a good friend and coworker asked if i’d be up for taking a few engagement pictures for her and her guy Kyle. fun couple, great conversation, good looking people, no brainer. their wedding date is set for next fall, and i already can’t wait to let loose with them on their special day.
hell yes. traveling always is, and i really can’t say i ever regretted a trip. i saw so many amazing things, chatted with some really great people, and lived outside my comfort zone for a few weeks – something i always enjoy.
in the 14 days we were on the road, we traveled through 12 countries. not so shabby if i do say so myself! here are some other quick stats:
-4,300 km driven (~2,600 miles)
-most expensive gas: $5.60/gallon
-1,600+ pictures taken (well over 3,000 with what Bob shot)
-€85 in fines (4 total police contacts)
-about six blatant driving violations (totally blew a red light during rush hour in Albania)
-mystery foods eaten: 0
-meat eaten accidentally: 0 (YES!!!)
-18 Sprites enjoyed
-15 new passport stamps
-holy shit moments (like really holy shit!): 3
-lost or forgotten goods: 1 elastic clothes line in Venice
-compromised credit card number? check (no visa, i did not place an order at http://www.sexymovies.com)
-smiles on my face: tons
i can’t say the entire trip was wonderful, but then again no trip is. Albania was quite dull and the people didn’t seem the friendliest, we had a few frustrating nights trying to find our lodging (especially in Rome where every single hotel in town was booked), and listening to drunk people snoring in your room causing you to drag your mattress off your bed, out the door, and sleep outside isn’t the ideal situation. But those are the moments that make for the most memorable trips, and keep me wanting to do it all over again.
we didn’t meet as many travelers as we did in Vietnam, but the few we did meet were very cool people that i intend to keep in touch with. it’s always amazing how quickly you become “friends” with these total strangers, and how comfortable you are chatting with them after knowing them for a few short hours. that alone is worth the trip if you ask me.
so, for me, best place visited? Venice. worst? Albania. friendliest people? Bosnia, Serbia, and Slovakia. most douchebags? Croatia and cops in Montenegro. cheapest place? Slovakia. most expensive? depends on what you’re buying. Sprites? That was in Croatia and Italy. Croatia was really expensive – our dinner in Dubrovnik consisted of a hamburger basket, 2 beers, 1 Sprite, 1 water, and some nachos. our bill was €48.00 ($67.00). if you were renting a room, Rome and Venice were the most spendy. prettiest mountains? NE Montenegro and Serbia. prettiest coastline? Montenegro. craziest drivers? Albania. nicest roads? Austria and Germany (no surprise). best history? Rome. best meal? four cheese pasta dish at a hotel restaurant in Prizren, Kosovo. well, i take that back. i had ravioli with gorgonzola cheese in Ljubljana the last day of our trip, and while it took about 45 minutes to get our food, it was amazing. and i’m no foodie and never say that about food. worst meal? the “grilled cheese” in Ohrid, Macedonia. that was the worst meal of my entire life, come to think of it.
what’s next? not much traveling, actually. i may try to squeeze in a quick trip to Peru to hike the Machu Picchu trail this winter, but i’m going to concentrate on running a full season of triathlon races in 2011, so i’ll be sticking close to home to do that. my traveling day are far from over, though. Egypt and Jordan are high on my list, as is the rest of SE Asia (Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand). Russia has always intrigued me, and i really want to hike through Nepal. India would be wonderful to experience and photograph, and since my first trip to Japan was shit, i really look forward to returning there. so as you can see, i have a fairly long list, and intend to see everything on it in the next few years.
am i nuts? do i have too much wanderlust? i don’t think so. life is for living, and i intend to do just that. feel free to continue following along as i begin my next journey in a few months: preparing for next year’s triathlon season where in SEP i will swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles, and run a marathon (26.2 miles) in a single race. i can’t wait!
thanks so much for following along!
like i did on our Vietnam blog, i thought it would be fun to put together a slideshow of Bob and i throughout the trip just being us. i also threw in some pictures of where we stayed (and one of Bob’s many disgusting meals). at the bottom, i had to include a sample of one of the many intellectual conversations we had while driving along. i’ll be putting up a post in a few days with my final thoughts about the trip, so look for that if you’re interested.
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last night i realized that a portion of our drive today from Slovakia to Slovenia would be on the west Autobahn. of course i was excited to get on the road and see what our rental could do!!! turns out the section we were on had a 130 km/h speed limit, but traffic was moving at about 140 to 160 km/h which translates to about 85 to 100 mph so we made some serious time. as you saw above we were able to get up to about 170 km/h (about 105 mph), but i don’t think our car could go any faster. the video was shot going down a fairly large hill and i had it pegged. so not the best Autobahn experience ever, but it was still pretty neat to be going over 100 miles per hour while just keeping up with traffic.
along the way to Ljubljana, Slovenia today, we stopped off in the town of Bled to see the castle.
it wasn’t the most amazing castle i had ever been to, but it’s location was amazing!!! the views from the top were pretty spectacular. after that, we made it to our hostel and were pleased to find it very nice. we’ve been pretty lucky this whole trip with fairly nice places to say. they aren’t the Ritz by any means, but the hostels have been clean, cheap ($10-$25 per night), and filled with cool other travelers to chat at. we’re in Ljubljana for the next two days and on WED were off for home. we return our car tomorrow morning, will see the sites of the town in the afternoon, and TUE we may do something fun like rock climb or go rafting. we’ll have to see.
bye for tonight.
in typical fashion, bob and i got to chatting last night while walking around Venice and we decided to jam up to Bratislava, Slovakia this morning. it wasn’t too far, and we figured it would beat driving only a few hours to a town that didn’t look like it had too much going on like we had originally planned earlier in the day. after about a five hour drive through Austria filled with some pretty amazing views, we arrived in town. having never heard much about this town before yesterday, we had no idea what to expect. it was a lot bigger than we expected driving up, and the outskirts looked pretty dingy (think old soviet block). we found our hostel, dropped off our bags, and headed out to see the city center. and man were we surprised! the downtown area is gorgeous – almost Prague like – with wonderful carless, cobblestone streets filled with shops, cafes, and bars. the feel here is good too. it’s really laid back, the people seem very genuine, and there are tons of bicyclists, runners, etc. and the best part? it’s cheap! beers for a few bucks, Sprites for me for about 1.00US, and a pasta dinner for about 8.00US. this is a really nice change from Italy where i had a 6.00US Sprite! CRAZY! it really is unfortunate we didn’t know this place would be so great – we surely would have planned to stay longer than just one day. then again, we had no idea we would be here 24 hours ago, let alone anywhere in Slovakia or Italy or Macedonia or Albania for that matter, so how could we really have “planned” it out better, right?
due to the fact we arrived a little later than we had planned (we saw a cool castle along the way in Austria, stopped for a closer look, and ended up climbing about 1,293,945,993 stairs to see it), we only had enough light to shoot for about 1/2 hour. we’re going to see the castle and a really HUGE WWII monument in the morning, and then we head to Ljubljana, Slovenia where we’ll finish out our trip. along the way, we’re going to stop in Bled, Slovenia to see what looks like an amazing castle and town. i can’t wait!
like i said yesterday, Venice is wonderful. i really can’t say much more than that. it’s a town that just has to be experienced to fully understand what it’s all about. it’s vibrant, it’s laid back, it’s mysterious, (and on, and on, and on…) simply stated, it’s one of the most brilliant cities i’ve ever been to.
these photos show how i saw Venice today, and what made my heart race with excitement.
and a self portrait from today:
SEPTASTIC!