My longest trip so far – 54 hours from Snina to get to Buenos Aires
First week of my South American trip in 2012 started already on Monday when was my last day at home. It was the most hectic day ever, I was running around the town to get the last things, packing (I always pack on my last day), visiting family and even making a snowball with my little brother. I was not just extremely busy, but most of all sad, nervous and excited. I so hate goodbyes. And yes, after 8 years of not living at home I still cry each time I leave again. Actually it’s maybe even getting worse, maybe I’m getting old :D
Anyway, at 6.30 pm on Monday, the 23rd Jan, I left home. First, my mum and her boyfriend drove me to the closest town Humenne which is where the train goes from directly to Prague at 7.40 pm. I had a night bed which together with the ticket cost me 56,50 EURO. Damn it, the prices went higher again!
It was just two of us, me and a man, quiet. First, I was trying to learn how to use the GPS on my new waterproof camera but it didn’t work on the train so all my efforts were pointless.
on the night train from Humenne to Prague
So I decided to sleep around midnight. It was unbelievably hot on the train so with below temperatures outside we switched off the heating. The fellow passenger was snoring the whole night. Then my sore throat, sinusitis, noise and heat destroyed my sleep.
At 7.30 am on Tuesday we finally got to Prague. I left my backpack at the train station and headed off to the center. It was cold and raining and I think I’ve never seen that little people in Prague like that morning.
raining at Old Town Square in Prague
I got to the Prague Clock and it started pouring down so I entered Starbucks. I could hardly speak so ordering the biggest cup of hot tea ever was a good thing to do. I sorted out some emails, spoke to my dad and some friends on facebook, ate home-made pizza, got a hot chocolate and recharged the laptop, too. Starbucks just never disappoint you.
I wanted to go to Charles Bridge but it was still raining so I went to pick up my things at the train station and took the airport bus to Terminal 1 (60 Czech crowns). Got rid of hot clothes, packed them and checked in. So far, boring trip without any problems. Getting from one place to another is not really what I love about traveling, but it still counts as one and has to be done :D
heavy snow at Prague airport before take off to Dubai
on board Emirates flight from Prague to Dubai
When I boarded, I was thinking of getting proper Dubai holidays for a couple of days. Next time I will do so. We took off from Prague to Dubai almost an hour late (before 5 pm) as the rain changed to heavy snow exactly after we boarded. We were on hold, then de-iced and finally took off with some turbulence. I spent the 5-hour flight watching 3 movies and eating. I love Emirates and their Boeing 777-200. It was my first flight ever when all children got teddy bears to play with. Go, Emirates! And also my first time on board when almost all economy seats had plugs to recharge anything you need. And 100 movies :D But the landing was horrible, I couldn’t hear anything and the earache was so painful it almost made me cry.
plugs on board Emirates Boeing 777-200
Landed in Dubai at 1 pm local time. The airport was too busy, I got a huge fresh juice at Pulp juice bar and went to my boarding gate to take some sleep. I was waking up every 10 minutes afraid I felt asleep. It was too cold so I walked through the airport trying to connect to internet on my laptop but it didn’t work.
I finally managed to connect on my phone at least so killed the time talking to a friend from Kuala Lumpur. Got a hot tea from Starbucks again and had to sit down on the floor to recharge the phone as there were just a couple of plugs around the ariport and none of them close to any seats. Bad planned, Dubai airport!
We finally boarded and had to do the baggage identification on board as there were more bags in the hold than passengers on board.
The flight was fine. I had 3 seats for myself so at least I had some space to sleep a little bit. Watched another 4 movies and ate. We landed in Rio de Janeiro, spent an hour at the airport and continued to Buenos Aires I watched The Way movie on board, completely loved it!
Do not disturb stickers on board Emirates Boeing
When we finally landed in Buenos Aires, it was not 54 hours since I left home (on the 25th January), but almost 55 in the end as landed a bit late. My roaming was not working again so the whole hour waiting in the queue for passport control I spent cursing. But after, my Couchsurfing friend was waiting for me at the arrivals to drive me to the center. Woo hoo, I made it. 54 hours from Snina to Buenos Aires. I hope getting back to Europe in summer will be shorter.
You are maybe asking why I took this weird route to get to Buenos Aires. Actually, it was the shortest and the cheapest way possible. Yes, I live in a shit hole in the middle of nowhere!
How do you survive long trips? What was your longest so far?
Tom
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I used to love Emirates, but the last few flights I took with them were delayed and the attendants were rude. One attendant literally just yelled at passengers, “just put your bags up!” (we weren’t anywhere close to being late taking off) and was sour-faced the entire flight. Then Dubai Airport is a nightmare. It took 40 minutes just to get to the terminal after landing (no joke), the ‘free WiFi’ didn’t work, and yes, the PLUGS. Agh.
Aaaaanyway, 54 hours in transit sounds crazy!!! I’m not sure what the longest I’ve done is, but it can’t be more than half of that. Possibly around 24 hours actually, to get from Leeds to Taipei – stopovers in London and Kuala Lumpur.
Crazy Sexy Fun Traveler
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Haha well, I flew with the Emirates I think only twice so can’t generalize … unfortunately for me, it always takes ages to get home/from home :D
Crazy Sexy Fun Traveler
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Comment@ Abuhmaid:
Thank God it was more flights that long :) And sure, Dubai is on my list!
Abuhmaid
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wow that is impressive :), 54 hours flight! i hope you enjoyed flying with us in Emirates! and whenever you plan to visit Dubai let me know will be pleasure to meet you.
crazy sexy fun traveler
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Haha Jason, I prefer train than long bus with no space for my legs … but I did manage to get to Buenos Aires alive, that’s important :) These long trips are for me to enjoy the places even more after taking so long to get to them ;)
Montana The Explorer
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54 hours of travel for me is a total hell but everything will paid off as long as we arrive in our destination safe and sound . Anyway enjoy dear and please keep us updated …
PS : i hate train rides and long hour flight ! lol