http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/The-Journey/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from The Journey en-us Fri, 01 Jan 2010 03:58:49 +0000 Fri, 01 Jan 2010 03:58:49 +0000 Beirut Lebanon Nov.17th 21st 2009 We entered Lebanon without any problems after almost 4 hours on a bus from Damascus. Instead of being told welcome to Lebanon at the border everyone told us good luck... a bit of an ominous welcome. Driving into Beirut was quite different from any other city with perhaps the exception of Pristina Kosovo. Beirut was devastated by a long civil war startin http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Lebanon/Beirut/blog-455319.html Syrian Arab Republic Nov.5th 17th 2009 After traveling through Turkey for over 3 weeks we finally got to the real Middle East. We had heard so many things about the Syrian entry visas that we did not know what to believe. As it turns out all of our apprehension was unfounded. When we got to the Syrian border we were greeted by the border guards who after receiving the 26 US for the visa g http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/blog-455086.html Pamukkale Kapadokia October 27 November 3rd 2009 We have reached the 6 month mark of The Journey and thus far Pamukkale Kapadokia have been two of the most unique places we have encountered. At first sight Pamukkale is nothing short of spectacular. Pamukkale meaning the cotton castle is a fitting name for this natural wonder. From a distance the calcium mountain actually looks like a sk http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/blog-453639.html anakkale Turkey Oct. 21st 24th 2009After leaving the hustle and bustle of Istanbul we were off to Canakkale to see the legendary city of Troy or at least what remains of it. Six hours on the bus and half an hour on the ferry and we had finally left mainland Europe and were now technically in Asia. The ruins of Troy lie about 30 km outside of Canakkale a short trip on a crowded minibus. We http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Canakkale/blog-449382.html Istanbul Turkey Oct. 8 16th 2009 During our 8 hour bus ride from Varna Bulgaria we got a glance at how massive the city of Istanbul really is. Of the 8 hours approximately 2 hours was spent driving through the many winding arteries of major highways leading to the center of Istanbul. With a population of 12 million its no surprise that this is the largest city in Turkey and the fifth lar http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Istanbul/blog-446631.html Montenegro Bulgaria September 29th October 7th While in Kosovo we found out that due to boarder restrictions we could not leave Kosovo through Serbia if we entered in Montenegro. Just like that our plans changed and we were off to Skopje Macedonia instead of going directly to Bulgaria. It's a bit of a cliche but things really do happen for a reason. While in Skopje we stayed at the City Ho http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Macedonia/Skopje/blog-442090.html Montenegro Kosovo Sept. 25th Sept. 30th 2009 After finally getting off the beach in Dubrovnik we were to head to the capitol of Montenegro Podgorica. These plans changed once we heard about a little place called Kotor on the coast. Not wanting to miss what was supposed to be a really nice town we decided to make a stop there on our way to Podgorica and we were not disappointed. Kotor is http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Montenegro/Kotor/blog-441952.html Republika Hrvatska The Dalmation Coast August 26th September 25th 2009After leaving Budapest we decided to start exploring Croatia in the capital city of Zagreb. During our stay in Hungary we were completely spoiled by having our own apartment and having to return to the hostel life proved to be quite difficult. It was made even harder by being in one of the worst hostels we've yet stayed i http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Croatia/Dalmatia/blog-439410.html Budapest Hungary August 13th 26th 2009After finaly leaving Prague we took a 3 hour train ride to Bratislava Slovakia my home country. We were greeted by Marta my moms best friend since childhood. Marta and her daughter Mirka welcomed us with open arms and treated us like family from the moment we met. They showed us around the town as only locals can. Thank you again for welcoming us in http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Hungary/Central-Hungary/Budapest/Buda/blog-438544.html Praha 268esk Republika Aug. 4th 9th 2009 After spending several weeks staying with Dan's wonderful aunt it was inevitable that we would have to return to the hostel life. When we arrived in Prague and started walking towards the Chili Hostel we quickly realized that Prague is like no other city we have seen so far. Most of our days in Prague were spent exploring this enchanting city. Ev http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Czech-Republic/Prague/Mala-Strana/blog-427103.html Cz281stochowa Wroc322aw Karpacz Kamiena Gra Poland July 20th30th 2009 After leaving Krakow we began our journey to my hometown of Wroclaw. We stopped along the way in the pilgrimage town of Czestochowa for a brief two night stay. Czestochowa is one of many major pilgrimage sites for Christians around the world. This particular place is a pilgrimage site because of the painting of http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Poland/Lower-Silesian/Wroclaw/blog-424094.html Zakopane Poland July 7th 10th 2009After an uneventful 2.5 hour bus ride from Krakow we arrived in Zakopane. We easily found our hostel and for the first time since Iceland had a private room with our very own shower and toilet Fancy Things you take for granted in normal life quickly become luxuries while traveling. The day we arrived we set out to see the town. Zakopane is a nice tourist http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Poland/Lesser-Poland/Zakopane/blog-417658.html Krakow Polska July 3rd 12th 2009 For the first time since leaving London we arrived at our destination and it was not raining on us. Instead it was very hot and humid... kind of made us wish it was still raining so it would be cooler. We got to our reserved hostel only to be told that it had been double booked Fortunately this turned out to be a good thing as they sent us to another place http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Poland/Lesser-Poland/Krakow/blog-417883.html Warszawa Polska June 26th July 1st 2009 Our trip in Russia ended with us being back exactly where we started. No more booking so far ahead as we do not like to follow a set schedule so strictly. We spent our first day in Warsaw doing absolutely nothing as planned. We had been on the road for almost a month and needed a day off from sightseeing to relax and recuperate. It wasn't till the late http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Poland/Masovia/Warsaw/blog-417650.html 105210861089108210741072 June 21st 25th 2009 After sleeping 4 hours in St. Petersburg we had to pack up and catch the 9am flight to Moscow. We took the metro with all the drunks getting home from the celebration of the night before and made it to the airport on time. 2 hours later we were in Moscow and as usual it was pissin' on us again. We wandered around for an hour tr http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Moscow/blog-412116.html St. Petersburg Russia June 17th 21st 2009 After heading east for nearly 3 weeks and a final 2 hour flight from Warsaw we arrived in our destination of St. Petersburg Russia. We are glad we decided to fly as we got a great deal on 3 flights and to take the train would have taken us probably another two weeks to get here. True to form it pissed on us as soon as we got off the plane. We were http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/blog-411037.html Gdansk Poland June 15th 2009We arrived in Gdansk after a 6 hour train ride from Szczeczin. As usual we were greeted by heavy rain and of course we did not have a hostel reserved. So we set out on a mission to find some lodging. Easier said then done. A lot of the hostels were booked solid because it was a holiday. After wandering around for several hours in the rain we managed to find of al http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Poland/Pomerania/Gdansk/blog-410826.html Berlin June 8th 11th 2009From Amsterdam we took our first and hopefully last night bus to Berlin Germany. We had promised ourselves that we would avoid travelling longer than 56 hours per day and avoid night travelling all together but with the weekend cost of hotels in Amsterdam and the cheap bus fares it only made sense. We boarded at 1115 pm and after a sleepless 9.5 hours were http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/District-of-Berlin/Berlin/blog-408120.html Amsterdam June 3rd 7th 2009It was finally time to leave the comfort of my brothers place and begin the real travelling which is what we came to do. Our first stop from London was Amsterdam home of whores Heineken and magic muffins from space. We got set up in a little hotel just outside of the center and began the walking tours which have become a routine for us now. Our first stop was the http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-408111.html May 31st 2009 Scotland United KingdomFor our last road trip from London we set out for Scotland home of Sir William Wallace Alexander Graham Bell and Scotland's most famous son Groundskeeper Willy. We left London on Monday afternoon and stopped in Liverpool since it was on the way. We wanted to stop there for only one reason and that was to see the Most Famous Club in the World the C http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/blog-404351.html