More information about “tourist class”

As I write this entry, we have not yet reached our tourist class hotel, though we have been seventeen hours on our bus trip. At one time they told us we’d reach our hotel in time for dinner at eight o’clock, which was a couple of hours ago. Now they keep telling us it’s three and a half hours more. Well, maybe they finally decided that it’s less than three and a half. It can’t stay three-and-a-half forever unless we’re going in circles and I don’t think I’ve seen anything twice yet.

For me it’s been fairly painless. The kids we’re traveling with are really nice and as far as I can tell Alla is the only one complaining. She still hasn’t mastered the subtle art of making the best of bad travel situations.

In my efforts to make the best of our present situation I apparently annoyed a few people just a little bit. It turns out that some folks wanted to sleep, and I was leading a little cluster of kids in song. I never fancied myself the underminer of sixth-grade decorum, and I was a real goody-two-shoes as a school kid. One of the advantages of growing up is one gets a better idea of what one can get away with, so I got away with my music and singing as long as I could. Now I am sitting quietly with my computer playing my goody-two-shoes role once again.

Anyway, this trip does nothing to change my general rule of thumb that bus travel should be my last choice. I’m glad I’m here, but I do look forward to the pleasures of the train ride we will take back home.

[Late breaking news: we arrived at the hotel three hours after I wrote the above post, 20 hours after we left Minsk. We are guessing that our driver took a wrong turn somewhere, but nobody is talking about it. That's life in tourist class!]