Trying again, as it seems this didn't get anywhere yet:
On 7/17/11, Moray Allan <mo...@sermisy.org> wrote: > Hi, > > I just arrived in Banja Luka a little while ago, after beta testing > the connections from Zagreb airport. I of course wanted to make sure > that this was a fair test, so: > > - It was arranged that the plane escaped from London Heathrow an hour > late after a long wait for a take-off slot following boarding, > reducing my two hour connection time in Zagreb to one hour. > > - To make sure that I was tired out, I spent the flight reading a > novel in Spanish while the child next to me distracted me by singing > and trying to draw on my arm, and the baby two seats over cried > loudly. > > On arrival at Zagreb, I as usual chose an appropriate standing > location on the bus from plane to terminal so that I was towards the > front of the queue for passport control, and was then lucky that my > bag was one of the first onto the conveyor belt. These bits might > seem like cheating, but, sorry, I did want to try to catch the first > bus to Banja Luka. > > Reverting to non-cheating mode (and since I had some, but not much, > Croatian money with me) I left the airport terminal and put my luggage > in the bus directly outside and got on it, around 21.15, after being > assured by the driver that yes it was going to the bus station and it > would leave in "five minutes", instead of looking for a taxi to the > bus station. After a while the driver came through the bus selling > tickets (30 Kn each). I noticed that one couple didn't have local > currency, and the driver appeared to accept €10 for the two of them > instead. > > The bus left between 21.25 and 21.30 after it was almost full, and > took 20-25 minutes to reach its terminus at the bus station, arriving > about 21.50. It stopped a couple of times on the way, but these were > fairly obviously just brief roadside halts. The bus stopped in an > overspill car park outside the main bus station area, and the obvious > pedestrian entrance/exit from this area was closed (perhaps just > because it was the evening), so I left via the way we'd come in, > crossing over to the main bus station. After checking the way with > someone waiting for a bus, I then went upstairs (just taking any of > the stairs going up from the bus 'platforms') and followed the "exit" > signs along to the ticket desks. There was some complicated signage > above these, but the guy at the first desk I tried was happy to sell > me a ticket for the 22.00 bus to Banja Luka (108 Kn, as the wiki had > said). He pointed out to me the platform number (marked "PERON" on > the ticket). > > After going back along and down the stairs to the right place, I found > the bus waiting, and put my bag in the hold. This time there was a 12 > Kn fee for checking a bag, in return for which I got a receipt > matching a tag put on the bag. (This is fairly standard on Balkan > buses, but doesn't apply to the bus from the airport to the bus > station.) The main ticket had something that may have been a seat > number, but if it was then people were ignoring them to spread out -- > the bus was about half full. > > We arrived at the Croatian border about 23.40, and left the Bosnian > border about 00.20. At the Croatian border we all had to get off the > bus, show our passports, then get back on one by one, while at the > Bosnian border someone collected all the passports from us on the bus, > and took them off to stamp, then someone from the bus company gave > them back to us after we had started driving again. > > At about 00.40 we stopped at a cafe for people to smoke/use the > toilets/stretch their legs, departing again about 1.05. > > We arrived at the Banja Luka bus station at about 1.35. Some time > before this we'd passed a big sign for the city and a second sign with > a long list of twinned towns; the bus station itself was mostly just > an open-air car park, but they announced "Banja Luka" over the bus > speakers as we drove in, and it was the first major stop of the > journey. (A few people had got off immediately after the border > earlier.) > > At this time of night it wasn't completely obvious which way to go > from the bus, but while I was looking around, a taxi driver spotted me > and offered his services. By the end of the ride to Hotel Bosna the > meter was at about 8 KM. As I didn't have the right money for this, I > told him to wait -- he didn't speak English, but mentioning 'bank' and > leaving my bags in the car gave the right message -- and popped into > the hotel lobby to use the ATM there. (If I hadn't known there was an > ATM in the Hotel Bosna lobby, I'd have asked him to stop at a bank on > the way, given that I hadn't waited around to look for a possible ATM > around the bus terminal.) > > After paying the taxi-driver and collecting my bag, giving my passport > (along with a greeting) was sufficient for the guy on the hotel > check-in desk to find me on a list of DebConf people and give me a > room key. I'm just writing this note from the hotel wireless while I > remember details, and look forward to meeting up with everyone here in > the morning. :) > > -- > Moray > _______________________________________________ Debconf-discuss mailing list Debconf-discuss@lists.debconf.org http://lists.debconf.org/mailman/listinfo/debconf-discuss