An ancient travel story (long)

In the summer of 2009, Brussels became my first real abroad. I spent 5 euros for a flight from Warsaw to Charleroi airport, advertised as Brussels airport, so the twenty for the transfer to the city hit both my wallet and my mood hard. At the entrance to the bus, the driver, an Armenian, boasted to the queue of Poles about his knowledge of languages, mentioning both Ukrainian and Russian in his repertoire. He knew French and Polish really well, but unfortunately he failed my Ukrainian test.

At that time, Poland had only been in the Schengen area for a year and a half, so for many Poles who flew with me from Warsaw, this European trip also counted as their first. As soon as the bus started moving, everyone started discussing lively about everything they saw outside the window – the airport buildings, the forest, the road, signs and poles. With each kilometer they reminded me more and more of an excited group of students on an unusual field trip, although most of them were under 30 years old.

After thirty minutes we entered the southern outskirts of Brussels. At a small intersection, the driver slowed down to let a cheerful group of pedestrians pass. Even though it was Monday, each of them had a bottle of beer in his hand. When they saw the bus stop, they excitedly and happily rushed to hug it, which of course attracted the attention of my traveling companions.

“Damn Russians,” one of them said. – How can you get so drunk?

“Yes, it’s just disgusting,” another agreed.

The driver interrupted the conversation: – These are not Russians, these are Poles.

There was an awkward silence, and then the offended passengers started to convince the driver that Poles are a well-mannered, European and law-abiding nation. And that no Pole could get so drunk as to behave in such a way.

The driver interrupted the discussion with a short, but aimed straight at the heart of Polish pride: – My dears, I live in this area. These are Poles.

We drove side by side in deathly silence the rest of the way to Gare du Midi.