So, here I am back in London at the end of it all. Eastern Europe is amazing. Beautiful, interesting and fun - and that's just the people. It's hard to say I had a favourite place as I liked different places for different reasons. I guess I liked the Baltics for the women, Kiev and Budapest for stunning cities, Slovakia and Poland for the scenery, Bosnia and Serbia for surprise packages and Croatia for the partying. So it was all good.
It's amazing how easy it was to get around. Almost everywhere, anyone under 35 speaks good English. It wasn't as cheap as I'd anticipated, and at a point I abandoned my budget and decided to just enjoy it as it was a once in a lifetime experience. I don't regret it at all - money well spent. And I like to think I'll keep in touch with many people I met along the way.
The recent history of so many places was pretty humbling. Around 1989 - 1992 there was so much change all over eastern Europe. The fall of communism, the USSR and Yugoslavia were massive and I guess it's pretty amazing how quickly it all happened, and around the same time. So many new countries on the map. And the people are so outward looking and just keen to get on with their lives. Which I guess is human nature.
So, that's a wrap. I'm heading to Bangkok, Sydney, New Zealand and all over South America next. If you're interested, have a look at www.stevegoesglobal.blogspot.com from time to time.
Thanks for looking. Mind those busy roads.
Peace
Steve
Wednesday 1 October 2008
Croatia, Munich & Prague
5 September: Mostar - Dubrovnik
Sorry folks, I'm gonna be lazy now and whip through the last few days of my trip. I went to Dubrovnik and hung out there with the kiwi dude I met in Mostar for a couple of days. It's a beautiful little city and even the abundance of tourists doesn't put you off. It was super hot so I hung out at the beach for a couple of afternoons. "Beach" is a little ambitious, given it was rocks and not sand so doesn't qualify as a beach for my money. Still it was nice though and the Adriatic water was amazing.
From there I went to Split, a little up the coast. I was thinking of going to Zagreb to try and get a ticket for the Croatia v England football World Cup qualifier. But decided in the end I couldn't be arsed sitting on a bus for another 5 hours without a guarantee of getting in. Plus I didn't want to be there if the English lost and a bunch of hooligans ran around smashing up the city centre. So I went to an island just off Split called Hvar and hung out with 3 English I met on the ferry on the way over. We took a day trip the next day around some tiny islands off Hvar, which was pretty sweet. The water was amazing and the sun was shining.
From there it was back to Split for another night to get on the Sail Croatia party boat for a week. Picture the scene if you can: 44 people on the boat sailing from island to island, with a couple of mainland overnights as well. Oh and did I mention that 37 of those 44 were girls? Seriously. This is what I'm talkin' about:
But I kept myself on a leash as making a sex pest of yourself on the first couple of nights is a sure way to spend the rest of the week in isolation, so it was a nice atmosphere on the boat. I was lucky enough to have great people on my boat (there are 8 boats all going at the same time) and had a fantastic time. I like to think I'll catch up with a few of them when I move to Sydney at the end of next year (there were only 7 of us on the boat not from Australia). The only downer was the weather, which turned for pretty much the whole week. It was a shame for the people who were only on holiday for a couple of weeks. I wasn't too worried as I'd not seen any rain for several weeks and the G&Ts helped to take the edge off too....
22 September: Croatia - Munich
So after a week of little sleep and much partying it was off to Munich for Oktoberfest for, um, more of the same for 3 days. Oktoberfest is mental. But such good fun. I met up with one of the girls from the boat and while we were there we bumped into a guy she works with in Sydney. He was there seeing a few of his mates that live and work in Munich so we were well looked after.
I went to Prague after 3 nights. Well that's not strictly true - I was meant to go to Prague but fell asleep on the train leaving Munich and missed my stop to connect to Prague. So woke up at the end of the line in a place called Hof, way the hell in the north of Germany. I had to get a room there for a night and get to Prague the next day. I met up with a couple I'd met in Hvar who are studying in Prague (he's from Slovakia, she's Japanese) and they took me out with a big bunch of their mates who are also studying there. So it was another late night which was a fitting end to my Europe adventure.
Sorry folks, I'm gonna be lazy now and whip through the last few days of my trip. I went to Dubrovnik and hung out there with the kiwi dude I met in Mostar for a couple of days. It's a beautiful little city and even the abundance of tourists doesn't put you off. It was super hot so I hung out at the beach for a couple of afternoons. "Beach" is a little ambitious, given it was rocks and not sand so doesn't qualify as a beach for my money. Still it was nice though and the Adriatic water was amazing.
From there I went to Split, a little up the coast. I was thinking of going to Zagreb to try and get a ticket for the Croatia v England football World Cup qualifier. But decided in the end I couldn't be arsed sitting on a bus for another 5 hours without a guarantee of getting in. Plus I didn't want to be there if the English lost and a bunch of hooligans ran around smashing up the city centre. So I went to an island just off Split called Hvar and hung out with 3 English I met on the ferry on the way over. We took a day trip the next day around some tiny islands off Hvar, which was pretty sweet. The water was amazing and the sun was shining.
From there it was back to Split for another night to get on the Sail Croatia party boat for a week. Picture the scene if you can: 44 people on the boat sailing from island to island, with a couple of mainland overnights as well. Oh and did I mention that 37 of those 44 were girls? Seriously. This is what I'm talkin' about:
But I kept myself on a leash as making a sex pest of yourself on the first couple of nights is a sure way to spend the rest of the week in isolation, so it was a nice atmosphere on the boat. I was lucky enough to have great people on my boat (there are 8 boats all going at the same time) and had a fantastic time. I like to think I'll catch up with a few of them when I move to Sydney at the end of next year (there were only 7 of us on the boat not from Australia). The only downer was the weather, which turned for pretty much the whole week. It was a shame for the people who were only on holiday for a couple of weeks. I wasn't too worried as I'd not seen any rain for several weeks and the G&Ts helped to take the edge off too....
22 September: Croatia - Munich
So after a week of little sleep and much partying it was off to Munich for Oktoberfest for, um, more of the same for 3 days. Oktoberfest is mental. But such good fun. I met up with one of the girls from the boat and while we were there we bumped into a guy she works with in Sydney. He was there seeing a few of his mates that live and work in Munich so we were well looked after.
I went to Prague after 3 nights. Well that's not strictly true - I was meant to go to Prague but fell asleep on the train leaving Munich and missed my stop to connect to Prague. So woke up at the end of the line in a place called Hof, way the hell in the north of Germany. I had to get a room there for a night and get to Prague the next day. I met up with a couple I'd met in Hvar who are studying in Prague (he's from Slovakia, she's Japanese) and they took me out with a big bunch of their mates who are also studying there. So it was another late night which was a fitting end to my Europe adventure.
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