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Mona

Europe Trip Part 4 - Cinque Terre, Italy

Getting There -

After leaving James at around 4:30AM to get on my 5:30AM flight, I was headed to Milan. As soon as I stepped in, I hear the pilot testing his systems inside the cockpit (the door was wide open): "Right engine on fire. Left engine on fire." After the initial split-second adrenaline-rush of hearing these words on an airplane, I just thought to myself, "I'm not in the USA, I'm not in the USA." Despite the alarming welcome, I slept the entire 2-hour flight. I love that. You fall asleep after take-off and then wake up to the pilot telling everyone to prepare for landing. Now why couldn't my flight from Chicago to London have been that way?

Anyway, I landed in Milan Malpensa airport and bought a bus ticket to the Milan Central Train Station, where Megan and I planned on meeting at 10:00AM at platform 14. I got to the train station a little after 9:00, so I had some time to kill. I was super-hungry, so I stopped by a sandwich shop to get some food. The food-case was piled high with sandwiches filled with pork. Yuck. I asked the dude behind the counter if anything was made with turkey. He gave me a puzzled look, so I said "turkey" again, because repeating the word more clearly will certainly make him understand (yeah, right). Nothing. I was going to start flapping my arms to mimick a turkey, but luckily he caught on and said "Chicken!" I said "Yes! Chicken will be great!" The chicken sandwich actually wasn't that great, but it was decent and I was hungry. I sat on a hard, metal bench eating my sandwich while people-watching until Megan arrived. At about 10 minutes past 10:00, I heard a "HEY!!!" and turned to see Megan's smiling face. It was good to see her.

Off to Cinque Terre!

Traveling by train is pretty cool. It's fun, fairly comfortable and predictable. And, fortunately, having studied in Italy on different occasions, Megan is used to the train culture of Italy and knows what she's doing. We left Milan by train, switching trains just a few times until we were at our destination, Manarola, Italy. If you aren't familiar with Cinque Terre, it's 5 small towns stretching across about 18km of the coastline in Northern Italy. The towns include Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Riomaggiore and the town where our hostel was located, Manarola. The towns are just a few minute train ride from each other, but if you want an adventure, hike between the towns! Which, of course, we eventually did. We got to Manarola at about 2:30 and had to wait for our hostel to open (there is a lockout during the day until 5pm, which kinda sucked), so we ate a late lunch and had some gelato.

Our Hostel -

Despite all the lame rules (lockout from 10AM until 5:00pm, curfew of 1AM, etc...) I loved our hostel! The guys running it were such characters. There were the two that worked the desk including the smiley one that made sure everything was in order (he's the one in the picture) and the one that always seemed like he was a little bit confused about everything. There were also two cooks, including the one with big hair and the grumpy one who never smiled at anyone except me (he decided he was in love with me). Ahhh, yes. I had a fan. And I quote, "I don't usually pay attention to women, but you are different. You move me." Of course, you must read this with an Italian accent and imagine the person saying it holding a cigarette. Constantly holding a cigarette. At one point, he took a drag off his cigarette and blew me a kiss with smoke billowing out of his mouth. Uhmmmm....yeah. It was less than attractive. At any rate, all of the people there were fun and it was a really great place to be.

Activities and Fun -

Our time at Cinque Terre was spent exploring all of the quaint towns, of course. We spent time on a beach in one of the towns the first day, which was not super comfortable. Big-ass rocks everywhere. And then the second day we hiked the trails connecting the 5 towns. It was beautiful. Century old footpaths about 500 to 1000 feet above the sea winding through grape vineyards, olive groves, lemon orchards and more. Despite the horrendous effort it took to climb up some of the hills, it was well worth the five-ish hours it took to complete. We then beached some more on the third day (we found a comfortable sand beach in one of the other towns). Oh yes, and I can't forget the wonderful gelato that we had every day (sometimes twice in a day). Every town had at least one gelateria. After purchasing gelato from them all, we thought they were all pretty much the same. That is, until the last place we tried, Artigianale Gelateria in Vernazza. It was *awesome* gelato. I bought a two scoop cone with mint and chocolate and immediately bought another cone with two scoops of mint. It was SOOOO yummy. And we got to hear a complete history about the man's gelateria and his family. His son used to work at the gelateria and now has his own gelateria in Australia. Apparently, his wife (who is from Australia) was on vacation in Italy. She came to the gelateria and loved it so much, she bought three cones in one visit, getting to know his son quite well in the process. They ended up getting married and they now live in Australia carrying on the family tradition. How cool.

Meeting New People -

One of the great things about traveling with Megan is that she has absolutely no qualms about striking up in-depth conversation with anyone around. I wouldn't have met nearly as many people or had as rich an experience without that. We made new friends and learned a lot about their travel experiences. At the hostel, we met people from around the world. A woman traveling from Germany, two US college-students at the end of their travels (and money) after spending a semester in Spain and two Canadian brothers (Drew and Greg) that we ended up eating dinners and gelato with. It was such a fun time! Oh, and the Canadian brothers didn't say "eh." I was a little disappointed.

The End of my Travels -

After bidding Megan farewell at the Milan Central Train Station, I took a bus to the airport and a taxi to my hotel, where I would be spending one night before my departure flight from Milan. All the hotels close to the aiport were quite expensive and so I chose a place that wasn't the most expensive, but not the least, either. The room was SUPER swank. I loved it. Vaulted ceilings, skylights in the bathroom, a big-ass bed, flat-panel TV (although the only channel in English was CNN....what a waste), etc. It was a nice place to sleep my last night in Italy. Then the next morning I was off on planes heading me back to Indianapolis. All the flights back went smoothly and I was picked up by Terralyn that night. It was nice to finally sleep in my own bed after being away for over 3 weeks. And my cats were most happy indeed.

Check out my FlickrPhotos soon. I'll have all my pictures up from the entire trip.

Europe Trip Part 3 - Tirana, Albania

Map so Far -

For those of you trying to figure out exactly where I've been, here's a lovely map I snagged and edited for easy reference. I stayed in Berat, Albania for the first week, then spent the night in Tirana, took various modes of transportation to Budva, Montenegro where we stayed 2 nights, took a bus to Dubrovnik, Croatia where we stayed 3 nights, and then went back south through Montenegro again and then Tirana, which I finally flew out of to Milan, Italy. Whew! Ok, then. If you read my pre-vacation plans, we were going to go to Slovenia and Venice before I got to Milan, but we decided to do a bit less. Getting to Slovenia would have been a lot more bus travel.

Travel Buddies -

In Budva, Montenegro, we met a really nice couple at our hostel, Jack and Sarah. They were going to Tirana during the same time-frame as us, so we decided it would be cool to travel together. Sharing transportation expenses is always a good thing. James was able to show them around Tirana a bit, too. It was fun to share the "Pres. Bush experience" with other people from the US.

The "Pres. Bush Experience - "

If you haven't already heard, President Bush visited Tirana on Sunday, 6/10. While I wasn't actually there for his visit (my flight was scheduled to leave at 5:30AM on the day Bush arrived), I was able to see all the preparations, which was truly amazing. The American flag coupled with the Albanian flas was EVERYWHERE! Banners, streamers, small flags, medium flags, big flags, ENORMOUS flags cascading down the sides of large buildings. And then there were the multiple helicopters that were flying overhead and the secret-service men everywhere. We stopped off in one of the swank hotels to use the Internet and we noticed a group of men in the lobby. At first I thought they were in Tirana on business and then we noticed the large, grey crate with USSS stamped on the side of it. Then James saw one of them with a name-plate and "Secret Service" underneath. It was an odd feeling to realize you're in a room surrounded by secret service people. At the same time, it's also kind of exciting.

Stuck in Tirana?

What bad luck. How is it possible that my flight and Jack and Sarah's flight are all scheduled to leave the very day that President Bush is visiting Tirana? What a complicated mess. First, there were rumors that the airport was being closed down. No flights in and out. Others were saying that was nonsense and the airport would be open, no problem. Then there were rumors that if a taxi took us to the airport, that they wouldn't be able to get back to Tirana. The taxi-man that we had scheduled to take me to the airport called and canceled. Jack and Sarah decided to change their flight-time and get out that night. James and Mona spent a few hours trying to figure out what to do. After calling airlines and doing a ton of Internet searches, we finally got a hold of one of James' connections in Tirana and he found us a reliable taxi-driver. We were able to get to the airport, no problem. Yay!

I bid farewell to James and was off to Milan to meet Megan. Our next stop was Cinque Terre, Italy, part 4 of the Europe trip story...

Europe Trip Part 2 - Montenegro and Croatia

Getting There -

Traveling by bus in Eastern Europe is.....interesting. We took a bus from Berat to Tirana. We spent the night in Tirana and took a mini-bus (aka "Fergon" in Albanian) from Tirana to somewhere else in Albania....I can't remember now where we stopped. Scodra? No, that's not it. Whatever, most of you wouldn't know where it is anyway. Then we took a taxi through the border and another bus to get to Budva in Montenegro. I think that's all accurate information, although it all seems to be blurring together right now. So, yeah....the buses are pretty darn crappy and most of the bus drivers smell rather unpleasant. I think it's a requirement to beep your horn at least every 30 seconds and our bus-drivers abided by this protocol easily, as well as yelling out windows and occasionally driving less-than cautious. This was not too much of a shocker for me, as being in Jordan broke me in. Safe driving is not stressed there AT ALL.


Budva, Montenegro -

I liked Budva. It's a beach town, not a big tourist area (at least not compared to Dubrovnik and Italy), and had a casual, chill vibe to it. We stopped in Budva on the way to Croatia and on the way back to Albania. We stayed in a hostel there (we had a private room) that was run by some cool Americans. Budva has a quaint old-city that was very beautiful and a nice boardwalk with lots of shops. The beach was pretty, although somewhat rocky. I was a bit lame about the rocks, as they really seem to hurt my feet. I was also kinda lame about getting into the not-quite-warm water (sorry James). Some things that stuck out in Budva: Riding on a carny-ride that made me quite nausiated afterward, chilling on the beach, trying to ask a waitress if the hamburger was made out of pig (her English wasn't good and she said "Yes, it is big." and then proceeded to tell me how many grams it was), and our bus having to turn around when we tried to leave because the only road out of Budva going South was under construction.


Dubrovnik, Croatia -

Dubrovnik is very pretty. The old town is quite grandiose and stately and the gelato is very yummy. We stayed at a "sobe," which is just a room for rent in a person's house. This is quite common there and the lady we stayed with, Luka, had three rooms that she would rent out to tourists. We would eat cookies and drink tea (or, in James' case, capuccino) before heading out to explore the old city. We were able to go to the beach on one of the days, but the other days were cloudy and rainy, so we mostly went sight-seeing. We also ate at a Mexican restaurant there, which I thought was pretty funny. It was a very good attempt at Mexican food, but of course, not exactly right. Things that stuck out in Dubrovnik: The beautiful scenery, how sweet Luka was to me, mint-chocolate-chip gelato, big supermarkets (James was really excited by this, as Albania does not have these) and the really cool architecture of the old city.

And then our next stop was Tirana, Alabania, where President Bush made us worry about my departure plans, part 3 of the Europe trip story....

Europe Trip Part 1 - Albania

Getting There -

I left Indianapolis Wednesday (May 23rd) early afternoon and arrived in Tirana, Albania at 1:00 Friday (May 25th) morning. Wow. The flight delays and multiple flight connections were quite extraordinary. Just a few things that stuck out: the 8-hour flight from Chicago to London. My seat was in the very back of the plane right across from the bathroom and right next to a large man with superbly smelly feet (he took his shoes off). Also, unexpectedly having to combine my two pieces of carry-on into one piece in London because they only allow one carry-on (purses count as one). I had to throw some stuff out so I could combine the two. In Milan I had to unexpectedly purchase a return ticket from Tirana to Milan because one apparently can't go into Albania without proof that you are planning on leaving Albania. This actually turned out to be a good thing, but at the time I was a little preterbed. But the very highlight of getting to Albania was exiting customs in Tirana, walking into the main part of the airport and seeing James' smiling face awaiting my arrival. It was all worth it, now.

Meet and Greet -

I'm so impressed with how James has settled in and made himself an integral part of Berat. It's a gift of his, to easily make meaningful connections and adjust to life's unusual circumstances. I met so many of his wonderful friends and can see how much they truly enjoy and appreciate him.

Albanian culture is similar to the Arab culture in that they love to visit. Dropping by unnanounced for a coffee is the norm. And drop by we did. We visited James' language tutor, his host-family, his co-workers and several other of his friends. Usually the visit would consist of me being introduced, me smiling and nodding when they would look at me and talk, and James prompting me to say some key Albanian words, such as "mire", "falemenderit," "po," or, when leaving, "Mirë upafshim." It felt like I was back in Jericho again, visiting family I didn't know very well, listening to them speak Arabic while I smiled a lot. It was great. James did an awesome job of translating, though. I was thoroughly impressed with his grasp of the language and grateful for the interpretation.

I was also able to meet a lot of the other Peace Corps volunteers in Albania. They all seem like a great bunch. Katie, James' site-mate in Berat, was leaving for vacation in Amsterdam two days after my arrival, so we had a party the day after I arrived so I could meet her and everyone else. Katie is awesome; very gregarious and superbly positive. I was glad to meet someone with such great energy and glad she is in Berat, keeping James company. I also met David and his family, who are equally awesome. They were all very hospitable and warm during my visit. They even did a few loads of laundry for us despite having plumbing problems (need some more hair to fix those pipe, David?).

Activities and Fun -

While we were in Berat, in addition to visiting a lot of his friends, we also visited the high school's English class so the students could "interrogate" me. Basically, I told them my story and then they asked me a lot of questions. One of the things that was a big self-esteem booster for me is that they kept asking me if I played sports. After I told them that I occasionally play softball, they kept asking me about other specific sports; "Do you play tennis?" The teacher told me later it's because "I'm so fit." I had two other people on two different occasions mention that I look very fit. Wow! How awesome. After gaining almost 20 pounds inthe last two years, that was really wonderful to hear. We also visited the old castle in Berat. It was fun to explore and see the sights.

And then our next country was Montenegro, part 2 of the Europe trip story....

I'm Back!!

Hey all! I'm back from Europe. I had a lot of fun and interesting times. I have a lot to talk about and a lot of pictures to upload, but that will have to wait until a bit later. I'll have more up soon! Keep checking back.