Sweaty Buses and Stinky Slovakians
Chmeľová, Slovakia

OK—I get it. The winters in this country can be bitter-cold. I'm sure it gets down to negative help-me-dear-lord-I-have-to-go-out-in-that? degrees, and when it does, folks are thankful the buses and trains are sealed shut and warmer than the temperature outside.

Now what I can't understand for the life of me is why, in a country where the other half of the year is spent in shorts, the transport is ill equipped to deal with the heat. I'm not just talking a couple of rides, but every single transport we've taken in Slovakia has been boiling hot, with little to no ventilation. Even my baby is sweating buckets.

Two tiny bus windows…

Let's take the buses around here as an excellent example. Know what they've got for windows? Two little slits on each side of the vehicle. That's it. No roof ventilation that doubles an emergency exit, or internal vents to push air around. It's you, hot and sweating, and a bus full of Slovakians that don't wear deodorant doing the same.

This is Tatiana's big pet peeve for Poland and Slovakia: Women with hairy armpits and smelly people. Every time we go out, she cringes and feels the need to tell me how that ugly or pretty person that just passed by stinks somethin' fierce.

After busing around the planet since 2005, I've learned to breathe through my mouth inside transport, or take the window seat that opens. That, coupled with some congestion that I've been fighting off and on since Zakopane, leaves me pretty much oblivious to such smells.

Humm… Maybe I'm just use to smelling the stench of the world—armpit or otherwise. What's a little body odor between you and a country?

Breathe deep—taste the local flavor.

Explore photos from Slovakia

Browse more entries