Ride on a broken bus to Kraljevo, Serbia

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Today began with a BG of 89, and Masayo and I woke up in our room in Novi Sad, Serbia with plans to get down south.

After a simple breakfast (chocolate croissant purchased in a bakery last night) we checked out and walked the 1.5 km to the bus station. The bus wasn’t pulled in to the station all the way, and when we got on and it left, the driver didn’t have to back up. A little strange.

As soon as we got on the road, we noticed something was wrong with the bus. It was jerking a little, like the engine was sputtering and wanting to die. It continued this way off and on, until eventually the driver pulled over to the side of the highway, under an overpass (it was still raining).

Masayo and I looked at each other. Bus trouble? What was going to happen? Would they send another bus to pick us up? How long would that take?

Surprisingly, after about 15 minutes of trying to fix something, the driver got back on and started the bus up. It died immediately, but he cranked it again and pulled out onto the highway again. We were going slow, but we were going forward.

Belgrade was the first big stop, and I didn’t think we would actually make it all the way there. If we did, somehow, what would we do? If they told us to switch buses that would be best. But if they wanted us to stay on this bus all the way to our destination, Kraljevo, would we decline? Serbia is mountainous, and I didn’t trust this bus on the winding mountain roads and their big dropoffs into oblivion.

I checked my BG on the bus and that breakfast had been too much — I was 276. I took a shot but had no food.

Amazingly, we did indeed make it to Belgrade without having any more big problems. We weren’t there long, and the driver (again, without reversing) pulled out of Belgrade station. Wait, they were going to continue — do the main part of the trip — in this bus?! Well, in for a penny, in for a pound. We were going too.

Whatever they did, it worked: the bus had no more problems, and we got to Kraljevo fine. I was relieved, and a little surprised that the bus had held up.

We walked to the nearby place we had booked, Hotel Belvedere, but it wasn’t in the location that Google Maps said it was. We wandered around, including entering an apartment building and walking all the way to the top floor, looking for our room.

Google Maps proved to be useless yet again, and we eventually found the place a couple blocks away. We checked in and then went to find something to eat for a late lunch. I got pizza, and Masayo got some ćevapi in pita bread. I got a beer too.

We moved two chairs from our room onto our balcony, and watched the lovely sunset while we ate. It was a really nice meal, and it was nice to have a view like this, especially after the (sorta) stressful day on the bus.

Dinner was small, from a market in town: I had s cup of dried milk and granola, into which you’re supposed to pour water, and a banana. It was light, but tasty, and maybe even sort of healthy.

Somehow, after this, my BG was really high: 340. I can’t explain why I’m high in the evening nearly every day, so I can’t fix it. You would think I needed more insulin at dinner, but how can someone take 10 units of Humalog for milk and a banana? It doesn’t seem right.

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