Unexpected return

Returning back home alone from Lviv in Ukraine to Rzeszow in Poland was such an experience for me that I am never gonna forget.

Its not that far if you look at the map but it took for me to go back more than I could imagine.

Started with going to the wrong train station because the map lead me there.

I was waiting and I continuously tried to ask some people around me but I couldn't find out what I should do. In the end after sometime I asked a young guy for help and he told me how to go to the right station by bus and he even took me to the bus, spoke with the driver and payed for me. I can't still believe how kind people can be sometimes.

When I arrived at the train station I bought a ticket that was going to a place at the borders between Ukraine and Poland.

The train was full of people and the sits were uncomfortable.  A guy between 40 and 50 years old was opposite of me. Looking at me with a weird look and staring at my bag. I was trying to keep myself awake but unfortunately my eyes were closing by themselves. So I was closing my eyes for a while and suddenly waking up and funding the guy staring at me.

Such a bad feeling.

I really don't remember how much time I spend in that way. The train was unbelievably slow and cold inside. Outside of the window I could see people walking just next to the railway line and few villages without even roads.  The weather was so cold and it was Snowing and windy at the same time right next to my window. 

When the train stopped I asked a young lady if here is the last station for Poland and she answered to me with a head move no.

So I stayed in the train and again waiting. After a while people started to come in and take the sits. I liked more those people than the ones that came in from Lviv.

The train after a while started again. Nobody checked my ticked and I couldn't speak with anyone.

It was dark already. I took out my phone and I saw that I was about to run out of battery. I started panicking and checked again around the people to find a trusted face to ask.

Right next to me there was a girl that I could ask but she was on the phone, so I picked a young couple in their 20s. I tried in English and then in polish. My gosh they started to laugh uncontrollably and I felted bad because all the people started to stare at me.

I was kinda hopeless and I looked around again and next to the girl who was on the phone there was an old woman and I spoke to her in polish. The woman understood me and she said that the train was going back to Lviv.. Whaaaat?? I asked her how I could go back and she said get off and take the next train.

I got off from the train then and it was in the middle of nowhere.  There was no train station to ask and the few people that got off from the train were already gone in the dark.

That moment I wanted to cry. I had no idea where I was and the few houses I could see were far away.

I was so cold in the middle of the railway station.  Before I could see the weather from the window and now I could feel the cold in real.

I started to walk around the place and after a while I saw light coming out from a small building. I walked there and I saw that it was a small shop, I felt so happy inside of me and I stepped in. There was an old woman in a small shop and I spoke with her in polish that I was lost and I wanted to go to the borders.

She made a phone call and the next train was in 3 hours. I felt so bad that moment. The same old train that took me from Lviv. 

I prepared myself for the cold and I was about to go out from the shop when another woman came into the shop and the shop owner told her my situation. They told me about a bus which was going there.

The woman offered to take me there. I felted so relieved after that and I started following her. She took me from a narrow street full with malt and the wind was so strong that I couldn't walk properly.

After a turn there was a road and few cars were passing. We went to a corner that wasn't looking like a bus station and we waited for quite a long time.

The woman that I didn't even knew her name was there next to me at the same cold weather. We couldn't even speak the same language but I could feel that she is a good person. I promised to myself that I ll never forget her and her kindness.

The bus came and I went in. The bus was full with people but I found a sit for me.

The way was long but I don't know how long it took me to arrive because I slept.

When I arrived I was so happy to see a place that had shops and people walking around. After that I asked a shop owner the way to the borders and he told me to follow the way.

I walked the way and after a while I could see the borders and I felt so happy and relieved at the same time. I took out my passport and I followed some people. The cars were going on a different way than the people.

Most of the people crossing the borders had food and cigarettes with them. I was the only one with a backpack.

I had no problems with crossing the borders but it was obvious that they saw a greek passport for the first time there.

I was lost in my thoughts of how I could go to my city. Suddenly I looked and next to me there was a couple in my age so I asked them how I could take a train to my city.

They said that there are mini buses going to a city that has train station. I felt good but the guy added that he didn't know if there were buses at that time going.

It was a waiting line to cross the polish borders and another guy asked me if I wanted to go with him because he could leave me at the train station. Something inside of me said that I shouldn't go and I said no.

After the borders there were lots of people with bags waiting.

I went there and I asked if there was a bus going to the train station.  A woman answered me that she was waiting for two hours and she didn't saw any buses.

The guy that offered to take me to the train station saw me and asked me again if I wanted to go. Again I said no.

Anyways a taxi was passing and I quickly asked the woman if she wanted we could share a taxi together. We stopped the taxi and we took it until the train station.

When I arrived at the train station I saw that there was a train to my city in about 20 min and the next one was at 4 in the morning.

I felt so lucky at that moment.

I took the train and finally I was on the way back home safe.