slovakia, bratislava, senec...no visa

before i start i would like to clear that senec is name of a place in slovakia..

I was very excited about this three day trip to Slovakia to attend a training workshop which had an enthusiastic bunch of volunteers coming from Poland, Hungary, Slovakia..how cud i miss this training, i was all set to go and a day before wen i was supposed to leave for Vienna i was chatting with a friend of mine who studies there and she asked me a very logical question too late and lightning struck...."do i have a visa to enter Slovakia?" NO, i had a schengen visa and assumed it will work but u guessed right, no it wont work, because Slovakia comes under schengen territory from Jan 2008.

i arrived in Vienna on 16th and was supposed to leave for Slovakia on the 28th morning..tried calling up the slovak embassy and all i got was disappointment, applying for a visa was only possible from Delhi, i was dying to attend this workshop, that's why i went to Austria in the first place and now the chances of going started fading slowly.... klaudia in Slovakia was trying to recheck from the embassy if somehow....just by some loop hole in the law i cud make it. And the lady called me with a ray of hope and a clause in visa rule book of Slovak republic.

my schengen visa could be used as a transit provided to don't stay more than 5 days and i don't come back from the same route, so i had to take a train back via Hungary to Vienna and if caught in transit then i had a list of lies to be told with utter confidence with out mentioning that my intention is to stay and not just transit so what if its less than 5 days. i was worried as i dint wanted to fly back to India on a free flight on Slovak money so i called up indian embassy to recheck and some junior person gave me an encouraging assurance that "yes you can go but there might be problems if they don't fall for your answers during interrogation......well now i was sure that i was the most confused soul in Vienna at that hour.....

27th morning klaudia called again saying that she checked with Slovak embassy and asked me to play around the transit rule, well i took the plunge i was loving that adrenalin rush, had to book myself a one way ticket as i future was not visible covered in thick fog of fear.....i boarded the the 13:28 train from sudbanohf station to bratislava....capital of slovakia. there were questions falling on my head from the sky and i dint want to think about the answers.......what will the cops ask??

"can i see your passport??" sure "you don't have a visa for slovakia?" i am just passing by, i know schengen can be used as a transit visa provided i dont stay for more than 5 days "where are you going in bratislava?" i am meeting a friend at station then going to prague then Berlin and then back to Vienna " But why are you taking an odd route?" thats none of your business ( shit, no i cant say that) what will i say..mmmmmm??? i just wanted to meet my friends....will i be able to sell it to them?? oh shit, i shouldnt think about it...taking a nap was a good idea...

my sleep was disturbed by a tap on my shoulder, i saw a tall man standing in front of me, broad shoulders sky blue shirt, navy blue trousers a cap muscular physique other 5 people in the compartment looked very relaxed expect for me, in authoritative tone he asked "can i see your ticket please?" pheww here u go see my ticket and take this smile..for free, thank you. 10 minutes later i was in bratislava, slovakian soil below my feet and no slovakian visa on my passport....

the work shop was amaaaaaaazing had loads of fun and you dont have to guess it, i came back through the same route, no cheking no questions asked except for "can i see you ticket please"

click on the link below to find out what i did in those three days...

http://picasaweb.google.com/brikesh/Slovakia