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...