Month: August 2013

Dubrovnik is gorgeous, but confusing!

Dubrovnik is gorgeous, but confusing!

After arriving in the Old Town of Dubrovnik, I first tried to find my hostel. Not as easy as I hoped. I should have printed out a map or directions, but I just got lazy and didn’t. Dubrovnik reminds me of Venice: a lot of…

Busy travel day

Busy travel day

The flight to Munich was predictable and went by pretty quickly. It was my first time flying with Lufthansa and I’d probably fly with them again. They handed out warm towels in economy class before meals and even though I turned down dinner, it didn’t…

Ready to take off

Ready to take off

Despite all my worrying, everything has gone smoothly so far.

Instead of using the drawstring workout bag, I put my carry on items in an fabric bag I had lying around. I got some bubble wrap and wrapped my camera, lens, and laptop and then taped them so it wouldn’t unravel. It looks ridiculous, but at least it will protect my stuff from getting bent/broken.
I ended up leaving my apartment around 1pm and got to Charlotte International in plenty of time. Security was a breeze, especially since I went through security gate E that was mostly empty; there was one person in front of me when I got there.

Because there’s no easy way to carry my bag, this is what I feel like walking through the airport.

My flight has been pushed back to 5:25pm, but I have a 2:45 hour layover in Munich so I should be fine. On the plane I hope to do some last minute planning and brush up on my 1990’s history. I found a 4.5 hour BBC documentary called “The Death of Yugoslavia” that covers the collapse and the wars that followed:

It will good to have an appreciation of the history, especially when I visit Bosnia. I’ll try to watch a couple hours of that before I try to sleep.
Alright, looks like its time to board. I’ll try to update again from Germany during my layover.
Cheers!
The worst part about traveling is traveling

The worst part about traveling is traveling

Lesson one: Double check the carry-on requirements before you buy and pack luggage I found out the day before I leave that my carry on bag won’t fit with Lufthansa. According to their website, the dimensional limits for bags are 22 x 16 x 9…

Finally figured out how to get from city to city

Finally figured out how to get from city to city

Figuring out how to get from city to city isn’t too straightforward in the Balkans. Most of the places I’m going don’t have train stations, so it’s recommended to travel by car. Seeing as that isn’t very cost efficient for one traveler, (especially since you’d…

Less than a week left

Less than a week left

I fly out in 6 days at 5:10pm out of Charlotte with a direct flight to Munich! I’ve got some last minute planning to do in the next week, but I think I’ve got a pretty good foundation:

I’ve actually been sending private messages to people on reddit.com/r/travel who have posted about where I’m going. It’s nice because they’ll give me a personal account of how to best see the cities I’m going to and things not to miss. Here’s some tips for seeing the waterfalls in Plitvice National Park:
 
 
I’ve got some more details to work out, but what I really need to do is make sure everything will fit in my backpack. I’m taking an obscene amount of camera gear and lenses, so it will take priority over other stuff in my bag like clothing. Even though I’m going for 15 days, I think I can get by with 4 pairs of shorts and just find a place to do laundry.
Other than that, I think I’m pretty close to being ready!
A new adventure awaits

A new adventure awaits

My last trip in 2010 ended well, but I forgot to make a final blog entry. I got back to Paris fine, spent the evening seeing the sights, and then caught my flight back in the morning. I had a great time exploring Europe by…