Blogs from Slovakia, Europe - page 35

Bratislava really doesn't seem to like me much. I write this from an internet café on the way back from Budapest. I had a really cool time, went there last night for a club night at a boat on the danube which a friend of mine was putting on with some other guys. While it lasted it was good, however we were caught by an absolutely ferocious windstorm which proved having the club on the boat too dangerous, so it was shut down at something like 1:30am, about 4 hours earlier than planned and just as everyone was starting to arrive. So we spent the rest of the evening at my friends flat eating cheese sandwiches and listening to classical music and weird electronic classical stuff. I managed to sleep on the train back as far ... read more

I traveled by train to Zakopane from Krakow, a mere 3 1/2 hours to go 120 km. Let me know if you cannot read this blog entry because I am using a Slovak keyboard and I have to use some letters in the wrong locations. I arrived in Zakopane in the Tatras region of the Polish side of the Tatra Mountains. Lonely Planet says that no one stays in hotels because there are some many private rooms available - they will meet you as the train arrives. And they did meet us, but walked right by me. I approached a group of these people advertising private rooms by holding signs. I asked if they have any rooms. "Tonight?" "Of course, tonight" was my reply. "No we have no rooms available" Confused I walked away and walked ... read more

This entry may seem somewhat less like travel writing than my usual and and will have no pictures, as I'm not sure whether writing about this should be considered travel blogging or just generally raising awareness of a certain experience which I've had more than once in my life, and had again on our last night in Slovakia, which we spent in the capital city, Bratislava. Short and to the point, we were mostly offended by how expensive the place was - when we're used to paying 2 euros for a beer and a red wine, going back and paying 11 euros for the same was not particularly welcoming, and we found ourselves waxing lyrical about how much we preferred Banská Bystrica pretty early on in the evening! I suggested that we need to get away ... read more

I love travelling by train right, but trying to sit on a 4 hour train journey having just got up at 5:30 and being as excited as I was was not something I would recommend for anyone who is prone to fits or fainting. After crawling out of Holešovice station under a newly risen sun, Style of Eye's essential mix gave me sustenance through Kolín, Pardubice and Třebova while Laidback Luke's threw me through Brno and Břeclav and across the Slovak border to Kúty, bringing my total number of countries visited up another one. Then, we finally pulled into Bratislava and I was on my way to the airport to meet Charlie. After finally soaking up the reality that we were both now with each other again and on holiday, we made our way back to ... read more

So with just 72 hours at home after returning from Toronto, it's back on the road. Or more accurately, back to the airport - Gatwick this time. I've been tracking the weather forecast and Bratislava currently has some very unseasonal thunderstorms, so it could be fairly unpleasant. However, I expect to be working pretty much continuously, so it probably won't matter! There are few direct flights to Bratislava, and even fewer at sensible low prices. However, Vienna is only 40 miles away so I'm flying easyjet to Vienna instead and planning to catch the bus. A word in favour of easyjet: they're the new British Airways in my view. The flights are sensibly priced, on clean modern aircraft, with friendly crew. BA in contrast run tired old planes staffed with bored looking crew. Ryanair spend all ... read more