Blogs from Tbilisi, Tbilisi District, Georgia, Asia - page 6

The second time around in Tbilisi we got to stay in the ZP Hotel which is owned by Georgian basketball player, Zaza Pachulia, who plays for the Atlanta Hawks in the NBA. They agreed to let us have a room for just US$50 a night which was a bargain! First of all though, we had to say goodbye to Rob. Hopefully our trip will go to plan and we will see him again at his house near Varna, Bulgaria, in a few weeks time. We ate German style sausages and toasted each other over a few beers before we headed off to bed and he headed for the airport. This was the wrong thing to do in Georgia as it is only your enemies who you toast with beer, your friends you must toast with wine ... read more

Think you have it bad? Even though we've returned home, I still have some fun times to share. It turns out you can publish a book from your blog (these website operators are so clever about getting money out of us, aren't they?) and so I'm planning my first book "Adventures with Connie, 2009". I want to make sure a few more entries get included. To wit: My blog about Tbilisi wouldn't be complete without telling you about our entry for "The World's Worst Cubicle" contest currently being run by Dudley Dawson of the San Franciso Examiner. http://www.examiner.com/x-3040-Life-in-the-Cubicle-Examiner~y2009m8d3-Worst-Cubicle-in-the-World-2009--Week-2-finalists After viewing the week 1 and week 2 finalists, I knew these entries couldn't hold a candle to the work area of one of Irakli's friend that we visited in Tbilisi. So I submitted the following entry. Entries ... read more

Planning our trip inside Georgia So my husband, Irakli Natsvlishvili, despite being a native Georgian, has thoughtfully researched hiring a local guide to take us on a one week discovery tour of the South and Southwest of Georgia. Of course, his Georgian friends were outraged at the idea, and offered to escort us personally or have their relatives escort us. They were also outraged at the price (which seemed reasonable to us, both confirmed tightwads). One of his friends is the founder of a back packer's online forum and couldn't understand why we wouldn't take advantage of various lower-cost alternatives, such as camping or staying with friends of friends of friends. "My cousin's mother in law has an aunt living in that town. Let's call her and tell her that my classmate from University will be ... read more

The first day of travel is always the most confusing and often the most tiring. It is when the traveler has to deal with new languages and new customs in new surroundings, all the while often being jet lagged. I recall reading in a travel guide about the amount of culture shock that you can expect in any given place. Georgia wasn’t listed as one of the countries with the most expected travel shock, though by rights it should have been. The hardest countries to travel in were those with both cultural differences and incompatible languages. Some countries expect visitors and so there is often someone around who can speak some English, but Georgia draws very few travelers and so the English speaking population is negligible. So as Aleks and I stepped off the airplane ... read more

I got rave reviews as a tour guide from the guys I took to Georgia a few weeks ago, so this weekend Cyrus wanted me to take him. I can't imagine why. If Seinfeld was the show about nothing, then my tours are the tours about nothing. I sit on Nino's balcony and read. Sometimes I sit in a cafe, usually the same ones. I don't go to old churches, I don't go to cultural events, and I don't go anywhere that's hot. Getting There The marshrutka (mini-van) ride from Yerevan to Tbilisi takes about 6 hours, counting the two hours it takes to cross the border, and costs about $18. It seats 15, including the driver. Throw luggage in there too and you've got a claustrophobic's nightmare. I was relieved to see that this particular ... read more