The Value of Patience...and Good Judgment
Being on the road, the traveler often comes across situations where his own decision-making. And when the wrong decision is taken, the cost is unbelievably high in monetary terms (not to mention damages to self-confidence)...but it is those wrong decisions that tend to be, ultimately, the most memorable ones. And the same wrong decisions, by pure "virtue" of their being incredibly BAD decisions, lead to the greatest adventures...but at the end, with the wallet all beat up, the traveler has to realize where is that fine line between "adventure at all costs" and "sound financing while on the road."
Yesterday was that sort of day. The traveler planned to travel from Pristina, Kosovo to Dubrovnik, Croatia by transferring once at Podgorica, Montenegro. When the bus from Pristina arrived in Podgorica at 2am local time, the traveler, to his dismay, realized that the daily bus between Podgorica and Dubrovnik, becomes once every two days during winter times, and with New Years holidays coming up, it meant that he has to idly stay in Montenegro until the 2nd of January if he waits for the bus to start up again.
For the traveler, time was of the essence. In a city with little budget options, hotel costs can easily go up to 50 Euros a night. Two nights of hotels and bus ticket, plus food, would easily add up to 130 Euros even without adding in the time cost. So, the traveler decided to get a taxi to Dubrovnik instead, in what later, with a little bit of classic East European-style deception by the taxi driver, proved to be one of the worst one-time conscious decisions the traveler has made during this entire trip. If it were not for the sheer beauty of Dubrovnik awaiting me at the end of all this, the pain from this one would have stuck for quite a while.
So, back in Podgorica at 2:30am, the traveler negotiate the taxi fare to Dubrovnik down to about 110 Euros, gets in the taxi for a what is said by the taxi driver to be a 5 hour drive, and takes off into the twisty, pitch-dark mountain roads of Montenegro. 3 hours later, the taxi driver wakes up the sleeping traveler, telling him in broken English, "it is finished" (i.e. "we are here"). Rubbing his eyes, the traveler looks through the car window to find the Montenegrin border checkpoint on the way to Croatia.
The half-sleepy, half-puzzled traveler tries to question the driver why he stops at the border, getting the response that the driver cannot go over the border. He, with English vocabulary words and many gestures, tells me not to worry, just cross over the Montenegrin border on foot, walk "maybe 90m" to the Croatian border checkpoint, and then grab a taxi from there. He adds that the taxis on the other side is plentiful and the taxi ride from the Croatian border to Dubrovnik should be very cheap because its only a 10 minute drive.
Annoyed by the taxi driver only mentioning this now rather than before the whole journey started, the traveler still had no choice but to get out at that point. The driver bid his friendly goodbye with a warm handshake, leaving the traveler to handle the border himself. The exit from Montenegro was without incident, but as the traveler began trekking from the Montenegrin checkpoint to the Croatian one, he quickly realized that the walk is nowhere near "90m." In that single pitch-dark twisty mountain road between the two checkpoints, the traveler ended up walking more than half an hour.
Then came the Croatian border, with time now at around 6am. The surprised Croatian border official, after hearing that I walked from the Montenegrin side after getting off a taxi, looks at me like I am crazy, stamps my passport, and with a cynical grin, tells me that its too early to call any taxi right now, and that I can keep walking the 44km to Dubrovnik. Then he, with no other offers for help, simply waved me off into Croatian territory, with another twisty pitch-dark mountain road ahead.
The story ends with the traveler unsuccessfully hitchhiking along the road, eventually hitting up a nearby post office with a phone to call in a taxi from Dubrovnik. At 9am in the morning and another 40 Euros later, the weary traveler finally get to his final destination. For all the time he gained, he lost too much in energy, money, and courage to try similar thing ever again. The shell-shocked conclusion to the whole heart-thumping episode is, well, be patient, and be more thoughtful with decision-making...sigh...enough said.
Yesterday was that sort of day. The traveler planned to travel from Pristina, Kosovo to Dubrovnik, Croatia by transferring once at Podgorica, Montenegro. When the bus from Pristina arrived in Podgorica at 2am local time, the traveler, to his dismay, realized that the daily bus between Podgorica and Dubrovnik, becomes once every two days during winter times, and with New Years holidays coming up, it meant that he has to idly stay in Montenegro until the 2nd of January if he waits for the bus to start up again.
For the traveler, time was of the essence. In a city with little budget options, hotel costs can easily go up to 50 Euros a night. Two nights of hotels and bus ticket, plus food, would easily add up to 130 Euros even without adding in the time cost. So, the traveler decided to get a taxi to Dubrovnik instead, in what later, with a little bit of classic East European-style deception by the taxi driver, proved to be one of the worst one-time conscious decisions the traveler has made during this entire trip. If it were not for the sheer beauty of Dubrovnik awaiting me at the end of all this, the pain from this one would have stuck for quite a while.
So, back in Podgorica at 2:30am, the traveler negotiate the taxi fare to Dubrovnik down to about 110 Euros, gets in the taxi for a what is said by the taxi driver to be a 5 hour drive, and takes off into the twisty, pitch-dark mountain roads of Montenegro. 3 hours later, the taxi driver wakes up the sleeping traveler, telling him in broken English, "it is finished" (i.e. "we are here"). Rubbing his eyes, the traveler looks through the car window to find the Montenegrin border checkpoint on the way to Croatia.
The half-sleepy, half-puzzled traveler tries to question the driver why he stops at the border, getting the response that the driver cannot go over the border. He, with English vocabulary words and many gestures, tells me not to worry, just cross over the Montenegrin border on foot, walk "maybe 90m" to the Croatian border checkpoint, and then grab a taxi from there. He adds that the taxis on the other side is plentiful and the taxi ride from the Croatian border to Dubrovnik should be very cheap because its only a 10 minute drive.
Annoyed by the taxi driver only mentioning this now rather than before the whole journey started, the traveler still had no choice but to get out at that point. The driver bid his friendly goodbye with a warm handshake, leaving the traveler to handle the border himself. The exit from Montenegro was without incident, but as the traveler began trekking from the Montenegrin checkpoint to the Croatian one, he quickly realized that the walk is nowhere near "90m." In that single pitch-dark twisty mountain road between the two checkpoints, the traveler ended up walking more than half an hour.
Then came the Croatian border, with time now at around 6am. The surprised Croatian border official, after hearing that I walked from the Montenegrin side after getting off a taxi, looks at me like I am crazy, stamps my passport, and with a cynical grin, tells me that its too early to call any taxi right now, and that I can keep walking the 44km to Dubrovnik. Then he, with no other offers for help, simply waved me off into Croatian territory, with another twisty pitch-dark mountain road ahead.
The story ends with the traveler unsuccessfully hitchhiking along the road, eventually hitting up a nearby post office with a phone to call in a taxi from Dubrovnik. At 9am in the morning and another 40 Euros later, the weary traveler finally get to his final destination. For all the time he gained, he lost too much in energy, money, and courage to try similar thing ever again. The shell-shocked conclusion to the whole heart-thumping episode is, well, be patient, and be more thoughtful with decision-making...sigh...enough said.
wow, I'm glad you made it out alive XD
ReplyDeletehaha, its an expensive way to make it out alive, but at least its a good story to tell later on....
ReplyDelete