the trip so far to our hotel. We settled in and had a wonderful dinner at the hotel restaurant and went back upstairs for hot showers and some American movies on the laptop. We rested and slept and woke up late in the morning, went for a jog around the lake and checked out an hour late. We caught the fourth taxi of our trip to the train station in no particular hurry, grabbed some lunch, and were feeling much better and ready to head to Vienna.

One thing I have not had the chance to mention is how beautiful the European countryside has been. Green as far as you can see with sporadic patches of bright yellow, farmland, and animals. We have seen rosters, peacocks, swans, sheep, horses, and cows who all seem to be enjoying the farm life, soaking up sun, and look up as the trains pass by.

When we left Szombathely we pulled into our transfer station, it was a beautiful day. Crisp spring day with warm sun and clean air. Our trains thus far have varied in cleanliness and functionality, but today's train from Szombathely to Sopron (our transfer for Vienna) was simple, clean, and had a working window. It was such a beutiful day that we opened the window and stuck our heads out letting the clean air wash over our faces. What an amazing feeling, no wonder dogs like doing this so much. Oh, Charlie would love this! I could see her now with her head out the window, her hair and ears flowing back in the breeze and her tongue hanging out the side of her mouth. She'd be in heaven.

We will be in Vienna for one night before heading to Praha, then onto Berlin, then heading somewhere else to meet up with Copp. A few more long train rides ahead and starting the tail end of our European journey. Hope I don't get sick again.

Days Traveled: 24
Distance Traveled: 17,871km/11,169mi
Countries Visited: 9
Craving: some sense of normalcy, In-N-Out, Charie