Day 9 - Georgia

Ok. It was an interesting night last night. Difficult to know where to start. I'll give the short version;

Bus dropped me off in Batumi around 8.30pm

Friendly couple shared a cab with me and made sure I was dropped off at the main station about 5 miles outside of town. 

Needed to catch the sleeper train to Tbilisi at 10.25pm.

Sleeper train doesn't exist. Only two trains per day now. am and pm. 

Bought ticket for morning train.

Discovered it's actually two hours ahead of Turkey in Georgia, so it's now 11pm

Was directed to a hotel up the road.

After searching for half an hour, discovered that the hotel was closed. Permanently.

Went a*se over t*t and got a hurty foot. Very embarrassing.  

Returned to the station with the idea of dossing on the platform. 

Station closed. 

Saw grim hotel sign and enquired. 

Led down a dark path to large shack. 

Hotel was in fact a family home and was welcomed in by Michael plus extended family (his mother, 3 grandchildren, brother and three other misc. gents of unknown origin) and had a cuppa.

Had a great hour or two chatting with family (lovely lovely people who tried very hard to make me feel at home) before going to my room. No toilet, sink, lock on door etc. 

cost 15Lari (no idea how much that is) and slept fully clothed with one eye open all night.

So it was a genuine Georgian homestay. I have some mixed feelings about the whole affair. On the one hand, it was one of those unique, warm, friendly exchanges that only occurs after a series of mishaps and something I'll never forget or would want to change. On the other, I feel slightly guilty for being suspicious of what turned out to be a hospitable Georgian family who took me in at a moments notice. When all is said and done, experiences, good, bad and those where you're not initially sure if they're good or bad like last night, are exactly why I wanted to travel. This one ended up being very enriching and I'm very happy it worked out the way it did. I'll have to think about my risk assessment routine for next time.

My foot is now swollen and I'm limping. That bit I'd change. 

Personal hygiene is highly questionable at present. I feel a bit sorry for the passenger who I am sitting next to as I type this out. I treated myself to a first class ticket for the 6 hour journey. It's not first class of course by any reasonable standard but it has large seats, plenty of legroom and wi-fi, so I'll waive the over-generous class rating. It knocks Thameslink into a cocked hat. 

I'll get to Tbilisi half a day late and will need to figure out what I can do in the time I have there.