Trains, Buses, Automobiles, Ferries, Feet, and Sweat

Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro

-From Damon

As of 0100 Wednesday morning, we have been in Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro. Everything is fine - ok Mom?

Though we have not done much yet, we already are enjoying the city's environment. Has that gothic appeal of Prague with that mainstream feel of Berlin - a combination we enjoy. Our tour book said that most people wear jeans here and shorts aren't too popular. So we donned our pants for today's daytime excursions so we would feel more localized. Bad call I must say. I must have lost 10 lbs of leg in the first hour.

The real treat is not so much being here, as it was enjoying how we got here. Please pick up on the sarcasm now. It offcially took us 35 hours, 24 minutes and 11 seconds between our Corfu hostel departure and our hotel check-in last night. Think about that one for a little. All travel time and waiting around - for those who have never backpacked, there is always plenty of waiting around time. Transportation schedules don't fit ours -we fit theirs - and if we are lucky.

Trip Summary:

Leg 1: Walk .3 mile from Corfu hostel to bus stop. Sweat. Wait for bus for 40 minutes while sweating.
Leg 2: Cram on standing room only bus for ride to Corfu town to catch bus. Buy bus ticket. Wait two hours and sweat. Watch Olympic sailing - fun..
Leg 3: Take bus to ferry for 2 minutes, unload, but ticket, take ferry for 1.3 hours, no sweat because breeze, get off, load bus again. Took about 2 hours total.
Leg 4: Sit on crammed bus for almost nine hours. Seemed longer though - want to know why? It was a two lane highway that drove along a cliff (with no guardrails of course) for about 80 percent off the way. Sweat (not because hot but because really frikkin nervous). Slept a little. No vent stealing this time. Arrived in Thessaloniki, Greece at 0515.
Leg 5: Took bus to train station. Bought ticket and waited for 2.5 hours. Ate more cakey stuff.
Leg 6: Boarded train at 0805. ON time - yipppeee. You think it arived at our destination on time - hell no! We were on the train (old WWII thing) for 16.5 hours. We sweated some more. Andy freaked out again but left his shirt on. Met a Canadian Serb (not to be confused with a Croatian Serb) who told us about all the gangsters in Belgrade but then said not to worry. Uh-ok... Guess what our reaction was - sweat. I actually had a problem at the Macedonian border because the stamps in my passport did not match up. They could not understand how I got to Greece from Prague, etc. Luckily one of them was nice and just moved me on. That whole stamping of passport thing is another issue we have been chatting about. It is too infrequent and inconsistent. Anyways, no other major problems except for smelling the train's bathroom for about the last 3 hours of the journey. Arrived about 0045.
Leg 7: Finally found our hotel about an hour later after sweating and getting lost. Traveling tip - try not to arrive places after dark unless you are us. We got a pizza (less a slice - weird), chowed, and crashed.

So, yes, traveling is fun and all but this was a bit ridiculous. When it comes down to it, it is all part of the fun and memories though. It was quite the experience to see the countryside of this former war infected country. Everything is just so different - you have to see it for yourself. And, if you do, consider flying from place to place.

So Corfu was fun. That was our party destination and this old man was still able to hang with the young'ens. My traveling mate wasn't so lucky though - he made the youthful mistake of drinking Kentucky bourbon in Greece. I'll let him to fill you in on the rest of the details if he chooses. I remember one night at dinner we were sitting with seven others. Two from England, 2 from Canada, two from Austrailia and one from South Africa. We realized there was representation from each major English speaking country when we were having beers later. Then we realized we forgot Ireland (though it is UK). Not a second later, two Irish girls joined our crew. We met some good friends in Corfu.

Ok, so that is what is going down. I am now in my last week and I officially start my job in last than two weeks - yikes. We are looking forward to touring here even though it seems we are the only tourists out there. People seem very friendly though - even though we have counted four skippers already.

Later.