When I was a kid, one of my favorite books (right after "Curious George") was, "What Good Luck, What Bad Luck." For example, what bad luck, I fell out of the plane. What good luck, there was a haystack below. What bad luck, there was a pitchfork in the haystack. What good luck, I missed the pitchfork. And so forth. But it all is fine in the end. And I think that is pretty much a summary of my day.
My plan today was to take the 9:50 AM train to Siauliai. I checked the train schedule last night and it said I could chose from a 5 AM flight, a 6:50 AM flight or wait until after 4 PM. Oh. Okay.... I confirmed that Uber worked in the area and that the Pope-related barriers would be removed, set my alarm for 5 AM and went to the land of nod. I woke up refreshed, had some more coffee from that awesome Chemex device, got ready, ordered an Uber to the Vilnius train station, checked out, and was waiting when my Uber arrived.
The Uber driver didn't speak English, which should be fine, because I had already established the address via the app. And one of the reasons I wanted an Uber versus a regular taxi is that I've heard that, not unlike taxis in other countries, foreigners may be charged a bit more than locals. And then I thought he said something about airport. I said, "No, train station." I thought he confirmed. And off we went.
But I saw him fiddling with the default directions of the app. Okay, maybe he knows a better way. Now, if you back out the time waiting for the Pope to pass, it took me about 18-20 minutes to walk from the train station to my hotel. So I was surprised it was saying the trip would be 12 minutes. Maybe some of the Pop barricades were still in place after all and he had to go around them? After a while, we were parallel to the train tracks, so I thought, "Well, maybe taxis have to drop off on the other side."
And then we turned away from the tracks. Ruh roh And then I thought, "Oh, man, the station I went to wasn't the main Vilius station. I would've gone to the wrong one if I'd been walking. Thank goodness I took an Uber as there's no way I'd've made it this far." But we were fine. We were scheduled to arrive at 6:33 AM and the train wasn't until 6:50 AM so plenty of time, right?
Well, not if he dropped me off at the AIRPORT. I saw just as we arrived that his navigation was set for airport traiin station, but he nevertheless took me to the main terminal. GRRRRrrrr.... By this time, there would be no way to get back to the real train station and catch my train, even if I immediately popped into another cab (or, worse yet, asked for another Uber and got him again).
Okay, so what were my options? Go at the tail end of the day on the train and figure out something to do in rainy Vilnius, or figure out another way to get to Siauliaia. I chose the latter. First idea was to take a rental car. Yeah, the only rental agency that had locations at both Vilnius Airport and Siauliai was Sixt, which is not a US firm approved vendor so no preferential pricing. But how much could it cost? Um, with the drop-off in a different location, close to EUR 300 for one day. How about no?! I'm on vacation and have nothing but time and that is roughly 24,000 peppermint tea bags based on the EUR 0.34 I paid last night for 20 of 'em.
So what about a bus? Figured there must be some at the Vilnius train station, so if I just got the EUR 0.70 train back to the city, I could catch the next bus out. Or not. First of all, the first airport train out was at 08:17, which made sense when I realized the first flights didn't take off or land until well after 08:00. Well, I could take a taxi back to the train station in the city (ignore why I took an Uber in the first place, as that clearly didn't work out as planned) and catch the next bus at 08:20. But that involved a transfer to another bus, which was perhaps a bridge too far.
So, cheapskate that I am (and being on vacation, so my time value of money was significantly decreased), I waited for the train to the Vilnius train station. And what good luck, the conductor didn't show up so my ride was free -- I was also the only passenger on said train, which was kind of creepy. But hey, EUR 0.70 -- that's enough for 40 teabags!
In the interim, I had purchased the bus ticket for the 09:50 bus to Sauliaia online. Upon arrival at the train station I tried to locate the bus "gate." My ticket had a number, but all the stops around the train station had letters. Ummmm.... So I went to the Information desk, thinking someone there might be able to help. Well, kind of. In a mixture of Lithuanian and English, I was told that the bus ticket desk was in the "next hall" with a gesture to the left. Okay. I went outside to find the hall to the left. Nothing. Maybe she meant to the right. Nope. Thank goodness for my 2G unlimited data from T-Mobile, which helped me identify via Google Maps where the bus station actually was -- straight ahead across a rather scary-by-foot roundabout.
Found it and headed to the Information desk there to confirm that/whether my digital ticket would work or if I really needed to print it on paper. In response to my question of, "Do I did to print my ticket or is the digital version okay?" she answered "Yes." Okay..... I decided to throw caution to the wind and just get in line to board -- after a trip to the paid toilets, which distinguished itself by being the first that provided unlimited included toilet paper but only in a common area, so you had to guess how much you might need and take it with you to your stall. Hmmm.....
I watched the type of buses that were in the area. Some seemed very nice, advertising WiFi and spare power plugs and the like. Others were, um, smaller and sketchier. I waited with bated breath to see what bus would show up at platform 24 (play it and win!) I was lucky -- a rather nice bus with decent interior but no WiFi. Seems liked a deal -- EUR 13 for what ended up being a three hour drive versus the EUR 19 for the train that I missed, though the train had a shorter travel time. In the end, though, I got to actually be able to enjoy the scenery and take some pictures that more or less turned out. Though I feel bad for the elderly lady who sat down beside me and then realized I didn't speak Lithuanian or Russian and she didn't speak German. I used my best Lithuanian to say that I am an American, only speak a little Lithuanian and, um, excuse me (for lack of better words since my vocabulary is limited). But I give her snaps for not moving to a different space. And when she got off she turned to me and nodded and I did the same. Felt somehow like we had connected.
So in the end, I'm okay (I'm not ready to say I'm "glad") that I didn't make my train and that I wasted time and money with Uber. I had a lovely day, that didn't end when the bus arrived. But more on that tomorrow.
Point is, when you're too fixated on your plans, you can miss some amazing opportunities. Keep open to opportunity and the benevolent universe will fill your life with beautiful experiences. Sharing a few pics from the journey below.
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