Stradom

Even before the train left Budapest we had warning signs. There were two sets of numbers on each carriage so initially we got on the wrong one. Eventually got to the right carriage and there were two people sitting in our seats. They had set them selves up and wouldn’t move. I found out later that they sell more tickets than there are seats and locals just sit where they want. Rose shouted at them and they eventually left. I was in seat 57, and there was no seat 57! Then I realised there were a number of people all wandering around looking for seats that didn’t exit. Chaos before we’d even left the station! And it was HOT, so we were stressed and knackered before the journey started.

Initially I thought it was. a 6 hour trip, but I’d miscalculated and it was 9 hours. The train kept stopping, sometimes for up to 20 minutes all along the way.. We had our own little ‘room’ within the carriage with all or our luggage packed into the overhead storage compartments. It was small and cramped, and as the journey went along, it got stifling hot in there. No air flow, no air conditioning. And then we made our big mistake! At about the 7 hour point, we went to the cafe carriage to cool down and get a drink. While we were there the train stopped for about 20 minutes, which was nothing unusual.

Of we went again, Alice snd I decided to go back to our carriage, but we couldn’t find it! We went up and back a number of times and eventually found a conductor, who was having an argument with a number of other people. That was when we discovered that during the last stop, the end of the train, including the carriage with ALL OF OUR LUGGAGE had disconnected! We were in the front of the train heading to Warsaw, while our luggage was now heading to Krakow! All we had was our handbags, with credit cards and passports. Hard to explain what realising this felt like. Panic!

There were about 15 people in the same situation- all tourists. There may have been announcements, but not in English. Apparently a conductor walked up and down our carriage and told people it was going to happen, but people were sitting in random seats all over the train, and we were in the cafe car! There was no information on our tickets or at the train station. The conductor said ‘but everyone just knows’!

I won’t go into every detail of the next two days, It was spent speaking to incompetent people who didn’t really care, waiting at the information desk, being told to come back at a certain time, only to come back and nothing had changed. Explaining the situation to new people when staff changed. Rose had put AirTags in our large suitcases so we knew they were in a town by the Ukrainian boarder, but no one seemed to know how to get them back. A stressful, chaotic, frustrating and generally shit time.

Yesterday was meant to be a full day private tour of WW2 sites around Krakow and then to Auschwitz. In the end Tom and Rose went while Alice and I headed back to the train station yet again. And a miracle occurred! While we were explaining the situation AGAIN to a new person, the door opened and there were all our large suitcases 🎉🎉🎉. Unbelievable! Still missing were our 4 carryon bags. Tom’s had his CPAP machine in his, so we needed to find them.

More phone calls. We gave them a detailed description of the 4 bags and finally they located 2, Tom’s and mine. They would not, however, send them back! No explanation but they wouldn’t do it!! Alice and I bought tickets, ran to the train and about 1 minute later we were on our way to Przemyśl, about 2.5 hours from Krakow on the Ukrainian boarder. It was a full train and again they had sold more tickets then seats. We were told to stand up, or just go and find any seat that looks like it’s not being used. Usual Polish train system chaos!

We were a little anxious walking into the lost property system in Przemyśl, but another miracle occurred! Behind the door in this tiny office, in a tiny lost property space were ALL our bags! Rose and Ali’s bag was there along with Tom’s and mine. Our shopping bag was even there with food from our train trip still inside. We had not lost 1 single item! Once we took our bags off the shelves there was hardly any lost property there. God knows why they couldn’t work out what was ours.

An extremely traumatic 2.5 days which never want to repeat!

What have we learnt?
1. Never catch a Polish train!
2. Put AirTags on all our luggage (big and small bags)
3. Have your name and address on all items
4. Google translate is fantastic
5. Never leave your bags, even if you think they’re safe
6. RAA only has a $700 claim limit for lost luggage. That is pathetic!Read more