Category: Serbia

Another Day in Paradise (Serbia, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Nairobi, Diani Beach, Kenya)

My Europe trip finished before I knew it and I’ve already moved onto my Africa trip! Actually, once I reached my last destination in Europe (Prague), everything started to go downhill so I think I was almost relieved to get back to London. The last time I posted, I was in Belgrade, Serbia, which was really nice but also really hot! During the last week of my trip, it was a constant 33 degrees (except in Prague, where it often just rained). I did the walking tour in Belgrade and then I spent the rest of the day exploring the city. I had limited myself to 20 pounds per day (including accommodation) during my entire trip, and it got more and more difficult as I got further north. This was only the beginning of my struggles in trying to keep up with my daily limit.
On Tuesday morning, I had to catch a 7am train to Budapest. This was the first time during my entire trip when I took a train, and it also ended up being the only time. A bus ride was 6 hours and a train ride was 8 hours, but the train was cheaper so I opted for the longer trip. I ended up getting an entire Harry Potter carriage to myself, which I was so thankful for but after 45 minutes, a guy from South Korea asked if he could sit with me. I said yes, although I was somewhat disappointed. Then, he continued to talk and talk nonstop! For those of you who know me, I hate mornings, and I hate talking to people in the morning, especially when I haven’t had my coffee. I struggled for about an hour and excused myself so I could go find the restaurant carriage. As I walked over, I noticed that every other carriage was completely empty… this guy came specifically looking for someone to talk to! I wondered if it would be rude if I went and grabbed my stuff and moved to a different carriage, and decided against it. I endured his conversation for hours, even when the train stopped randomly for over and hour and a half – increasing our total time to ten hours! When I finally got to Budapest, I was not disappointed! Oftentimes, I don’t like hearing how much other people liked or disliked a city because it builds up my expectations and I end up being disappointed. Budapest is a city that I constantly hear about but it didn’t disappoint whatsoever! The architecture everywhere is absolutely beautiful, and I instantly had the feeling, “I could live here.” I went on my usual walking tour the next day, and then had lunch with some of the people on the tour. I then spent the rest of the day walking around and trying to stay cool by spending time in the stores. The next day, I was really wanting to go to the thermal baths since it was supposed to be another hot day, but it would cause me to go over my budget. I therefore decided to go for lunch at an amazing soup & sandwich spot called Bors Gasztro Bar. I then decided to walk to the city’s island, where I could sit by the musical fountain for hours and hours (for free!). The fountain continued throughout the day, but the music only happened for about 15-20 minutes every hour on the hour, and the fountain and music were synchronised perfectly! I stayed for about three hours before heading back to my hostel to have dinner.
On Friday, I took a two-hour bus ride to Bratislava, Slovakia. These buses (RegioJet) were better than most European planes I’ve been on! We each got our own TV with a selection of movies, and you could order food or drinks, and have as many complimentary coffees/teas/cappuccinos as you wanted! The time went by extremely fast and I got there just in time to do an evening walking tour – the communist tour. It was one of my favourite walking tours because the girl was so passionate about the subject and knew her information really well. The next morning, I went on the actual city walking tour, which was the history of Bratislava. It was quite interesting to hear how peaceful most of their protests were, and how they broke away from Czechoslovakia. Bratislava had also lost most of its Old Town because they had to decide which city they would preserve – Prague or Bratislava (and they obviously chose Prague). However, I still think Bratislava is quite charming and I enjoyed my time there. That day, they had a music festival happening so I was able to watch some live music and enjoy my time in the sun. The next day, I wandered across the river (over their famous UFO bridge) and spent some time in the park. It started pouring later that afternoon so I spent the rest of my time in the hostel.
On Monday, I went to my last destination – Prague. I took the same type of bus so I got to watch movies during the trip. However, I started to feel a bunch of pressure right around my nose. Halfway through the trip, the bus driver stopped for a bathroom break and as I got up, the pressure increased and I had an extreme pain go through my nose and forehead. (Warning: too much information up ahead!) When I went to the bathroom and bent over, liquid came streaming out of my nose – it was like someone had turned a tap on! It filled up my hand and it felt like a nosebleed but when I looked down, it was just like water. I then went to my phone to figure out what was happening and the majority of posts said it was brain fluid!! I then started freaking out and wrote my doctor friend in Canada (thanks Raman!) who assured me that it was only sinusitis and I had nothing to worry about. I got to Prague and decided to take it easy that evening since my head was still hurting and I still felt stuffed up. The next morning, I woke up to some bites on my arms, which made me somewhat concerned. The bites continued to add up each morning during my time in Prague – mostly on one side of my body. That morning, I took my last walking tour, which was also interesting hearing the Czech side of Czechoslovakia, and then explored the east side of the city. Wednesday morning was when everything started to go downhill. I tried to check in to my flight online and it wouldn’t let me. I then called the airline and he replied that my booking had been cancelled and I didn’t have a seat on the flight. “Umm.. excuse me?” He said I’d have to call Expedia to sort it out, and didn’t seem willing to help out any further. The thing that ticked me off about this was that at the beginning of May, I had gotten an email saying that my booking was cancelled and if it was an error, I should phone them. So I phoned them and the guy basically just laughed and said I had nothing to worry about and my booking was still there! Well, apparently not… I called Expedia and he said I didn’t have a seat on the plane and he’d try to sort it out. He asked if I wanted to stay on the line or get a call back, and he said it could take 5 minutes or an hour. I opted for a call back and I couldn’t even say bye before I started crying in the middle of the cafe. About an hour later, I got a call saying everything had been sorted out (thank goodness!), and I should wait an hour before trying to check in again. I went to check in when he said, but it still wouldn’t let me! I called the airline and they said I’d have to wait until I got to the airport. Someone else I met while travelling said the same thing had happened to him and then when he showed up at the airport, they told him that there weren’t any seats available, so I was paranoid that was going to happen to me. I tried to keep myself occupied by going to the other side of the river and exploring the castle grounds. The next morning, I made my way to the airport. I walked to the nearest metro station in the pouring rain, only to find out that the station was closed. I then had to take a tram to the next station, and eventually I made it to the airport. The weird thing about this airport is that they had security right before each gate. Therefore, if you wanted to eat at a restaurant or buy a bottle of water, you’d have to get it sealed before boarding the plane. I went through security and bought some water from a vending machine, and waited to board. They finally started boarding us when we were supposed to be leaving and then when about half the people were on the plane, one of the security guys came from the plane and started yelling at the flight attendants in Czech. They then stopped checking people in, and everyone who was on the plane had to get back off. They announced that we would find out more information in an hour. Great! Since it was lunch, I decided to go eat but I had to leave the gate, meaning I’d have to re-enter security with my bottle of water. I asked if it would be okay and the guy said he’d remember me. I went and got some goulash and then when I went to re-check in, the security guy was just leaving! The new lady seemed pretty pissed off that I was trying to bring a bottle of water in, but she put it in her box thing, saw it was safe, and let me bring it in. I boarded the plane and they announced that they were waiting for the go-ahead to start flying. We waited while sat down for over an hour, and we were 20 minutes short of getting compensation by the time we finally left (I swear they do that on purpose). By the time I got to London, I was physically, mentally and emotionally drained. And I was seriously questioning all of the bites on my body, which I was hoping weren’t from bedbugs. I waited in the long line to get through passport control and then went to get on the bus that I had prebooked. However, because the plane was so late, the driver said my ticket was no longer valid and I’d have to buy a new one. By that time, I was just annoyed and mad, and I stubbornly decided to wait for four hours until I could use my other bus ticket (which I had bought for my cancelled flight). However, I realised that I’d probably spend the same amount on food while waiting as I would on the bus ticket, and decided to just take the bus anyway. I got to my hostel, got some food, and then went to bed. My bug bites continued to swell over the next two days and became at least the size of a dime and were bright red. I became more and more concerned, and questioned everyone I met on whether they were bug bites or not. That Friday was the Phil Collins concert! The doors opened at 2 so I headed over for 2:30, and then there were five concerts. The concert was in Hyde park, so there weren’t any seats but everyone sat on the grass between concerts and then stood during the performances. After the first performance, a mother and daughter (who was about my age) came and sat beside me and I noticed a Canada flag on their backpack. They then pulled out a deck of cards, which was also Canadian. I couldn’t help but ask, and I found out that they were from Vancouver, doing a trip in Italy and Germany, and flew to London just for the Phil Collins concert. It was nice to see some fellow Canadians, and the night was so good, it helped keep my mind off of everything else. Phil Collins’ voice is still just as good as ever, but he had to use a cane on stage and he sat in a chair during the entire performance. His 16-year-old son was his drummer, which was pretty cool! Saturday was Canada day! There was a huge get-together at Trafalgar Square from 12-8, so I headed over for 12:30. I waited for one of my former flat mates to show up with her girlfriend, and then we stood in the extremely long line for Poutine. They had one line to order and one line to collect, and it took us about an hour and a half just to get through the order line so we got to know the people around us quite well. However, once we got closer to the front, we noticed there were tons of people trying to butt in line, so we had to stay glued to the person in front of us. Sam and I basically stood as a human wall so that people couldn’t get through. There was one point when I turned and told everyone that no one would be getting in the line because we’ve been waiting our turns and no one would be let in. Then when I got to the front, someone tried to cut right in front of me, so I had to say, “No, all of us have stood in line for an hour and a half so you’re going to let us go first,” which she did. If London’s taught me anything, it’s to have a backbone! I don’t like anyone getting in the way of me and my Poutine! Anyway, we finally got the ticket to order and then had to get in the collection line, which took another half hour. However, our two hour wait was totally worth it! The Poutines were delicious! Apparently the line to get to Tim Horton’s was also over two hours, so I decided I’d have to wait a few more weeks to get my iced cappuccino. One of the event coordinators said that there were 69,000 people who attended Canada day! I also found out that the Grey Cup was there! I stood in line for 2-3 hours during a blades game to see the grey cup and when I had gotten to the front, the Roughriders said, “okay, we’re done” and walked away with the Cup. This time when I went, there were five people in line so I easily got a picture! After we finished our Poutines (and my flatmate’s friend shared a Nanaimo bar!), Kim called and said she arrived. I met up with her and her friends, who I had met before at Thanksgiving, and we spent the rest of the day drinking Sleeman’s Honey Brown (until it ran out). We went out for dinner at Nando’s (a popular chicken place in the U.K.), and then we bought alcohol and stood on the street in front of the Canadian pub (the Maple Leaf), where hundreds of other Canadians were hanging out. We stayed out until about 10pm and then I headed back to the hostel.
On Sunday, I had made plans with my flatmate to pick up my mail so I had also made plans to meet up with one of my co-workers for coffee in that area. She also didn’t know what my bites were, but suggested I go to the pharmacy to ask. I got them checked and the pharmacist said they weren’t bedbugs, and I probably got them cause I was sleeping right next to an open window in Prague. I also got a message from my flatmate, who said that she couldn’t be at the flat anymore cause she slept over at her friend’s house, and could I come the next day instead. Super annoying since it costs my five pounds every time I go there, and I was already in the neighbourhood. I was also planning to drop off my Europe suitcase and pick up my Africa suitcase from Kim the following day, but she wrote and said she didn’t feel comfortable taking my Europe bag and couldn’t risk getting bedbugs in her flat. This was completely understandable but also extremely inconvenient, and I was getting to the point where I just wanted to go back to Canada because nothing seemed to be going right. I called my parents in tears and they reassured me that everything would work itself out. Lucky for me, I was able to find a company that would pick up my suitcase and then drop it off when I needed it again. However, it needed to be packed in a box so they’d have to deliver the box, then I’d have to pack the box, and they’d collect it the following day. The soonest they could deliver the box was in two days, meaning I wouldn’t actually be there when they collected the box. Lucky for me, my hostel was really accommodating and said I could leave the box with them and they’d make sure the delivery man got it.
I went to bed and the next day, I went to the bank to order the money I’d need for my African trip, which I’d have to pick up the following day. I then stopped at Primark to pick up some clothes for my trip, and then I made my way to my flat. My flatmate wrote me that morning saying she wasn’t able to come to the flat and her boyfriend would come at 4:30. I wrote my flatmate to tell her I was on my way, heard nothing, wrote her when I was at our station, still nothing, and then walked to the flat and called her when I was there. She said she was just about to message me and her boyfriend was on his way. 20 minutes later, he finally showed up and I got my mail. However, the letter I was expecting for taxes wasn’t there! I headed to Kim’s to pick up my backpack for Africa, which was also quite stressful because I had packed things in different bags and had to remember where everything was located and if I forgot anything (I’ve already realised I’ve forgotten quite a few things). Tuesday was my last full day in London, and the waiting day (which was kind of inconvenient). I had to wait for the box to arrive so I could pack my suitcase, so I went to do laundry, then went to pick up my money at the bank, and then did some last clothes shopping. Finally, my box had arrived! I packed everything up and left it with the hostel, and then headed to my other hostel, which would be closer to the bus station.
The next morning, I had to get up at 4:30 so I could make it to the bus station by 6, and head to the airport. My flight left at 10am and was about 7 hours to Dubai. I was able to watch three movies, and then I had a five hour layover in Dubai. Everything in Dubai was so expensive! Even the burgers at McDonald’s were 10 dollars! I avoided buying anything there and waited to eat on my next flight to Nairobi, which was five hours. I finally got there at 5:40am and then had to wait to get my Kenyan visa, which took at least an hour. This cut back some of my layover there, and then I had to re-check in and catch my 50 minute flight to Mombasa, which ended up being 20 minutes late. I arrived in Mombasa at about 10:30am but when I went outside, my pre-ordered taxi wasn’t there! I asked to use someone’s phone and called the hostel, who said I’d have to ask for another taxi and he’d cover the cost. What I didn’t realise was how long the taxi would take. By the time I go to the hostel, it was about 1-1:30pm! However, the taxi driver kept doing errands – stopping at the tire shop to get his tire fixed, stopping at the gas station twice, etc. It should have only taken 1.5 hours but it took way longer. I was exhausted by the time I got to the hostel, but the gave me an upgrade since the taxi didn’t come, which was great! I slept in an amazing treehouse, meaning I had to climb up and down a ladder in order to enter and exit, but it was so cool! I loved being able to sit on the private deck and watch the monkeys jump from tree to tree. The owner of the hostel is Canadian, and he also owns two other properties close by, so I was allowed to walk over to the hotel and use the pool or take advantage of the beachfront location on the Indian Ocean. Every night at 7pm, the bushbabies would come out so we could feed them bananas; it was so cool! I ended up getting 11 hours of sleep on each of the first two nights that I was there – I was obviously exhausted from all of the travelling! During the day, I just relaxed by the pool and read my book. It was a much needed relaxing holiday! On Sunday morning, I had to take the 1.5 hour taxi ride back to the airport, only to find that my flight would be delayed an hour and 40 minutes. I finally made it to Nairobi at about 4pm and I got to meet a few people who would be going on the tour with me. This time, I slept in a tent-like 8-person dorm room, which got quite cold at night! Even though Nairobi is quite hot during the day (about 26 degrees), it goes down to about 12 in the nighttime since it’s their winter right now. And this is one of the warmer places! I might have to buy a few extra blankets to survive the nights. Today, I got to go to the Giraffe Centre to feed some giraffes, and then we went to the elephant orphanage, where they raise elephants until they’re about three years old (since they wouldn’t be able to survive without the milk of their mother), and then they reintroduce them back into the wild. They have 26 elephants right now, but they said they can get up to 20 elephants each year. Although some of the mothers are killed by natural causes, most are killed due to poaching for ivory, which causes these babies to grow up without a parent. It’s quite sad! They said that the best way to help is to avoid buying products made of ivory, so I’m passing this message along for everyone to make their own decisions on the subject. Tomorrow, I’m officially starting my African trip and we’ll be leaving quite early in the morning to start the 7-hour drive to our next destination in Tanzania. I’ll try to update as much as I can, but I don’t think we’ll have much access to wifi. Hope everyone’s doing well! Love always
Another Day in Paradise – Phil Collins

See The World (Rome, London, Lithuania, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Serbia)

My extremely long vacation has already begun! Since I last wrote, I’ve been up to quite a lot. I went back to work for five more weeks, which turned out fine even after the awkward conversation before the holiday. I only had to teach the year 12’s two more times and the Head of Biology had to observe me during one of those times, which I think we both thought was quite unnecessary and pointless. The situation with my flatmate also turned out – I ended up getting my deposit back, and I’m now officially moved out. And my mom left 😦 After she got back from Edinburgh, we had about four days left together.
On Monday night, we went out to celebrate my birthday and had a steak dinner followed by going to Kinky Boots, which again, was amazing! My mom left on Wednesday morning and then my birthday was the following day. I didn’t do anything special that evening but I met up with Becky on Friday night to go for drinks. The following weekend, I went to Rome! I left early Saturday morning and took Monday off to come back that evening. Adriana (one of my friends who was also an au pair in France) was coming to Italy with her fiancé, so Helena (my other au pair friend) and I decided to make the trip to Rome to see her after 8 years. Helena and I both got to Rome at about noon so we were able to check into our airbnb and have a much-needed lunch. This trip, I decided to treat myself and buy good food instead of finding the cheapest deal and being disappointed, so this food experience in Italy was MUCH better than my last. We did a bit of walking around and then found a nice cafe in front of the Pantheon to have drinks until Adriana and Jake showed up. It was so great to all be reunited again! We didn’t end up having dinner until about 11 so it ended up being a late night. The next morning, it was the first Sunday of the month so all museums were free! We went for lunch and coffee, and then decided to try out the Colosseum. The line-up was so long and we kept second-guessing whether we should stay in line or not. Luckily, it moved very fast and we ended up getting tickets within half an hour. It was neat seeing the Colosseum on the inside, but it probably wasn’t anything I’d pay money to see (which thankfully, I didn’t have to that day!). With our tickets, we also got free entrance into the Roman Forum, so we took some time walking around that and then headed back into central Rome to meet up with Adriana and Jake for dinner. That was our last night together and then the next morning, we had all booked tickets to the Vatican (at different times). Helena and I went for lunch before heading to the Vatican Museum. The Sistine Chapel seemed to be at the very end of the museum and we were forced to walk through all of the other rooms with no air conditioning. Both of us were ready to be out within five minutes! Unfortunately, there weren’t any other exits so we just had to follow the crowd. They’d have wide halls to walk through with the art on either side and then they’d just have one small door at the end of each hall, where hundreds of people had to go into. After doing that over and over again for about twenty minutes, we finally got to the Sistine Chapel! It was super quiet and we weren’t allowed to take pictures, but it wasn’t as great as I thought it was going to be. Honestly, I thought some of the other ceilings in the museum were nicer. After seeing the Chapel, we saw that we’d have to continue with the crowd to finish the rest of the museum so we snuck through the “tour guides only” door to escape. We then went to St. Peter’s Basilica, which I’ve already seen before but it was still just as beautiful. We had some gelato before making our way back to central Rome to get our suitcases and catch our buses back to the airport.

The next weekend, I went to The Kooks concert, which was great! It was at Alexandra Palace, which is on a hilltop so it has a beautiful view of London. They played all of their classic songs, so everyone got into it. However, it was a standing concert so I was definitely exhausted by the time it finished. The following day, I went to The English School of Falconry with Becky so that we could meet some owls and eagles! We had to take a train ride to Bedford (which took about two hours) and then take a bus to Cotton End, which is where the farm was located. It was such a cool experience – not only being able to hold the owls and eagles, but actually being able to have them fly to and from your arm! The day showed me just how much of a personality birds have; it was a really entertaining day!

The next week was my last week in the classroom, which was just a revision week so it was pretty easy. However, the school wanted me to write end-of-year reports before I left since the teacher replacing me wouldn’t know the students as well. I had to write reports for all of my year 7-10 students, meaning I had to write just over 150 reports – each at least four sentences long, and no copying and pasting allowed! I definitely started to lose motivation towards the end of the report-writing, as I felt like I was constantly repeating myself. That Friday, I went to the Beach Boys concert, which was another good concert. It blew my mind hearing that they formed in 1961, and they were still performing! They seemed to play a lot of unknown or unfamiliar songs (for me anyway) and saved all of the classics for last. However, I heard over and over again: “Aren’t you too young to be here?” “Do you even know what concert you’re at?”, etc. On Saturday, I packed all of my stuff and then I transferred it all to Kim’s house on Sunday because she graciously allowed me to keep everything there while I travelled for the next few months.

On Monday, I went to the Close Talker concert. I remember thinking I’d be lucky to watch them ONCE while I was in London but I was seeing them for the third time! I walked into the bar and saw someone who looked familiar, but often my mind plays tricks on me when I’m abroad and I think I see people I know. However, he half-smiled at me so I was like, “Hello? What are you doing here?” (Really hoping that this was the guy who I thought he was). Luckily, he replied and said that he and his wife were travelling and decided to come to the Close Talker concert. I hadn’t seen him since high school, which was almost ten years ago! Anyway, I joined them for drinks and for the concert. On Tuesday night, I went out for dinner with the Biology department and then on Wednesday night, I went to my last musical with Kim 😦 We decided to go to School of Rock, which was really well done! The guy who played the main character was so much like Jack Black. On Thursday, I went to get my last vaccine and to drop off (what I thought was) my last bag at Kim’s, and then Friday was my last night! I went out for drinks with my flatmate and her friends before packing up the last of my stuff and cleaning my room. I was moved out by 8:30 Saturday morning. I don’t know HOW I thought it would be a good idea to plan my trip the day after my last day of work AND move out at the same time, while making sure two year’s worth of stuff was packed away. Somehow, I did it and I’m quite impressed with myself!

On Saturday, I flew to Vilnius, Lithuania. Apparently that day, the IT system crashed in both Gatwick and Heathrow airports so most of the flights were delayed or cancelled. Lucky for me, I flew out of Luton so my flight wasn’t affected (although it was 20 minutes late). I got to Vilnius at about 7:30pm so I went out for dinner and had some amazing pea soup. I wish I got to explore more of the city because it was really cute, but I had an early morning the next day and had to get up at 4:30. I caught an uber to the airport (which only cost me 2 euro!) and then flew to Kyiv at 7am. I arrived at 8:30 but by the time I got to my hostel, it was about 10:30. I couldn’t figure out where my hostel was located or how to get in because there weren’t any signs and my phone was almost dead. I ran to McDonald’s to get wifi and found out I had found the right place but had to put in a code to get in. I finally got in, went up the four flights of stairs and pressed the doorbell about 15 times but no one came! I ended up sitting on the steps for about a half hour and then tried again, and was let in! The hostel had a brand new kitten, which was good and bad cause I couldn’t breathe most of the time I was there, but she was so cute and playful so I couldn’t resist.

That day, I was determined to find perogies and borscht so I looked up one of the cheaper places to go to and walked there (which took about a half hour). The thing with Kyiv is they’ve really preserved their culture, in that they don’t have signs written in English and not many people speak English. Unlike many other major cities, where they’ve changed their ways to get more tourism. I admired this about Ukraine, but it also made me feel somewhat ashamed because I didn’t know the language, and I couldn’t even understand the alphabet. Lucky for me, the restaurant I went to ended up having an English menu so I got my borscht and perogies! After lunch, I decided to go on a walking tour which focused on the Soviet history. I ended up being the only person on the tour, and the tour guide said I looked more Ukrainian than a tourist (yay!). She also was really surprised when I knew about all of the foods, but I spoke English.  That evening, I went for sushi cause it was so cheap! I was able to get two sets of sushi, a cider, and dessert for less than ten pounds (less than it would cost for ONE set of sushi in London!). The next morning, I went on another walking tour, which covered the ancient history of Ukraine. I then went for lunch with a bunch of people on the tour and we went to a buffet-like Ukrainian restaurant. There were four types of perogies and I asked for the ones that looked most similar to home and the lady gave me seven(!). However, when I cut into the first one, I was disappointed to see that there was meat inside. I tried it anyway and it wasn’t too bad! However, when I cut into my second one and an Australian girl sat beside me and asked if I knew what was inside, she informed me that it was liver! I was then thrown off of the perogies cause my mind took over my tastebuds. After lunch, I went to a cave monastery with a couple of the guys but the caves closed as soon as we got there. We decided to explore the monastery grounds for a few hours since we were there, and then we went for dinner. I went to bed early that night cause I had to catch my train to Lviv at 7 the next morning.

The trip to Lviv was five hours and I’m not kidding – it looked exactly like Saskatchewan the entire time! I was shocked as to how much it resembled home. I got to my hostel early that afternoon and then I went for lunch where I again had perogies. I then explored the little city, but it rained most of the time I was there. Lviv is a small and charming city and most people I met raved about it, but I ended up getting quite bored while I was there and I think I preferred Kyiv more. I spent the rest of the day wandering around, and made my way to the highest point of the city, where it started to pour! The next day, I looked for souvenirs and filled up on more Ukrainian food. I made my way back to Kyiv on Thursday morning. This time, I had booked first class and even ordered a tea (which I never got), but the seats were a hundred times worse than my third class seat on the other train. I was in another Harry Potter- like carriage but there were five of us in the six seats so our legs had to be moved to the side cause there was hardly any space between the two rows. Two people ended up pulling the beds out from the walls and lying on those so that the rest of us would have more space. It’s always difficult being in those compartments when you’re the only one who doesn’t speak the language though! I arrived in Kyiv that evening and finally found some cabbage rolls for my final meal in Ukraine. I then went to the hostel and went for drinks with a couple of people. On Friday morning, I went to a random cafe and after I ordered my meal, a man from the table beside me asked where I was from. He was from North Carolina and probably my dad’s age, but we had a good conversation during the duration of our breakfast. Towards the end, he got up and then came back to shake my hand and ask my name. He said his name was Bob and he paid for my meal(!), and he really enjoyed our conversation. That was a nice surprise! I did the last of my souvenir shopping. I got my own embroidered shirt (called a vyshyvanka) and I was once again told I had all of the Ukrainian features. The lady there was so friendly and told me how her son lived in America but she wants to move her daughter there too so her family can be together. She said how the last thirty years have been so difficult and that she’s hoping for victory and she burst into tears. I could feel her pain and it made me sad what all of the Ukrainian people were having to go through, and I started to cry as well. I then sat in Independence Square for one last time, where I had quite an emotional time. I was really sad to be leaving Ukraine, knowing that it likely wouldn’t be the same if I were to come again. I then took an Uber to the airport and went back to London. I had some time to kill so I went to my flat to get my last bag, went to Kim’s to drop it off, and then went to Becky’s cause I was staying at her place for the weekend. On Saturday, we went for breakfast and watched a movie, and then I headed to the Elton John concert! He had just finished going through his life-threatening illness and said how he was glad to still be alive. I think he was still getting better, as he seemed to really struggle the one time he walked across the stage, and he didn’t even do an encore. He may have, but I couldn’t tell if it was actually one cause he literally went off stage and was back on five seconds later. The best part was when he sung “Don’t let the sun go down on me” and it started pelting rain. We all had to get out our rain jackets and everyone else just danced in the rain. The rain stopped as soon as the song ended; it honestly felt like special effects. However, it was a good concert and the atmosphere was great! The next morning, Becky and I went for breakfast again before I made my way to the airport for my European trip.

I flew to Sofia, Bulgaria and arrived at my hostel at about 10:30 that night. It was a pretty cool hostel and had a treehouse feel to it. The next morning, I took the free walking tour and then wandered around for the rest of the day. On Tuesday, I took a free hiking tour, which took us to Sofia’s closest mountain (Vitosha). We walked about four or five hours, and it was a nice way to get out of the city!

On Wednesday morning, I got up nice and early to catch a cab to the bus station with an Australian girl. We were both planning to go to Skopje (scope-ee-ah), Macedonia but they informed us that the 7am bus was full. Luckily, there was a 9:30 bus, so we killed time at a coffee shop before catching the five hour bus ride. I met a Canadian guy (from Ottawa) as soon as I got to the hostel so we went out for a late lunch/early dinner and walked around  Skopje. Skopje is a city that reminds me of no other place I’ve seen before. It has such random statues (over 200) and buildings, which makes it very unique. It “copies and pastes” from a lot of other cities, so it has an Arc de Triomphe, random roman columns, red London buses, a couple of pirate ships in the river (which are restaurants), and now they’re in the middle of building a London eye. Also, Mother Theresa was born in Skopje! So as you can imagine, most Balkan main cities have a Mother Theresa Square, and at least one statue as well. We went back to the hostel, where I met two more Canadians (also from Ottawa, and who had been living in London for the past two years) so we exchanged our horror stories of working in London. On Thursday, I went on a walking tour, which was probably one of the best ones I’ve been on. It went for about 3 hours and 20 minutes but you hardly noticed cause the guide really knew his information. The coolest thing about many of the Balkan major cities is that any of the stray dogs who have tags on their ears (like cows) have been sterilised and vaccinated, meaning they’re safe to pet. And a lot of them are so loveable! We had tons join us on our walking tours. After the tour, a few of us (people from the Netherlands, Croatia, and England) went to Matka Canyon. In order to get there, we had to take a bus that only came once every 1.5-2 hours. We went to where the guide told us to wait and we waited for about 30-40 minutes. While we were waiting, some taxi drivers came over and offered to drive us there for ten euro but we declined. When the bus finally came, it just drove right past us! So we went back to the taxi drivers, who then decided they’d drive us for 15 Euro! We declined and decided we’d just wait for the next one and started walking to the bus station. Once we got over a block away, one of the taxi drivers had come running after us saying he’d take us for 10. So we took the taxi to the canyon, which was gorgeous! We did the hike through the canyon, which took an hour each way, and then we took the bus back to Skopje. However, about five minutes into our bus ride, the rear door window completely shattered into a million pieces. Glass flew everywhere, and there was a huge brick in the aisle! The guys behind me informed me that if it was half a second later, the brick would have hit me! So that was reassuring.. I went for dinner with some of the same people, and then the next day I went to Pristina, Kosovo (Prish-TEEN-ah, KOS-uh-voh).

Kosovo is the second newest country and is less than ten years old (in terms of independence) but it’s still having a lot of difficulty being accepted by the EU. Serbia also makes it very difficult on them since they gained independence, so they don’t actually allow direct public transportation from Kosovo to Serbia. They all love Americans since they played a big part in stopping the war, so they have a statue of Bill Clinton in the city. Anyway, I caught the bus with one of the Canadian people and the person in front of us asked where we were from. He was from Pristina, so when we arrived he took us for coffee and then we met his girlfriend and we all went for dinner. That night, I went out with some people from the hostel (from Mexico, Germany, France, and the Netherlands) so we got back to the hostel at about 2:30 and then ordered pizza (which ended up being 1.80 euro per pizza!!). The next day, I just did a lot of walking around. They didn’t have a walking tour since they’re still not used to having many tourists. I covered everything easily in a day though!

On Sunday, I took the bus to Tirana, Albania (teer-AN-ah), which took about five hours. I got there just in time to do the walking tour during the evening. I learned all about its history in being a communist country under a dictatorship. The guide compared his country to North Korea and said they were convinced that they were the best country, but had no contact with the outside world. They could only watch Albanian television, which was all propaganda and most people weren’t allowed to leave. He said they’ve only had vehicles for 23 years and they didn’t even have bananas until after 1991! The next day, I went to the cable car, which went up Tirana’s tallest mountain (Dajti). Because it was so hot, I didn’t wear my runners so I didn’t get a chance to hike, but it probably would have been too hot anyway. After heading back down, I went to BunkArt, which is a museum made in one of the bunkers. The museum basically went through the entire history of Albania, from fascism to communism to liberation. It was very interesting, and it definitely makes me want to read more about the history. Tirana is now a very colourful city because they painted all of the buildings from the dull grey communist period.

On Tuesday, I went to Podgorica, Montenegro. I got there mid-afternoon and took a walk around the city. I was told not to go to Podgorica because there’s nothing to do in the city and it’s much better going to the coast, but I wasn’t able to cancel my hostel reservation cause it was too late. While yes, Podgorica is quite a sleepy city with nothing to do in terms of tourism, it seems like most locals spend a lot of their time sitting in cafes or restaurants, so I joined in! The next day, I decided to go to their Niagara Falls, which is only 10km outside of the city. It’s called Niagara Falls because the restaurant that it’s beside is called Niagara. I took a taxi to the Falls and the hostel owner had said it should be maximum 5 euro but it ended up being 9! Scammed by another taxi driver, which is why I normally avoid taxis at all costs. Anyway, I spent the morning and most of the afternoon at the Falls. There’s a swimming pool area, which just looks like a river that doesn’t really flow. But then as you walk along the river, it literally just falls into the start of a canyon. It was really gorgeous, and a nice way to spend the afternoon in 33 degree weather! However, I was sitting in a rock in the water at one point and I happened to feel something brush against my side, which I thought was just a stick. When I looked down, there was a huge frog on my lap (like the size of my hand!). I’ve never jumped in the water so fast! Anyway, I caught a taxi back to Podgorica (which only cost 3.70 this time), and then I had dinner and hung out with some people at the hostel.

On Thursday, I went to Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. I got there in the later afternoon (it was about a 6 hour bus ride), and then I had dinner and an early night in. The next day, I went on a walking tour, where I found out about the city. I then went for lunch, went back to the hostel, and then a bunch of us went on another walking tour, which was focused on the 44-month war, which was from 1992-1995. When Yugoslavia was composed of six countries, some of the countries started becoming more nationalistic. When Bosnia decided to break away from Yugoslavia, Serbia wasn’t very happy about it because a high percentage of Serbs still lived in Bosnia. The Bosnian Serbs were supplied with weapons from Serbia and because Sarajevo is in a valley, the Serbs only had to go on the surrounding hills and mountains and continuously launch missiles. The tour guide was 7 when the war started and she said that everyone had to move to the basement, and her building had 70 people. And she said that some of the people who went to go shoot could have been your neighbour or friend your entire life! Oddly enough, life still continued – people still went to school and work, they just had to run through the streets instead of walk. They got used to hearing and recognising the sound of a missile being launched, as well as it flying through the air so she said it gave them enough time to find shelter before it hit. However, many people weren’t so lucky. 1600 kids were killed in Sarajevo. In total, over 100,000 people were killed during the war. The UN supplied them with food each week but it was mostly canned meat, stale bread, and rice that was covered in dead worms. She said the medicines that they were supplied with had expired in the 70’s! People were kidnapped and put into concentration camps, where thousands were killed. Many of the people who were responsible are still on trial today. Bosnia now has three presidents – a Serbian president, a Croatian president, and a Bosnian president. They all have to agree unanimously before anything can go through. The unemployment rate for people between the ages of 25-35 is 62%! It just blows my mind how this was all happening during the early years of my life, and I was completely oblivious of it until now. The Balkan history is so recent and the effects of it are still evident. That evening, I went back to the hostel and hung out with some of the people there. The next day, I spent most of the day with a guy from America. We tried pretty much all of the Bosnian food possible: the ćevapi (sausages in pita), the Bosnian coffee (which is similar to Turkish coffee), and two desserts called kadaif (a thin ball of noodles, stuffed with walnuts and syrup) and tufahije (a baked apple filled with walnuts, sugar and cream, and topped with whipped cream). We also went up to the Yellow Fortress, which gave a great view of Sarajevo, and then we went to a war museum, which literally laid everything out in the table. Even the concentration camp museum I went to in Germany wasn’t this morbid. It was quite devastating to see how people were treated. Human beings are cruel. We are all brainwashed in one way or another to believe certain things, and we are convinced that other people aren’t living the “right” way. As I’ve said in another post, I really respected when I went to Germany and saw how open they were about their history, admitting the wrong that they did because they didn’t want it to happen again. Little did I know, it happened again 50 years later in Bosnia. People were delivered to concentration camps and tortured to death while I was innocently playing in the safe streets with my neighbours. Along the same lines, the last residential school in Canada closed in 1996! If you ask me, residential school is just a fancy name for concentration camp. Some Canadians still don’t even understand what happened at these schools, or that they even existed. And all three of these situations stemmed from religion. The Holocaust against the Jews, in Bosnia against Muslims, and residential schools were run by the church to convert Aboriginal peoples to Christianity. Ethnic cleansing. Whatever you want to call it. And believe it or not, that is STILL occurring. Trump. Brexit. “Cleaning” different nations and getting rid of what doesn’t “belong.” Who are we? History continues to repeat itself over and over, and it’s sickening. I have never questioned my beliefs and religion more than at this very moment.
Anyway, I took an 8-hour bus to Belgrade, Serbia yesterday and now I’m there! I was honestly nervous about coming to Serbia since they weren’t talked about in a great light in Kosovo and Bosnia. However, everyone has been very friendly and the city is really nice! I’m taking a break from people today. I’ve noticed today that how social I am depends on a pattern. I’ll be really social and click with a bunch of people who I get along with really well. People who I don’t have to have the same surface-level conversation with, and who I can just share my life story with, including my hard times and problems. Then, we have to part ways and I get really sad and closed off for a couple of days. This is where I’m at right now, as I met some really awesome people in Sarajevo. It’s like losing a friend every time! But in a day or two, I’ll be back to square one, ready to find new people. I swear, every conversation literally starts, “I’ve been living in London for the past two years.” “Oh, you were studying?” “No I was a teacher” Oh, you were teaching English?” (Why I’d go to London to teach English, I have no idea..) “No, I was teaching biology” “Oh, but how old are you?/aren’t you like 18?/you look too young to be a teacher.” I’ve now learned to embrace how people think I’m younger, and I now tend to get offended if I don’t get ID’d at a bar.
Anyway, I think this is getting a bit too long (I guess it’s been two months since I last wrote though). I hope everyone’s doing well! Love always
See the World – The Kooks